NYT Daily • August 1, 2025
Oatmeal, e.g.
Answer:
HOTCEREAL
Hint:
["**Hint:** \"Breakfast dish often served warm in a bowl.\"\n\nThis hint guides the solver toward thinking of a food item typically eaten hot in the morning, narrowing it down from the broader category implied by the original clue. It avoids repeating \"oatmeal\" or \"cereal\" directly while still pointing in the right direction."]
Explanation:
The clue **"Oatmeal, e.g."** leads to the answer **"HOTCEREAL"** through the following reasoning: 1. **"Oatmeal"** is a type of **cereal**, specifically a **hot cereal** (as opposed to cold cereals like cornflakes). 2. The abbreviation **"e.g."** stands for *"exempli gratia"* (Latin for "for example"), indicating that the answer is an example of a category that includes oatmeal. 3. The answer **"HOTCEREAL"** directly describes oatmeal as a cereal that is typically served hot. Thus, the clue cleverly uses the example format to point to the broader category of hot cereals, with oatmeal being a prime example. No complex wordplay is involved—just a straightforward definition with a slight twist in phrasing.