New York Times crossword editor apologizes for racial slur used in puzzle

Will Shortz, the crossword editor for The New York Times, issued an apology after readers brought it to his attention that a racial slur was used in the New Year's Day edition of the crossword puzzle.

In the Tuesday, Jan. 1 edition of the crossword, the answer to the clue in the 2-Down slot was "beaner." This is a racial slur used for Mexicans and people of Mexican descent. This definition is the first result to appear in Google when searching the term.

The clue to 2-Down in Tuesday’s puzzle was “Pitch to the head, informally.”

"Neither Joel (Fagliano) nor I had ever heard the slur before — and I don't know anyone who would use it," the response from Shortz reads. "Maybe we live in rarefied circles."

The apology continued: “This is an issue that comes up occasionally with entries like GO O.K. (which we clued last April as “Proceed all right,” but which as a solid word is a slur), CHINK (which is benign in the sense as a chink in one’s armor,” etc. These are legitimate words."

Responses to the apology on Twitter were mostly critical. One user called it a "non-apology apology" and another said it's more reason to have a diverse staff. Another user, however, said t hey think people are too easily offended .

The tweet with the responses can be seen below.