We are given the first word right off the bat for the April 24, 2024 edition of the NYT Mini Crossword Puzzle. The clue to this answer is a bit confusing for some. For starters, what does gravelly even mean? It means that it sounds like gravel or someone with a very coarse tone of voice. Gravel is a form or type of rock, so the voice itself has to be rough and rugged. This is an across word that needs five letters.
“Rasps” is how someone speaks with a gravelly voice.
The answer to this clue is rasp. Raspy would work since it’s also five letters but due to the other words in the puzzle, rasps is the way to go. It does sound like someone has a coarse voice; like they have rocks being ground in their throat. People also joke that people with rasping voices sound like they’ve been smoking a lot of cigarettes for a long period of time.
