The June 8, 2025 edition of the NYT Crossword threw me for a loop with its symmetrically large Sunday grid and a theme featuring horseshoe magnets that caused the down clues’ tail ends to rotate at right angles depending on where the magnet was pointing. Regardless, in the same edition of the NYT Crossword, there’s a relatively easy clue titled “Belle boy” at 25A. And let me tell you, knowing a little bit of French goes a long way in solving this one.
Belle Boy NYT Crossword Clue Answer
BEAU is the answer to the “Belle boy?” clue.
Beau actually means a person’s boyfriend and can even refer to a dandy. However, that’s not exactly how I approached this clue. “Belle” is French for beautiful in the feminine form. So when paired with boy, I thought it hinted at the masculine counterpart and that’s beau, which means beautiful in the masculine form in French. A neat little play on gendered French words if you ask me.
