The clue “Sinclair who wrote ‘The Jungle’” in a New York Times crossword is asking for UPTON , as in Upton Sinclair, the American novelist and social reformer who authored the 1906 muckraking novel The Jungle.

Quick Scoop

  • The full crossword-style answer is UPTON (5 letters), which is how it appears in NYT and other mainstream crosswords.
  • The clue points to Upton Sinclair, known for exposing unsanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry in The Jungle.

Why “Sinclair” Shows Up

  • “Sinclair” alone is ambiguous (there’s also the engineer Clive Sinclair), so the clue adds “who wrote ‘The Jungle’” to clearly indicate Upton Sinclair.
  • Upton Sinclair is a common reference in crosswords because his name is distinctive, reasonably short, and strongly tied to a single famous work, making for a clean, fair clue.

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