"As elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you could find anywhere outside an advertising agency," per Raymond Chandler Crossword Clue

• It's all there in black and white

  New York Times · Sunday, March 1, 2026 · 5 letters

• Game ending in "mate"

  New York Times · Monday, October 2, 2023 · 5 letters

• "A foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time," per Shaw

  New York Times · Thursday, June 15, 2023 · 5 letters

• It has thousands of openings

  New York Times · Sunday, May 22, 2022 · 5 letters

• "The Queen's Gambit" game

  New York Times · Monday, February 21, 2022 · 5 letters

• The mating game?

  New York Times · Wednesday, January 5, 2022 · 5 letters

• "The gymnasium of the mind," per Blaise Pascal

  New York Times · Friday, December 24, 2021 · 5 letters

• Game of checkers?

  New York Times · Saturday, August 14, 2021 · 5 letters

• "The gymnasium of the mind," per Pascal

  New York Times · Tuesday, August 4, 2020 · 5 letters

• Game on an 8x8 board

  New York Times · Monday, September 30, 2019 · 5 letters

More clues from this crossword

• 22-Down Nail polish removers, e.g.
• 23-Across Cosmopolitan place
• 24-Across They're 50-50
• 25-Down You might give them away after burning them
• 26-Across Epoch when horses first appeared
• 28-Across Course material, maybe
• 29-Across Religious grp. observing Family Home Evening
• 30-Across Lead-in to an exalted leader's name
• 30-Down Tahoe, e.g.
• 31-Across Don Juans
• 31-Down Jacques ___, French psychoanalyst who studied hysteria
• 32-Down Its motto is "Excelsior": Abbr.