First, I'm sorry that my parenthetical qualifier in the opening post may have led some to believe the NYT clue was a cryptic.

USns are used to crosswords that address your knowledge ("Basball Hall of Famer," e.g.) and your ability to work out a theme (especially in the bigger Sunday puzzles); sometimes puns are used.

The Brit norm is the cryptic, which is more ecumenical in that any intelligent English speaker has a good chance of solving it knowing the skills involved.