Solution: Follower of Red or Dead - NYT Crossword

“Follower of Red or Dead” is a fairly common clue type (and one of my favorites). It asks the solver to identify a word that might come after (“follow”) the words “red” or “dead” in a common phrase. In this case, we have the Red SEA or the Dead SEA. Note the capitalization of Red and Dead here; those capital letters are indicators that we are looking at two proper nouns. Other clues of this pseudo-fill-in-the-blank variety might ask for a “start to,” an indication that we’re looking for a word that might come before the word or words provided in the clue.