NYT crosswords have a theme. I would imagine “poison penne” is one of the theme answers along with other pasta-based alliterations. Once you know that’s the gam

NYT crosswords have a theme. I would imagine “poison penne” is one of the theme answers along with other pasta-based alliterations. Once you know that’s the game, then it’s not a weirdly meaningless pun but wordplay that builds as you first figure out the theme and then figure out the theme answers.