In my four semesters at the University of Delaware, crosswords were, all in all, my biggest distraction. They were also the biggest thing I had going for me there, as my second published one (11/11/11) made me arguably the most famous freshman on campus. And even though I have left Delaware and regained focus on my studies closer to my home in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, crosswords remain my #1 hobby.
Today's puzzle is one that I have been very proud of, ever since I completed it, clued it, and submitted it in October 2012. (I put it in the mailbox exactly four days before my fourth NYT puzzle ran so that I would not have nothing left in the tank, so to speak, after that puzzle ran.) I would have liked it to be supersymmetric, with 7's going all the way around the perimeter of the grid and rows and columns 7 and 9 being spans, but the switch to a mix of 8's and 6's made it much easier for me to make the four longest entries be fresh and interesting.
My favorite of the 12's is IDIOSYNCRASY, as even though it's the only single word among them, I find it fun to say! I also like CRANBERRY BOG a lot, as well as JOAN BAEZ (what a great 1A!), SCHERZO, DENARII, FINIAL, LAST EXIT, ISLAMIST, JILTED, ZONK OUT, KATMANDU, GO ROGUE, and CRONKITE. As for clues, Will kept almost exactly half of mine. Some of the new ones that struck me were those for 15A, 26A, 30A, 59A, 60A, 21D, 35D, 47D, and 55D.
Finally, I am truly amazed and honored to have set the bar for the cycle, now that I've had a puzzle published on every day of the week. Jim Horne noted that David Steinberg completed the cycle with his ninth NYT puzzle (3/9/13), and David Kwong matched the feat with the puzzle that Horne named his Puzzle of the Year for 2013 (10/31/13). Though I have now done it in only eight, Steinberg did it in less time than I did, and I now encourage anyone who wants to do it in only seven, the absolute minimum, to make an effort to achieve that goal.
I look forward to my next publication, but I will not lose focus on my studies. I hope you all enjoyed my puzzle!