John R. O'Brien author page

What, no PURPLE PEOPLE EATER in this ONE-EYEd puzzle? Oh ye malevolent crossword grids and your 15-letter constraints!

Both the JACK OF SPADES and the JACK of hearts are ONE-EYEd. True fact! Maybe that's why spades and hearts are considered "majors" in contract bridge, while diamonds and clubs are "minors"? I always did wonder why ...

I love me some Greek mythology, but POLYPHEMUS sure didn't come back easily. CYCLOPS, sure. A specific cyclops … that's a tough ask for us mere mortals.

SAMMY DAVIS JR has two eyes, doesn't he? Sure, one is glass. Although, he did refer to himself in this awesome quote: "Talk about handicap. I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." So he seems fine to include.

BAZOOKA JOE is ONE-EYEd? He has an eye patch, but don't lots of kids wear eye patches for lazy eye or whatever?

You know what would have been awesome? To have just one (letter) I in the puzzle! Maybe dead center, like the eye of the cyclops. Creepy good!

I would have also liked a smoother product for a Monday. Using POLYPHEMUS is tough enough on newer solvers. Crossing it with SEEGER — SEAGER might look fine to some — is asking a lot. And you should be able to figure out HEMAL from HEME, but in my 125+ blood donations, I've never heard someone say or write HEMAL.

I don't mind a little toughness in a Monday puzzle. You don't want to make it TOO easy, with zero challenge. But things like HADJI crossing ESAI crossing VERSO, and RANI … that's a recipe for turning off newer solvers. No bueno!

It's a fine concept, people with ONE EYE (ish). And bonuses like SUPERMAN and I CAN HELP (nice pairing!) helped keep my attention. But the execution needed several more rounds of smoothifying — no reason not to have a better final product, given the average-ish theme density.

Many different constructors have written to me about a HIDDEN GEM idea, but it's usually with hiding the word as in SAGO PALM. Interesting to see the different interpretation today, gems spread out through a word or phrase. I really liked PAPER AIRPLANE, as it reminded me of the days I was shuttled off to Chinese school on Friday nights. Not sure what my parents were expecting, but I did learn to make some great PAPER AIRPLANES, spitwads, and other prankish devices. Mischief managed!

Will doesn't often take themes dependent on single words, as they tend not to be as interesting as multi-word phrases. Multi-word phrases also help distinguish "good" crosswords from "crapwords" (that's a technical term) in little local newspapers, as those tend to feel dictionary-generated. I did like JEOPARDIZE and PRESUMABLY, but not nearly as much as PAPER AIRPLANE.

I liked John's NE corner, that beautiful stack of AMYGDALA / POSEIDON (love me some mythology!) / AUTOZONE. I typically would use more black squares in a region like this, because it's so hard to execute on it cleanly and with sparkle. John does need a CYSTS (a bit icky) and LTS, ENE, but I thought it was well worth it.

I thought the opposite corner didn't come out as well. See all those answers that have to work through / next to PAPER AIRPLANE and PRESUMABLY? It's a pretty good triple of PARROTED / ANNE RICE / PEASANTS, but all those constraints force an ORA right in the stack. Then a RECTO and ID EST down below. And there's EMS (admittedly more minor) and the outdated ERES TU. All in all, not bad, but not nearly as strong as the NE corner.

Overall, HIDDEN GEM didn't quite resonate with me as a theme rationale here. The circled letters aren't really hiding anything at all, TOPAZ et al. popping right out. That'll play well with some solvers wanting a more straightforward puzzle, but I like having to work harder to get an a-ha moment at the end of a puzzle. I did appreciate that the large quantity of interesting mid-to-long fill helped keep my attention, though.