Sid Sivakumar author page

I spent an hour trying to figure out what was going on, and then another hour coming up with ways to deflect all the incoming questions. ZIPPER MERGES gets at two Down entries heading into one of the five merge spots, at which point, a third Down entry alternates the ends of the first two.

So much for that hour.

Let's try a visual example:

The ends of HOWCANTHATBE and SILVERMEDAL zipper together to form HEADTABLE.

I tried to think of some other way of using visual cues to help this explanation, but the guy in my head kept honking at every idea I had.

Jim Horne and I discussed ways of helping people figure out what was going on, and we landed on the Krakenization seen below. I'm not much of an ice hockey fan, but you gotta love the team making its first playoff and going deep! [The Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders, and Kraken all sport the same color scheme.]

How can you even find pairs that work this way? Well, arrays and dictionary coding constructs allow you to—

HOOOOOONK

I used to love this sort of brain-busting construction — Patrick Berry's simpler implementation blew me away when I first started. I've had so many solvers throw pencils at me over the years, though, that these days, I ease up to be more solver-friendly. I'm ecstatic for those gritty folks who gritted through this one and earned their fantastic a-ha moment — and I'm also sympathetic to those who got too frustrated or even stymied.

Since the Sunday Magazine can employ color, Krakenizing could have been spectacular. Although it would make the concept too simple for some, it would make it much more accessible to a broader audience.

Interesting riff on the "black square pyramid" low word count design that we've seen more and more and more recently. I enjoy watching the evolution of a themeless design motif as it progresses from its birth to maturity to beyond.

There are a ton of black squares today, but I enjoyed the gentle curve formed by the five solo squares from lower left to upper right. Although certain editors don't like single-corner black squares, it's completely subjective.

This puzzle qualifies for our fewest words page, though many of the other 60-worders have a ton more white space. I remember this Kevin Der masterpiece with awe; a ground-breaking achievement at the time. That's not to say I like records for their own sake—although there's something amazing about certain achievements, they don't always make for the most pleasurable solves.

I appreciate that Sid worked in an above-average number of long slots. That's sometimes difficult with these low-word counters, so it was great to be treated to evocative entries like COAL MINER, BEER BONGS, ART SCENES. I wasn't impressed by more neutral entries like ENTWINES and CANADIANS, but Edmontonian Jim Horne might have something to say about that.

My daughter, who insists on going by TESSA instead of Tess now, made me some "ties" for Father's Day last year. Although I might have preferred PIE TIES to paper ones, it's the pieties that count.

POND SCUM typically grosses me out, but not when its clue uses such delightful misdirection toward dirty films. And I've seen a ton of clever clues for TSA, but having "bags under their (watchful) eyes" set off my metal detector in the best of ways.

★ 1-Across sets the tone for a solving experience, and Sid aced it today. The question mark on [Eye exam you need to pass?] caused me to stop and think, and I got such a blissful a-ha moment when I pieced together IRIS SCAN. Even Gandalf would have let the Balrog pass for that.

The northwest corner shined even further with [Where making a hasty exit is encouraged]. The clue made this ESCAPE ROOM enthusiast reminisce to the last one Jill and I did, where we not only exited with plenty of time but showed the operator a hidden clue that he wasn't aware of. (He didn't appreciate it.)

In Seattle, LATTE ART is on par with traditional art, and [Mug shot subject?] is something even Ansel Adams would give a shot.

Needless to say, I FELL IN LOVE with such playful humor. No hang-ups at all for clues like [Evidence of one's hang-ups?].

I'm curious to see how many Gen Alphas are going to be like, WTF is a DIAL TONE?

I appreciated that some of the wordplay was devious — what I expect on a Saturday. [Passage in a cemetery] evokes so many catacomb images. EPITAPH gets the last word!

Technically excellent gridwork, too. Although the four huge pyramids of black squares make gridding much easier, any 64-worder is tough. I like that Sid traded off some less-interesting entries like FELDSPAR and REST AREA for squeaky cleanliness.

Neat to get a touch like [Bhikku's teacher], too. I had no idea what Bhikku meant, but LAMA is certainly a familiar word. Great way to inject some of Sid's personality and background without affecting my ability to solve the puzzle.

The one ding was that everything fell much more easily that I expect out of a Saturday challenge. I flew through, compared to yesterday's brain-buster. Switching the two would have made both better, as so much of life is about expectations.

Second 62-worder in two days, indeed! Note that Sid also used four pyramid blocks. As per Blake's comments from yesterday, they truly are a "cheat code," making ultra-low-word counts so much more tractable. My guess is a full order of magnitude. I often wonder why more people don't use them, although some constructors have a different aesthetic.

I found today's themeless so much easier to solve than yesterday's. Sid and the NYT team employed wordplay to perfection, helping me not only accelerate through my solve, but to pump my fist along the way:

WET MARTINI is a great entry. Bringing me along with a fun fact, that it's paradoxically made with dry vermouth, makes it that much better.

TAN LINE isn't as fresh as WET MARTINI, having been in the NYT crossword over a dozen times already, but man, that clue! [Abrupt change in tone] so innocently nudges you toward a speaking tone.

Even better was [One sitting on the bench]. It's been killing me to see Robert Williams (who helped win us our fantasy league this year!) on the bench more than usual because of his knee during the NBA playoffs, so my mind was focused on riding the pine. Great misdirect, away from PIANIST.

Saving the best for last, [Drawings with lots of little blocks]. Surely, pixels had to be involved. No, that's little city blocks in CITY PLANS!

I wasn't enamored by POD RACERS, given how old the reference is by now. And by how much "The Phantom Menace" menaced Star Wars fans worldwide. Other unexciting entries like STEWPOTS and SEMITONES are typical for 62-worders, but at least they didn't ruin an entire movie franchise.

I was going to add the EARPLUGS / OPEN EARS dupe to the liabilities column, but there's something fun about that pairing.

I enjoy a cruising victory, and today's puzzle was deftly crafted to give me exactly that. Perhaps too easy for a Saturday, but I think it's generally better to err on the side of leaving solvers feeling smart instead of frustrated.

Fantastic clue for the headline entry, WIRELESS CHARGER. [Modern source of juice] ... given that Matthew and Sid are two headliners of crosswording's new wave, I figured it must be some superfood I'm too uncool to know about — a secret menu item that you need to ask for while flashing the Generation Alpha decoder signet ring. Juicy clue, indeed.

EVIL EMPIRE, what a image-laden phrase! This huge "Star Wars" dork hitched, since it was called the Galactic Empire, not the EVIL EMPIRE. Some even argue it wasn't totally evil, but who are we to argue with Wikipedia?

And who could forget Reagan's ominous EVIL EMPIRE speech?

Oh, right. Generation Alpha.

Spotted in the same region as EVIL EMPIRE: WARCRAFT, I DARE YOU, RED ALERT, TELL NO ONE. Difficult to RELAX with such a menacing build-up.

I was much more enamored with the clever cluing that made boring entries like GUESTS sing. I, unfortunately, know many, many people who can be friendly while patronizing. Thanks, but please don't patronize my store!

I tripped on the SAME LOVE / RIMA (tough foreign VERBIAGE) crossing, so I looked up the Macklemore song. (Our local cookie shop features a Mackles'more — the owner is friends with him!) Glad I did, because apparently, this song was groundbreaking for LGBT+ rights issues. I wish the clue had even hinted at this. I fear that some solvers will gloss over the entry as just another song.

I appreciate how both Matthew and Sid have pushed the envelope of inclusiveness, trying to do so in a way that encourages instead of being teachy. I could have used more of their voices today, as the puzzle felt like an average Friday. Still, I'm glad that SAME LOVE is now in my knowledge base.

Themeless Sunday, with a fresh Sid-southeastern feel to it — how often do you see the words "bhikkhunis " and "bhindi masala" in a crossword? Some great entries, too, like CANDY COUNTERS, HOLODECKS, ELIMINATION DIET / KEYNOTE ADDRESSES. Themelesses are usually limited to 15-letter entries, so the 16+ length is ripe for fresh additions. I dislike THE LITTLE MERMAID because it's made my daughter want to lose four waist sizes (and grow a tail) so she can attract a prince — but it is nice not to get the shortened title.

Speaking of PRINTS, what a fantastic clue! They get left in the (literal) dust. Many of the Sunday themelesses have relied on sloggy 6-letter answers, so clues like this immensely elevate the solve.

Similarly, "Employees who work a lot" made me think of my first job when I was regularly working 80-hour weeks for The Man. Great shift to a smile when I realized it meant a (parking) lot.

I would have liked a greater quantity of clever cluing, though. Jim Horne and I chatted about the Sunday themeless series — he's more pro while I'm more con — and he reminded me of the delights within Patrick Berry's inaugural Sunday themeless. In particular, FOREST GREEN was a meh entry, but innocently misdirecting with "Shade in the woods" made it shine. As much as I like the novelty of VAPE SHOPS, it's hard to clue something like this cleverly, given that not everyone will recognize what vape shops are.

We also chatted about the word SCRIED, which I love because it reminds me of "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" and the "Bartimaeus" trilogy. So many solvers have complained to me about SCRY over the years, but it gave Jim and me a reason to chat about some of our favorite recent reads.

I haven't changed my mind about the past three years of occasional themeless Sundays, too many of them feeling like giving up on attracting fresh themes. If they are here to stay, I'd at least like to see further innovation. There's so much possibility in using 21-letter grid-spanners, triple-stacks, intersecting 16+ letter answers, grid art, long stair sticks, etc.

I love this pattern, such visual — and solving — flow. One might describe it as having a center and four corners, but there's so much interconnection that everything blends so smoothly.

And that center! NAH IM GOOD is a catchy casual phrase to anchor everything. The knock on this grid pattern is typically that it's so hard to fill — 62 words is no joke — that you have to compromise either color or cleanliness. NAH IM GOOD kicks things off perfectly.

TAX DODGES is a colorful entry, too.

Amazingly clean grid, Sid adhering to his strict principle of giving the solver a smooth experience.

However, there wasn't as much snazziness as I want out of a themeless. Maybe it was the A/AN phrases, HAD AN IN, RUN A RACE, GRAB A SEAT, feeling repetitive? SNACKER / SHADERS / OPENERS, too. there were also a lot of entries containing mostly "Wheel of Fortune" free letters: STEINS, ENTRÉE, PESTERS, COEDIT, CRETAN.

Part of the issue is that the upper right and lower left corners feature few long (8+ letters) slots. Not that you can't do anything with mid-lengthers — RAT PACK, GAUTAMA, ALIMONY are all interesting — but there's so much potential in a longer slot. HOG HEAVEN is such a vivid phrase, for example.

I enjoyed picking up DEAD NAME. Hadn't heard of it, but it's two words that when put together, perfectly describe what may be corrected on a trans person's birth certificate.

Yikes, that STABBED clue. I love repurposing phrases in clever ways, but "stuck a fork in it" gives some startling visuals.

Solid example of this genre. I've experienced several of them over the years, and this one is as clean as any.

★ I love the aesthetics of the unusual black square "canes" — reminds me of a CANDY CANES puzzle Mary Lou and I did years back. And from a constructor's point of view, it also allows for juicy quasi-sectioning of the grid. Once you get a rough idea of what the middle might look like, you can start to work on each of the four corners independently. That's so valuable, allowing you to segment the grid into smaller, much more manageable chunks.

There were so many fantastic long entries jam-packed in, starting with FILL ME IN, hearkening to the great Ryan and Brian podcast. Check it out when you can; they're fun to listen to.

I just finished "Money Heist" and am going through serious withdrawal, so I loved uncovering HEIST FILMS. EVIL EMPIRE nearby could have made the puzzle's tone too dark, but cluing it to the sci-fi trope made it sing.

I had to laugh at my sheer stupidity, putting in UMM for a sound chewing on a pencil and thinking that GENERATION ALPUA was some gen-alpua term that made fun of people like me. HMM, indeed. I didn't know that they moved from Gen-Z to Generation ALPHA, but I have to admit that it's just a hair more logical than my thinking.

Speaking of making fun, BOOBOISIE's clue felt ... bad. The term amused me to no end years ago, a flagrantly offensive portmanteau of boob and bourgeoise, but I worried that it could feel like it was thumbing its nose at solvers, so I made sure to clue it to the source (Mencken). The clue today felt ... insulting? Condescending? It's okay if I call myself a boob, but not if you do. So what if it's true?!

DONK gave me a smile, as my son often donks his sister on the head. I shouldn't laugh, but if you can't laugh, you cry. Hopefully, the DONK / TRINI cross didn't bam-boob-zle anyone.

Although I had a few reservations, there was so much to love; so many vivid long entries are carefully woven together, a feat of construction. Even when you lock down a possible middle like EVIL EMPIRE / GENERATION ALPHA / HEIST FILMS, one or more quadrants don't cooperate. Amazing that Sid and Matthew were able to wrangle them all so smoothly.

I like the innovation in this 68-word grid, spreading out long answers much more than usual patterns. As I solved, I wondered if there might be fewer than average long entries, but no — 14 is just about right. More typical themelesses concentrate all their color in the four corners, so I enjoyed getting dashes of TAG TEAMED, HIDDEN TALENTS, ADOBE READER, CORNY JOKE, OPERA SOLO, POTATO BATTERY, IM SUCH A JERK (great colloquial phrase!), HIGH HORSE spread throughout.

I wondered if non-Trekkers would know BRENT Spiner, who played Lt. Data on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" — great cross-reference for us android fans, perhaps not so pleasant for non-dorks. I asked Jim Horne (who doesn't watch as much sci-fi as me) if he knew Spiner, and he paused before saying something to the effect of "yes, but only because he was in a play I directed." After 15 years of hanging out with Jim, I'm continually amazed.

I also wondered if the crossing of CAROL ALT and RITA ORA (my wife alerted me that this is someone I ought to know since ORA is very useful for constructors) was fair. I like that they come from different walks of life and time, though, increasing the chances that someone will have heard of at least one of them.

I'm usually the one doing the kvetching, but this time, Jim flagged two entries: THE COLTS and CORNY JOKE. Along with several other constructors I know, Jim's not a fan of "THE ___" phrases, as the THE feels superfluous. And CORNY JOKE felt corny to him. He asked me my opinion, and I sheepishly admitted that they were both high on my list of the puzzle's assets! So much of themeless assessment is so subjective.

As always, excellent craftsmanship from Sid. A 68-word themeless presents such a tough task of offering both smoothness and sizzle, and Sid hit on both counts. Next to no dabs of glue while offering a little something for everyone.

★ I solved on computer, confidently typing in FELT HATS, then quickly realizing I had to put Xs in for some reason. Easy enough change. Hitting STRIKE THAT, everything made sense, and I enjoyed the concept. Colorful and colloquial revealer; a perfect explanation for what was going on. Probably not a standout Thursday, though.

Or was it? I continue to have the privilege of weekly conversations with Jim Horne, my XWI partner, and listening to his experience elevated this puzzle in my eyes. He's a great solver, so eschews pencil (I imagine a $5,000 fountain pen requiring hourly oiling and silk cloth massaging). I hadn't thought about the solving experience from an old-school perspective. Like me, he confidently penned in FELT HATS — and then he had to literally strike THAT, using Xs to X out those four letters. Awesome!

Jim asked if I had noticed the different ways THAT was broken across phrases. He thinks he knows me so well that I would be one of the five people in the world to know and care. Ha! I did notice, so there!

Wait.

I mean, I did notice, but in a way he didn't expect. Some constructors would insist on breaking up THAT in different ways, claiming that it's elegant to do so. I wouldn't totally not be not one of those negative-positive asserters, no sir! In today's case, it led to DEATH AT A FUNERAL, which is so much less interesting than many of the other THAT phrases out there. I say, constructor's elegance be damned!

That one nit aside, I highly enjoyed my solve. Neat concept, cool to see a ridiculous number of Xs integrated more smoothly than I expected, and hearing about the pen and paper experience drove it over the top. Well done!

There's a great "something for everyone" vibe to this puzzle, drawing from such diverse topics as literature (MUCKRAKING — dang it, that's MEATPACKER) to meteorology (SQUALL LINE) to geography (MAUNA KEA) to finance (BEQUEATH). And that's just the opening corner! It'd be interesting to see what entries came from which contributor, but there's a wide breadth of knowledge represented in any case.

I've never seen a center quite like today's R-L-R-L alternation. That's a neat layout, allowing for four excellent long entries while trying to minimize their overlap. Smart! DNA PROFILE / THAT WAS CLOSE / HOME RUN TROTS, great stuff! I don't know that most solvers will notice or care, but it spurred me on to check out their individual sites.

I rarely have to put down a Saturday puzzle these days, thanks to all the practice my compulsive solving neurosis gives me. I got stuck in the SE corner, though, a frustrating ordeal. Even though I've studied Python (programming), I couldn't pull out TUPLE (which goes to show you how hard I've been studying).

As a former jazz musician, maybe I should have known STOP TIME. Needless to say, I was that trombone player who hid in the corner and played as quietly as a flute.

Even when I did uncover PLEASE RISE, it didn't feel as strong as ALL RISE. TAMENESS is at best a tame answer, and PEACES is probably related to "peace out"? I either felt old or stupid. Maybe both.

I can hear the kids these days peaceing me right now.

This isn't my favorite type of Saturday, with a lot of the difficulty stemming from unfamiliar entries like SQUALL LINE and ET ALIBI, but I appreciated the inventive layout featuring fantastic marquee entries.

★ How often do constructors hope that their work leaves solvers with an empty feeling? I enjoy the occasional "leave some squares blank" puzzle. Two from 2013 stand out, one playing on "Wheel of Fortune," and David Kwong's ingenious puzzle Sid mentioned above. Another from 2015 also won a POW!, but this trope goes back a long ways.

Today's RUN ON EMPTY theme worked well, the consistency of RUN atop (three squares to be left blank) so neat and tidy. I particularly enjoyed LABOR UNIONS above what was before the Big Bang: an empty space. Perfect!

Will Shortz is usually pickier about "hidden words" themes; that the hidden word must span across two words of a phrase — DRUNK DIAL wouldn't be acceptable. Despite DRUNK DIAL's evocative nature, I'd have preferred something like BOBS YOUR UNCLE, MR UNIVERSE, OVER UNDER, etc.

Will has also told me that he shies away from puzzles with squares intentionally left blank, saying that solvers expect to put in something, so it's unsatisfying to leave a square untouched. It's like listening to an unresolved penultimate chord in a piece of music. You feel on edge, unsatisfied, until that last note hits home, and then all is right in the world.

Thankfully, there were so many bonuses in the stellar gridwork to overcome those reservations. Sid's craftsmanship is so strong. See how he leans heavily on down entries for bonus fill, and spaces them apart? AD EXECS to BAD JOKES to WOULD I EVER is a perfect example of great spacing.

I also enjoyed Sid's featuring of GURU NANAK. I hate being forced to learn things when all I'm looking for is entertainment, but GURU is a word, and NANAK looks like Pakistani names I've seen. Although I didn't know this person, that didn't affect my ability to finish the crossword, and I ought to know who founded a religion with 25+ million devout followers.

A huge number of clever wordplay clues. GYM as a place where you might see "squatters" — that's people doing squats. [Gear for the bench] had me thinking about baseball, not a judicial bench and ROBE. Delightful!

Some Thursday crosswords focus on being hard for hardness sake, but I like this type much better. A reasonable trick, a colorful grid, and a slew of headslap-inducing wordplay clues to make the solve crunchier? That's my jam.

★ Ha! I caught you all off guard by picking two POW!s in one week. What can I say, I had so much fun solving today's puzzle that I had to do it. I've seen plenty of BACKward puzzles, "repeated string" puzzles, and palindromes, so I should have been predisposed to be tired of today's concept. But it was different enough, with such an apt revealer, that my solve was a delight.

I was interested enough by the concept to write some quick code to see what other themers would have worked. Not many more!

• BOO-BOO BEAR (RAEBOOB sure looks lewd though)
• BURN RUBBER
• FOR-PROFIT BUSINESS
• MY BABY MUST BE A MAGICIAN
• SELFLESS ACTS
• SIDE DISHES
• TASKS AT HAND

It's neat to see a constraint that gives a limited set — that "tightness" lends elegance.

I wondered if the circles could have spelled out something. Would that have been cool … or confusing? The circles in the puzzle didn't feel like a great way to indicate starting points, so perhaps making sure that every start point was under a black square, so you could innocently list the theme clues at their actual start points without adding extra numbers into the grid— ELUSPACE at 26-Across, not 25-Across, for example — would have made this concept even better.

Fantastic gridwork, too, as I've quickly come to expect from Sid. Not a single gloopy short entry, and a whole lot of MAITRE D', ALTIMETERS, GAY RODEO (apparently this is a thing, neat!), SHOT POOL, PANHANDLER. Many constructors would have broken up ALTIMETERS at the M for the sake of gridding ease, and I'm glad that Sid went the extra mile. More bonuses without compromises? Heck, yeah!

Neat to get GODS clued as Rama and Krishna, instead of the usual Greek or Roman god references. That's the kind of subtle influencing that's more effective than the in-your-face approach.

So well done. Interesting concept, top-notch execution, fresh cluing. Sometimes we're blessed with two great puzzles in a week; who am I to deny one of them?

I loved 95% of this puzzle and was all set to make it my POW! Amazing gridwork, with so many colorful HUMDINGERs. Congrats to both relatively new constructors, such top-notch craftsmanship!

Then, I finished at MODEL MINORITY.

Sid and I had a thoughtful exchange as I struggled to come to terms with how depressed this entry made me. I hate being reminded of something that has plagued me my entire life. I turn to crosswords to escape the realities of the world, and these days, I need escapes more than ever. In Stella Zawistowski's words, "The whole point of a crossword, or any puzzle, is to surprise and delight people."

It sucked to have delight taken away today.

Additionally, the MODEL MINORITY stereotype can't be summarized in a pithy crossword clue — any short sentence is likely to do it serious injustice, or worse. I wonder how African-American solvers will react, since one could argue that Asian-Americans aren't the ones hurt most by this "myth."

Sid believes that it's imperative to force these discussions. I don't agree. Rarely do Americans like being forced to learn, especially when it's about politics, race, or religion. I fear that Sid's philosophy — to which I devoutly subscribed when I was younger — will achieve more harmful backlash than good.

So how do you influence people? I don't have a great answer, but as more gray enters my beard, I've come to believe that more subtle, less in-your-face approaches are better for achieving long-term results. If you feel the need to use crosswords to teach, instead of blaringly headlining MODEL MINORITY, why not tuck MODEL into the fill, clued as [___ minority (damaging racial stereotype)]? That might have more quietly but more effectively sparked people to go read up on it, maybe even with an open mind.

I'm hopeful that if more big thinkers like Sid focus their efforts on devising creatively subtle approaches that reach people in a way that they're open to listening, the world will slowly morph into a less angrily divided place.

★ I love it when a constructor does so much so right. I love it even more when said constructor does that while making their debut. Makes me go yodel from my rooftop that someone gets it!

(My neighbors hate when I do that.)

I looked into this theme a few months back, initially getting excited when I found JAMES K POLK, RISK PREMIUM, ASK PRICE, and best of all, FACEMASK PENALTY. I ended up junking it, muttering curses at Crucivera, the goddess of crosswords, for her cruciverbal cruelty. Lengths of 10, 11, 8, 15, 8 (ESCAPEES) — not even mirror symmetry could save that. I scraped up DESK PHONES and MUSK PERFUME to create symmetry, but that felt desperate.

How wrong I was. I did still think DESK PHONES was boring today, but it was easy to shrug off with so much else to love.

Newer constructors should study this grid; three points in particular:

1. Long downs. For a theme that isn't ultra-dense, you can almost always weave in four long downs, making all of them fantastic.
2. No gluey entries. So many constructors get tempted, lowering their standards so they can work in that one flashy long entry. Don't do it! If you have a strong word list, there will usually be tons of options for your long bonuses that still allow you to cleanly fill the rest of the puzzle.
3. Helper squares. Sid used six of them (the black square after HOOP, for example), which is on the high side, but who cares? (Note: some editors do.) They facilitate better fill, making for a better solving experience. Six of them do look a bit unsightly, but that's minor when considering what an elegant product they enabled.

Extremely well done, Sid. We'll be keeping our eyes open for more of your products.