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★ Check out the pdf file of today's puzzle! (NYT Games Subscription required.) Boxes so BIG they burst out of the grid all crooked? Now that's something you don't see every day!

Such colorful themers, too. ME AND MY (BIG) MOUTH, WHATS THE (BIG) IDEA, YOU OWE ME (BIG) TIME, three home runs. THAT'S A VERY (BIG) IF felt like VERY had been inserted to achieve proper length, but otherwise it's a top-notch phrase as well.

After uncovering the first themer, I thought this was going to be too easy for a Thursday. Surprisingly, it wasn't a no-brainer to fill in the others. I did know that there would be an implied BIG somewhere in the phrases, but that more served as confirmation after I pieced the themers together, rather than a dead giveaway.

Such brilliant wordplay in "… that turns light green?" Like when a kid gets carsick? Like a chameleon in grass? No, it's a way of saying a SOLAR PANEL turns light into a green energy source. It's admittedly tortured, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment.

SOLAR PANEL, along with I'LL ALLOW IT, STAY ON TASK, HOW ON EARTH — you can't ask for much more than four great long bonuses. I did pause for a long, confused moment at STREGIS, but it gave me a lift when I realized it was ST. REGIS.

BEAMER … I'm not beaming at you. Tricky to make a 6x4 corner like the SW work when flanked by a themer and a long bonus. I might have tried a black square at the P of PERK to see if BEAMER could have been massaged out.

Not the tricksiest Thursday, but such a pleasurable solve. Along with being technically well-executed, and a unique visual — it's so rare for me to encounter something I've never seen before in crosswords — this one earns Joe his second POW!

– puzzle by Joe Deeney

Six fantastic marquee entries, that's REALLY SOMETHING! I paused when I finally uncovered that one, wondering if it felt arbitrary or I liked it. Didn't take long to decide that I loved it.

With only four more long entries in the entire puzzle, you have to take full advantage of them, and Brooke and Ada did a reasonable job with that. I enjoyed both FIBONACCI and STEEL DRUM, especially with that curious "instrument played by a pannist" clue. That's a great way to generate an a-ha moment, turning a "how the #$@!? should I know what a pannist is?" feeling into a delightful head-slap. DIVING INTO, though ... add-preposition phrases are tough to make stand out.

I finished with an error, putting in CHIMA as the rapper with NIME as the daughter of Styx. I guessed CHIMA ... as in chime? Because she's a singer? Get it?

Fine, I didn't either.

I would have had a much more positive first impression of CHIKA if the NIKE clue had been eased up, allowing me to achieve a victorious solve. I'm big into Greek myths, my kids having listened to D'Aulaires book on audio roughly eight thousand times in the car, but NIKE's lineage escaped me, and NIME sounded familiar. It's a shame, because "Can't Explain It" is catchy!

INNU treated me much better. I didn't know the word — neither did XWI's resident Canuck, Jim Horne — but with unambiguous crossings, each one given a softball clue, I had a much friendlier first contact experience.

Entertaining to get a throwback LINsanity clue. He had his five minutes, played overseas, and is now trying to make another NBA run with the Warriors' G-League affiliate.

A peppering of great clues, with [Puts on the line, say] a standout — clever repurposing of a common phrase. I could have used more of these, though, since there wasn't as much juice in the grid's long entries as there typically is with themelesses featuring 14-16 long entries.

Beautiful set of six marquees. Next time, I'd love to see what Brooke can do with long marquees laid out with her trademark diagonal symmetry. Editors tend to adhere to their old ways, and I'd love to see them experiment more, allowing all sorts of different themeless layouts for variety's sake.

– puzzle by Brooke Husic and Ada Nicolle

MASS GENERAL, fantastic marquee entry! It's rare that I encounter a phrase that I haven't already added to our word list, and even rarer for that entry to be this evocative. Not only is MASS GENERAL one of the oldest and most prestigious teaching hospitals in the country, but it reminds me of all the time I spent listening to Click and Clack and their Boston accents. Makes me want to spend time in "Our Fair City."

HAM OPERATOR is another great one, an entry we haven't seen in the NYT since 1997. It's ripe for all sorts of clever clues and even wordplay themes. Maybe it could even tie in with CREATURE FEATURE somehow. I stay away from horror movies, but I might be enticed by a flick about an evil pig surgeon.

Neat Down entries tying into that triplet of feature entries, too. BEACH HUT brings up images of "Gilligan's Island," and ALLEY CAT is solid.

PASTICHE is a great way to conclude the puzzle. Editors usually prize multi-word entries for their color, but I'd take PASTICHE any day over GIVE A TRY. Turns out my idea of its definition — a general mixture of ideas — was a bit wrong. Fine, totally wrong!

Speaking of wrong, I finished with an error, crossing MARINT with FINA COURT. Will Shortz pushes back hard on initialisms that aren't known by "virtually everyone" (his words; think CIA, FBI), because if you don't already know it, no etymology will help you understand it. FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I didn't know LITT, either, but at least COUR? was easier to disambiguate. Couldn't be anything but COURT.

Finally, a standout clue, [Trace evidence?]. The question mark had me on high alert, but maybe I've been watching too many detective series. "Lupin" is fantastic if you haven't seen it, and the title font even looks like it might have been STENCILed!

– puzzle by Kameron Austin Collins

Howard! It's neat to see someone at the top of the crossword solving community continue his work in the crossword construction community. It's such a pleasure hanging with Howard at the ACPT, a great guy to be around and incredibly welcoming.

Welcoming puzzle today, too, a common theme type — reimagined in-the-language phrases — that even newer solvers maybe have encountered before. I enjoyed how apt they felt, BOTTLED UP ANGER something the Genie of the Lamp would undoubtedly harbor. I've heard the pun of farmers experiencing GROWING CONCERN before, but it still gave me a smile.

I was shocked that I hadn't heard the CULTURE SHOCK pun before, because that was the big winner. So entertaining to imagine a scientist go full drama queen upon making a bacteriological discovery.

GUARDED OPTIMISM wasn't as strong as the others, since a guard is never described as "guarded." Sometimes puns are measured by their groaniness, though, so in that regard, it succeeded.

A lot to admire in the grid, CON ARTIST and BUGS BUNNY excellent features, along with BOBA TEA and IPANEMA adding color. I'm a big Kevin Bull fan, so ALOPECIA was an asset in my book, too. I can see how that ALOPECIA / CECE crossing would be rough, though, if you've never seen "New Girl" (you're not missing much).

Some other hiccups, things like LABELLED and VIGOUR making each other more noticeable. I only know NINGBO from a previous crossword, and I wouldn't know OENO outside of crosswords. Crossing them is borderline unfair.

Laying out two of eight themers vertically can sometimes cause more problems than it solves. I'd be curious to experiment with an all-horizontal layout that had the shorter pairs — COMIC RELIEF and UNBRIDLED JOY — overlapping a little in adjacent rows.

Overall, though, it's difficult to hold my attention through a Sunday puzzle, and Howard's fun themer selections kept me going.

– puzzle by Howard Barkin

A single letter circled in an entry is so mysterious, so secretive. It makes me feel like a kid perched on the edge of my bed at 4 a.m. on Christmas morning. (GET BACK TO BED, TESS!) What's in the circle? A hidden message? A map? Leading to the location of the Holy Grail's resting place?

It didn't take long to uncover SEA CUCUMBER, and my initial reaction was like receiving socks. (They're a much more practical present than LEGOs, Jake!) Letter homophones are a crossword staple, and while they can still be effective, as this outstanding LGBTQ one, they need something extra to shine. After uncovering WHY YOU LITTLE ..., even this Three Stooges fan said more nyet than nyuk. It felt too easy to come up with all sorts of examples — besides Peter's above, there's TEA TOWEL, PEA PATCHES, BEE BEARD, etc. Themes don't need to be tight, but if you can't possibly think of a single other themer, that can generate a "wow!"

Glad I took a second and third look. Did you notice that each of the letter homophones doesn't start with that letter of the alphabet?

• SEA CUCUMBER
• WHY YOU LITTLE
• EL LIBERTADOR
• EYE IN THE SKY

Great finds! There aren't many letter homophones that work this way, so unless you want to make up kooky themers like EWE UNIVERSITY or ARR REDUNDANCY, this theme set is less socks and more LEGO Batman Wayne Manor Batcave with Gold-plated Batmobile.

I'm not always a fan of Peter's Monday grids, as they tend to skew extremely difficult. RAREBIT might be hard enough for a newer solver, and crossing it with OLIVA ... as much as I love the wealth of bonuses like BEA ARTHUR / BARCELONA / BUCKTEETH, there's no way I'd give this to my newb friends. However, I'll happily cite this tight theme as a shining example for newb constructors to study.

– puzzle by Peter Gordon

One of the key principles in marketing is that it takes multiple mentions before a brand name begins to register in people's consciousness. ABBA seems to have that down pat! I listened to a ton of ABBA in college, never noticing that their (gigantic) discography contains so many repetitive titles. So much for marketing, but neat observation, Katie!

ABBA is in crosswords with surprisingly high frequency, given that 1.) it doesn't exhibit any consonant-vowel alternation, and 2.) those Bs aren't the easiest letters to work with. Over 150 Shortz-era appearances, putting it in the top 150 most-used entries! This has more to do with the As still being extremely useful, no matter their position within the word, but it's fun to imagine constructors trooping away with "Super Trouper" in the background.

Solid debut gridwork! I breezed through, such a smooth product, with my only pause in the north region. PINKO and STENO feel 1950's-esque, and ABO might become apparent as blood typing letters only after some thought.

With only three long theme answers, I expect a ton of long bonuses. TOMATO SOUP and PANTOMIMES added spice, and GAMERTAG might speak to a generation of eSports fans. I would have liked more out of the EMISSION slot, but the mid-length HOT BATH, SINBAD, and MR COOL helped make up for that potential left on the table.

Loved the YELP clue, a website where you go to see "the stars." Hopefully, five stars!

It would have been great if all the phrases had been as naturally clueable as GIMME GIMME GIMME, a fine phrase on its own ("Daaaaad, I neeeeed that!!!"), since the kooky clues alerted me right away that something weird was going on.

I wonder if anti-ABBAites will be more apathetic or even against this puzzle, but this fan of the Swedish supergroup enjoyed the glimpse into their titular marketing prowess.

– puzzle by Katie Hale

I'm a huge fan of grid visuals, and Pete has given us some fantastic imagery over the years. One of my favorites, playing on Benjamin Franklin's kite, also focused on diagonals. Today, I enjoyed the picture of the TORTOISE plodding along, slowly but surely, his perseverance prevailing over the egotistical HARE. Clever idea to space out the TORTOISE letters, creating such an apt picture.

I wasn't as hot on how Pete portrayed the HARE. Having him without spaces is appropriate, but in the story, he gets halfway — or in some retellings, close to the finish line — before stopping for his break. Pete's execution makes it look like the HARE did a 100-meter sprint before he TAKES his NAP, which didn't mesh with the arc of the story.

What would have been better? I thought about that for hours. The best I came up with was to repeat HAREHARE on a diagonal below TORTOISE, then have him TAKE A NAP toward the bottom of the puzzle. Then, it would be perfect if the TORTOISE crossed TAKE A NAP, as if he were hopping over the HARE! However, solvers write in to Will Shortz with the kookiest "corrections," so that might have triggered THERE WAS ONLY ONE HARE IN THE STORY, SHORTZ YOU MORON! emails.

Diagonal entries cause so much inflexibility, and when you fix eight letters of TORTOISE in place — then add in other themers — the grid strains so much. Pete did well to place so many black squares around the center, but even then, ECTO STN kicking off the filling process isn't ideal. There's too much crossword glue everywhere, an unfortunate side effect of not having as many black squares to deploy around the perimeter.

I'd have been fine with only SLOW AND STEADY ... with "wins the race" implied.

I enjoy crossword art, and there's something mesmerizing about watching the TORTOISE make its way to the end. I rarely think about a puzzle for more than five minutes after finishing, so making me ruminate on this one for several hours is a testament to the creativity of the seed concept.

– puzzle by Peter A. Collins

John's comment about the AM/FM button amused me. I can imagine younger solvers coming to the end of their solve, wondering, what's AM/FM?

Then wondering, what's a RADIO?

One reason the NYT doesn't take many two-way rebuses is because it's hard for solvers to figure out what they should write in the special boxes. Additionally, what should electronic and app versions consider "correct"? Will people lose their streaks if they enter AM/FM, because the electronic version doesn't recognize slashes? It can be a morass of solver complaints, many of which will be justified. We've chosen to represent the special squares with a slash (see grid below), which made the most sense to us.

I appreciated that John picked some colorful theme answers, ALA MODE and OFF MIKE snazzy. I'd prefer for all of them to be longer, at least as long as MAMMA MIA and HALF MAST, but they're all reasonable.

It'd have been great to have more connectivity in my solving flow. I started and stopped all throughout, and finally got stuck in the bottom right corner. It's so frustrating to be stuck inside a mini-puzzle that the rest of the puzzle can't help you with. The grid would be much harder to fill if there had been no black square between TORT and OUR, but it would have made for such an improved solving experience. There are other ways of opening up the grid, too.

I found it strange to have the M not change from Across to Down, only the A to F difference. That qualm aside, though, I enjoyed discovering the four rebus squares, that last one in the SE a relief to finally crack.

– puzzle by John Lampkin

★ Another delight from Robyn! What I most want out of a crossword is ten minutes to forget about the woes of the world, so Robyn's BEDSIDE MANNER is perfect. GO WITH THE FLOW, DON'T GIVE UP, PADDLEBOATS, SOFT SPOT, FREE SPIN — so much EYE CANDY! If there were cruciverbal Olympics, I'd lobby hard for Robyn to get GOLD MEDALS in the themeless category.

I appreciate how she doesn't try to do too much with a grid, usually sticking to 70 words and maximizing both color and cleanliness. Maybe there's an argument that ESL could be difficult to suss out (English as a second language), and some solvers might not know NWA, but both of these entries have gimme crossings. I'm in awe of themeless constructors who can consistently pump out 68 or even 66-worders that exhibit similar levels of both snazz and smoothness, but that's incredibly rare. I'm more than happy to solve 70-worders like this one.

Robyn is one of the best in clever cluing, too. Granted, some of the wordplay brilliance comes from Will Shortz and the team, but Robyn's themelesses consistently have around a half-dozen wickedly sharp clues (most other regulars might have around 3 or 4). My favorite today was the confusing [It helps make waiting easier]. That's a TRAY, as in waiting tables — brilliant! Close behind, though, was GOLD MEDALS' punny play on "haul of fame."

Different people want different things out of crosswords, and Robyn's style may not resonate with those seeking deeper enlightenment or broadening of their world view. For those of us who want a pleasant diversion to start our day, something to clear our minds and put us into a positive mindspace, Robyn puts out near-perfect products.

– puzzle by Robyn Weintraub

Distinctive triple-stacks from Trenton. Not because of a total lack of rare letters (JQXZ) — blasphemy from a Charlson production! What stood out was his debuts of several marquee entries. I've read a few tales of ANANSI THE SPIDER, but I was glad to get the gimme partial AN OUT so I could be sure I spelled the name correctly. And [Hosts] is such a quintessentially Saturday clue. A single word, pointing to what will probably be HAS A PARTY or something, but no. That's HOSTS, as in the COMMUNION host WAFERS in Catholic masses. Brilliant misdirect, but incredibly difficult.

I also enjoyed the bottom stack, although it wasn't quite as distinctive. We've seen SILENT TREATMENT many times before in crosswords, because of all those friendly RSTLNE letters, and PRIVATE ENTRANCE is tough to clue in a clever way. "One's" phrases tend to sound too formal to my ear, but FEAST ONES EYES ON is excellent.

I also appreciated how many long entries Trenton wove through the stacks. I enjoy clues such as [Birthplace of Lewis Carroll]. How the hell am I supposed to know such minutia? Or why? But as I pieced the letters together, of course I would know it, from the CHESHIRE cat. Similarly, I don't know where Kangaroo Island is, but it gave me enough of a nudge to think about what capitals I know in or around Australia. ADELAIDE is pretty much it!

Clues like [Plays a critical role?] delight me with their misdirects — that's plays the role of a critic, not a critical role in a mission. I didn't notice how many of these there were at first, because I struggled so mightily to break into the triple stacks, but a harder post-solve look impressed me with how many clever clues there are. Punniness like [Total package?] = CEREAL (Total is a brand of cereal) helped keep up my spirits as I fought to gain toeholds whever I could.

Triple stacks on a Saturday can be daunting, and this one made me break a sweat. Trenton did a nice job setting me up for eventual victory, though, and he did so well to sprinkle so many great clues around as refreshment stations as I ran this solving marathon.

– puzzle by Trenton Charlson

Neat interlock! It's so rare to get a grid-spanning theme answer run vertically, the full length of the center column, and nearly unheard of to have six (!) long themers interlock through it. This is usually impossible because of symmetry requirements — interlocking one themer is easy, but getting a pair to snap into place takes some good fortune. Getting three pairs involves selling your soulf to Crucivera, the goddess of crosswords. Impressive feat, one that I don't remember ever before achieved.

It's not a stunt construction, either, one that's done to please the constructor more than the solver. If you can achieve interlocks, that's practical, allowing you to free up valuable grid real estate for cleaner short fill and more colorful bonuses.

Ashish could have run YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TOOTH horizontally across the middle, but it'd be nearly impossible to get something as awesome as JIM MORRISON and the famous anagram MR MOJO RISIN in symmetrical spots. Such a pleasure to encounter so much colorful fill.

I'm not hot on sub-140 word Sunday constructions, because they often require trade-offs in color, cleanliness, or both. Starting off with ESPO EDDA SMA isn't great, and quickly tacking on BURS (burrs?) ALD DDE … there's so much greatness going on around the middle of the grid, I'd have loved to see the perimeter smoothed out by deploying a few more black squares. So much potential for a gold medal grid today, but I'd still call it a silver.

As Ashish said, this is a simple sound change puzzle, but almost any tried-and-true theme type can still shine if done well. These themes live and die on the humor they generate, and a magician's BURDEN OF POOF made me laugh. As a mechanical engineer, I smiled at GOOP DYNAMICS. TAMING OF THE SHOO reminded me of when Tess gets annoyed at Jake and I have to ask her to rein it in. The only one that didn't do much for me was PENELOPE COOS, so 6 out of 7 is a great hit rate.

Solid example of a Sunday puzzle that aims at the broad solving population — not trying to be too tricky — and does it mostly well.

– puzzle by Ashish Vengsarkar

Such a solid example of a "hidden words" theme. Kevin does it by the book, each AFRICAn country embedded within a colorful phrase, each country spanning at least two words of the phrase. I especially enjoyed the lengthier finds, KENYA in CHICKEN YAKITORI excellent. It was also neat to see AFRICA spotlighted, as crosswords often focus so much on North America and Europe.

Great gridwork, too. The northwest corner is so important in setting tone, and ARCANE / CAR WAX / NAIL ART is a fantastic way to start things off. Nearby, Kevin worked in UBERIZE, such an interesting business term, meaning "follow UBER's disruptive business model." Getting LOUIE crossing HUEY also gave me a smile, as I watched a ton of "Duck Tales" as a kid. Fine, as an adult!

I considered this one for the POW!, but it didn't do enough to distinguish itself from the "hidden words" pack. Two ways that it might have succeed:

1. Longer hidden words. MALI is too easy to work with — a minute of searching turned up FORMAL INTERVIEW, ANIMAL INSTINCT, THERMAL IMAGER. I'd have been more impressed with MANGO LASSI or AFGHAN ARMY.
2. Revealer using wordplay. AFRICA describes the theme fine, but if there had been something as basic as how REC CENTER = REC in the middle of phrases, that would have helped. I'd love to brainstorm more on this concept, perhaps going after LANDLOCKED African countries, to describe how the countries are "locked" inside phrases?

Hilarious clue for TWERKED. Will Shortz has to be strait-laced, working for the NYT, but he has a soft spot for bringing up the rear.

Well-made puzzle that might have even won the POW! in some weeks. With an extra layer, it would have been a shoo-in.

– puzzle by Kevin Christian

Bracing myself for the flood of angry WHY YET ANOTHER BASEBALL PUZZLE?! emails …

I receive a lot of comments from people who hate this or hate that, or simply hate a puzzle because it makes them feel left out (or stupid). Baseball is at the top of that list. I'm no baseball fan, but it's difficult for me to understand the vitriol. It is America's National Pastime, isn't it? Perhaps it's the same reason as why certain NFL fans loathe the Dallas Cowboys, AKA "America's Team"?

Haters gonna hate.

Today's is a reasonable theme, common baseball idioms. It's been done many times over through the years, though, so I would have liked some extra layer, like Bruce mentioned. That could range from fresher, more recently coined sayings (INSIDE BASEBALL, perhaps), to some revealer that touches both on baseball and language. Maybe Delaware's nickname, the DIAMOND STATE, could have tied baseball idioms together, if they had been clued as spoken (stated?) phrases?

Solid gridwork, although not as colorful as I would have liked. GRAMOPHONE is historically interesting, but I don't like getting reminded of all the INSECT BITEs I get over the summer. I don't mind a NO SENSE entry but throw in WHO YOU and they collectively lend an off-kilter feeling.

Squeaky clean grid, though, with only CBER sticking out, and I didn't mind it because of the delightful clue. Radio-active … groan!

– puzzle by Bruce Haight

★ Delightful connection, E-READER giving solid rationale for playing on authors whose names are regular words plus an E. I'd have believed that there would be four authors exhibiting this trait — WOLFE and WILDE have been played upon in many a crossword — but to get four of them that could be worked into common phrases? I wouldn't have even attempted it. Fantastic finds!

This is a splendid example of why I admire "tightness" in a theme set. Dan Schoenholz did a similar concept years ago, but it included Gordie HOWE, Louis MALLE, Arthur ASHE. Zeroing in on authors makes today's theme so much more elegant and tying them all together with E-READER makes it even more memorable.

Amazing gridwork, as I'd expect from the dream team. Of course, Amanda and Ross give us the typical long downs that are colorful — SEA OTTERS and EXTROVERT — but they don't stop there. It's difficult to build in long Across bonuses because they often interfere with gridding around the themers, but look how smoothly Amanda and Ross slipped in LIFEBOAT, WHERE ELSE, YOGA POSES, US VS THEM.

Often, these long Acrosses can muddy up what is theme and what is not, but with the themers being so obvious today, it's not a problem.

I'd usually suggest breaking up YOGA POSES at the second O, or LIFEBOAT at the B, but when you're willing to put in the time and effort to iterate until perfection, it's an excellent decision to go big. There are few secrets to filling a wide-open corner like the NE. If you want it bad enough, there usually will be some combination of long entries that give you a favorable balance of color and cleanliness. Few constructors have the doggedness to keep going, though.

It'd have been great to get a 50-50 mix of male and female authors, as well as more diversity, but I couldn't think of any other authors besides Thomas PAINE and Graham GREENE that would fit the pattern. Curious if anyone else can uncover someone that might have worked toward this goal.

Standout puzzle — a clever theme and stellar execution.

– puzzle by Amanda Rafkin and Ross Trudeau

WHY YOU LITTLE is a perfect rebus revealer. Not only is it a phrase evoking all sorts of vivid images (why is it that an adult choking a kid over and over is okay, BTW?), but rationalizes why Y and U should be shrunk and crammed into a single box.

It's a shame that WHY YOU LITTLE appeared so recently, though. This puzzle would have had a more powerful impact on this daily solver if more time had elapsed. Unfortunate.

ENERGY USE is the classic way that Will Shortz wants a rebus string to be included — broken across words of a phrase. In the past, Will has balked at entries like TIMES PICAYUNE, where the string is fully embedded in one word, and the other word does no "theme work." I do like the color of YUKON GOLD POTATOES — that's some brilliant marketing — but it's strange to experience a non-standard rebus inclusion like this. I'd have welcomed FAMILY UNIT, MILITARY UNIFORM, SAY UNCLE, HIGHLY UNLIKELY, or even QWERTYUIOP for its sheer audacity.

I liked YUM YUM better. Even though it doesn't break YU across words, it's fun to have the repeat. There's been plenty of precedent for that.

It was odd to get the YUM repeated in YUM YUM / TOM YUM SOUP. They aren't etymologically related, but everything about it screams inelegant. I'd never put TOM YUM SOUP and BUBBLE YUM together in a themeless, for example.

There were a few wonky points, like I'M TOO headlining as a partial, and some ESSE ICBM RIAA. Overall, though, the spot-on revealer helped to make up for some of the not-quite-right parts of this entertaining debut.

– puzzle by Max Carpenter

This is such a useful themeless layout, allowing for a balance of decent solving grid flow, and potential sectioning for constructors. Once you figure out something that seems workable in the center region, you can work independently on each of the four corners. It's always easier to break down a problem into smaller chunks, so going from one giant 15x15 grid to four 8x3s makes construction so much simpler.

Sophia and Kyra did a fantastic job of squeezing every drop out of those precious long slots. ICE DANCE / MALLRATS / PLAYTEST = three colorful, multi-word phrases. AEROSMITH and CLEOPATRA aren't multi-worders (editors tend to favor these over single-worders, since they tend to be more interesting) but what great clues. AEROSMITH and Disney? An odd pair, that! And [Last of the Ptolemys] felt like it had to be some sort of RAMSES II or THUTMOSE I. Nope, a neat piece of trivia about the one-time Queen of Egypt.

ZOOM-BOMB hopefully will be something we can all look back and laugh at down the road. It's a fresh, topical term. Though I always wonder, how is it possible? No one's ever ZOOM-BOMBed in when Jim and I are chatting. Not that anyone would want to listen to Jim erupting with laughter as he takes in my peculiar observations …

I hadn't heard of MOMFRIEND. To me, it implied a parent who's trying too hard to be a friend to their kid, all the while failing at their momming job. But no, it's the friend in the group always acting like an overprotective mom. Now I'm curious what a DADFRIEND would be. (Do yourself a favor and don't Google it, at least not without a porn filter on.)

A couple of clues nearly went over my head, incredibly tricky for a Friday:

• PDAS: does anyone remember the Palm Pilot these days? Using "Palms" is tricksy, indeed.
• There's a Ford INDY car? I figured it had to do with the INDY 500; Ford sponsors cars for that. After Jim's cackling subsided, he explained it was a movie vehicle, for Indiana "INDY" Jones. I knew that.
• "Roll player" is a great repurposing of "role player" — I didn't even notice the spelling change. I wasn't sure what a PIANOLA was, but after looking it up, I appreciated that of course, a player piano would play a (paper music) roll.

– puzzle by Sophia Maymudes and Kyra Wilson

Ryan is such a master at these gigantic open middles. I've made a few themelesses using this pattern(ish) but note how Ryan shunned the big pyramids of black squares on the left and right of the grid. I wanted to do that, but it felt impossible — those extra black squares make a world of difference, an order of magnitude. To achieve something like SLICE AND DICE / EMOJI KEYBOARD / WAGE LABORERS, crossing BLANKET TOSS / LOOP DE LOOPS / RAGGEDY ANDY is a tour de force.

Puzzles like this one, with astonishingly few short answers, can be difficult to solve. Where do you even begin, with no toeholds? I was thankful that Leon URIS got a gimme clue — could easily have been clued to "Topaz" or "Mitla Pass." Even then, I was stuck for long minutes, staring at a nearly blank grid.

When puzzles are this difficult, I often slog to the end with frustration as my overwhelming feeling. Saturdays are supposed to be hard, but there's hard and there's so-freaking-impossible that it'd take Erik Agard a full six minutes to finish it. (I clocked in at about 50.) However, I was more exhilarated than anything when I finally reached the end. It was like that high you get when you sprint across (okay, stumble in a heap over) the finish line at a triathlon. So satisfying to finally crack EMOJI KEYBOARD.

Granted, I wouldn't think of saying EMOJI KEYBOARD in everyday language, but it's definitely a thing. I also wasn't positive was SPA TUBS were—SPATULA isn't something I want to think about in the bathroom—but they're also most definitely a thing (that I badly wanted after finishing this solving marathon!).

I gave this one a lot of consideration for the POW!, and if some of the clues had been turned down from difficulty = 11, like the SCOTUS not so generically described as a "high branch," it could easily have gotten there. Stunning achievement in gridwork.

– puzzle by Ryan McCarty

I'm not much of a cook — my lunches are usually "things my kids refused to eat, crammed together into a bowl" — but JULIA CHILD is so charming that I've followed several of her recipes. My wife cajoled me into watching some of her old shows, and to my surprise, I couldn't get enough. Her lack of rigidity and sense of playfulness came shining through in today's puzzle. I've heard all the quotes before, but I laughed at each one of them all over again.

I did get confused right off the bat by starting with BON APPETIT. Shouldn't that come after all the cooking is done ... at the end of the puzzle? (I wish I had recorded Jim Horne's cackles of laughter at my inanity when I mentioned this.)

Seriously though, I didn't drop into the pattern — the theme clues giving the first half of the quote, and the grid delivering the punchline — because BON APPETIT started me on the wrong foot. The first theme answer usually sets the tone and expectations for the rest of the—

Let's pause, so we can wait for Jim to stop snorting and wiping away his tears of mirth.

I'm impressed with what Jesse has done with Crosserville. It's still early in its life cycle, but I've already worked with a few new constructors using it. Crossword Compiler and Crossfire have some advantages still, though I wouldn't be surprised if Crosserville takes a chunk of market share. Great to see yet another barrier to entry broken down for new constructors.

I enjoyed some of the bonuses, like EMAIL ALERT and AL MICHAELS's "Miracle on Ice" commentary. I could have used more spice — this is JULIA CHILD, after all — and less drop-the-lamb A DARN / OR TEA / EAT NO / GO GET. (Rich Norris at the LAT hard-caps partials at two.)

Moving REALLY JUST A MEETING and EVEN PUT IT IN THE FOOD one row closer to the center would have helped with spacing. Note how tightly the first three themers are squeezed together. That often causes filling difficulties, especially when you weave in another long Across like OVERPOWER.

Some issues with layout and execution, but joy prevailed in my solving experience. I'm putting Julie & Julia on my list of feel-good movies to watch again.

– puzzle by Jesse Goldberg

Quote puzzle on a Monday? I can barely remember the last quote puzzle, period, much less one on a Monday. They tend to be much tougher than an average puzzle since you're effectively solving using only the Down clues. (Speed solvers do this as an exercise to improve their times, much like doing pull-ups with a weight jacket.) Often, it's so tough to string the entire quip together that it doesn't click until the very end.

Humor is subjective. This one didn't make me laugh, but a certain XWord Info person who shall remain unnamed thought it was hilarious. Canadians! I mean, people of unnamed nationalities!

One aspect I appreciated: Stephanie took great care to separate her quip into logical chunks. TAKING A DOG / NAMED SHARK / TO THE BEACH is much easier to make sense of than TAKING A / DOG NAMED SHARK TO / THE BEACH, for example.

No long bonuses (8+ letters) in the fill, but for a debut, I'd much rather choose cleanliness over color, especially on a Monday. Finishing with some minor ALS TPS (Will Shortz used to have a thing about solvers not figuring out what TPS stood for; he didn't have the same hobbies I did as a kid) is solid.

Next time out, I'd push Stephanie to experiment with a 76-word grid, taking out black squares between MAKO and TASTE, EGO and FRESCA, and/or COAX and NADER. A puzzle with only four themers should have at least a few long bonuses, although I did enjoy mid-lengthers like DARESAY and CHEETAH.

Quote puzzles used to be pervasive back in the day. Eugene Maleska even created a subtype, the StepQuote. There's room for further experimentation in this genre, especially if it somehow addresses the problems of

1. how difficult a quote puzzle can be to solve, and
2. the high-risk / high-reward of putting all your humor/wittiness into a single joke.

– puzzle by Stephanie Lesser

Early last year, friends and I submitted assorted Olympics puzzles to various venues, and we surprised to hear back that there were already too many accepted and on file. Guess we ought to have made 2024 Olympic themes instead!

I'm mixed on the upcoming Olympics. It's wonderful to see top athletes come together to compete at the highest levels. I also wonder how it might affect Japan's pandemic.

I'm also mixed on today's themers running through a backbone revealer of WOMEN's GYMNASTICS. On one hand, it's a feat of construction. Getting four themers to intersect the spine — with symmetrical pairings — gets a technical score of ten.

It's even more impressive that Sam was able to get (mostly) snazzy themers! KIT KAT BARS are some of my favorite candy bars, IN THE VAULT is an awesome metaphor, and GLASS FLOOR gets an evocative clue.

This nerd would have loved PHASER BEAM, though that wouldn't have allowed the fantastic OSCAR NODS.

Not so fun was figuring out the theme within a minute of starting. I much prefer a delayed a-ha moment. Perhaps "flipping" the puzzle — WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS in the middle row, the four themers running vertically through it — would have helped.

Great bonuses ... almost too many. I love entries like NBA MVP, HIT IT BIG, GREEK GOD, THAT'S A LIE; entries I enjoy seeing in any puzzles. They almost overwhelm the theme though, making SEALED BEAM pale in comparison.

Sam stuck the landing on a routine involving a high degree of difficulty. The choreography of the solving experience left a bit to be desired, though.

– puzzle by Sam Buchbinder

Easy to figure out what this puzzle is all about! In addition to the Grid Art collection, please peruse the Visual Puzzles page to enjoy other pretty images.

I'm razzle-dazzled by black square grid art that looks spot-on perfect. For instance, Tim Polin's question mark is unquestionable. My first impression of today's was more of a 2, although the Z quickly snapped into place after uncovering GRIZZLED VETERAN.

You might wonder if this puzzle sets a record for Zs in a grid, but surprisingly, it doesn't even come close.

Alex wisely alternated his ZZs left-right-left-right, making his construction much easier. It would have been awesome to get 2x2 squares of ZZ/ZZ, or a stairstep with one pair shifted, but what are you gonna do. When the giant black Z takes up so much real estate, you don't have much remaining flexibility.

I enjoyed much of this solving experience, although it didn't completely cohere for me. Why pairs of Zs, when the center Z is solo? I often find record-setting letter puzzles more interesting from a constructor's point of view than a solver's, but in this case, a record number of Zs could have memorably synergized with the grid art. Going to a higher word count might have given Alex a shot at that, plus a chance to smooth out his grid, removing some of ZEALS (odd as a plural), NEB, ONZE, PLAT, PVT, etc.

– puzzle by Alex Vratsanos

★ It's only been a few months since our last "joined squares" puzzle, but even with that, I enjoyed this one to a surprising degree. Great rationale in JOINED AT THE HIP = phrases with overlapping HIP sequences. Also, no telltale "stretched" boxes, as these puzzles usually contain. We debated whether to fix up the pairs of squares as per previous puzzles but decided that this was different. I like different.

At first, I thought it would have been better to employ HIPs that spanned across words. How hard could it be to find a *H I P* or *HI P* phrase? Surely … let's see ... BATH, I PRESUME? DELHI PEPPER? I ended up exclaiming BAH, I PROFESS!

I eventually did find SUSHI PLATTER(S), BANGLADESHI PEOPLE, NORTH IPSWICH, AHI POKE, WASHI PAPER. However, hardly any of them are as colorful as the themers John picked.

There's also something cool about working with such a fixed set of themer possibilities. For HIPs buried within words, all I could come up with were variations on HIPSTER, HIPPO, SHIP, WHIP, CHIP, as well as various proper nouns like HIPPOCRATES and HIPPOLYTA. It's cool that John covered basically the complete set.

Something pleasing, too, about having one set at the NW, another in the center, and a third symmetrically placed to the first. Tidy progression.

I was all set to point out COXAE as one of the few blips in execution, but John's comment made me smile.

I prefer trickier Thursdays, ideally with gimmicks I've never been seen before, but this one might be a great starter for intermediate solvers looking to push farther into the week.

– puzzle by John Guzzetta

Mike mentioned a while back that he's had a lot of success in themelesses (more than with themed), because he sticks to a sweet spot: the 70-word puzzle. Not a high degree of technical difficulty, but if you can squeeze every drop of color out of your long slots, while keeping the short material silky-smooth, you can achieve success. Such peppy and positive answers in EYE OPENER, HOT TICKET, NICE CATCH. I wouldn't say 100% CRUSHED IT, but it's close.

Even his add-a-preposition phrases are solid. It's not exciting to see ICE OVER, but DABBLED IN is a whole lot better than something like DONATED TO, for example.

The only plus/minus ones were ECONOMIZE and SPEED TEST. While the latter is a two-word phrase and even colorful in some ways, all those EST letters at the perimeter of a puzzle are a bit of a constructor's crutch.

[Enterprise group] is awkward for STARFLEET, but I admire the wordplay attempt. A shame that it didn't point even harder at Enterprise, the car rental company, but people who don't even know what STARFLEET is (heathens!) would never catch onto amped-up cleverness.

Interesting COSTA RICA clue. I enjoy these, where my initial reaction is "How the *@#$ should I know that?" to realizing that almost all countries dedicate huge portions of their budget to military and asking myself which ones might not. Given that my time in COSTA RICA was filled with surfing, friendly locals, and easy living, the pieces fell into place.

A note on LT DAN: I thought Gary Sinise's "Forrest Gump" role was outstanding. Will Shortz let me know a while back that he wondered if LT DAN had staying power. I politely reworked my grid to remove LT DAN, all the while pointing my phaser at Will. (Set on stun, of course.)

Not as much clever cluing as I like in a Friday themeless, but a few worked well, like SPEED TEST playing on a measurement for how "well connected" you are. I admire Mike's "fiber-intake" clue even more, and with some refinement, that could have been spectacular.

– puzzle by Michael Hawkins

I'd never heard of WHITE CLAW until last year. Not surprising, given that these days half a beer and I'll fall asleep. On a related note, Ricky and I have been working on a 21x21 crossword together, and he proposed FOUR LOKO in one spot. I was too embarrassed to admit I had no idea what that was — I said something to the effect of "what an awesome band, right?"

MARIO KART is much more my speed. Slow, that is, given that even my 8-year-old nephew can lap me. Even when I'm cheating. Apparently, I need new WHIPS. (I didn't know that one, either. Man. Talk about getting lapped.)

I love COINKYDINK, such a fun word to say, but I've heard others groan at how cloyingly cutesy entries like this are. Heck, I'm still not a fan of people saying "totes" for totally and "besties" and such. I never said I was consistent!

The most colorful answer in the grid for me was GLITTER. Surprised? Not if you saw the state of my living room, what with a self-professed crafts-lover who hasn't figured how to control her liberal GLITTER-sowing mania.

Great clue for TATTOO INK. It's already a fun entry, and wow, did it sizzle by playing on something "hard to get off your chest." Brilliant!

Similar for NBA PLAYER. I've seen Steph Curry's last name played upon several times, but I still got tricked. Did it mean the sauce? Curry favor? Ann Curry? For such a specific-seeming word, it sure has many directions it could go in.

Finally, I appreciated the fresh angle for TESSERACT. Some constructors consider it a bit of a cheat word, since it features so many common letters, but referencing the recent "Avengers" movies elevated it.

– puzzle by Adam Aaronson and Ricky Cruz

I'm a huge fan of tricky puzzles using the principle of one symbol plus another equals a third. Along with the ones Chandi mentioned, other memorable ones have been two Os atop each other = 8, a similar V over I = Y, and a great dollar and cents involving S and C combined with an I. This one goes one step further, overlaying X over I to form a sort-of asterisk. Another word used to describe an asterisk is … a star! Perfect for this constellation puzzle.

We've had a Sunday big dipper puzzle, and another one on a weekday, so I was skeptical as soon as I saw the constellations already outlined on the print version. It's perfectly fine to repeat a theme if there's some extra layer, but what else could someone do? Well, my stars (sorry) — X + I = (STAR) is indeed a neat way to do something above and beyond!

DOUBLE DIPPERS was a solid way to wrap together the puzzle, too.

It was interesting to study the theme phrases afterward, as I was unaware of these three cultural notions. DRNKING GOURD in African-American folklore, the SEVEN OXEN in Roman, and the WAGON OF HEAVEN in Babylonian. Neat to think about how the stars above connected diverse people from all over the world, from all over time.

Sure was difficult to uncover those unfamiliar phrases, though.

Several new constructors over the years have proposed constellation concepts to me, and I usually explain that I'm not sure there's enough room for yet another big dipper puzzle. This one's X + I = STAR was a great seed concept. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if the puzzle hadn't beaten me up so badly? Will Shortz usually aims for mid-week difficulty for his Sunday puzzles, while this one played like a Saturday, what with all the unfamiliar theme phrases, and how long (hours) it took me to figure out the X + I = STAR trick.

A revealer would have been useful: STAR, clued as [What an X overlaid onto an I looks like].

I admire the aim-for-the-stars thinking, though, exactly what the NYT Sunday puzzle should exhibit more often. Love to see it, especially in a debut.

– puzzle by Chandi Deitmer

Such an entertaining concept, three jazz musicians selling themselves, the trumpeter offering to TOOT HIS OWN HORN, the bassist saying he'll PULL SOME STRINGS, and the percussionist promising to DRUM UP BUSINESS. I've heard some theme pitches along this line but assembling these in the guise of a JAZZ trio is excellent.

Tough presentation for a Monday, though. It's unusual to get a revealer split between the first and last Across locations, and the themers felt a lot like three mini-quote puzzles. I had to solve using only Downs for most of the puzzle, each phrase not making itself clear until most of the letters were in place.

I don't mind a (much) harder puzzle on a Monday once in a blue moon, but this one would have been more welcoming to newer solvers if the clues had included "trumpeter," "bassist," and "percussionist." I get the inclusion of JAZZ / SHOW to bulk up the theme, but there's no shame in a more spartan 14 /15 /14 puzzle. That is much thinner than average, but it would have made for a reasonable theme set.

Not nearly as many long bonuses as I expect out of a puzzle with only three long themers, but that's okay for a debut. What's much more important is that the fill is accessible to newer solvers, and it generally was. I worried that hitting APSO right away might give people an excuse to go do something else, but thankfully, that was more a blip than a pattern, with only some dabs of ELAL and FOO elsewhere.

NICE JOB on the debut! I'd have suggested some adjustments to the grid skeleton, like shifting themers so you don't start out with a inflexible O???U pattern at 39-Down right off the bat, but those will come with time.

– puzzle by Tommy Pauly

★ I enjoy when people smash my expectations for what makes a standout early-week puzzle. For any theme, I've learned over the years that most editors look for:

• Long, multi-word phrases
• Strong revealer at the end of the puzzle
• Clever a-ha moment that jumps out at solvers

Upon first glance, today's puzzle didn't excel in any of those criteria. Single-worders REVITALIZE and ENGINEERS didn't do much, even for this engineer!

A revealer in the middle of the puzzle gives away the game too early.

And I was confused by the revealer — I couldn't make any sense of it, much less find an aha.

And then it all came together. And how! IZE = eyes, EERS = ears, NOES = nose, and saving the best for last, LYPSE = lips. FACE RECOGNITION — with the bonus of face parts listed in anatomical order(ish)!

It took me a hot minute to figure out the concept, and I'm so glad I spent the extra time with it. Delayed aha moments can deliver such a powerful impact.

I wouldn't have made the same choices — I'd have gone with colorful multi-worders like NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, SEASON PREMIERS, ACTIVE VOLCANOES, SNOWPOCALYPSE, with the revealer at the end. However, I don't think that would have provided as strong an impact. The simplistic nature of those single-word themers means that they can stay out of the way as solvers figure out the concept.

Thinking about it more, I even like the revealer in the middle more than at the end, where it typically "should be." It doesn't give away the game completely, more hints at it. This way, solvers get more time to think it through as they complete the second half of the puzzle.

Along with solid gridwork — LOVE SHACK, TRY TO RELAX, UNFAITHFUL, FILE TYPES are solid to great — it's a memorable debut. I appreciate Jennifer and Victor smacking me out of my routine to enjoy a puzzle with fresh ize. One amazing positive from the pandemic is the huge influx of new constructors, bringing in ideas that break the mold. REVITALIZE, indeed!

– puzzle by Jennifer Lee and Victor Galson