New York Times, Friday, August 12, 2022

It's been ten years since Wynton Marsalis was in a New York Times crossword. While playing in the jazz ensemble during my college days at TCU, I had the privilege of attending a master class he taught for our trumpet section. It made quite an impression on my 19-year-old brain, and I'm happy to be able to put him back in the puzzle after an extended absence.

I'm still plugging away at my psychology practice and posting crosswords and cryptics on my puzzle blog, Grid Therapy. I hope you'll drop in and check it out. Have a fantastic weekend!

Been a while since we've had a themeless featuring symmetrical black square chunks in each of the four corners. I like the spherizing effect, almost producing an 8-ball visual. Not as 8-ballish as an EIGHT TRACK TAPES mini-theme, though!

(Our Calendar page makes it easy to browse themeless patterns since thumbnails handily pop up when you mouse over them.)

With a layout like this, it's critical to squeeze every last drop of juice out of the precious few long slots. Trent did well, with so much SPACE CAMP, SPIN CLASS, MORNING RITUAL with a winky crossword reference. I'd nearly say YOU NAILED IT!

Why "nearly"? Given the sky-high threshold for Friday themelesses these days, even minor nits stand out. THE DOG ATE IT is a solid answer, but it feels dated, given that so much homework is done electronically these days.

And this Charlie Brownesque guy loves THE DOCTOR IS IN, but cluing it as a song from a 1967 musical made it a bit Charlie Browny for this theater moron.

Trent's mid-length material, though = ACED IT. Six and seven-letter slots are challenging to make sing, but FAKE TAN, PARADOX, CARFAX, PHASER, TABOOS are so evocative. I appreciate the care he took in all those selections.

(Will Shortz typically doesn't care about short dupes like YOU NAILED IT / ACED IT, even when they cross.)

Black squares eating away at the four corners makes construction so much simpler. Three blocks per corner ease things by a factor of five, and six blocks per corner is more like an order of magnitude. The constructor in me thus increases evaluation strictness proportionally. But even with that considered, Trent did a great job of eking so much sparkle out of almost every possible slot.