New York Times, Thursday, August 4, 2022

I tried and failed to make this puzzle quite a few times before it came to be. I had thought of the revealer but couldn't figure out how to implement it — considered having synonyms for shop pop up, or types of shops, or specific brands, but nothing worked. And then I decided to try the simplest version, and here we are!

I am not a shopper, but I am a walker, and I love when pop-ups pop up and change the landscape of a familiar street. I also love pop-up Halloween stores and holiday markets.

Shoutout to the Roll The Dice puzzle from 2020, which I loved and was the first time I remember seeing this mechanic. Also, shoutout to the editorial team — they changed a ton of clues this time, and it's fun to have a puzzle that feels so collaborative and to learn new things (like 15-Across or 12-Down!) from my own puzzle. Hope you enjoy!

Many moons ago, I tried to create a crossword around POP UP ADS — the word "pop-up" screams for wordplay. After exploring a dozen different executions, I still didn't come up with one that I thought would delight solvers. I wish I had landed on Ella's concept!

Some solvers will fill in every box and still not get the theme, so we've highlighted the thematic squares. It's so evocative, a SHOP popping up and then disappearing into the background, mirroring the life cycle of real-life pop-up shops.

This mechanism works so perfectly for this puzzle. Not quite as perfectly as an ORCA spy-hopping in the middle of WINDSOR CASTLE would, but the whale-watching Seattleite in me is biased.

Excellent gridwork, too. It might seem like the H and O atop the S and P are trivial to grid around, but they force a lot of constraints. It's solid enough to use something like OPTED (BOPP less so), but GROWTH SPURT growing through one of the HS pairs, and OH SNAP / HIGH SPIRITS through the others = EUPHORIA. Brilliant way to add emphasis to your themers.

The thematic density felt a tad low, and I would have given this the POW! if Ella had added in JOHNS HOPKINS. It's the only notable other possibility I could find (DENNIS HOPPER is too similar to GRASSHOPPER), so it would have completed the set perfectly. Much harder to grid around an extra themer, but I bet Ella would have been up to the task.

Solid cluing work, too. Starting from 1-Across, [Cubans are full of it] sounded more like a controversial epithet than a clue. Thankfully, it was referring to the HAM in a Cubano. You know, the Cubano, the dish seen around the world? Oh right, that's a UFO.

Fitting that Ella's last Across entry helped her take a BOW. So close to a POW!