ANAGRAMMAR

Christopher Adams, 27, of Iowa City, Iowa, is a crossword constructor for mainstream markets (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times and others) and for so-called indies — including his own website, where he frequently posts new puzzles free. In his spare time Chris hosts, writes and plays trivia at local bars.

One of these days I will have a puzzle in the NYT that doesn't use left/right symmetry, but today is not that day. As with both previous puzzles, the symmetry was pretty much dictated by the lengths of the theme entries. In addition, since all of the theme entries are of even length, the grid ended up being wider than usual to accommodate this. Neither of these changes bother me (in fact, I often use unusual sizes / symmetry for puzzles on my own site), but together, they did pose some challenges.

In particular, this means that every across entry straddling the middle columns has to be at least four letters long. Coupled with the fact that every theme entry has to be centered as well, it was a bit of a challenge to find a grid layout that allowed me to keep things clean and fresh while not being too constrictive. It's no wonder, then, that most of the long fill is out on the edges of the puzzle, where there are fewer constraints. But I was pleased to be able to work in some long downs through three theme entries apiece.

The longer across entries were also a nice bonus; KARAOKE BAR, in particular, is a favorite. Even though it's the same length as one of the theme entries, it was too good to leave out. My original submission had shading in the theme entries, both to avoid this confusion of what was and was not theme as well as making it easier to figure out which letters are involved in the theme; that said, the title and the clue for 105-Across spell things out pretty well, I think.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this one—a few more black squares than I'd like, but most of them are forced by the symmetry and the lengths of the theme answers, and the ones that aren't forced either helped immensely in filling around the overlapping theme answers or in working in some interesting answers. And, of course, keeping fill clean and crossings fair—to me, that's the golden rule, and if it takes a few extra black squares to do that, then I'll do that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Back in 2017, George Barany and I had a puzzle in the Minnesota Crossword Tournament whose reveal was MINNESOTA WILD and whose theme answers were EXPANSION TEAM, NOMINATES, EXILE ON MAIN ST, and ANTIMESON. That puzzle was 17 rows by 13 columns. At that tournament, we were talking with Jeffrey Wechsler (who also had a puzzle in the tournament that year), who told us that he also had a puzzle with nine letter anagrams coming out in the near future; it was eventually published in the LA Times in 2018 with the reveal CHOCOLATE SWIRLS. That puzzle is 15 by 15, and Jeffrey noted that he managed to find all of his theme answers by hand (whereas both the MINNESOTA WILD and MIXED METAPHORS puzzles used computer assistance for the majority of it, although in both cases some potential theme answers were found by hand).

As far as I am aware, these are the only previous puzzles with anagrams of nine or more letters, although I'd be delighted to learn of any others. And I'd be remiss not to point out this absolute gem from Erik Agard, which has an OUT OF ORDER elevator (so, eight letters) in every theme answer (and, appropriately, has them all running up/down).

We've seen a ton of "mixed-up letter" themes, but how many have used strings of nine letters? As a constructor, I'm in awe of that possibility — I wouldn't have even considered exploring it.

If you're still baffled as to today's theme, we've highlighted the strings of letters below to make it crystal clear.

Still confused? That's okay. The highlighted letters are (M E T A P H O R S) in no specific order.

I appreciated the theme tightness. Five minutes of coding showed me that there aren't many other possibilities. CAMPHORATES, HOMER A THOMPSON, SWAMP HORSETAIL, and they're all boring or esoteric.

As a solver, it's more a curiosity than a brilliant find, though. Almost an afterthought; a "huh moment."

Thankfully the grid is well-done, giving solvers a lot of bonuses while keeping short fill smooth. The deluge of delight, PAX ROMANA, KARAOKE BAR, BLANK STARE, EARMARKS, SKYMALL, ROYAL WE, etc. gave me the sense of solving a good themeless puzzle. Chris is such a pro.

Maybe ditching the theme and just making it a themeless would have been better?

Or cutting out MIXED METAPHORS, and making it a contest puzzle? "What common phrase do the five themers hint at?" You could give the letter enumeration (5,9) to make it easier.

How about using a variety of other MIXED ____ phrases?

• CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE [Writer with mixed metaphors inside?]
• ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT [Song with mixed emotions?]
• SINGLES BARS [Places that come with a mixed blessing?].
• CAT AND MOUSE GAMES [They might come with a mixed message?]

A ton more if you open it to other "mixed" synonyms.

BTW, feel free to email me if you have a theme idea that requires some coding assistance. Happy to help out gratis if it's easy, or share a byline if it's not.