New York Times, Thursday, August 5, 2021

My original idea involved answers like TALL DARK AND HAND, clued as [With part of 64-Across, conventionally attractive.] 64-Across would then be the sizzling revealer ALL, and you'd realize you have to use part of that, aka SOME, to complete the theme entries (i.e. TALL DARK AND HAND[SOME]).

I quickly realized that the concept needed [Part of 64-Across] work so I sent it to my island of misfit themes and went on with my life.

Fast forward a few months. I was solving this puzzle by John-Clark Levin and Jeff Chen, and landed on the entry GRIFFIN, shaded in grey. "Damn!" I thought. "They've cracked the ALL/SOME idea using mythological creatures! I bet EAGLE and LION will be missing elsewhere in the grid, and you'll have to break GRIFFIN apart to fill the gaps! Brilliant!"

Of course, that was not the theme of that puzzle, not even close. But the nice thing about whiffing on a theme guess is that you may end up with an original idea you can use yourself! (Also — the actual theme of that puzzle is incredible. I highly recommend solving it if you haven't already).

This grid was a bear (or, half-bear half-human) to make, particularly in the central column where the themers intersect. I'm glad I was able to keep the animal theme going by honoring the GOAT Alex TREBEK, and my beloved HARIBO Goldbears. Big thanks to the editorial team for the many wonderful clues (though I will brag and say my favorite clue in the puzzle is my own, at 55-Across).

One last thing I'd like to share, and apologies for running long. My incredible partner Anna works as a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant trying to, in her words, "make corporate America less sexist and racist, among other things." One of the many great aspects of being married to her is that she always calls me out on my blind spots, and helps me learn from them. This puzzle had a few of those blind spots I'd like to address.

Firstly, is MANHOLE COVERS still a preferred term? I know some places call them 'maintenance covers' to use less unnecessarily gendered language. And for that matter, are all centaurs even men, anyway? Or is 'MAN' in that sense used like 'mankind'? But wait, is 'mankind' even a preferred term anymore? These issues may be small nits in the grand scheme, but even small issues are important to talk about. It's an ocean of drops, after all.

Many constructors have approached me with various "half-human, half-creature" puzzle concepts. Aside from CENTAUR and MERMAID, there's the GRIFFIN (half lion), SATYR (half goat), HARPY (half eagle), MINOTAUR (half bull), among others. I can imagine Greek storytellers running out of ideas, asking themselves, what other human-animal hybrid can I concoct?

All my co-brainstorming has gone nowhere, no approach hitting me strongly enough to want to dedicate time to it. It's so tantalizing … in a Tantalus sort of way.

Today's is an approach I'd never considered: an intersecting phrase using the WOMAN top half of MERMAID, and the FISH bottom half. (WOMAN) OF THE WORLD and DRINK LIKE A FISH. I admire what Adam was able to achieve, given his constraints. Not easy to get four themers, placed symmetrically, all intersecting into MERMAID and CENTAUR. Solid phrases, too, making the feat even more impressive from a technical construction standpoint.

It didn't sing me a siren song, though. Having to clue OF THE WORLD awkwardly … even Homer would have trouble recounting the cross-referenced language.

It did make me wonder, what could have been more impactful? I spent an hour sketching out various options, including one with a WOMAN phrase intersecting the first M of MERMAID and FISH phrase crossing the I, to make it more elegant. Didn't work with symmetry. Bah!

I finally hit on something that seemed fist-pump worthy: themers oriented vertically, like PRETTY MERMAID AND CHIPS. This would hint at two themers — PRETTY (WOMAN) using the top half of MERMAID, (FISH) AND CHIPS using the bottom.

That might have gone over some solvers' heads, though. Not unlike those grapes pulling higher as I reach for them.

The puzzle overall didn't hit me as strongly as I wished, but I'm a miniscule minority who's spent dozens of hours thinking about this concept. And it's impressive that Adam was able to make the symmetry work in this concept.