New York Times, Saturday, August 6, 2022

I'm guessing the entry that will garner the most attention is 26-Across. Although I'm also the person who debuted CONDOM in the Times, there's no agenda here. It wasn't, um, a seed entry.

I had a whole grid built with UP IN ARMS, but when I thought of UP IS DOWN, I decided it would be a better entry, and that led to using VASECTOMY. The clue [Form of birth control] is from the editors, but I like it because I think it is a useful exercise for solvers to think of how many forms of birth control for females they thought of before considering forms for males. My clue was a bit of trivia I found interesting: [Procedure legalized in France in 2001, but banned in Iran in 2014].

Several of my friends now have Swiss Army keychains engraved with the name Dr. Snip. Talk about genius-level marketing.

Byron's low-word count grids often contain entries that garner attention. I had no problems with VASECTOMY, though — that is, after following the exact process of elimination he described. Neat to see a valuable medical procedure given its due.

I wasn't as sure about BIDENOMICS — is it as in-the-language as Reaganomics, for example? — but it turns out the media uses it. Although people will point to rampant inflation and poor growth during the Biden years, economic policies can take years to give results, so it's too early to tell what BIDENOMICS will bring about.

Doesn't keep me from grumbling about prices at the pump, though.

Curious that DOTARD was not far away from BIDENOMICS — political statement, perhaps? Also curious that I knew that DOT ARD is the new web domain for Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

(Spoken like a true dotard.)

OSCAR BIDS was another that I scratched my head over. OSCAR NODS and OSCAR BAIT, sure. I should have known that studios throw millions of marketing dollars in pushing certain movies for recognition. So much for "may the best movie win."

UP IS DOWN is the one debut entry I wish we'd already had on our XWord Info list. It's so evocative! The full UP IS DOWN AND DOWN IS UP would be even more amazing.

Crossword radar pinging …

PINBALLERS was already in our word list, because Kevin Der had used it a decade ago in an audacious construction requiring an entry with PIN and BALL rebuses next to each other. It was absolutely worth it for that theme. This former pinball wizard is doubtful about how strong it is in today's puzzle, but newspapers do use terms like NFLERS and NBAERS, so there's a case that it's reasonable.

Byron's Saturday themelesses tend to be some of the hardest crosswords around (in addition to Kevin's!), so I was exhausted but JUMPing FOR JOY when I filled in that last square.