New York Times, Thursday, September 17, 2020

Very happy to be making my NYT debut.

I'm an architect living with my wife and daughter (and these days, my son on leave from college) in Brooklyn, NY. I initially got into this mess a few years ago when my then 2nd-grader took an interest in word puzzles; turns out brainstorming themes and gimmicks is great with kids who haven't yet learned to think inside the box. Major thanks to my good friend Rich Proulx (a great xword constructor and a real mensch) who has been a reliable sounding board for just about every puzzle I've worked on since then.

This puzzle came from thinking of ways to use grid art (evocative arrangements of black squares) as an integral part of the solve. Limiting the set to 15-letter phrases with the string /AND/ but not the word "AND" yields plenty of colorful options… but combinations of four such which can intersect each other are scant, which makes for a tighter theme. (Having /AND/ straddle two words would have been my first choice --like TASMANIAN DEVILS, say-- but, alas, that was one constraint too many.) Providing enough white space around the plus-signs to make them "pop" was another special challenge, but combining that with a minimal reveal ("AND") left room for some extra 8x slots, which helps in a grid which appears, at least at first, to have no long themers.

As a newb, I was sad to see some of my favorite clues edited out ([Joint holder] for SINEW; [Not a firm order?] for SOFTBOIL; etc.), but also glad they were able to keep a bunch. I'm starting to appreciate the editors' need to distribute sneakier clues in just the right places for a smoother solve, especially on a tricksy theme.

Ah, me and my long crossword memory. If it hadn't been for a brilliant "black square plus signs" one from a few years back, I would have loved today's. Even so, I enjoyed seeing a different take on the concept, the black plus signs standing in for AND within phrases. It's amazing that all four phrases ranged from solid to great, given that all four had to interlock.

If you're not familiar with the DAGWOOD SANDWICH, it's that crazy, head-height monstrosity that Dagwood Bumstead makes for himself, unlatching his jaw so he can bite into it. GOLDEN HANDCUFFS might be foreign, too — it's the colorful business term for a set of incentive-laden contract terms that makes it tough for an exec to leave his/her position.

I appreciate that Simeon worked hard to give bonuses throughout the grid. He could have easily gone to 78 words, focusing on a clean grid, and I wouldn't have faulted him for that. But when you can keep the grid clean and go down to 74 words, allowing for great bonuses such as ALISTERS, APOLLO XI, MOONSET, SPAMBOT?

To see such smooth and snazzy work from a new constructor is such a pleasure. Biggish corners like the southwest are no joke, and it's clear that Simeon spent time refining each subsection of the grid.

That clue for APOLLO XI, too. I kept wondering why so many people would be interested in a TV series pilot — M*A*S*H, maybe? What a clever misdirect to a NASA pilot, seen on TV.

Overall, a solid concept that might strike non-OCD crossworders more strongly. It's fun to see black squares pull extra duty in a crossword.