New York Times, Tuesday, January 26, 2016

First of all, a big shout-out to my father and stepmother, who are huge David Bowie fans, and thus indirectly inspired this puzzle by turning me on to such excellent music at an early age. When Bowie passed away on 1/10/16, all I could do to honor his legacy was play my favorite hits nonstop. His early "Ashes to Ashes." His late "Lazarus." And, of course, his timeless "Space Oddity."

Well, naturally, I had noticed during this time that DAVID/BOWIE could be a symmetric pair in a crossword, and I whipped up a quick mini** around the entries. But the idea of making a larger tribute puzzle began to eat at me … so I experienced quite the "aha" moment upon hearing the opening lyrics of the last song mentioned above. Construction fell simply, as I had flexibility with pretty much all of the answers, although I really wanted TOMFOOLERY since it didn't employ the name "Tom" in the same sense as the song. As far as the fill goes, I didn't design my grid for many longer non-theme answers, so I tried to make the most out of the 6s, 7s, and 8s available: NUM LOCK, BLU-RAY, ST. LUCIA, IPOD NANO, etc.

To me, this puzzle alone was dear enough to my heart, and I was *this* close to cluing it up indie-style and posting it on my site. However, just for the heck of it, I shot Joel Fagliano—who I was already in contact with regarding mini** puzzles—a quick email that displayed the unclued grid, asking if he and Will wouldn't by chance have any interest in running the timely puzzle. To my surprise, I received a "Yes!" response from both individually, and excitedly reversed course. You know the rest!

Who knew that my 10^th puzzle in the Times, a personal goal in itself, could be such an adventure? So. Incredibly. Grateful. :)

**Shameless plug: Joel has recently brought me on board with writing some of the 5x5 and 9x9 puzzle packs for the New York Times crossword app! If you're a relatively new solver, or are looking for some quick, fun puzzles, check ‘em out; they're meant to be super smooth and timely, and can be enjoyed by many different audiences. Happy solving!

Timely puzzle, a tribute to DAVID / BOWIE. I like it when tribute puzzles have some added layer or are understated, so this one worked great for me. I didn't see GROUND / CONTROL / TO / MAJOR / TOM coming until I hit DAVID / BOWIE, for a nice a-ha. It's a memorable snippet from arguably Bowie's most recognizable song; a lovely way to remember a man who made such huge contributions to pop music and pop culture in general.

Sam has his own indie puzzle site, and it tends to run a bit too crude or "bro" for me, so I like the more subtle personal touches he put on this puzzle. I HEAR YA sounds so much like Sam, and the clues ["Well, aren't you something!"] for LADIDA and [Yes ‘n no"] for KINDA also carry his voice. Entries like NUMLOCK give the puzzle a younger, fresher feel, and starting the puzzle with YUKS is so pleasing. Well done.

Speaking of TO TASTE though, I don't really want to hear about diarrhea in my puzzle. I appreciate how beneficial IMODIUM is, but it wouldn't be at the top of my personal list to include in a puzzle.

Otherwise, nice and clean work. The only piece of fill that stuck out was IT ON, and that looks necessary given that IPOD NANO runs through three themers, and that north section is very constrained by two themers along its bottom. Just a minor ding, especially considering how much theme material there is.

I would have loved if DAVID BOWIE had been the final theme answer, so the a-ha moment would have come later — and seeing BOWIE to the left of DAVID was odd — but it's tough to squeeze in so much theme. If you can split up a themer into two parts like DAVID / BOWIE, it does give you more flexibility in a grid layout.

I've heard some solvers accuse constructors of morbidly pre-making a puzzle to commemorate a celeb's death — that's some bizarre thinking — but rest assured that this one was constructed afterward and swapped in at the last minute. As I understand it, it's not easy to go through the NYT's logistical process to do this, so I'm glad they did. Very nice tribute.