New York Times, Saturday, January 22, 2022

I was still early in my constructing apprenticeship when this one sprung to life. I wanted a grid with flow and a sense of movement, and stumbling on this pattern immediately caught my eye. Sometimes the right central answer in the right grid just makes everything flow, and I had an embarrassment of good fill to choose from, or at least that's how I'm remembering it.

I was likely tearing my hair out until the wee hours, but we have a way of blocking out those experiences. MENTAL GYMNASTICS was indeed what I was going through at the time, as well, so that was an entry I was determined to feature before I'd even begun.

I love this puzzle's debuts: the central answer, as well as LEGO HOUSE (also an Ed Sheeran song with a video featuring Happy Potter's Rupert Grint), HOT COMB, HIRED GOON and POUR OVER, and that my first NYT themeless made it to the coveted Saturday slot.

Thanks to the editing team for all their help with the cluing — the collective brainpower is always impressive.

MENTAL GYMNASTICS has such a wow factor, anchoring this puzzle solidly in POW! territory all by itself. The fact that it's also 16 letters, instead of the usual grid-spanning length of 15, also helps to distinguish it, because it opens up a ton of innovative possibilities in grid design. Daniel created a pattern of black squares that's not only eye-catching, but novel — nerds like me can use our "topologically similar grids" data (in our "Analzye this puzzle" feature), and it wasn't a surprise that today, there were no others like this one.

I flew through this Saturday much faster than Jim Horne, probably because I'm so much cooler than him. Gentle giant on "GoT"? HODOR! Danish attraction … LEGO HOUSE! "Dune" reference? TIMOTHEE Chalamet!

Jim's not impressed.

*preparing HORCRUX*

Thankfully, there was also more to love in less nerdly topics. FREEGAN might be a foreign term, but it's so fun. More importantly, it's gettable as a play on "vegan."

As if all of this didn't delight me enough, there were two standout clues:

• [Well done, in Italian] had me thinking about Italian food. Being the equivalent of a dull-witted two-year-old pre-hominid in the kitchen, I shuddered, wondering what sort of Italian cookbook term I was expected to know. Such a great a-ha when it turned out to be a general "well done!" term. MOLTO BENE, indeed!
• BRAILLE, so innocently clued as [Words read with feeling]. It should be a requirement that every Saturday puzzle has at least one clue this fantastic.

Some minor dings, like PLOT TWIST feeling oddly clued as a [Familiar soap opera device], but so, so, so much to love. Encore, maestro! (Daniel is a professional opera singer.)