New York Times, Monday, October 14, 2013

C.C.:

This theme came to me while reading an article on Sergio Garcia's temper tantrums at the 2002 U.S. Open (Bethpage Black). Scott, who blogs for our L.A. Times Crossword Corner on Mondays and Tuesdays, is an avid golf fan, so this was a great project for us to collaborate. Since the theme entries are all rather short, we decided to overlap the top and bottom entries, which gave us the best fill.

SCOTT:

How did I get into constructing puzzles? C.C., she won't take no for an answer...and I'm glad she didn't. I am glad I could help. If I had known how the course at Ardmore would tame the PGA Tour this year, I would have strived to place Merion in the puzzle somewhere. It would have been a unique word.

Zhouqin is one of surprisingly many Times crossword constructors from the Minneapolis area (what is it about Minneapolis?). I like this puzzle because the repeated element (US-) at the starts of the theme entries is so unexpected, and because the "explainer" at 43D is so good. PIANO BARS, MALL RAT, NOT FAIR, and TALK RADIO are great nontheme entries, too. BTW, when I was in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, Zhouqin answered a question I'd been wondering about: how the heck is her first name pronounced? It's something close to "SHOW-tsin." Now you know.

The constructor community is amazing. When I was just getting started with crosswords, I read C.C.'s blog religiously, making sure I gleaned as much information as possible out of each puzzle. Both C.C. and Scott (Argyle, as he's known over there) were so supportive, always saying kind things about my puzzles, being gentle in their thoughtful critique. The entire commenting community was so nice, too, which made me look forward to checking in as much as I could. I even wrote one puzzle after getting inspiration from C.C.'s name. Blessed to be a part of this community.

Nice opener to the week, theme answers which all start with US, using the revealer US OPENS. Clever idea! The theme is nice, with five long entries, but a more notable aspect is what's becoming C.C.'s signature: inclusion of lots of good long downs. PIANO BARS, NOT FAIR, TALK RADIO, OIL RIGS, MALL RAT. That's a ton of good fill for a single 15x puzzle.

I also appreciate how C.C. and Scott use cheater squares to improve the fill. The four corners are relatively big white spaces, so without the two pairs of cheaters, they would have been harder to fill cleanly. As it is, the NALA/LOIRE crossing may give some beginners a problem, and the inclusion of two French rivers could cause some grousing. People probably ought to know LOIRE (or learn something about it because it is France's longest river), but I could understand if ISERE causes grumbles.

Another issue I notice: the placement of the theme revealer feels slightly inelegant. The revealer itself is very nice, but its off-center placement in the lower corner gives the puzzle an asymmetrical feel. It would have been very nice if it were in the last across theme spot, in the middle of the middle row, or in the middle of the middle column. That's more difficult to do, though — almost every puzzle construction calls for trade-offs.

Finally, a challenge to C.C., who's rapidly becoming one of the most published constructors (counting the NYT and the LAT): I always look forward to those beautiful long downs, but I'd love to less entries like ESAI, YEE, EDINA, IRAE, ULEE, and the aforementioned NALA, LOIRE and ISERE in Monday puzzles. These are all acceptable crossword answers, but I would love to see C.C. join me in my quest to make more Monday puzzles that true beginners can tackle. What better than a silky-smooth Monday solve to kickstart a lifetime love of crosswords?

The ability to make Monday puzzles with an interesting theme and filled clean as a whistle might be the rarest talent in all of construction.