Nice work from Sam today. He starts with typical triple-stacks in the NW / SE, but I like how he sort of stacks a fourth long answer ...
read moreNice work from Sam today. He starts with typical triple-stacks in the NW / SE, but I like how he sort of stacks a fourth long answer in NAME BRANDS on the top and PINA COLADA on the bottom. Offsetting a fourth long answer like this makes the stack much easier to build around (compared to putting four long answers atop each other), but it gives a similar feeling of jam-packed goodness. LEFT BRAIN / UGLY BETTY / TRAP QUEEN / NAME BRANDS = huge impact!

Well, huge impact for Fetty Wap fans. But even for us music idiots, at least TRAP and QUEEN are recognizable words, if not a recognizable song.
Also loved the featured SUMO MATCH and LOGARITHM in the other corners. I imagine there isn't that much overlap between Fetty Wap fans, Yokozuna enthusiasts, and math dorks, so it's nice to get something for everyone. Great to get those fantastic entries spread around the grid, giving an overall feel of being chock full of goodies.
TYRA BANKS and her term, "smizing" ... so impressive that she made it big in the modeling business, then parlayed that into business moguldom, and now a new word that actually feels interesting? Standing O for her!
A couple of blips in the short fill, A TEST the most notable. I feel like A BOMB or H BOMB is in the language, but A TEST (with all its constructor-friendly letters) … REUNES is a similar story. It is in the dictionary, but I'd feel silly saying I'm reuning with my MBA class this Friday (15th-year reune!).
XWORD I don't mind, although it felt a bit too insider-y. But mixing it up with the old NYNEX and BWAY = hmm. Maybe if these shortenings had been spread out, this trio wouldn't have jumped out as me so much.
Overall, enough great material to keep me satisfied.