New York Times, Saturday, October 15, 2016

Started with this nice wide open grid and settled on WATERMELONJUICE as the lengthwise 15 through the middle, but the resulting SE corner didn't quite work for Will. Luckily, the entry point into that corner is somewhat "pinched off" and only needed a different 5-letter ending for WATERMELON to salvage. As requested, I floated a half dozen alternative refills for the section incorporating -PATCH, -JELLO (yes, it is a legitimate flavor), -SALSA (also legit), and -SEEDS.

Really enjoyed Will/Joel's clue for 1-Across in lieu of my pedestrian [J J Abrams genre]. Much more opaque and out of the box and a devilish start to a Saturday challenge!

Finally, here's another reason I dig XWord Info stats — it compared this grid to Byron Walden's beautiful creation of May 16, 2015.

I admire people who can make good, low-word-count themelesses without using cheater squares. These extra black squares are a tremendous tool that I often employ — I would have found it so tempting to put a black square where STRONG POINT and SCRAWLS intersect, because those extra squares make it so much easier to construct lively, smooth grids. Each pair of cheaters makes the task maybe 10-20% or so easier.

I personally use them liberally, and I generally don't think they hinder a grid's visual appeal, unless there's a whole bunch of them. (Compare today's grid to yesterday's.) Most of the time, I encourage newer constructors to use more of them, because the end product is almost always better. But there's something striking about a Spartan grid like today's, when it comes out this smoothly.

Now, there are a few head-scratchers like RONDELLE and the DRAGONET, along with some neutral space-filling entries like EXAMINEE, RUNS LOOSE and AT A COST. But there are also many colorful ones like MODEL ROCKET and STRONG POINT right through the middle, crossing the lovely AD SPEAK / WATERMELON SEEDS / TABLOID (over MORONS!). What beautiful work in that center.

Another interesting point from a constructing perspective: check out the relative amount of sizzle between the NW vs. SW corner. They look so similar, but they're worlds apart in terms of constructing difficulty. A stronger result in the NW than the SW comes as no surprise.

Why? Because while the beautiful NW corner only really has to work with WATERMELON SEEDS, the SW corner must coordinate with both CAMBODIANS and MODEL ROCKET. That extra layer of constraint greatly reduces flexibility, so instead of great answers like THAT'S HOW and TV DRAMA, we get more neutral EYE TEST (used a lot in crosswords), UNCLOAK, PRACTICE, LALANNE.

It's a common trade-off — more interconnectivity means less flexibility.

I thought Mark did a really nice job with his grid, given his non-use of cheaters. It would have been interesting to see if a pair or two of extra black squares might have given us a little more great RATHOLE and STEPKIDS kind of material.