New York Times, Monday, October 17, 2016

The best "What do these seemingly disparate things have in common?" puzzles are those in which you don't know the answer to this question until you hit the revealer. That's what I was trying for here — a legitimate, honest "a-ha" moment. This can be difficult to achieve with a Monday-level puzzle, so if I pulled it off, kudos to me! If I didn't, well, no kudos, I guess. I'll somehow have to make it through the day kudos-less.

Other than that, I tried to pack in interesting entries while minimizing the glue, as always. I'm mostly happy with how things came out in this regard. The only entry I really don't like is C-SPOT, because I've never seen it or heard it used in "the wild" (and Google thinks it's something very different than money). But it *is* in the dictionary, so fair game, I suppose.

I do like some of the longer non-theme entries, like OK CORRAL, PAGE BOY, and LUCKY ME. I was also happy to facilitate the debut of the hilarious ILANA Glazer in the NYT puzzle. The equally funny (maybe even a bit funnier) ABBI Jacobson probably isn't far behind. Those two can crack me up like few other. Do you think YAS QUEEN will ever be an entry in a mainstream puzzle?

By the way, if you are interested in more in depth constructor notes, feel free to check out my word blog.

I really like "what do these things have in common" puzzles when they provide for a satisfying click. BENCH WARMER and a DEAD BATTERY are both vivid, in-the-language phrases, but how could they both be part of the same theme? When they're NON-STARTERs! Very clever.

I didn't care as much for LAST LAP and MAIN COURSE. They are NONSTARTERs of course, but so are every other lap, as well as soup, salad, dessert, etc. They don't have the "dang, that's spot-on!" feeling I got from BENCH WARMER and DEAD BATTERY.

So much to like about Damon's grid. His last themeless had too much crossword glue for my personal taste — I try to stop enumerating at about 4 or 5 instances — but this one had the smoothness I seek out of a Monday. Very minor ENC, ATMO, TAI, ENS, all of which are easily gettable and common enough in real life to hardly even notice.

ILANA was a mystery to me, but that's not surprising since I don't have a lot of time to watch TV these days. She certainly seems crossworthy, given the critical praise and popularity of "Broad City." As a constructor, I welcome her friendly vowel-consonant alternation to the crossworld with open arms!

And all the bonuses were much appreciated. Just two long entries in OK CORRAL and PIE CHART, but both are excellent. The real standout quality was how well Damon used his seven-letter slots. ART DECO, PAGE BOY, LAPTOPS = LUCKY ME! So much goodness elegantly worked in.

I know I'll get questions about the LAST LAP / LAPTOPS duplication. Yes, two LAPs is usually a no-no, and it feels inelegant, but it didn't really bother me during my solve. I personally would have redone the LAPTOPS area because of this, but I don't actually care that much about these types of issues. The two instances have different etymologies (I think?), and there's no hard and fast rule about this sort of thing.

Overall, strong execution with so many great bonuses. If all the themers had been as spot-on as BENCH WARMER and DEAD BATTERY, it'd be an easy POW! selection for me.