New York Times, Tuesday, October 22, 2013

This puzzle falls into the genre of "common phrase that can be interpreted in a wordplay-y way." I'm a big fan of pop culture, and like finding ways to make pop culture-themed puzzles that pay homage, but don't actually require knowing a lot of pop culture trivia. (I generally find that Will doesn't like publishing puzzles that require too much knowledge of a specific area of pop culture, as opposed to being more wordplay-y and accessible to all.)

I loved the Lord of the Rings films and I struck upon the phrase MIDDLE EARTH as something that I think is well-enough known (or figure-out-able at least) and lends itself to wordplay. I initially tried to find phrases where EARTH was in the exact middle, but I couldn't find enough that worked, so settled on the more general meaning of the word "middle" (after all, Malcolm was not actually in the dead center). It was important to me to use all feasible divisions of the word EARTH, though I couldn't find an E-ART-H breakdown. I debated whether I HEART HUCKABEES was valid, since the movie title was often written with a graphic of a heart instead of the word "Heart," but I found lots of references with the title spelled out.

I had some trouble in the upper right, getting two good 9-letter words to intersect the two theme entries there and to intersect the somewhat-constrained ISAACS. Note 36-Across. This is my first time including that in a puzzle.

When editing this puzzle, I noticed that the grid had ISAACS at 30A crossing ISAK at 28D, which really wasn't good, as they're basically the same name. Fortunately, IS OK bailed me out in the latter spot, and it has the advantage of never having appeared in a Times crossword before.

As an unabashed dorknerd, I couldn't help but smile when I came across MIDDLE EARTH as today's revealer (fair warning: I would love to see HELMS DEEP or BAG END or ELVISH METAL in a puzzle, but I realize I'm in a Hobbitish minority). Each of the four theme phrases contains EARTH spread across two words, and each of them is a snappy answer in itself. People may not know I HEART HUCKABEES but I really enjoyed that quirky movie.

Interesting point today for me was how knowing something about the constructor helped enhance my solve. Kevan is in entertainment law and often posts awesome pictures of him hanging out with big-time celebs on his Facebook feed. So I can imagine how I HEART HUCKABEES, LICENSEES and IN REM gave him no pause. I learned IN REM through crosswords, but I have to think it's part of Kevan's everyday lingo.

With this type of puzzle, there's a certain elegance to splitting the word EARTH either always the same way or always a different way. Today Kevan splits his entries EAR/TH twice, EART/H once, and E/ARTH once. During my solve, I had a sensation in the back of my head that something was a little odd, and I think this inconsistency was the reason. But overall, the theme phrases are strong enough, LINEAR THINKING being my favorite, that I didn't mind too much. Having such theme density often makes fill very difficult, but except for the IS OK / TWO A / SO TO region (which spans three theme entries), it holds together pretty well. Good work given the tough constraints.

Generally I'm in favor of adding long fill, as it spices up the puzzle. Kevan utilizes what is typically a very difficult arrangement, two pairs of nine-letter words (DOOHICKEY/LICENSEES and THRACIANS/PEANUT OIL) crossing not just one but two themers, and the SE corner shines as a result. THRACIANS will be tough for some, but I think it's a great answer steeped in ancient history and all the crosses are fair (thanks, terrible new Star Wars movies for making me cringe every time I hear ANI). Incorporating these two nine-letter answers without compromising the surrounding fill results in Elvish beauty.

Hey, I warned you.

The NE corner... I do appreciate ID TAG in there, but the triplet of DLI/OID/OCT felt inelegant, especially since the plural ISAACS resides in that region as well. As always, constructors are faced with difficult trade-offs.

Any puzzle with MIDDLE EARTH sitting on top of SHE-RA is going to get my nerd on. Entertaining solve.