New York Times, Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The inspiration for this puzzle was simple: I wanted to take a common (timeworn, in this case) theme, the "double talk" theme, and give it some variation. I didn't know how exactly I'd do it until I was doing a crossword (don't remember which) and saw one of those infamous "When repeated" clues. I didn't want to do it that way, because I didn't want a million clues to begin with "When repeated". I came up with this way instead because I wanted to give the early-week solver just the briefest bit of pause as to how to parse the answer. I wanted to give the solver at least a small "aha moment", however slight it would be.

The construction of this puzzle was a prime example of an exercise in balance. How many theme entries could I fit until I started to feel like I was "wedging" them in, until the sacrifices in the fill and the grid structure became too great for the amount of theme material? Truthfully, when I started, I didn't expect to get sixteen. Believe it or not, after I had the sixteen in place, I actually tried to fit another two at 32A/43A, but that's where the "balance" principle kicked in. I had already put in a pair of cheater squares to get this far; that was enough of a compromise. With the addition of another pair of theme answers, I would've lost too much in fill quality for it to be worth it.

I think of the Times crossword as being like a circus, in which you never know which kind of surprise will come next. This puzzle's theme is very unusual... and with 16 examples, there's a lot of it, too.

Neat Tuesday offering from Tim, playing on the cross-referencing that typically occurs in crosswords, delighting some solvers (who appreciate the linked answers) and irritating others (who grouse about having to jump all over the grid). Typically I groan when 1-across is cross-referenced because it messes with the flow of my puzzle solve, but I did a double-take when I saw 1-across was cross-referenced to... 1-across. Clever idea!

With themed puzzles, there's a certain beauty when the theme answers jump out at the solver just by layout, and a bit of inelegance when the solver must hunt to figure out which answers relate to the theme. Today's sort of theme, which incorporates a lot of short answers, typically falls into the latter category, but because all the theme answers are clued with the "With (this answer)..." style, it works well. Very nice way to make the themers stand out; typically much better than a simple asterisk trying to tell the solver which is theme and which is not. I also appreciate that the theme answers are the only ones with cross-referencing.

I highlighted all the theme answers to show the symmetry, putting the doubles in tan and the triples in green. There was something bothering me as I solved, and this exercise helped me figure out what it was. I really liked that most of the themers were doubled, with the kicker of a few of them being tripled. But I would have loved to see all the tripled answers symmetrical (note the location of LOCATION). A minor issue, to be sure, but one that deducts slightly from the puzzle's elegance.

Another small nit came with the idea of less is more. Specifically, PETER PETER stood out to me as a partial. Everything else felt fun and complete, great entries such as HEAR YE HEAR YE and SAME OLD SAME OLD. The puzzle would still have its amazing theme density without PETER, and that would have allowed Tim to work his magic, perhaps giving us even more juicy fill in the center. And perhaps take out OSAMA, which is kind of a bummer to see in an otherwise uplifting puzzle.

Cleanly filled, with good stuff such as WEE UNS, TB TEST, THE OMEN, RIO LOBO, and a minimum of ugly entries; a real feat given the tremendous theme density and all the overlap of said themers. Great change of pace Tuesday; enjoyable solve.