New York Times, Saturday, November 5, 2016

From a constructing standpoint, I like this puzzle quite a bit. Even with its chunky corners and low word count, the puzzle (by my count) only has 3 objectively "bad" entries: ANTA (a relatively obscure org. at best), AHS (plural sounds/utterances = blech), and TIRO (second banana to Cicero = not famous enough IMO). I'm sure the more pessimistic among us might argue for COHERER's or TYNE's inclusion in that list, but those entries strike me as more neutral.

...which brings me to the aspect I dislike most about this puzzle: all of the neutral answers. As a solver, I'm not certain that I would like struggling with a Saturday NYT only to uncover swaths of ho-hum. Does the challenge of the wide-open grid make up for this? Will the few interesting long entries (as always, your mileage may vary, but I'm including STREET SMART [probably my fave clue in the whole puzzle...an-n-nd...my original clue stayed...hooray!], SHOPLIFT, SCABBARD, SHALL WE, and MEGATRON in this category) and some tough, (hopefully) entertaining clues be enough to provide a satisfying solve? I have a feeling the answer is "for some solvers, this challenge will do just fine; others (speed solvers maybe...?) will likely be bored."

At any rate, the grid pattern/filling challenges/puzzle solving experience will be new, which is something I strive for. Like Jeff, I also admire Patrick Berry's/others constructors' continued efforts to produce puzzles that do not fit the typical themeless cookie-cutter mold, and, thus, I make it a priority to attempt the same.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle and notes. I'm anxious to gauge solvers' reactions to this one. Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

I usually get nervous when I see a puzzle this wide open, wondering how many bizarre entries I'll have to figure out, including but not limited to esoterica, words made up by adding RE- or -ER, and standard short crossword glue. What a huge relief to sail through this puzzle with not much of the aforementioned at all!

My favorite was the upper right, what with MEGATRON (leader of the evil Decepticons in "Transformers," and also the awesome nickname for former Detroit Lions WR Calvin Johnson) featured, plus STEPSONS and ICE CAP pretty good too.

And really just one gluey entry up there! SPINET is a perfectly legit musical instrument (a small piano, basically), but like David mentioned, TIRO is a toughie. I'm on the fence whether or not Cicero's longtime servant is crossworthy, but the other, much more common definition of TIRO [Newbie: Var.] makes for a clearly gluey answer.

The bottom right is a good example of the struggle to achieve both snazziness and cleanliness in these type of big corners. I really like how careful David was in avoiding any sort of glue — it's so hard to do in space like this. And STREET SMART was really nice. But nothing else was very notable — STRESSED, PRESERVE, PLANES, etc. are more neutral space-fillers to me than assets.

I did like that COHERER turned out to be all right. At first I wondered if it was one of those odd -ER words, but it does appear to be a real, albeit outdated, piece of radio technology. AMEN AMEN … I'm not a churchgoer, but do people really repeat the word in this fashion? Something more like AAA-MEN! feels more spot-on to me.

But overall, there were more good entries than I expected out of an ultra-low-word-count puzzle like this — the ones David mentioned, plus STARDATE and even FLAT RATE BOX — and very few of the ANTA (American National Theater and Academy) gluey bits. Pleasantly surprised.