New York Times, Thursday, November 11, 2021

I'm excited to be back in the Times! The idea for this puzzle came about while I was playing with some different grid shape / symmetry. I started this puzzle in mid-2017 and originally had a different center component, but I finally settled on the NSEW center block to keep 4-fold symmetry and tip off the theme.

The grid was harder to fill than I expected — the overlapping blocks of 7s in each corner was tough, but this was combined with the limited number of possible S_ _ _N and (especially) E_ _ _W words. There were of course many 3 letter groups around the outside that worked with the compass theme, but it took a lot of iterations to get decent fill.

I appreciated the clue revisions made by the editorial team and was glad they kept my original clue for 6D.

Seasoned solvers spotting four unchecked squares can fill in the letters N E W S immediately. The puzzle is done!

Or is it?

I loved the secondary realization that this tried and true rule-breaker was only to hint at the real show, N E W S hidden in the four plus-sign COMPASSes. We've added the letters in (below) to make things clear.

Why don't the added N E W S letters work with other surrounding answers? Like, why isn't HATS actually HATSN?

Because reasons.

There's a software trick to make filling easier: you can put in a thin black line between HATS and N, and another one between N and HEATS. Insert an N into that dead-ended space, and you can fill the grid normally.

That doesn't mean that it's easy, though. I appreciate that Mark took on the challenge of filling huge corners chock full of 7-letter slots, giving this one a themeless feel. Some beautiful results, CAPTCHA CASH CAB, PUP TENT all elevating the solve.

Ding for AQUEOUS crossing AQUARIA, since they're shared etymology, but I'd bet less than 10% of solvers notice it. Great clue for AQUARIA, anyway, playing on "schoolhouse."

Jim Horne is no fan of so many entries from "The Simpsons," so I wondered if the prank call HUGH Jass might amuse him.

We are not amused, but I am.

Difficult to uncover those N E W S-worthy words, especially the double-acting ones like (E)NDO(W) and (E)LBO(W), but it was well worth the effort.