SCREEN SHARING

Adam Wagner, of Oakland, Calif., is a senior copywriter for an ad agency in San Francisco. He got interested in crossword constructing a few years ago after he saw puzzles by some of his former Brown University classmates appearing in The Times.

The idea for this one came to him one night when he was in bed ("second only to the shower in terms of where my best ideas come"). He got up and spent the rest of the night finding theme examples.

They say good artists copy, and great artists steal. I guess in that sense I am both a good and great artist because this theme was pretty directly lifted from — er, inspired by — this brilliant puzzle from Rich Proulx. I love the idea of a hidden word theme where the nested words are related to the bigger entries they're inside of — they feel so much more special and rare, like cruciverbal truffles. Which I guess makes me the... pig?

(Quick tangent — I have since had the good fortune of getting to know Rich IRL at a couple of Bay Area constructor gatherings, and am pleased to report he is as amazing as the puzzles he makes. I knew we'd be friends when he asked me what my favorite chess opening was. [Swoon!]).

The inspiration for this theme came early in the pandemic when I found myself thinking a lot about "America's Dad" Tom Hanks. One night as I was falling asleep, my brain decided to point out that Hanks starred in both BIG and BRIDGE OF SPIES. I leaped out of bed and spent six hours looking for more examples.

(Quick second tangent — I am now the dad of a seven-month-old, and I find it hilarious that there was ever a time in my life where I would voluntarily give up sleep to research crossword themes).

A few more theme examples if you're hungry for more (click links for answers):

• Ben Affleck (1998, 2012)
• Will Smith (2019, 2001) OR (2020, 2001)
• Allison Janney (2007, 2015)
• Anthony Hopkins (1998, 2011)
• Mark Wahlberg (2006, 2012)
• Ben Kingsley (2016, 2011)

Fantastic finds! As if I wasn't already wowed by FRIDA spaced out through FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, SEVEN through OCEANS ELEVEN was doubly interesting because both movies are number-related.

And then the coup de grace, HEAT found twice throughout THE GODFATHER PART II. At first, I wondered if that double-vision was strange? But the duality of the themers echoed by two HEATs — as well as THE GODFATHER, Part II! — made it such a captivating finale.

I hadn't heard of INHERENT VICE, and HER all together (instead of spaced out like the others) made it less impactful. However, I admire Joaquin Phoenix's body of work so much that this entry cued me to add these movies onto my long to-be-watched list.

When a theme concept is this strong, the best thing to do with your grid is to make sure it doesn't get in the way. Work in a few bonuses if you can — EXOTIC FISH, NO SIREE BOB, NEED A LIFT, REN FAIRE, LOW LIFES more than do the trick — and keep your short fill unnoticeable. Adam did an impeccable job, not only keeping his quantity of gluey bits to way less than Sunday average but limiting them to gettable entries like ELLS, PHS (think PH paper), TO BE.

Sunday puzzles ought to have themes that captivate solvers all the way through the large canvas, and this did exactly that. I'd pay a premium if every Sunday NYT were half as entertaining.