New York Times, Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The genesis for this puzzle was when my wife and I went out to Longhorn Steakhouse. They had a coaster that said, "We believe in a job WELL DONE." I took that bit of wordplay and ran with it. Some theme ideas that didn't make the puzzle included "BANG UP JOB!" (compliment for a crash test facility), "SENSATIONAL!" (a massage parlor), and "DYNAMITE!" (an explosives manufacturer). The hardest theme answer to clue was "NOT BAD AT ALL," which was first "compliment for a do-gooders club" (not sure how many of those there are) and then "compliment for the Justice League" (which seemed more of a general description and not specific to any particular world-saving activity).

The number of theme answers and their smallish size made for some fill that Will & Joel had issues with. Had we all known that this would come out a week after "The Force Awakens" opened, perhaps we could have kept DETOO and REYS. The latter was clued "Actor Fernando and others" but is now more apt as "Star Wars heroine namesakes." Incidentally, I wonder how many baby girls in 2016 will be named Rey. (Should I mention that my son's name is Luke?) I went through two edits of the fill before it was passable, making me feel in the end like I truly earned the accolades that were in this puzzle!

I think I'll treat myself to a steak.

I was so amused by this puzzle. Something so fun and chuckle-worthy about telling an airline to KEEP IT UP! Same goes for telling a charcoal salesman YOU'RE ON FIRE! Sure, some might be a little tortured to fit its "compliment receiver," but I loved the kookiness. Plus, I felt really good after solving this crossword. There's something to be said about a puzzle's positive theme imparting an uplifting feeling.

I admit I hitched upon the first themer, wondering what fruit had anything to do with NOT BAD AT ALL (nothing). Thankfully, each subsequent themer worked great for me, and by the end of the puzzle, I knew this was POW! material.

Some of the themers are short (just seven letters), but packing six themers in is tough. Jeff did a really nice job of alternating his themers side to side and spacing them out, so he could lay out a skeleton that used a good amount of snazzy fill. TRAMPOLINE and BARREL ROLL would be sufficient, but working in LAMBADA / SPLASHY / OCTOPI / LOW RES made for even more of a bonus.

I also liked how Jeff introduced KWAME and CAM'RON to the Shortz era. Both names were mysteries to me, but I was still able to solve the puzzle since Jeff made all the crossings easy, setting me up for a win. That left me happy to go look these two up. I like old-school rap, so it was neat to read up on CAM'RON, who got a leg up with a nod from the Notorious B.I.G. himself.

I imagine some daily solvers will grouse about having to learn yet another rapper, but with super-fair crossings and interesting stories to be learned, I have no sympathy for the kvetchers.

The themers were a bit loose — seems like you could do this type of theme with dozens of compliments and their "recipients" — but I loved the kookiness as well as the STELLAR execution. It's one of my great pleasures to compliment people when they excel, so it makes me smile to give Jeff this POW! Super job (he said to the building fix-it person).