New York Times, Friday, December 21, 2018

I'm a big fan of two feature entries: UNION CARD and WHERE'S WALDO. The former got a lovely clue playing on "labor party," making for such a nice "click" when I finally got it.

The latter might have hit me more strongly than others, being a children's book writer. I've read close to 1000 middle grade / young adult books in the past ten years, and yet it was the ubiquitous WHERE'S WALDO that I couldn't locate in my memory banks. How appropriate!

72-words, the max allowable for themelesses — not daring, but still fine if executed very well. Standard triple-stacks-in-each-corner … except for one major difference.

Look at the NE vs. the SE. Both are sort of choked off from the rest of the grid, so they might seem about as easy to fill. But see how the SE has to "turn the corner" with BELLI / ARDEN / GEORG, and then keeps on going with BODY BAG? Makes it much, much harder than the NE.

Not surprising then, to see the killer cross of HULLO / UREY. I couldn't remember the spelling of Harold UREY (okay, this physics nerd sheepishly admits that he didn't know him), so HALLO / AREY seemed like the best option. A constructor's job is to set up solvers for a win — I think this is a fail.

I think solvers ought to at least hear of POLSKA kielbasa, but I'd be sympathetic to complaints about that UREY POLSKA BELLI GEORG concentration.

The NE came out much better, although Steve VAI = whoa. The entry hasn't been used since the Maleskan era in 1979, and every time back then, it was clued to the effect of "Liberian native." Huh.

Some nice moments in my solve, the clue for HANDS in particular — [They operate around the clock] had to be PARENTS OF TWO TODDLERS CLINGING ONTO MY LEGS, right? But overall, I would have liked a smoother grid, especially given the mostly standard themeless layout.

ADDED NOTE: I read Pete's note with curiosity. After studying the grid, I asked him if his wife's name is Dorothy? Nope. An hour of searching later, I finally saw LIONS, TIGERS, and BEARS — OH MY! Fun mini-theme, although I think the effect would have been much stronger if DOROTHY had been in the center of the grid, not unlike another of Pete's hidden themes. I would have forgiven a lot more of the grid trade-offs, too.