New York Times, Tuesday, December 28, 2021

It is always very exciting to have a puzzle published in the NYT. But what I am most proud of was having one of my other submissions used as the opening puzzle in the 2019 ACPT, and receiving an autographed copy of it by Will Shortz! Hopefully, the 2022 tournament can be held in person.

In today's puzzle, it was amazingly fortuitous that the three "house specials" had the same number of letters. The only other one I could think of was FLATBREAD, but constructing a grid with a central 9 and four 13s wasn't ever considered. As it was, I was happy to work in a half dozen 8-letter downs.

I hope you enjoyed solving my puzzle. Wishing everyone a healthy, happy New Year. Let's hope for a better 2022.

It's a pleasure to encounter a set of connections I'd never thought of before — especially when it involves items that are in my fridge. I have a full bottle of RANCH DRESSING and a container of COTTAGE CHEESE that have been sitting for a month because my kids thought they sounded delicious ... and then they spurned both after tasting a fraction of a molecule. Stupid marketers; so annoyingly successful.

I wasn't impressed by the first themer, since there's a picture of a log cabin on the bottle — so much for subtlety. Then, I realized that it wasn't just LOG CABIN SYRUP that was named to give it a rustic feel. The words RANCH and COTTAGE are also employed to get at their foods' humble beginnings.

And HOMEMADE MEALS is a great way to tie the three foods together, plus make it all work with crossword symmetry. Love it.

I wasn't as wild about the gridwork. Four 13s is no joke, as each one forces two black square placements. Almost any four-themer grid can be executed with some long Down bonuses and a completely clean grid, though.

I appreciate the effort to work in great bonuses like MIND MELD, HABANERA, STILETTO, but even a single crossing like ORU (Oral Roberts University) / HABANERA can leave newer solvers in a TAILSPIN.

Okay, that is a ton of bonuses. I prefer a cleaner product to serve the NYT's broad range of less-experienced solvers, but I can understand the opposing philosophical viewpoint.

Most importantly, an excellent theme is an excellent theme. I spent an hour trying to come up with a single other possible entry but failed miserably. (KOZY SHACK PUDDING was the closest I got.) That element of tightness made this theme stand out.