New York Times, Saturday, February 14, 2015

I submitted the original version of this puzzle in September 2012. Will liked the grid and fill but was concerned that CATAWBA crossing CABO and WHAP (as in the original) would be too hard. Undeterred, I replaced PIRATE SHIP with KARATE CHOP and sent the revision back to Will, who then accepted the puzzle.

I always enjoy looking back at my earlier constructions and contemplating whether I would have built them the same way nowadays; in this case, I still would have been happy to use all of the seed entries (JAVASCRIPT, ICEBOX CAKE, ANGRY BIRDS, etc.), with the exception of WHO DAT GIRL. As a constructor, I've come to prefer including distinctive entries that everyone is familiar with, as opposed to incorporating pieces of trivia that happen to resonate with me. That said, I'll always be a huge Flo Rida fan, and I'm glad Will gave me the opportunity to include one of his songs in a crossword. And yes, all you young whippersnappers, 2011 still feels like yesterday to me!

Also, if I were building the puzzle today, I might have been pickier with the short entries — I'm not a huge fan of ODIC, OPES, and especially ACI. Well, I'm sure I'll have criticisms to make about my current submissions in a few years — I find it fascinating how much my tastes change as a constructor!

For now, I hope you all enjoy the puzzle.

72-worder from David today, the maximum number of words allowed in a themeless. Going up to the very max allows one to quasi-segment the grid, freeing the constructor to work on the grid quadrant by quadrant. It's SO much easier to fill a grid when you're able to work on small parts without having to worry about how they'll affect the rest of the puzzle.

Take the beautiful NW corner for instance. It's not like it's completely sectioned off from the rest of the grid, but only TAMPERED, SNEAKED, and CONTES connect it. One technique I sometimes use it to put (temporary) black squares in to help me isolate a section. Here, they would be at the E of ACHED and the P of PETRIE and the Q of ESQUIRE. In constructing the triple-stack, I'd just make sure I end up with flexible letter patterns in the places that would connect it to the rest of the grid, i.e. at 10-Down (TAM is nice in that it has so many possible endings).

This does reduce grid flow, as there aren't many places to go from one mini-puzzle to the next. And that did make it awfully tough for me to solve the SW quadrant. I'm so bad with pop music — when you need every single crossing to piece together WHO DAT GIRL, and the section is isolated, it can create a solving logjam. I'm thankful for the helpful clue, as the "she" in the lyric eventually led me to figure it out.

Are SERIAL PORTs still in use? That feels like something an ubergeek would make fun of. (Along with my trusty Motorola Razr from 2002.)

A few clues took me a while to understand, even after the solve. Here they are, in case you were equally stumped:

• CONTES is the French word for "tales," and generally means … well, tales.
• [Intern] has nothing to do with that poor guy you send out to wash your car. Not that I ever did that. Ahem. Here, it's going for the "internment camp" type definition.
• PIPEs often have traps, i.e. the P-trap in a bathroom sink.
• The mysterious Rev. preceding Std.? Apparently it refers to Bible verses. Revised Standard, I believe.
• The beautiful WAFFLE CONE. Not a product made in the parlor of one's home, but an ice cream parlor. Great misdirect there!

Finally, I love hearing about David's introspection, his never-ending quest for improvement toward perfcetion. Er, perfection. Great attitude.