New York Times, Monday, March 31, 2014

I first thought about this theme when I overheard someone on a TV show say "Ma and Pa." I don't even know what show it was because I was just passing through the room. (Anyone who has constructed a crossword will probably tell you that the curse that comes along with it is that anytime you hear a phrase, you immediately begin to think of theme possibilities.) Anyway, I thought of MASQUERADE PARTY and MASSAGE PARLOR immediately. I decided to research whether it had ever been done before. There was a NY Times puzzle in 2001 that used MA AND PA as the revealer, but it used MA__ MA__ and PA__ PA__ phrases. So, the MA__ PA__ pattern hadn't been done. A little more thinking and research led to MARDI GRAS PARADE (which I thought was cheating a bit because it's three words, but it was such a good phrase I decided to go with it) and MACARTHUR PARK (I have to admit I don't like the song).

When I submitted the original, Will returned it and asked me to get rid of some junk (EDO, GAR, E MAG, LBOs, and the partials A PLEA and I AM A). I had to rearrange the grid shape slightly to make this work to my satisfaction. In doing so, I learned first-hand that the crossword gods giveth and they taketh away. Reworking the grid allowed me to find EX HUSBAND and URSA MAJOR, better than the original PROUD MARY and CINEMATIC. However, my one regret about this puzzle was that in reworking it, I lost the words GYRATE and REAR which had been right next to each other (yes, deep down I'm still 13 years old). But overall the fill turned out much better I thought.

I wasn't very happy with UNAPT crossing A NAP. But I was willing to make that sacrifice for URSA MAJOR.

Hope you enjoy it!

Nice start to the week, MA AND PA cluing in four theme phrases starting with MA and PA, respectively. The 15/13/7/13/15 is a tough construction, but Robert executes on it fairly well. Typically I'd expect to see only a pair of long fill entries, but Robert gives us BARBARELLA and STORM SURGE in the vertical directions, and EX-HUSBAND and URSA MAJOR in the horizontal. The extra effort is much appreciated, adding a lot of snazz to the puzzle.

Typically I might balk at long fill in the horizontal direction, especially since both EX-HUSBAND and URSA MAJOR are longer than the center revealer, but today I think it's perfectly acceptable because of the theme. Given that the MA*PA* patterns are so clear, it's much less likely that EX-HUSBAND or URSA MAJOR are going to be confused for theme material.

One hitch I had: as Rob noted, MARDI GRAS PARADE stuck out for me as the only three-word phrase. At first I thought I might be wrong, MARDIGRAS being written or interpreted as a single word? But no, it's definitely Mardi Gras. If another one of the themers had been three words, perhaps I wouldn't have felt an inconsistency? I really like MARDI GRAS PARADE as an entry, but it might have been nicer to get something else as snappy but with two words.

Out of curiosity, I checked onelook.com to see what other 15-letter options there are. I was surprised that I couldn't find any other options, at least with a cursory 15 minute search. So perhaps I would have paired MA AND PA with MADE PAR, making it a 7/13/15/13/7 arrangement? As always, tough trade-offs for any crossword.

Speaking of trade-offs, today's puzzle is another great example of getting a whole bunch of extra goodness for the price of a handful of lesser entries. I did notice the MPAA, RAES, UNAPT, EDUC, ETE kind of stuff during my solve, and I personally prefer a silky-smooth solve for Monday puzzles (so beginning solvers can feel that the NYT xw is within their grasp). But for the more experienced solver, it's a real treat to get the aforementioned long entries, plus DECANT, INQUEST, MODEL T and its neat clue.