New York Times, Saturday, April 18, 2015

One day, for some reason, I randomly thought of the phrase "believe you me," and it struck me as a strange and amusing idiom, so I decided to put it in a crossword puzzle. The result was my first published themeless. I made it several years ago, and looking back on it critically now, I think the short answers are a little too "gluey," but I still really like most the medium answers and especially the six longs — ICECOLDBEVERAGE was Plan B after the snappier ICECOLDBEERHERE didn't take, but I think it's a solid stand-alone, and then you've got two sharp colloquialisms, "The Simpsons," The Beatles, and "Boogie Nights." Can't go wrong with that collection, if you ask me.

I was a bit dismayed to see my clue for DIRKDIGGLER was changed. I submitted "1997 film character who is finally revealed in the end." (Clever, huh?) But Will changed it to a very straightforward clue, perhaps because the reference (and thus the cleverness) would be lost on too many people. I sometimes forget that not everybody loves all the things I love.

One clue that did not get changed is "1980s baseball star Lemon" (CHET), and this is a good thing because it affords me a not-completely-tortured segue into unabashedly plugging my self-published baseball book: "Urban Shocker All-Stars: The 100 Greatest Baseball Names Ever." It's got a section in it about baseball names in crossword puzzles, so it's somewhat relevant to solvers. You can order a hard-copy at Amazon and get an e-version on Kindle. Want to know who baseball's crossword puzzle king is? Buy my book! (Although, if you are a seasoned solver, you really "ought" to know the answer already.)

Along with others from this past week, this puzzle brings out the differences Jim and I have around puzzles. Monday's puzzle sizzled for Jim since it brought back great Beatles memories and feelings for him. Not as much for me, as I appreciate the Beatles more from a historical perspective.

The Simpsons trigger something primal in me, a reminiscence of great times as a kid, seeing this ground-breaking cartoon series emerge and evolve. Seeing NED and OKELY DOKELY really did it for me — NED is a wonderfully tragic, complex character who started as a Bible-thumping stereotype but who has now lost his wife, questioned his faith, and struggled with raising two young kids — but those answers couldn't possibly have done anything for a non-Simpsons watcher. This puzzle sang for me, but it's definitely not going to be everyone's POW choice.

So many aspects of this puzzle hit for me. With roughly 14 asset entries and 4 liabilities, it easily fits into my "what makes a good themeless" criteria. Sure, things like ARY undoubtedly take away from the solving experience, but when you pack in such stellar entries like ELEANOR RIGBY, BOOK EM, THE CLASH, BELIEVE YOU ME and the marketing blooper Graham CRACKOS, I say OH COME NOW! The tradeoffs are more than worth it.

And the cluing. BABYSIT by itself is a ho-hum answer, but a great clue can turn a neutral entry into an asset. [It's easy to do for an angel] had to be FLY or HAUNT PEOPLE AND TORTURE THEM FOR THEIR MISDEEDS, right? Nope, the "angel" refers to an angel child, one easy to watch over.

[Quick move?] nicely uses the convention of "shortly" or "quick" or "in brief" to denote an abbreviation or shortening.

[Step on a scale] avoids the giveaway question mark, referring to a step on the musical scale, not stepping on a physical scale.

I recognize that the specificity of the grid entries isn't great for a huge audience with broad tastes, but man oh man was it spot-on for me. Nice to have the huge variety in constructors — if you don't like today's, it's likely you'll enjoy tomorrow's or that of the day after.