New York Times, Saturday, April 29, 2017

I've always liked crosswords with wide open centers. To my eyes, they often look like printers' errors, because of the dearth of black squares in the middle... and I admire a good "dearth", on occasions.

However, one problem with open-center grids is that they can be very segmented, meaning that the central open area could almost be a separate mini-puzzle (I'm hardly innocent in this regard, incidentally). I hope today's puzzle is a bit more solver-friendly than some of my previous efforts, because of the long intersecting across and down entries that run through the center of the grid.

Also, I tried to make those six long entries as interesting as possible. But I only succeeded with five: CAPITALISTIC won't exactly set the crossword world afire. Maybe GEORGE SMILEY and MARILYN MONROE will provide a bit more zing!

There's one word in the grid that may be an eyebrow-raiser: 18-Across: NATANT. If you're unfamiliar with NATANT, it means "swimming" or "floating" (you'll find it in a regular college dictionary). I had considered removing it, but I thought it an interesting word for a Saturday puzzle. However, if you don't like NATANT, I hope the accompanying photograph by Jazmin Miranda will make up for it.

Great to see some variety from MAS! He usually locks onto full-width triple-stacks (and quadruple-stacks as well). As interesting as those sometimes can be, I do get tired of the same thing over and over again. While there's something to be said for focusing only one's strengths, I like to see people push their personal boundaries. Makes for better puzzles overall.

Beautiful work in the impressively wide-open center. That's such a challenge to fill, especially given that six very long entries must stack atop / intersect each other. I'd usually expect a few short crossing clunkers or some mystifying / esoteric long entries, but this turned out well. DILLY DALLIES is fun, as are SOUNDING BOARD, MARILYN MONROE, DEAD GIVEAWAY. Four snazzy answers out of six is an incredible hit rate for an area this tough.

CAPITALISTIC feels more workmanlike to me, especially without a playful clue. And GEORGE SMILEY … I can't agree with MAS on this one. I think he's fair game, given that he's the main character in the series including "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." But even having watched that movie, I needed most every crossing.

And such little crossword glue in that center! I'm not sure why EKING got the dreaded "old-style" modifier in its clue, since "EKING out a living" is a fine phrase. Well, there's LOESS. It's a word in the dictionary, but it is a bit out there.

There were a couple of prices to pay as MAS expanded from the center. In the NW corner, the fantastic pair of THE ATEAM over MEA CULPA did force BELG, but if that's it, I'm sold. (I don't mind EHS, as I tend to say EH a lot.)

Also, LATEXES is odd in the plural. Not sure many solvers use the word NATANT. Not sure if I love ABATTOIR or hate it. Constructors tend to lean on ODESSA (or EDESSA) as a crutch, given its common letters.

Overall though, strong work. I think if MAS had put a black square at the E of MATTE, allowing him to work in two sizzling answers at 10- and 11-Down, it would have been a POW! for me.