New York Times, Monday, May 12, 2014

SMARTPHONE was the seed on this one, and I figured there must be enough words or phrases where the first element was a synonym for intelligence.

Happy to see this landed as a Monday puzzle. (My original clue for ALPHABET was "26 characters are in it.")

Intelligent puzzle to start the week — what more could you ask? Gary brings us five synonyms for "intelligent," hidden within phrases. SMART phone, QUICK buck, SHARP turn, BRIGHT side, FAST one. I liked that there was no revealer necessary, and that the theme didn't make itself clear to me until the very end. Or maybe that shows how SHARP I am. Ahem.

With the "pinwheel" arrangement of themers, it's often hard to work in good long fill to spice up a grid. Indeed, there are only two eight-letter slots, which can often spell trouble for grid snazz, as eight letters and more is often where the best fill comes from. Gary does well to utilize those slots with the nice ALPHABET and BRETHREN. Not the juiciest of fill, but not dull either.

Where Gary really shines is his SMART use of shorter fill. Often constructors will let their seven and six letter slots go with unfulfilled potential, but not Gary. Check out RAW BAR, HOT FOOT, ALL NEW, BAR HOP. That adds a lot to the solving experience.

The latter did make me pause, as it dupes BAR, which is one reason I decided against giving this the POW. Typically a dupe like this is not allowed within a single puzzle, so it was a bit of a head-scratcher.

One other reason was that while most of the synonyms were hidden until the very end, the SMART in SMARTPHONE was not. It would have been perfect if it had been something to the effect of THAT SMARTS! (but of course, this example wouldn't fit because 1.) SMARTS is plural and 2.) it's at the end of the phrase). Unfortunately, I can't think of another way to get the "pain" definition of SMART worked in. Even taking SMART out of the puzzle, replacing SMARTPHONE with FAST ASLEEP or something, might have been preferable.

Finally, one aspect I always admire about Gary's work is the care he takes in his short fill. As a meticulous (read: anal) constructor (sorry again to all my co-constructors!), I spend too much time obsessing over every single entry, trying never to allow a "this is good enough" feel into even a teeny corner. And I love scanning through a puzzle, not being able to find more than a AGA or an OPER (neither of which are bad, anyway!). With short fill, the best you can hope for is that no one notices it. It's obvious to me how much care Gary puts into his short fill. Very smooth end product.