New York Times, Friday, May 8, 2020

The grid design for this puzzle was inspired by Patrick Berry, since many of his puzzles feature similar staircases of black squares (for example, 4/7/2017). I wanted all of the central answers to be fresh phrases that had never been used before in the New York Times. This version of the center was the very last possibility I tried since I could only see the first word: the unexciting DID ONE'S PART. But DID ONE'S PART did its part, allowing the other answers to fit into place. Originally, the crossing ASIS/ANET was CSIS/CNET, but I decided I should accept the partial since otherwise, it might be a sticky crossing for some solvers.

I've been working on my cluing, but it's still an uphill climb. My two favorite ideas, (DC insiders?) for SUPERHEROES and (You might see it on Mulberry Street) for LITTLE ITALY, were both changed. I guess those clues were too much of a stretch.

Anyway, in these terrible times, I hope crosswords can remain a welcome break in solvers' lives.

Did [DC figures] fool you, too? Shame on me! First of all, my kids are fascinated by SUPERHEROES, constantly asking me to tie on Superman-style capes. (So what if the capes I fashion look like muu-muus?)

Not only that but DC politics today looks astonishingly like the DC universe. I'll leave it to you to decide who's Lex Luthor.

I'd send a bat-signal into the sky, but with our luck, Ben Affleck would show up.

Finally, this [DC …] clue has outsmarted many times. It got me when it first showed up, and I've fallen for it every time since. Clearly, I'm Gorilla Grodd.

Strong construction, with a center chock-full of sizzlers — although, a slight ding for over-fanboying, SUPERHEROES and LAND SPEEDER making it nerd heaven. I enjoyed the diversity of answers otherwise, DESERT BLOOM and LITTLE ITALY, both phrases evoking colorful images.

I appreciated Daniel's use of his peripheral long slots, too. ZAMBONIS as innocent [Ice machines] earns a round of applause … although I'd seen this exact clue before as well.

The only entries that didn't quite hit for me: FAR NORTH and ANEROID. The former was last used back in 1974, and even our resident Canadian, Jim Horne side-eyed it. That's coming from a Canuck who grew up in the hinterlands! Jim did enjoy ANEROID more than me because he remembered the term from physics classes. Whereas, this mechanical engineer — with a master's degree, no less — grumbled that red-blooded ‘Muricans shouldn't be forced to know this kind of thing. (Read: sour grapes.)

This puzzle had the gridwork of a POW! contender, so why didn't it get any consideration? It took me a long time to figure out that the cluing let it down — glad that Daniel recognizes that this is an area for improvement. While he did include some delights, I'd seen those exact clues before, and so much of the rest was on the dry side.

Daniel has clearly put huge time and effort into developing his gridding skills, and if he can do the same with his cluing, David Steinberg (the current POW! leader) better watch out.