New York Times, Friday, June 15, 2018

I'm always intrigued by themeless constructors that refer to a single "seed entry" they use to kick off each grid. For me, I guess that was DOOMSDAY CLOCK, which I had recently written down with intent to build a puzzle around it. But really, the "seed" for this puzzle was the promising overlap that MAD MAGAZINE and DOOMSDAY CLOCK showed when stacked in this particular arrangement. Except for the *GC* pattern, every last bigram felt like it could yield a ton of results, which meant that I would then have great flexibility to find some snazzy long entries for the middle region. Two 9s and another 11 later, it appeared my reasoning did "check out" (my original, overly diabolical clue for ADD UP).

As for the rest of the puzzle, I'm happy with pretty much everything except for those black squares in the NE / SW corners. I think I had other fills that worked without them, but being able to pack in KYLO REN, OTC STOCK, PRINT RUNS, DNA BANK, SPORTS BAR, and even DOLLOPS felt worth it. Some might not know LA LIGA, and many will squint at both ION GUN and SCARLET A, but sometimes a little surprising crunch in a weekend offering is fun! Hope nothing gets too stuck in your teeth, now.

The single feature of this puzzle I'm most proud of? That fresh clue for ARR! I know, it's super cheesy, but figured this would add a bit more excitement to your solve than [Flight board abbr.]. It's the first time we've ever used such a cluing angle for ARR in our daily puzzles.

This is my 25th puzzle in the Times, which feels like a milestone. I may now be working full-time for The New York Times Crossword, though every time I have a puzzle published, it feels just as exciting as my 2012 debut. Thanks to all my family, friends and fans for continuing to make this dream possible!

A colorful trio anchoring this puzzle:

1. I wasn't around for The Hustle, but somehow a bunch of my friends and I got into DOing THE HUSTLE back in college. Funny how those things happen! A colorful feature entry that gave me a huge smile.
2. The DOOMSDAY CLOCK, a colorful feature entry that gave me a huge frown. As if I needed a reminder of what's going on in the geopolitical sphere! I also wonder if the DOOMSDAY CLOCK has completely lost its sense of foreboding since it's been near midnight ever since its very inception. Doesn't two minutes to midnight feel about the same as ten? People, make a scarier scale to reflect the crazy stuff going on with North Korea!
3. I'm thankful for MAD MAGAZINE, lightening things back up. Such fond memories of reading the ridiculous satires, making fun of everything and everyone. Yeah, so what if I still read it?!

Cool grid pattern, so tough to fill in the SW / NE corners. I get why Sam used a trio of black squares in each location, as turning these types of corners can be so tough without them. Unfortunately, these cheater squares nibble away at precious long slots, reducing 6-Across from nine to just seven letters. I like AGA KHAN all right, but it's not nearly as good as PRINT RUNS to me.

A good amount of nice material in this one, SPORTS BAR, DNA BANK, PHOENICIA snazzing up the joint. But with just 11 long answers (of 8+ letters), and ARR DIA ALPH TRAN to hold it all together … it's a very tough grid pattern to fill to my POW! standards.