New York Times, Saturday, July 10, 2021

Given that I'm drawn to puzzles that are architectural feats of construction, it's probably not a huge surprise that I've long been an admirer of puzzles with triple-stacked (and quadruple-stacked) 15s. This admiration only grew when I tried my hand at it myself: the top stack here was my first successful attempt at a triple-stack, back in 2018, but finding a symmetrical stack to mesh with it proved particularly challenging. As such, it took almost two more years (and quite a bit of assistance from my friend Crossword Compiler) to come up with a completed grid.

I started the top stack with ANANSI THE SPIDER, which seemed like an interesting, original 15-letter answer, and had promising letters for a second-row entry. I was pleased to find that it fit nicely between two more lively answers, both of which are also appearing here for the first time in the NYT puzzle. I originally had ANOUK at 2-Down, crossing EKES, but was concerned that the crossing of ANOUK and ANANSI at the N could be very challenging to many (especially with HUME up there too). I didn't notice the possibility of using AN OUT instead until I had completed the grid, and though the inelegance of that answer bothers me a bit, I decided (after much deliberation) that I wanted the crossings for the stack to be as unambiguous as possible, especially as the rest of the fill felt very clean for a triple-stack puzzle.

Though there wasn't a whole lot of room for longer answers apart from the triple-stacks, I think the two pairs of 8s are nice, and was glad I could also squeeze in some interesting 6s and 7s, like DHARMA, LAP DOG, RAPIER, I SWEAR, DIG DEEP, and ELM TREE. I thought ["Seriously!"] was a fun clue for "I SWEAR!", as it works for both meanings of the phrase, conveying either earnestness or frustration. I'm also glad to see my clue of [Hosts] for COMMUNION WAFERS survived, as I thought it was a nice, Saturday-worthy misdirection, and the editorial team even came up with the [Goof] clue for CARELESS MISTAKE to complement it.

It's a pleasure to have my 30^th puzzle in the Times (and my 10^th Saturday!) I hope it was enjoyable, and that the triple-stacks gave you something to feast your eyes on! :)

Distinctive triple-stacks from Trenton. Not because of a total lack of rare letters (JQXZ) — blasphemy from a Charlson production! What stood out was his debuts of several marquee entries. I've read a few tales of ANANSI THE SPIDER, but I was glad to get the gimme partial AN OUT so I could be sure I spelled the name correctly. And [Hosts] is such a quintessentially Saturday clue. A single word, pointing to what will probably be HAS A PARTY or something, but no. That's HOSTS, as in the COMMUNION host WAFERS in Catholic masses. Brilliant misdirect, but incredibly difficult.

I also enjoyed the bottom stack, although it wasn't quite as distinctive. We've seen SILENT TREATMENT many times before in crosswords, because of all those friendly RSTLNE letters, and PRIVATE ENTRANCE is tough to clue in a clever way. "One's" phrases tend to sound too formal to my ear, but FEAST ONES EYES ON is excellent.

I also appreciated how many long entries Trenton wove through the stacks. I enjoy clues such as [Birthplace of Lewis Carroll]. How the hell am I supposed to know such minutia? Or why? But as I pieced the letters together, of course I would know it, from the CHESHIRE cat. Similarly, I don't know where Kangaroo Island is, but it gave me enough of a nudge to think about what capitals I know in or around Australia. ADELAIDE is pretty much it!

Clues like [Plays a critical role?] delight me with their misdirects — that's plays the role of a critic, not a critical role in a mission. I didn't notice how many of these there were at first, because I struggled so mightily to break into the triple stacks, but a harder post-solve look impressed me with how many clever clues there are. Punniness like [Total package?] = CEREAL (Total is a brand of cereal) helped keep up my spirits as I fought to gain toeholds whever I could.

Triple stacks on a Saturday can be daunting, and this one made me break a sweat. Trenton did a nice job setting me up for eventual victory, though, and he did so well to sprinkle so many great clues around as refreshment stations as I ran this solving marathon.