The 68-word themeless construction is a tough task, and Peter is one of the masters at it. It is so hard to produce a 68-word product ...
read moreThe 68-word themeless construction is a tough task, and Peter is one of the masters at it. It is so hard to produce a 68-word product that shines with brilliant color while not causing hitches due to crossword glue. I advise newer constructors — heck, even experienced constructors — to stick to 70 or even 72-word grids, since the 68-word task almost always requires some trade-off (usually blah answers or a whole bunch of gloop).

Featuring 16 long slots within a 68-worder is usually asking for trouble. Taking up that much real estate, you're bound to leave potential on the table, needing to fill a couple of these slots with neutral entries. But AVERAGE JOE. DATING POOL. DEANS LIST. JUMBOTRON. PORTHOLES. What can you point to as a meh-only entry? Talk about IM ON A ROLL, CANT LOSE!
There could be questions about ALAN HALE. Not for this huge "Gilligan's Island" nerdboy, though.
Okay, you might argue over SKIN GAME. The Skins Game is common in golf lingo, but what is the phrase in the singular? The dictionary defines SKIN GAME as "a rigged gambling game, a swindle." Huh.
Great clues, lifting my already great solving experience to the heavens. ERNIE as the orange half of an iconic duo. (Raise your hand if your first thought went to the Trumps.) AB NEGATIVE misdirecting with [Type least likely to turn up in a hospital]. Not a healthy specimen who hardly gets sick, but the least common blood type.
And having spent a lot of time in the DATING POOL before meeting Jill, [All available options?] made me laugh. Such a great use of the word "available."
No doubt, this was a difficult puzzle, harder than most Fridays. Took me a long time to gain a toehold in the big NW corner. But the fact that I had to work hard to uncover such a slew of great entries only made my successful solve that much sweeter. Easy peasy POW!