New York Times, Thursday, July 21, 2022

Three years ago, Anne Marie noticed that many of the menu options on the computer can be found at the end of longer words, making a fun theme. Eric suggested the revealer DROP DOWN MENU, which became the start of our first crossword collab (hopefully one of many!), which was accepted when OMICRON was just a Greek letter.

After filling this puzzle, we noticed that lots of the words were a little dark, so we reworked the SW corner to be a bit less harsh than the NE. We particularly like the 4x4 section of the puzzle starting with 14-Across with its diagonal symmetry.

From solving partners to constructing partners, we're thrilled to publish together, and hope that you enjoy the puzzle!

A new constructor got in touch with me a few months ago, asking about a puzzle based on DROP DOWN MENU, where themers ending in various drop-down menus literally drop down. Although it was a fine concept, I cautioned that Will Shortz is taking very few "turning" puzzles because they've become incredibly overdone.

Once again, it shows what I know!

Solid execution of the idea, Anne Marie and Eric choosing three colorful phrases. I'd happily give pluses to HIGH PROFILE, SCHOLARLY REVIEW, and STORE CREDIT if they were in a themeless I was evaluating. It's not easy to fill around intersecting themers, and wise deployment of black squares helped keep each of the three regions small enough to fill relatively smoothly. There's a tough piece of French vocab in MAI around the second themer's bend, but SPIDER-MAN's presence more than makes up for it.

Better yet, SPIDER-MAN's clue lends so much humor. [Noted web developer], indeed! I love that it didn't require a telltale question mark, so innocently pointing you to some JavaScript coder.

Same goes for [Hanging out, say]. Devilish way to describe clothes DRYING on a line.

It's odd to place the revealer as the third of four themers, though I can understand the rationale — shoving STORECRE/EDIT into a corner means that you can fill around it with less interconnection to the rest of the puzzle. That did allow for more bonus fill — VETO POWER, BIG GAME, DART GUN, even PARK IT — so I didn't mind the weirdness of an early revealer as much as I usually would.

There's not enough to distinguish this from the large body of turning puzzles, but the deft cluing touches and extras in the grid helped keep up my interest.