New York Times, Wednesday, July 22, 2020

The genesis of this puzzle was noticing that the baseball player PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT had the word "gold" in his last name and the chemical symbol for gold (AU) in his first name. I then had the brilliant idea that I'd just find three or four other people whose names had the same property to round out a set. Well, it didn't take long for me to disabuse myself of that notion. In the end, I was happy just to find a set of four themed entries consisting of a word with an embedded chemical symbol where the element appears later in the phrase (all the while, of course, paying homage to the gods of symmetry).

Ah, the periodic table, we constructors know thee well. A chart filled with one- and two-letter symbols begging to be used in codes? Yes, please! I thought I'd seen everything in this genre, but what a great find in MILITARY JARGON, ARGON so neatly tucked away in JARGON.

I wasn't as wild about the others — I wouldn't say ISN'T IT EXCITING about a baseball player whose nickname, "Goldy," gives away the game. SAFE ENVIRONMENT works, but it's not colorful. This is a common issue when having to conform to a tough constraint.

I thought I was going to flummoxed at the GOLDSCHMIDT / OLIO crossing, since OLIO / OLEO is easy to get wrong. It'd be tough to argue that GOLDSCHMEDT looks more correct, but I'd still prefer a cleaner set of crossings all the way through that name. As much as I loved DUCT TAPE and BUM LEG, I'd gladly lose one to achieve safer crossings.

Similar thoughts on the COMO / EMI crossing, and even XTERRA / SANA (these days spelled SANAA). While it can be argued that mid-week solvers should be able to figure these out, why not avoid the issue completely?

I don't care about "dupes" as much as others, but DIG INTO and RIP INTO feel at the least like untapped potential left on the (periodic) table. What's the point of working in some extra mid-length slots if they end up containing neutral entries?

Great clue for DIOR — man of the cloth, indeed. Fun visual, priests clothed in DIOR!

I loved the MILITARY JARGON find. If others were of that level of snazziness — AURIC GOLDFINGER, SNIPE HUNTING, LIFES LITTLE IRONIES, NINE ONE ONE — I would have classified this puzzle as less inert and more noble.

ADDED NOTE: Astute reader Alina Abidi pointed out that my suggestion of AURIC GOLDFINGER wouldn't work, since AURIC shares etymology with GOLD. I should have clarified that that was the reason why it might have made for a sly "revealer"!