New York Times, Tuesday, August 11, 2020

AMANDA: I periodically find myself experiencing a dry spell when it comes to theme ideas, so whenever I have one that really excites me, it's always cause for a bit of celebration. This specific theme is one that I was particularly excited about because it makes an otherwise pretty "whatever" crossword entry (EIEIO) into something that feels interesting to me. My first thought was "Are there even going to be any phrases that include only the vowels EIEIO, and in that order?!" Luckily for us, there were! To be honest, I don't remember much else about the making of this puzzle other than the excitement of stumbling upon the idea, but I hope that when you, too, stumble across the theme it brings you even a fraction of the joy/interest that it brought me!

Additionally, in an effort to be a bigger part of the movement to make crossword puzzles a more inclusive space for everyone, I would love to hear from anyone about the elements of your experience that you feel are largely missing from the puzzles you solve. Whether it's your heroes, your cuisine, your terminology, or any other element of your experience, I would love to know so I can try to be mindful of their inclusion in future grids, whether for a mainstream outlet or for the puzzles on my site. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@amandarafkin) if you have any thoughts about how I can help to make your puzzles a more inclusive space.

ROSS: I'm donating payment for this puzzle to the Lebanese Red Cross.

If you're looking to get into crossword constructing, and especially if you identify as non-male, LGBTQ+, or as a person of color, I'd be thrilled to offer whatever help I can to help you get your puzzles published. Contact me via Twitter (@trudeauross) or my personal puzzle site.

The coding wasn't straightforward — a wild card search like *E*I*E*I*O* would turn up lots of false positives with extra vowels — but eventually I figured it out. I came up with a limited set, making for a tight theme, and most of them were great:

• BEST INTENTIONS
• CELINE DION
• LEIF ERICSON
• VERMICELLI BOWL
• VESTING PERIOD
• DERRINGER PISTOL
• BELIEF IN GOD
• PERIHELION
• THE TIME IS NOW

What a disappointment when I turned up Peter Collins' puzzle from 2010. A variant, too. Ah well, it happens. I moved on.

I wish I hadn't been so hasty. Even knowing about Pete's puzzle and my findings, I still enjoyed today's solve. It's a shame that REWRITES HISTORY includes the Y as a vowel, because the others have that incredibly impressive feature of there being only five vowels, E I E I and O. Even after having discovered all I did, it still boggles my mind that there is a set of phrases that works.

I had a miserable time down in the lower left corner. I know UVEA because I worked in ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, but that's a toughie. Crossing it with EVE clued as the rapper, and ARS seeming more like [Captains' cries] than AYS, and I had a BEVY of wrong guesses in there. I'm all for modern references, but in this case, the solving experience would have been so much smoother with a Biblical EVE reference.

Thankfully, there were some strong bonuses, BATH TOWELS clued to the old joke about getting wetter as they dry, WHEREFORES a curious word, WINS BIG. Helped to balance out some of the stuff that might make newer solvers feel unwelcome, like NIHIL and ROLLO.

Great theme, with an unfortunate ding for the Y in REWRITES HISTORY. I enjoyed the discoveries so much, it made me wish I had stuck with my construction efforts. A puzzle from a decade ago shouldn't disqualify a remake.

ADDED NOTE: A friend pointed out another one from the WSJ — with an apt byline!

Since you asked, yes, there's a regex to find words that match the EIEIO pattern with no other vowels.

Interesting that besides PRESIDENT WILSON, three others make the list: PRESIDENT CLINTON, PRESIDENT NIXON and PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

You'll also find REINFECTION. Uh, don't use that one.