New York Times, Friday, August 17, 2018

Jill (my wife) changed jobs about two years ago, going from public hospitals to a healthcare start-up. Having lived through start-up life in a previous career, I enjoyed seeing the experience through her eyes, watching her shake her head at the oddness of business-speak. It's sad (but thankfully also funny) that people actually use the terms "action item," "take it offline," "create synergies," and SECRET SAUCE (the secret "ingredient" that sets a business apart.)

I don't know why the last one makes me laugh so much — the image of suits pouring ketchup over balance sheets? — but I couldn't resist building a themeless around it.

Building around an 11-letter entry can be difficult, so I did a ton of grid testing before settling on the upper left corner you see today. It took a lot of shifting black squares around before I was finally happy with the combination of AU NATUREL, SPARE TIRE, TEE SHOTS, which all seemed to have great potential for clever clues.

Some solvers may not be familiar with SHROOMS, but one of my college roommates used to love that word (he hated SHROOMS on pizza). It's more commonly referring to the hallucinogenic drug, but SHROOMS will always make me think of Chris Wand.

I almost gave up on the grid pattern when flowing toward the SE, but thankfully KIBITZED looked like it could connect things. I enjoy kibitzing the world's best bridge players, trying to figure out how they engineered some brilliant endplay or squeeze.

Thankfully, most everything else came relatively easily from there. I was unsure if I could get Z IS FOR ZEBRA to work, but the pieces dropped into place. Not only did I like the two Zs in the entry, but I had thought of a fun clue for it, misdirecting from an (elementary school) primer to (paint) primer.

I had a ton of flexibility in the upper right — I love me some dinosaurs, so the IGUANODON made things easy — but the lower right was rough. I was hesitant to use STATE CAR, as it felt a little dull to me … until I read up on the Wikipedia page for Official STATE CARs. I spent way too much time reading about the various weapons on some state cars. Whoa! And I love Will's clue, so fun.

I was a huge Paddington Bear fan in my youth, and now my daughter is hearing about the clumsy fella's exploits. I'll always have a soft spot for MARMALADE.

I would have loved to drop this from 68 to 66 words — more of a personal challenge — but I couldn't get rid of the black square between GREG and SCAB without sacrificing some snazziness or cleanliness. Ah well — the quality of the solving experience has to be the priority, not the constructor's intellectual stimulation.