New York Times, Saturday, August 24, 2019

In my most recent puzzle's constructor notes, I outlined that I start with a feature entry or two and arrange the black squares as I go, so that I can have the greatest amount of flexibility possible.

This here is what happens when that style of puzzle making runs off the rails.

I'm a sucker for eye-popping letter patterns, and love a good constructing challenge, so I began by placing TECH-SAVVY in the bottom of the grid and immediately stacking HEIST FILM on top of it. The terminal bigrams formed for the crossing Downs (HT, EE, IC, etc) all presented interesting possibilities, with LV adding the greatest constraint (CTRL-V? SUPER BOWL LV?).

Thus, I swore I was going to do absolutely anything in my power to get this to work. And I especially wouldn't budge once I saw GIBRALTAR could stack atop the other two to lock in the crazy CAPITAL V and WOOKIEE. So although I had yet to truly fix a single black square anywhere in the grid — this stack might have worked in the lower right after all — I developed some serious constructing tunnel vision, convincing myself that I could let my mind run wild with all sorts of options for the surrounding slots in order to preserve the sparkly stuff I wanted.

Fortunately for me, as you see now, I was able to pull it off. But it required:

• An overlarge grid (16x15) that, despite still remaining under the maximum answer count (72), felt unnecessary for a weekend offering.
• The equally bonkers AC TO DC, because ACTOR ___ or ACT ON ___ or ACT OF ___ just wouldn't work with ...
• ... OPSOMANIA. COME. ON. I really do think this is a nifty word, and teeters on fair game for a Saturday, but won't blame anyone who feels otherwise. Guess I'm going to have to start using it in everyday conversation?

My self-criticism aside, I really do love how this thing turned out in the end, even if I know the puzzle won't be well-received by everybody. It is a very on-brand themeless from me after all, with its tacky letter blends, creative fill (perhaps overly so) and some diabolical clues. In fact, the pairing of CROP CIRCLE with [Unbelievable discovery in one's field] might just be my all-time favorite.

Shoutout to Byron Walden for the inspiration, with his absolute tour-de-force Saturday from 2008! Something something about imitation and flattery ...

LITE BRITE brought me right back to my childhood, sticking those little plastic pegs up my nose to see if it would light up like Rudolph's.

(It didn't. I still think it should have.)

Divisive one, too. Jim had no idea what this was (or why I'd stick pegs up my nose), and I bet a lot of people out there will share his perspective. If you've never played with it (LITE BRITE, not my nose, that is), it won't elicit much emotion.

These days, I find entries like TECH SAVVY much more interesting, as they have a broader audience.

Amazing number of clever clues today. I was blown away by the sheer quantity of brilliant misdirects. My top three:

• B+ but not A- had to be grade related. Or music notes? Nope, think about an ION.
• IKEA is a place with many assembly lines on those ANNOYING INSTRUCTION MANUALS THAT SEEM LIKE THEY SHOULD BE SO EASY BUT AAAAAARGH!
• A GECKO sticks around a rain forest, all right.

Note how these three clues all elevate short entries that otherwise are simply filler. Also, note how careful Sam was in selecting short entries that aren't common in crosswords. It's much harder to come up with something creative for seen-all-the-time stuff like ERA and AREA.

There was a bit too much material that didn't quite hit my ear right — ATRACE / SLIGHT BIT, SLOW MO with that odd W, SENHOR, BY RIGHT, AC TO DC. (Even as a mechanical engineer, that last one felt a bit off-the-wall — get it, as in from a wall outlet? Okay, I won't quit my day job.)

I might have liked OPSOMANIA better if I didn't already have a sense of so many entries being pitchy.

Overall though, Sam entertained me with enough great feature entries like THEOCRACY WET NOODLE CROP CIRCLE. And the clue for CROP CIRCLE! Fully agreed with Sam, that's genius.

ADDED NOTE: I glossed over the clue for THEOCRACY at first. I'm glad I went back and studied it. No "state of disbelief" for a government-centered around God! So, so, so many brilliant clues.