New York Times, Wednesday, August 27, 2014

This puzzle was the first collaboration for both of us. David originally contacted Gareth via email, and we ended up sending each other several stalled crosswords. This one was Gareth's, with the initial seed entry being TUBBY THE TUBER (which didn't make it to the final cut). Gareth didn't have enough themers that he liked or themers of the right lengths. After much wrangling, and a lot of creative ideas from both of us (FRANK ZAPPER, e.g.) we came to a mutually agreeable set and sent it off to Will, who liked some answers but asked for some new ones.

This went on for about three rounds. Boy is it difficult for three people to agree on what "pun" entries work! When we finally got the nod, I think we were both so excited we sent each other basically filled grids. This grid was David's although Gareth further revised it in a few places. The finished product is much better than the original one we submitted — we're both very happy with it. Patience often pays off! Thanks to Will for sticking with us on this one and for leaving so many of our clues alone!

Letter substitution theme today, words ending in A changed to ER with wacky results. Some of them really amused me, TUBER PLAYER eliciting a laugh and FRANK ZAPPER being gold (if the FRANK ZAPPER were sold on infomercials, my grandma would buy at least one). CONGER LINES could have fallen flat, but a fun clue rescues it. "Eel Trovatore," a pun on "Il Trovatore," still makes me giggle.

Five themers are no joke, especially when they're all long. At 11/11/15/11/11, this puzzle is packed to the gills. Gareth and David do a nice job with the fill, even incorporating two long pieces of fill. FOAM PEANUT is nice, and WHAT A LAUGH is snappy. My personal preference is to fill puzzles with uplifting entries, hopefully sending the solver off on a high, so it would have been perfect if WHAT A LAUGH had somehow been clued as a reaction to something actually funny. I suppose the sarcastic approach is more accurate though.

For such high theme density, it's amazing that really only one spot stuck out to me, the OESTE and ITA area in the middle. Unfortunately, they're sort of linked by ICK — not the greatest subconscious influence on solvers. I might not have even noticed those two entries if they had been spread out. For example, I glossed over ERST and MOR because they were all by themselves, almost unnoticeable pieces of glue.

Sometimes I wonder if the trend toward more and more theme density is a good thing. CHARLIE THE TUNA didn't do much for me, and without it, there could have been a lot more long fill in the puzzle without the need for any glue. As always, trade-offs.