New York Times, Tuesday, August 7, 2018

The inspiration for this puzzle was BEER BELLY. My original submission featured that phrase as the central revealer rather than the more prosaic BEER INGREDIENTS. I was amused by the idea of finding HOPS, WATER, MALT, and YEAST in the "bellies" of the theme phrases and imagined the ingredients mixing together to form beer, which, when imbibed in large quantities, forms a beer belly. Will and crew thought that that was a bit of a stretch (hah!), but still liked the basic idea enough to warrant another go-around with a different revealer.

I'm curious to hear what solvers think of the "find the theme" aspect of 37-Across. Since the clue doesn't include an independent reference to the phrase BEER INGREDIENTS and the hidden words aren't circled, solvers must find the four ingredients while simultaneously figuring out that they can be combined to make beer.

My proposed clue for BEER INGREDIENTS contained a semi-hint harking back to my original idea (What's found in the "bellies" of 16-, 23-, 47-, and 59-Across) and my submitted grid had circles around the relevant theme letters. I like that the edited version creates a more powerful aha moment, though I worry that it might be a bit tricky for a Tuesday.

Usually, it's best to avoid themers of length 13 since they have limited grid placement possibilities, but IOWA TERRITORY was the only cromulent phrase I could come up with to hide WATER — so 13 it was. Likewise, I only had one option for YEAST (HAPPY EASTER). Luckily, I found phrases of length 13 and 11 for MALT and HOPS, respectively, thereby appeasing the gods of crossword symmetry.

Welcome to day 2 of LAUGH AT MYSELF (LAM-poon) week! Some A+ finds today — I would never have imagined that WATER or YEAST could be hidden across phrases. It's like the crossword gods came down centuries ago to guide the hand of Thomas Jefferson, gently nudging him to write the IOWA TERRITORY into existence.

It's amazing, the four main ingredients to beer fitting across phrases like this. Very cool.

What would the old Jeff say about the revealer, BEER INGREDIENTS? That it's a bit dry, a dictionary definition. He'd be wistful, wishing for something that produced a sharper a-ha moment.

But there is no phrase like that! So why even bring it up? BEER INGREDIENTS explains things perfectly. It works, and that's what's important.

I do want to point out the troublesome nature of the OTHO / HOV crossing, as I've heard that HOV (common here in Seattle) is not at all common in other parts of the country. OTHO is not AUGUSTUS, or NERO, or CALIGULA in terms of his notoriety. But this week's Jeff chooses to give Alex the benefit of the doubt, which all world leaders — all of them — ought to be fair game, whether or not the crossings makes the person gettable.

BLOVIATES is such an awesome word. I used to hear so much bloviation from an old boss back when I was in start-up world. She was a disaster! Not sure why she's tried to connect with me on LinkedIn … three times now!

(Even this week's positive-thinking Jeff would refuse those invitations!)

The grid exhibits well-above-average craftsmanship, working with five long themers. Just an URBS / STS shows a lot of care taken in construction.

Such neat discoveries, says this beer drinker. I might have even POW!ed the puzzle, if the revealer had just been BEER. (BEER INGREDIENTS does the same job, but takes up a ton more real estate, leaving less room for bonus fill.)