New York Times, Monday, September 4, 2017

For most constructors, I imagine, some theme concepts never get their moment in the sun. They sit in constructors' idea books, waiting for the perfect revealer or maybe another theme entry to complete the set. The latter was the case with this puzzle; I had several phrases ending with WINGS, BRATS, and DOGS to choose from, but still needed one more fun food theme entry to throw into and onto my barbie crossword.

And then it happened … watching Super Bowl LI in a bar, scanning the menu for some appetizers, when I saw SLIDERS. Knowing sliders was also a baseball term, I contacted fellow cruciverbalist and MLB post-game highlights announcer, Mike Black, who suggested two phrases: BACKDOOR or HANGING SLIDERS. They both googled well enough, but BACKDOOR made the cut due to symmetry.

I got the yes from Will and Joel late July and am most thankful that they decided to run it so quickly and on Labor Day — the unofficial last day of summer — and a perfect day to relax, fire up the grill, and spend time with family and friends.

Love it when a Monday puzzle hides a theme like this! Tracy treats us to a BBQ with WINGS, DOGS, BRATS, and SLIDERS. I enjoy seeing how long it takes me to figure out a Monday theme — often two themers is all it takes — but I doubt I would have figured this one out without the BBQ revealer. Nice!

I did like DOGS and BRATS better than the other two, though. BRATS got obfuscated especially well, not just a different meaning but a different pronunciation (between BRATty kids and BRATwurst). SLIDERS … perhaps I don't go to enough BBQs, but I don't think of SLIDERS (little tiny hamburgers) getting put on the grill. The patties are, sure, but the full SLIDERS, no. Unless you want grilled buns? Maybe I should try this!

Good execution, but I finished with an error for the first time in years in a Monday puzzle: ARGOS / DOH instead of ARGUS / DUH. As a Greek mythology buff, I was embarrassed. As a solver, I was annoyed. Was the error my fault? Maybe ... probably ... but I would have asked Tracy to rework this crossing to make it less ambiguous. Crosswords need to set up the solver to win, and I don't think this crossing did that.

I didn't mind the KAHLIL / LATH intersection as much, as the final letter in KAHLI_ … well, I guess I'd understand if solvers thought KAHLIM or KAHLIF could be probable. It'd be different if LATH were a word I saw every day.

It's too bad. There were some nice bonuses in PRIME TIME, SIGHTSEER, OUTTAKE, along with just a few PANDG (P&G) type dabs of crossword glue, so the rest of the grid I thought was well done.

Monday puzzles are so tough to create — you want to ensure that novice solvers finish with a fully correct puzzle to achieve that burst of elation. It just takes a single box to throw that off.

The hidden theme worked 75% well for me. If Tracy had used LINKS (any other sausage terms I'm missing?) instead of SLIDERS and fixed the tough crossings, I would have given it POW! consideration.