Brad Wiegmann author page

My latest obsession is "The Bear," a series about Carmine Berzatto's chaotic life as he attempts to run a Chicago restaurant. The family is dysfunctional, with tons of tension and stress causing characters to push each other's buttons. POKE THE BEAR is right!

Fun set of themers, all following a "(verb) THE (animal)" format. I appreciate that each isn't simply a literal phrase about an animal (like WALK THE DOG) but a figure of speech imbued with meaning. JUMP THE SHARK originated from an embarrassing "Happy Days" waterskiing stunt, but I bet many solvers only know it metaphorically.

I also liked that I couldn't think of many others. BELL THE CAT came to mind, but what else? Eat the … marmoset? Taunt the … quokka?

These should be real phrases.

Employing a near-complete set lends elegance to a theme. Most of the other metaphorical phrases I could think of were most definitely NSFW.

I love Brad's humor, which comes through in his Constructor Notes and also his cluing. It's a rare Monday treat to have something like "field of vision" repurposed to hint at OPTOMETRY.

And WORD SALAD makes me laugh, as some people call the XWord Info home page a "link salad." Great work injecting color throughout, with JOE COOL, ONE SEED, SPIED ON, AGELESS. When you have only four moderate-length themers, you ought to have this many bonuses, and Brad delivered. Hardly PLAYed THE GOAT today.

I love when Brad riffs — he always cracks me up. I wish all constructors would do something different with their notes, cracking the "I'm so excited to see my puzzle in print!" MIR RORing of each other's comments that make me want to whale with boredom, orca-ll it quits.

Life is all about expectations, and while I enjoy a mini-theme on Fridays, a maxi makes me ROR QUAL dommage! I missed my usual quantity of colorful long entries — not enough IN DUE TIME, NEAT IDEA material — but I enjoyed so many of the unlucky events. Breaking a MIR ROR is what I was hoping for out of an earlier puzzle!

RORQUAL ... not easy to work with ROR starting letters. EMIR / RORSCHACH would have been ideal.

WALKS under a LADDER was the last to fall, given that I wasn't familiar with the slithery SEAL ADDER.

Fine, no more marine humor today.

Great idea to place FRIDAY at 13-Down. The clue didn't land, though — as written, it hints at FRIDAY 13. A more indirect clue would have been better, letting solvers figure out the connection themselves.

I still feel cheated out of my Friday themeless, but if you're going to deprive me of that, this isn't salt in the wound. Quick, throw that SA LT spilled in the upper right corner off the grid!

Back in my days of being single, I could always be trusted to regale my married friends with tales. Mostly of woe, but of the 180 first dates I went on, there were some funny moments. Like with the arsonist. She was en fuego, but ultimately she wasn't a good match.

Thankfully, Brad's jokes are funnier than mine. An atheist HAD NO PRAYER, the couch potato who DIDN'T WORK OUT, those are good for a chuckle. I appreciated that Brad spun these one-liners into a cohesive story that had a beginning, middle, and who wouldn't like that a magician DID THE TRICK as a happy ending?

I also dug so much of the extras Brad worked in. Bonuses like LIKE HELL IT IS! and the ALL STAR BREAK can do wonders for solvers not digging the theme. (Although, this year's dunk contest was full of JELLO SHOTs. Yikes.)

Amazing gridwork, too, especially considering Brad dipped into sub-140 territory. Doing that with only minor ETES RTE SNO dings is a feat requiring tireless iteration.

Like so many first dates, this theme wasn't a potential-future-spouse-level experience, but I'd have happily gone out with Brad again. Maybe even enjoy making a new friend.

The giant Sunday canvas provides opportunities to tell stories. Who doesn't enjoy an engaging tale? I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU is a fun way to describe that awe-struck feeling I got when first feeling the baby kick inside Jill's belly. CARRY THAT WEIGHT was appropriate for the two hours (2:30-4:30 am) we spent walking up and down the halls of Swedish Medical Center when she decided that sure, why not see if it does further induce labor (it didn't)?

HURTS SO GOOD … I bet Jill would beg to disagree. More like, kill Brad.

Curious plot twist, the twins in BABY ONE MORE TIME. Felt a bit soap-opera-ish since there was no prior indication or foreshadowing. Kind of lost me at that point, but I like a feel-good ending with THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT.

Glad that Brad featured Diana Ross's catchy I'M COMING OUT. I almost forgot that Salt ‘N Pepa and Usher were thematic too, since their songs (PUSH IT and SCREAM) are so short. This was much better than a recent music puzzle, but I'd have loved even more selections that better catered to the diverse audience that the NYT crossword serves.

During my solve, I bogged down in the tons of 3-5 letter entries, making things feel choppy. Perhaps it was the grid design, with so many regions nearly separated from each other … almost womb-like! Okay, let's go with that.

More connectivity would have made for better solving flow, as would a better dispersion of the long bonuses. As much as I enjoyed OPERA HOUSE and CAMERA CREW right off the bat, having a few sparkly long entries in the middle would have helped the grid's feng shui a ton.

Excellent job on the cluing, several clever bits of wordplay helping keep my attention. [Wanna-bees?] for PUPAE (early stage of bees) is delightful, as is an OPERA HOUSE for "trill seekers". Ha! I didn't get how COGITO leads to a sum, but some research jogged my memory of "cogito, ergo sum."

Fewer than average gluey bits, which is great! If Brad only had escaped with one less of ETAPE ESTOP ENERO …

Although the story felt forced toward the end, still, an enjoyable concept for Mother's Day.

Man, oh man, Brad's "interview" had me rolling in the aisles! I enjoyed his debut puzzle almost as much. CROSSWORD BUFF, what a fun bit of wordplay.

For all of Will Shortz's intent to promote intellectual topics and fine arts in the NYT crossword, he has a soft spot for certain juvenile humor. Only a few days ago, he ran one on POTTY MOUTH, and today's bares his tendency further.

(Nod to Brad.)

I enjoyed so many of the themers, all of them working well. I particularly enjoyed ending the puzzle on FULLY RECOVERED, a cheeky (sorry) way to bring up the rear. (Help, I can't stop!)

My big question: isn't SORE POINT a bit risqué, even for this puzzle? I know people get sunburnt at nudist clubs, but this is quite a graphic image.

(Ignore me. Please!)

Fun clue for LADLES, too. They "hit the sauce," indeed. All it takes is a handful of these to elevate the fun factor.

Impressive debut, Brad doing a better job of execution than many experienced constructors. Restraining himself to only a handful of EEN EINS ESTA minor glue while making the most of his long bonus slots — ESCAPE PLAN EINSTEIN SMIRNOFF — takes a lot of iteration, time, and care. Well done.