David Alfred Bywaters author page

I frequently solve puzzles with a theme that feels oh so familiar. You'd think that would sour me on the puzzle. Sometimes it does, but it often makes me feel smart, able to complete it in ultra-short order.

And after all, isn't that the constructor's ultimate job, to create a moment that uplifts and gives joy to solvers?

Occasionally, I'll even marvel at the newer puzzle's refinement. At first glance, I thought Priscilla's and my puzzle used more interesting EX- words, but upon second look, I appreciated David's focusing each on a former lover. That layer of "tightness" — all themers so closely relating — lends elegance to a concept.

Newb-friendly gridwork, too. I did hitch on REUNE since many non-crossword-insiders will rightfully look at that askance, but there's only a bit of ANON DEO ONS otherwise.

Some constructors pooh-pooh going to the maximum allowable 78 words, thinking that it's no challenge, but that's a flawed perspective. Most important on a Monday is to deliver a satisfying, victorious moment to the solving masses. Bonuses like ANTONIO, BASS DRUM, SCULPTURE, SARCASTIC aren't amazing, but they do add to the experience.

Most weeks, this would have been a POW! winner.

Embarrassing how long I stared at COLD SOBBER, trying to figure out what the base phrase was. (Before I hit the revealer, mind you.) I took it as a personal challenge to decrypt the theme, from a single themer!

Fail.

COLD SHOULDER was my first thought.

Then COLD SLOBBER. (Can you tell I have a two-year-old?)

In the interest of full disclosure, I even considered OLD SOBBER. Wasn't that a sad movie where the dog dies?

Even sadder, when I hit the revealer, it still took a minute to figure it out — my mind went back to COLD SLOBBER. (GET YOUR FINGERS OUT OF YOUR SLOBBERY MOUTH, JAKE!)

TO BE OR NOT TO BE has been played upon many a time for crosswords, including a clever rebus that came immediately to my mind, but I can't remember one exactly like this. There aren't that many double-B words that form other words when single-B-ified, so it's a tidy theme set.

I did find it odd that CHINESE CAB AGE was the only one that required parsing, but that's a minor ding.

Another interesting aspect of this puzzle is that it's one of the few containing repeated words. TO BE / OR NOT / TO BE — the question is, how many other puzzles have had repeats?

Not many.

I didn't find this one as interesting as other repeated word themes since this is more a by-product of a decision that facilitated easier crossword gridding. TO BE OR NOT TO BE could have been placed as one entry in the middle row, which would have been more elegant. But a central 13 is tough to work with, especially what with two other 13s to work around too.

Given that there's already a good amount of crossword glue needed — note AMAT squeezed in a tough section between themers, for example — I'm okay with the splitification, considering that keeping the full revealer together would have made things even messier.

Curious to see the next novel implementation of the famous quote!

I haven't been so enthralled by a piece of fill in a long time — PASCAL'S WAGER drew me in to the point where I stopped working on the puzzle to go read up (and up and up and up) on it. How is it that this math and sci dork only vaguely remembered it?

Makes so much sense that a rational person ought to strive to believe in God. Probability theory doesn't lie!

I also enjoyed today's revealer; UNIONIZED parsed as UN-ION-IZED. Great way to hint at removing the ION strings from base phrases for kooky results.

Tough to figure out how it applied to the themers where ION was added, though. I get that the clue is trying its hardest to *sort of* make sense of how UN-ION-IZED isn't applicable to the ones in the top half. But it's not spot-on, not by a mile. Too bad ADDION isn't a real word. ADDITION so nearly works!

Given how many words can become other words by removing ION, I would have preferred for all of the themers to be UN-ION-IZED.

Then again, I can see how David might have wanted to do something more interesting than a simple letter removal theme, especially with easy to work with letters like ION.

Perhaps the best compromise of all would have been to remove the confusing UNIONIZED "revealer" in the middle and just go with the other six themers. A title riffing on both removal and addition could have explained it all, with much less confusion. Maybe something like IONIC MOBILITY.

(In case you didn't know what WITH ONE ACCORD meant, like I didn't, it's "in a united way.")

(No, not inside a United Way building.)

(*rimshot*)

Debut! Kooky interpretations of legal-sounding phrases made for an entertaining solve. My wife and I are hooked on "The Grinder," where Rob Lowe plays a TV lawyer-turned-pseudo-real-one, so I really liked this theme. THREE PIECE SUITS read as lawsuits involving too-easy jigsaw puzzles made me laugh. Same with BOXER BRIEFS as legal briefs about pugilists.

The only one that I hesitated on was DENTAL RETAINERS. I liked the wordplay using the dual meaning of the word "retainer," but don't most kids call their mouthwear just a retainer? The phrase felt manufactured to fit into the theme.

Debuts often suffer in their short fill, as smoothing out a grid is a skill that can take a while to get down pat. But David does amazingly well, really just an ENE here, some ERNS there. WINEY did seem a bit iffy, but it does have dictionary support.

There were a few mid-length entries that felt inelegant to me, though. SCORERS … I guess I could see Kevin Durant or Steph Curry called a SCORER. An INBOARD motor … I was so sure it was ONBOARD. But INBOARD does also have clear dictionary support. GO FETCH … not just FETCH? After consideration, I think these three are all probably fine, but I wouldn't go out of my way to use them in another crossword.

What I would go out of my way for are WHEEDLED and VARMINTS, excellent choices for long bonus fill. Both are such vivid, interesting words. Both make me think of Looney Tunes characters, and for me, that's a great thing. (Not as much for my poor wife.)

Very enjoyable early-week puzzle; looking forward to more from David. I'm sure his great-grandmother is beaming with pride up there somewhere.