Joe DiPietro author page

I could use some SAGE ADVICE, considering the number of cooking failures I've had over the past three years. My kids have many a SERVING SUGGESTION, including outspoken ones involving a direct transfer from stovetop to trash bin. Forget about farm-to-table, they're all about pan-to-can.

I laughed at GAME THEORY. I'm fascinated by the subject, and I've never considered it as a hypothesis posited about hunted animals. CORE BELIEF also delighted me, as my insistence on finishing my and Jill's apple cores all the way to the seeds is a source of amusement for her.

BLANKET RECOMMENDATION also worked well because of a huge change in meaning. Not SERVING SUGGESTION as much, which could have been clued to Richard Williams trying to correct Serena's serve.

DISSENTING OPINION was equally flat — perhaps PERSONAL OPINION could have created more laughs by referring to a personal ad, or SECOND OPINION might have been clued to a Swiss watchmaker's thoughts on the exact length of a sixtieth of a minute.

Joe's layout is smart, not unexpected, because he's so accomplished. He packs in so many long Downs by spacing them out perfectly. EGO BOOST and PAUL ANKA aren't hard to stack since they both only intersect one themer, and then THE PLUNGE / NAMETAGS / SHORT CIRCUIT have so much separation that they can be squeezed for every last drop of zinginess. Great stuff. Although there's about AVG glue, featuring such a quantity of worthy bonuses is a great trade-off.

Sage concept that's much fresher than my sage dishes.

NEVER FELT BETTER crossing POT BROWNIE is so apt for weed-friendly Seattle. Funny that [Delectable made with grass] could also describe so many hippie vegan creations around here, involving wheat grass, oat grass, and even grass grass.

GIVEN NAME is a neutralish entry, but oh, that clue! Not only did I enjoy the confusion about "first in America," but it was nice to acknowledge the cultural patterns of countries where the family name is listed first.

I appreciated the wordplay with the BARBED WIRE FENCE — hard to get over, indeed. It elicited images of prisons and war-torn countries, though. I might be watching too much news about Ukraine.

A couple of Saturday-level traps, starting with [Certain archaeological site]. I'm guessing 99% of solvers put in DIG, especially since the G worked perfectly with GIVEN NAME. What a mean way to clue BOG! And [Leap with a twist] is always a ballet term … except when it's not. Neat to get the Z worked in so smoothly, crossing LUTZ with BENZENE.

This chem nerd hangs his head in shame, having been positive that it had to be one of the -YNEs, like Hexyne. How could I forget about the BENZENE ring?! (insert GRAWLIX here)

A bit of an old-school feel, with the first BROWSER WAR fought more than two decades ago, and STENO OATERS probably needing to SKAT. Overall, though, a lot of entertaining wordplay, like [Soprano's group] hiding the capital S of The Sopranos being part of THE MAFIA.

Fantastic clue for RUNNERS HIGH, that rush you get after a few miles of racing. [Rush while racing?] is such an interesting way to combine those words. Doubly fun to have it intersect HEART RATE! I used to wear a heart rate monitor back in my half-marathon days ... back when my pace was more than "slug."

Also amusing was the clue for PUSH UP BRAS. I was sure that [Garments that sound like you'd exercise in them] would be SWEAT PANTS, especially considering Jill and I have gone full sweaty with our Uniqlo wardrobes these days.

There was so much I struggled with today. I've had dozens of CHIRASHI bowls over the years, yum! I had convinced myself that it was SHIRASHI, though. Embarrassingly, I stuck to my guns with the French-sounding SASMAL, as either MOVED and ROVED felt it could fit [Was peripatetic]. (They couldn't.)

MALAR? (It's a word, according to the dictionary.)

There's such a thing as a BED IN A BAG? (There is.)

Who says "GOTTA boogie!"? (People who are cooler than you. Also, people who are less cool.)

LOTHAR is who? (Mandrake's sidekick, didn't you read the clue?)

Yes, but who is Mandrake? (You got me on that one.)

Ah well. We expect to encounter some-to-many things we don't know in a Saturday themeless.

Huh? It was a Friday themeless?

GONE ROGUE is right!

We've had many a smiley face in crosswords. Can't remember ever getting a BLANK LOOK. Reminds me of most every day, when I ask my kids to pick up their mess, and they pretend to only speak Chinese. (None of us do, which makes it that much worse.)

Jim Horne asked me if maybe STEVE KERR was known for his stony-faced expressions, but no. Kerr is famed for his cold-as-ice shot that sealed the Bulls' 1997 title, but he's also been the source of many gigantic smiles over the years. I'd smile too, with Steph Curry leading my team!

That question made me wonder, would this puzzle have impacted me more strongly if Joe had focused on three people known for their stoic expressions? Megan Fox comes to mind, as does Lady Gaga and Johnny Depp. Hard to know if these are more blank looks or brooding expressions, though.

Also, curious that Joel Fagliano, who's a big poker fan, didn't push Joe to include POKER FACE as a themer! That would have been an entertaining angle, much more so than the less colorful SHOWED NO EMOTION.

A couple of rough patches in the grid, this Taiwanese guy struggling with MATSU Islands after filling in four letters from the crossings. Thank goodness AGA Khan is a crossword staple, or I would have been toast.

And the pile-up of LBO (leveraged buyout, when a firm takes on huge debt to multiply their risk/reward during a takeover), ORIEL, KRONE, ELEV … all fair, but OUTRE felt appropriate.

Awesome clue for SWEAR. What a way to play on "utter hell"!

I appreciate smiley faces because I do crosswords to escape real life. Although this one didn't give me any sort of lift (those black square cheeks seem like they got over-lifted at the plastic surgeon!), at least it wasn't a downer.

And it is memorable. Going to 55 blocks is nearly unheard of, and I like unusual layouts done for the sake of distinctive art.

Literal SHOTs IN THE DARK = words that can precede SHOT, placed into black squares. We've fixed up all the answers (see the grid below), so hopefully, it's clear. Theme answers:

BETTER MOUSETRAP / PRAISE TO GOD

HAIR IMPLANT / HEDGE TRIMMERS

GENUINE ARTICLE / TIPTOE AROUND

SILICONE RUBBER / EDISON EFFECT

PRIVATE EYES / NINETEEN FIFTY

SELF LUBRICATING / LAP OF LUXURY

SET shot, RIM shot, EAR shot, ONE shot (which feels weaker than the rest), TEE shot, FLU shot.

Usually, Will Shortz doesn't like when grid answers look non-sensical, and I tend to agree with him. But when I did a "letters in black squares" puzzle a while back, some befuddled solvers completely missed the theme, figuring that the themer clues went over their heads, what with my penchant for annoying too-clever-ness.

In contrast, HEDGET or BETTERMOU can't be right, so you're forced to go back and figure out the theme. I liked that aspect today.

Solid selection of phrases. Not all of them break across words — typically, Will Shortz doesn't allow themers like HEGDE TRIMMERS because HEDGE doesn't contribute to the theme. There are so many crossings that must be kept symmetrical, though, that I'm fine with sacrificing this rule (of thumb) to prioritize colorful phrases like BETTER MOUSETRAP.

This genre isn't my favorite since it's impossible to write in a black square — having to imagine those three-letter words isn't easy. Perhaps it would have helped if the print version had left those six squares dark gray instead of black?

Today's concept also felt a bit too much like a "words that can precede X" theme, which has largely gone by the wayside.

However, originality often comes in combining elements from multiple disciplines or genres, so bonus points for creativity. It's not easy to mesh two disparate ideas together.

LIQUOR LICENSE is a sizzling central entry. Give it an innocent misdirection, [Bar requirement] nudging toward the legal bar exam, and it's even better. Toss in the fact that Joe has owned bars with tricksy names, and it's perfect in every way!

After that, I was thinking about bars and ordering a cold one when coronavirus quarantine is finally over, so what a devilish trick to use "order" in a different way, in the clue for SECRET SOCIETY. Got me!

And that quote from SAMUEL BECKETT! I'm one of those who remain mad as a hatter, especially in this day and age. In our weekly Zoom chat, I meekly admitted to Jim Horne that I wasn't entirely sure who Beckett was.

"Beckett?" he said in shock. "Waiting for Godot? You haven't seen it?"

He's still waiting for my answer.

The central entries make for a brilliant trifecta. At least, for those more cultured than me.

I wasn't as enamored with the two other marquee answers, AD CLICK RATE and OPEN A NEW TAB. They sound like something I was supposed to study in one of my internet marketing MBA classes. Good thing I pooh-poohed the internet as a passing phase back then (2002)!

Saturday puzzles are supposed to be hard, and it's tough to find the right middle ground. Too easy, and people will complain. Too hard, and people will complain. People are the worst! I found today's too hard (complain complain), odd choices to acknowledge the existence of the awful ITS / PAT, clue SIDE A as a "finer cut" (as in a finer piece of music than side B), test my weak foreign language skills with "Ich liebe dich" for TE AMO. Wow, did I struggle in the NW and SE corners.

Thankfully, Joe gave me a lot of delight to make up for that. CACTI as things hard to handle — literally. SOOT found in stacks? Ah, smokestacks! I put in ME DAY for [Time spent close to home]. What a delight to figure out it was AT BAT and home plate. And an ARCHER taking a bow, that's fantastic!

I tend to feel more relief than joy when finishing a head-buster like this one, but it sure made for a great mental workout. I could use that drink now, Joe!

A few months ago, I struggled mightily with a brilliant Matt Gaffney metapuzzle, where he employed the doubling trick to devious effect. It was such an amazing fist-pumping moment when I finally figured it out — and then realized that he managed to place the theme entries at 11-, 22-, 33-, 44-, and 55-Across!

Today's puzzle works, but you can imagine how it's a let-down for me, considering the aforementioned puzzle. I like that Joe included so many of them … eight, is that right? I had a hard time keeping track, since these shorties kept getting lost in the shuffle. I also appreciated that Joe (mostly) kept to ones where the meaning completely changed once doubled. SING vs. SING SING is a stark difference, for example.

Hmm … SING vs. SING SING vs. SING SING SING. Crossword theme radar activated!

Gridding around eight short entries — plus a central themer — can be problematic. Wait! What's the big deal, you ask, since all the themers are only four letters? I'm glad you asked! Crosswords have to be 78 words or less, so …

Huh? Why 78? Because if there are more than that, it's difficult to include any long, interesting entries.

What, another question? Why does there need to be long, interesting entries, you ask? Because a bunch of shorties heaped together makes for a dull solving experience.

But Jeff, why—

Because REASONS. Harrumph.

Long story short, themers are usually your long, colorful entries, so you can fill around them with shorties. When your themers are those shorties — and you have to place them symmetrically — getting flavorful long or even medium entries is tough. GLOOPS, A DAY AGO, BALIN, PLATEN.

I understand Will Shortz's rationale for not getting into the meta craze — some solvers hate the frustration that these can bring — but it'd be great if the NYT actively sought out more original ways of presenting ideas.

What a shame that THELUCYSKY wasn't in the middle of this grid.

We've highlighted the five diamonds below, in case you missed the concept: FAUX diamond, HOPE diamond, etc. Not a huge a-ha impact, but I did like how the theme made the shotgun blast of circles transform into something well-ordered.

I prioritize quality of fill way more than Jim Horne, who joyfully prizes clever themes. It amused me that he was the one who noted this puzzle's dabs of crossword glue, making for a sticky solve. No doubt, crossing FROZONE / AZOLE / DENEB is rough, and if you've never seen "Happy Days," MRSC is four random letters strung together (it's "Mrs. C." as in "Mrs. Cunningham." Keep MRC in your head; it occasionally comes up in crosswords!).

Oddly, I didn't mind these blips as much. I like LAC, IGAS, WEEB less than most people, but when you have 24 letters fixed into place, there are bound to be compromises.

Interesting choice to not run the themers clockwise. That would have had the bonus of making them easier to understand — I pondered for way too long what a FAXU or HEPO could be — but that would make the BASEBALL diamond go in reverse. Although, the action rarely starts at second base and circles back around to second. Hmm.

I enjoyed the puzzle much more after Jim animated the diamonds. There's something elegant about those five shapes creating order out of chaos. If only there had been more elegance in the presentation of the diamond themers, and/or a more memorable way to reveal what was going on.

What's in a name? More like, what name's … in the final word of the theme phrase?

Shakespeare, I'm not.

Even after I uncovered three themers, I still wasn't sure what was going on. I thought I figured it out with "BURY THE HAT" CHET, but then I hit HEART BRO KEN. What's a HEART BRO — frat dude who's aiming for cardiology? No, that couldn't be right. My cleveradar told me I had to be missing something.

My equipment may be due for a tune-up.

A mix of thematic results, with some falling flat, but I did get a kick out of GROUND NUT MEG being an NFL fan nutty over the running game.

140-word 21x21 puzzles are never straightforward to build. They always require a bunch of long fill, which is usually the root of construction problems. Joe is such a pro — check out what he did in the SW corner. That diagonal line of black squares nearly segments the corner from the rest of the grid, with only three entry/exit points. This isn't ideal in terms of grid flow, but it's satisfactory — if a solver gets stuck at one point, there are still two others.

This sort of pseudo-segmentation does wonders for grid building. Once you have ROLLERS KATE and FORT LAUDER DALE in place, you can work on the SW corner almost independently of the rest of the grid. It's such a huge boon in construction to be able to tackle a big grid in sequential chunks, breaking down the Herculean mythos into minor labors.

Great results in that SW corner. FARMERS TAN and I GOT NOTHIN are sizzlers, and there's little evidence of the glue usually necessary to stick together adjacent downs — just ESTE and DAK. It's much easier to achieve this type of solid result when the rest of the grid doesn't affect what you're doing in the local region.

This is the type of trade-off that serves both the solver and the constructor.

All that great fill helped keep me entertained while I shrugged at entries like ROLLERS KATE and POP IN JAY. Jam-packing a grid full of TENNIS PRO, ASIAN PEARS, COME TO PAPA, HES DEAD JIM, THE RIDDLER, VIRGIN WOOL is such a boon for solvers who don't connect to the theme.

We've highlighted the HANDS dropping down to make the theme more apparent. For example, there's a FOREhand dropping down out of DEFOREST.

FOREhand, LONGhand, SURE hand, IRON hand. I like that Joe picked all four-letter words to drop down. That's perfect consistency.

I might have made different choices, though. FOREhand and LONGhand, yes! SURE hand … doesn't "sure-handed" sound a lot better? IRON hand also didn't ring as well to my ear as FOREhand or LONGhand.

Perhaps FREE, in DEEP FREEZE or DEGREES OF FREEDOM? And maybe GLADhand, in BANGLADESH?

People often assume that Thursdays are the hardest grids to make. Often not the case! Sure, you can be forced into crazy constraints, but you can also toss in some oddball entries. That's usually okay (if not desirable), since people who solve Thursdays tend to be the die-hard regulars who will have at least heard of things like SHUL and the Sea of AZOV.

It's not easy to work with crossing themers, which is essentially what Joe had to build around. Fixing DEFST / FORE into place will often mean problems in the surrounding fill (see: SHUL).

I'm all for long bonus fill to spice up a grid. But if the bonuses are of the LAY RUBBER ilk, I'd rather break that up, which would make for a smoother grid. LAY RUBBER detracted from the puzzle for me, since it sounds so much worse than "burn rubber". Take that out by putting a black square at the R of HEAR — which would allow for the removal of ESTOP — and that's a win-win for me.

Overall though, solid Thursday concept. Enough trickery to keep me interested.

So unfortunate that THE IDES of March falls on a Thursday this year. I enjoyed Joe's theme — phrases starting with I'D — but wow, did it seem misplaced for a Thursday. I appreciated that it was a low word count, themeless level, but I want so much more out of a Thursday puzzle. Mixing a Tuesday theme and a Saturday grid seems like it ought to produce a Thursday puzzle — simple averages, yeah? — but it doesn't work that way.

Stupid math!

I like Joe's choices for themers, I'D BETTER GO, I'D RATHER NOT, I'D BE HONORED, and … well, I liked three of them. I'D TAKE THAT? Feels arbitrary, like I'D EAT A TON or I'D SMELL NICE. With so many choices available, why not I'D LOVE TO, I'D KILL FOR THAT, I'D DO ANYTHING, I'D BE HAPPY TO, I'D UNDERSTAND, etc.?

Jim and I recently had a conversation about symmetry, where he argued the case that editors ought to allow asymmetry if it makes for a more interesting puzzle. I don't totally agree, but here's a case where I think it could have made sense. Would have opened up more options, without having to use a length match for I'D BETTER GO.

As a themeless, it works pretty decently. ACAI BERRY / TAX DODGER / BAR SCENE is a lovely triple. SURE BETS / BEAR PIT is great. GAY PAREE / ELAINE MAY / … ROLLS DICE? "Rolls THE dice," sure. Without "the" that phrase feels iffy.

Overall, nice craftsmanship, Joe taking great care to limit his crossword glue to CTR TSO kind of minor offenders. (Okay, BREN ain't good, but I gave it a pass as it made that great triple-stack possible.)

But the themeless-esque solving experience got watered down by the easy theme.

There's a reason so many people hate math.

Another celeb puzzle! And a ton of Rachel Maddow-related entries in this themeless. I wasn't sure what a COUGH BUTTON was, but it made sense — a button pressed when you need to cough, so your listeners aren't subjected to the noise. So that's what that thing is called!

Also TV HOSTS, FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) REQUEST, FRONT RUNNER (as clued, to politics), SLOTTING (clued to TV programming). You'd think that it's easy to seed a themeless with four long entries — one in each of the four corners — but it turns out that two, maybe three, is about the max. More than that usually causes too much stress on the grid.

RMS wasn't a great way to kick off the puzzle, and APO nearby made me worry. Getting two gluey bits right away = no bueno! Thankfully, the grid was pretty clean the rest of the way.

(I see you, FARO.)

What WAS a great way to kick of the puzzle was the clue for ROCK FANS. [Those who've seen both Europe and Asia, say] had me badly stuck on "travelers" or "jet-setters." Brilliant misdirection, using the rock groups named Europe and Asia!

A couple of other great clues, too:

• "Take it from me, every vote counts." So apt, for AL GORE!
• WICK smartly repurposing the phrase "keeper of the flame."
• FORTUNA is a fun entry in itself, but I loved learning that she was the Roman goddess of luck.

Overall, I didn't think this was a POW!-worthy puzzle as themelesses go — too much wastage with long entries like IPCRESS FILE, TIDIED UP, NETTER, along with the aforementioned crossword glue — but I enjoyed the Maddow-ness.

One of my biggest laughs in recent crossword memory came from the mysterious clue, [One asking for Ahmed Adoudi, say]. If you don't get it, say it out loud, in a Moe Szyslak tone of voice. Great entry, made even better with its clue. (Some solvers might find it juvenile. So I'm juvenile!) SCAM ARTIST was another standout, as was the GAZA STRIP.

A shame that Joe got scooped on ANTI-VAXXER, debuted just over a week ago. Feature entries are important in distinguishing themelesses, so seeing it again in such a short period of time wasn't great. It'd be super difficult task for Will and Joel to avoid this type of quick reshowing, but it would sure be worth it to me.

But MARK O MEARA didn't do that much for me since I gave up golf 20 years ago, and even though FROST / NIXON has sentimental value as it was the first movie Jill and I ever saw together (what a choice for a date movie, huh?), I don't remember much about it. Overall, there weren't as many assets in the puzzle as I usually hope for.

Lack of assets is a common issue for themelesses featuring seven-letter entries. I did like BEER KEG and WAFFLES, but STOMP ON, ACREAGE, ANGINAL, ADHERES are all more neutral; filler material holding the puzzle together. Maybe the RCA DOME would have been an asset back when the Colts were still playing there, but it feels fusty now.

I appreciated the effort to work in some snazz with PET TAXI, but that one didn't hit my ear very well. A quick Googling turned up countless PET TAXI services, so it seems fine. But it still seems kind of an odd phrase to me.

With some RESOAK, BANC crossing BEL (borderline unfair), EROO, outdated TROI, ENDO, it was a tad too much crossword glue for my taste.

Still, that CRANK CALLER entry/clue pair will stick with me for a long time. Ahmed Adoudi, tee hee.

I loved this concept, "IT'S ___" phrases elided for kooky results. It took the longest time for me to figure out what was going on, and the wait was worth it. I got a good laugh out of IT'S TOUGH OUT THERE going to STUFF OUT THERE. Amusing visual of a taxidermist's spouse pleading to not mess up the living room with entrails. ITS WHO YOU KNOW was another standout, especially with that crazy IT'S WHO to SIOUX spelling change. And although the spelling change from IT'S OUR LITTLE SECRET to SOUR LITTLE SECRET was simple, I chuckled at the thought of the Oompa Loompas at the SweeTarts factory carefully guarding their precious formula.

SIP TO BE SQUARE didn't resonate with me, though. Great base phrase in IT'S HIP TO BE SQUARE but the clue felt off. "…BE SQUARE" is usually a bad thing, as in "be there or be square," yeah? So I couldn't imagine a wine geek embracing this slogan. Also, what happened to the H? Wouldn't SHIP TO BE SQUARE (as a fun UPS slogan!) be more consistent?

And STEW DAMN HOT ... I tried to insert some punctuation to make it feel fine, like a menu listing such as STEW (DAMN HOT!), but it just didn't work for me.

A couple of nice bonuses in GENTLE BEN (great clue about the show's 650 pound star), ANNIE HALL and HELEN HUNT. CAR PHONES are outdated, but they have historic appeal. Funny to think about people holding those gigantic monsters to their ears while driving, almost needing two hands to operate them. And ROLL-ONS is a pretty good bonus already, but the innocent [Sure things] made it really stand out. ("Sure" is a deodorant brand.)

REEDING was a tough one, but it looks to be a perfectly legit entry, referring to both grooves in a column as well as the little grooves on the sides of coins.

Joe does well with his short stuff, keeping the crossword glue to very minor bits like EUR and XENO. REFIX felt more gloppy, but to keep all the crossword glue to such a small quantity is good work.

I would have loved to not have STEW DAMN HOT, and to have more strong bonus fill. Eliminating that themer, plus going from 138 to 140 words, might have helped convert more neutral stuff like TENURES and AREOLAS to really fun entries. A shame — a few improvements here and there and this would have been my POW!

I really like the concept here, a common phrase used as an example of a second common phrase, literally expressed. GRAY FOX is not only a nice phrase in itself, but it's a literal description of AGE BEFORE BEAUTY — "gray" describing "age" and "fox" a synonym for "beauty."

BIG DEALS also works well, as GRAND OPENING SALES gives us "big" = "grand" (placed before) "deals" = "sales."

I can only imagine how difficult it was to come up with all these themers. WAY BEHIND THE TIMES works for NEWSPAPER ROUTE (although I struggled, wanting it to be ROUTE NEWSPAPER, since that would put ROUTE behind the TIMES, in a way), but the WAY feels tagged on just to make the theme work. And COMPLETE PLAN doesn't really feel like a solid phrase to me, nor does MORE UNITED.

Finally, GO FIGURE … "figure" = "form," but "go" = "function" felt like a bit of a stretch to me. Yes, "going" is a synonym for "functioning," but that didn't feel quite direct enough for my taste.

Considering Joe only had six theme answers, I like how he worked in some long fill to help add more pizzazz. IM AN IDIOT is something I say all the time = love it! ACTIVE ROSTER and TIGERS MILK also add spice.

And although most solvers won't even notice it, I applaud how smoothly Joe went down to 134 words. This has the effect of giving the solver more mid-length fill (6-7 letters), and since entries of that length are much more rare than the 3-5 letter shorties, this can result in a fun experience … if the fill is clean. Good thing that we go a lot of strong material like IN PLAY, OUTBOX, ROTUND, TAOIST, TUDORS without much dreck.

The clever cluing today was much appreciated, too. Loved [Star trek figures?] for MAGI, for example. [Pop group] was even better, so innocently misdirecting away from COLAS.

Neat theme idea, although I wish a few more of the examples had been as close to spot on as GRAY FOX for AGE BEFORE BEAUTY.

Kevin Der said a while back that he'd like to see more "traps" set in hard puzzles (notably, the ACPT finals!). I've gradually come to appreciate these clever misleads, directing me into a rabbit hole I have to claw my back out of. This makes a Saturday solve even more fun for me.

Take [French bread], for example. That clue has been used many times to indicate French currency, so I plunked in FRANC. And the "bread" part of the clue hides the fact that the answer could be singular or plural. Nice touch.

[Old Olds] is always ALERO, what with its friendly vowel consonant alternation … unless it's CIERA. Drat it, it's OMEGA! Two levels deep of trickery, playing on the regular crossword solver's tendencies to go with all the usual crossword suspects he/she thinks they know.

"Hair" is always a ROCK OPERA … except when it's a TITLE SONG. So many traps, and I fell into them all. Fun to dig myself out. (And Jim tells me that "Hair" isn't actually a rock opera. D'oh!)

Some devilishly clever clues:

• [Star close to Venus]. ARA and URSA minor/major are the usuals when a constellation is involved. Brilliant misdirect toward Venus, the night-time star, away from SERENA and Venus Williams.
• My former favorite NBA DRAFT clue was one of Joel's: [Rockets take people there]. Now, it's [Jordan was part of it in 1984]. Not the country Jordan, but Michael Jordan (taken behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie!).
• [Monthly reading] automatically draws me to my beloved Bridge Bulletin magazine. So innocent in its oblique reference to GAS METER.
• [Hacker's aid] has nothing to do with computers, but people who hack and need a COUGH DROP.

Satisfying solve. At only 10 entries of 8+ letters, there wasn't as much stellar material as I usually like, but the quality of cluing added a ton to my fun.

Pattern matching today, a consistent adherence to the ?ALL OF ???? pattern. Nice choice on themers, all sparkly phrases — FALL OF ROME I found particularly punchy. CALL OF DUTY I might call punchy, except my friends barred me from playing first-person shooters after my abysmal showing one "Halo" night. I was even bad at "hiding under a rock so the other team wouldn't shoot me so fast."

I normally don't care for cross-referenced answers, but TYSON and KOS worked well for me. Not only are they strongly linked (talking about punchy, anyone remember his five-second "fights"? Yikes!) but they're right atop each other. Elegant touch.

The LLAMAS / INCA link didn't work as well for me. It's true that LLAMAS are important in Peru's history and culture — one appears on Peru's coat of arms — but a link between INCA and MACHU PICCHU or SUN GOD or even SUN would have been stronger in my eyes. And the fact that the two entries are as far apart in physical distance as California and New Hampshire … I wasn't interested in searching out INCA when I hit that clue for LLAMAS.

I appreciated the color added by SMALL WORLD (great colloquial clue in "I can't believe we both know him") and GENE SISKEL, of whom I have fond memories. RIP SIskel and Ebert. When a puzzle only has two long pieces of fill, it's important to make sure they both are good enough to get two thumbs up.

Curious find, four distinct themers fitting that quirky ?ALL OF ???? pattern. I tried to see if I could find any others, and the only other one was WALL OF FAME (think: restaurants that take pics of people who finish the five-pound burger). Then maybe HALL OF FAME could have been HALL OF ODIN, but that feels like a stretch. So, I like that this set of four feels complete.

It would have been an elegant touch to have the four themers alphabetized from top to bottom, but that might just be the OCD organizer in me speaking.

★ X through Y phrases, visually represented by two crossing answers. CUTS (through) THE CLUTTER, PULLS (through) IN THE CLUTCH, SLIP (through) ONES FINGERS, GOING (through) THE MOTIONS. Fun to get the a-ha moment of what was going on.

Having a good memory for crosswords sometimes interferes with my enjoyment of puzzles. Here, my initial thoughts turned back to an earlier puzzle as soon as I figured out the concept. It's no problem at all to have two puzzles with a similar (or the same) trick, but I would have liked to have more time separating the two; a year at least. Could also have been different if they hadn't both been Thursday puzzles. If one had been a Wednesday and one a Thursday, people who never attempt a Thursday puzzle wouldn't have even noticed.

Putting all that aside, it's very nicely executed. Joe does a great job of inserting strong long fill without much or a price to pay. I particularly liked the SE corner, with DINGBAT and CLUB SODA straddling the themers down there. And ODE TO JOY along with GROOVES (and a gold star clue!) in the opposite corner? Yes please! It's not easy to stick the landing like this when you're working with crossing themers (even if one of them is short), so Joe does well to keep it to really, really minor stuff like ANON, PEI, ISR.

I would have liked more symmetry (both the long answers and the shorts answers), but having the pairs intersect is really cool. Perhaps it's too much to ask that the short ones be paired in symmetry as well. I do remember sifting THROUGH the total solution space and noticing that it was smaller than I would have thought.

Finally, I love the extra touches. The clue echo of SMUT and SKY, both "blue" things but in very different ways — that's the kind of "clue echo" that works perfectly for me. IQ TEST and its [Measure of brightness]. HOE being something that could loosen up a lot (of land). Excellent stuff adding pleasure to my solve. I really enjoyed it, and likely would have absolutely loved it if it had run six months from now.

Pretty funny for a quote puzzle. I had to read it twice to really get the joke, but I enjoyed it. Sort of what would happen if Jerry Seinfeld ever started doing crosswords.

Joe's an experienced constructor, and the fill quality shows through today. The low theme density forces longer fill, and Joe does well to take advantage of each slot, from NO COMMENT to KATE SPADE to DUST MITE to TROIKAS. All done with a smooth touch, leaving only traces of IT IS I behind. BTW, check out Joe's "baseball card" stats. I always enjoy seeing where a constructor focuses his/her time. In this case, it's quite clear that Joe's vast experience in themeless grids came in handy filling today's.

One thing I found a little confusing was why the quote was split into five pieces (4/8/13/8/4). Why not make it a 12/13/12? It might seem easier to build around shorter theme words, but it's often harder. Those black squares separating the 4/8 and 8/4 words reduce flexibility; plus, when you use shorter theme entries, you usually have to employ longer non-theme fill. Most importantly though, I personally like quote puzzles better when the flow is stronger. I find jumping around between three chunks is much more satisfying than trying to piece together five.

Nice change of cape today.

What a fun theme, common words and phrases reimagined in Irish ways. ANGIOGRAM becomes ANGIE O'GRAM and WILLOW TREES becomes WILL O'TREES, for example. Neat that Joe found nine of these, most all of which amused me. Not often that a punny type theme works for me, but this one did it. I mean, JEAN O'TYPING, that's brilliant!

Joe does well with his layout, putting as much space between his themers as possible. Note the two themers in row three and the two themers in row nineteen. Anytime you can get two (shorter) theme entries into one row, that helps immensely.

Ah, the devilish constructions that are Sunday puzzles. Even going up to Will's maximum word count (140), 21x puzzles are almost never easy to put together. Long fill is not just a nicety but a requirement, given the specifications. I can understand that in some ways — it's awfully nice to get some long fill to spice up a grid — but boy does it make for a challenge. I liked PUT ER THERE and TOSS A SALAD quite a bit, but BIG IN JAPAN felt awfully arbitrary. I'm mixed on CLERKS TALE, which clearly is part of "Canterbury Tales," but I fear that opens up the floodgates for any of the 20+ tales.

Although I bet there's a hilarious joke if you smash up THE NUNS PRIESTS TALE and THE MAN OF LAWS TALE. A nun, a priest, and a lawyer walk into a ye olde alehouse...

Check out where WEINSTEIN sits below ANGIEOGRAM. Because of the word count maximum, long bits need to be incorporated in many places. I do like the wide-open look this subsection has. The INRI / EGAN / CESTA pileup did feel a little inelegant though. A tough trade-off; a very difficult task to place an entry as long as WEINSTEIN right in between two theme entries (same goes for the symmetrical spot, with the unknown to me PAPER LACE and the SAREE variant). An almost surefire way to create high constraints.

Sometimes I wonder if opening up the maximum of 140 to 144 (which is what Rich Norris allows at the LAT and Patti Varol allows at the Crosswords Club) might be useful. I do love me some long fill, but I also value smoothness of solve. I hate to admit how irked I get at little bits, but struggling for minutes and then revealing TOPEE / SCREED wasn't very satisfying.

So although I struggled a bit with the fill, I really enjoyed the theme. A clever interpretation of in-the-language phrases with amusing results.

Joe DiPietro is one of the NYT's most prolific crossword constructors, only 10 people having more Sunday-size puzzles than him (in the Shortz era). Amazing to see his creative output, including such mind-bending beauties as I SURRENDER! and BYWORDS.

Today he brings us a more standard type of theme, wordplay changing HER sounds to the actual word HER. Note that he uses nine theme entries, higher than typical (seven or eight). He also interlocks some of the themers (CHECK HER BOARD and SHUT HER BUG; COUNT HER PARTS and LET HER BOMB), always an impressive feat. Adds a touch of elegance when a constructor is able to do that.

Thank you to Joe and Will for the way they clued LICK HER BOTTLE. That could have gone in a very different direction. Ahem.

Sundays are so difficult to fill because the relatively low word count maximum requires at least a few wide-open spaces. This means that a constructor usually can't become good at Sunday-sized puzzles until they gain proficiency at themelesses, and indeed, these are two of Joe's fortes. Today's NW and SE corners both have triple-stacked 7's intersecting sets of long answers, making them quite difficult to fill. Each corner contains a lesser-known proper name (OLEANNA and LOESSER) but Joe takes care to make each of the crossing answers fair. RADIX might be tough for some, but it's a valid mathematical term.