John Westwig author page

OPPOSITES ATTRACT attracts a lot of constructors! This is the third one we've seen in less than a year, with a Sunday and a Tuesday riffing on the same idea. I appreciated that John took a different angle. Instead of embedding opposites within (or at the start of) phrases, he -INGed the second word, often for kooky effect. The downside CON changes meaning to a scammer CONNING. PRO / CON to PRO CONNING is some pro wordplay.

ODD EVENING is even better. EVEN number to EVENING night; such a shift in usage. I had plenty of ODD EVENINGs while I was on a dating tear back in the day, so the clue brought back many memories.

IN OUTING didn't work as well, since OUT to OUTING isn't much of a change. Still, I appreciated the fun clue, referencing a hot new club. That also reminds me of some of my odd evenings … I thank the stars for my WHOLE PARTING of that scene.

Although it's fairly easy to suss out what is theme and what is not, LAB ANIMAL in the middle of the grid tends to overshadow the IN OUTING and ON OFFING shorties. I had some SHORT LONGING for shorter Across bonuses, which would allow the themers to stand out more naturally on their own.

That's especially true for SIREN SONG, whose question-marked clue made me sure it was thematic.

Hopefully, we don't get yet another OPPOSITES ATTRACT puzzle for the rest of the year, but if we do, I hope it gets a fresh angle like John's.

SOMETHING? ANYTHING? NOTHING. It's hard enough to create a solid grid-spanning triple-stack, and to do it with a mini-theme makes John's creation stand out. Three excellent phrases stacked together with a common thread tying them together? Love it!

Adhering to such a tight constraint almost guarantees you'll need some trade-offs to make it work. AERO and AIR is the biggest issue. AERO gets dinged on most editors' spec sheets (prefix), and duplicating with AIR is a double no-no.

However, many solvers don't care about this sort of thing, and adding airiness by including pairs of long Downs through the ends of the triple stack adds so much color. NEO NOIR FILM and ARMY TRAINEE are great entries.

The opposite side is less constrained since there are a reasonable number of phrases starting with SOMETHING, ANYTHING, and NOTHING. It's still challenging to make all the crossings smooth, though. H WORD is tenuous today when much stronger language is used, even in kids' shows. Crossing that with RIMY was hoary.

The center of the triple stack gives such an ugly letter sequence to work with: -NGP-. Don't forget that due to symmetry reasons, there have to be an equal number of letters on either side of it … but PUZZLING PROBLEM solved! (Table tennis zealot Will Shortz probably would have pushed for PING PONG PADDLES.) While PUZZLING PROBLEM feels slightly arbitrary — is TOUGH STUMPER or PERPLEXING CONUNDRUM crossworthy? — it's a reasonable solution to the -NGP- enigma.

I love when constructors push the envelope in themelesses, and this grid was largely successful.

YUTZES, MEATHEADS, EL CHEAPO … OH GEEZ!

It's not often that my favorite entry of a themeless is a seven-letter one since those can be of the dry ARIDITY variety. There's something so fun about the word APTONYM. So much easier to understand than other -onym words. Wordsworth is indeed an apt name for a wordsmith!

This puzzle's cluing stood out with its Wordsworth-worthy wordplay. So many times I was left scratching my head, only to be delighted several minutes later. [Leaves totally drained of energy?], using "leaves" as a noun is clever. DECAF TEA is an excellent entry, and it's made even better by the clue.

Same with AVERAGE GUY. It's above average by itself, but when you use the math definition of "mean" in [Mean dude], we're talking several standard deviations above the mean.

I'd never heard of ZAXBY'S, so it's no surprise it wasn't already on our XWord Info word list. Well worth adding, though, especially with that awesome clue. I wonder how much hazard pay ZAXBY'S has to give its employees to get over the derision of asking "do you want any Zappertizers with that?"

I'd be telling people to zuck it.

The other entry that was new to me: HMM I SEE. I'm all for I SEE. But HMM I SEE … hmm, I see that it's probably fine, but it does feel a bit like a slippery slope to HMM HOLD ON WAIT I SEE NOW YES.

A lot to love in this one, from AP GERMAN to GIMME A SEC to GOT A LIGHT to IM AFRAID SO. Some dings here and there, like EXT and SOMA, but the cluing delights more than made up for them.

As someone who's had three careers in vastly different spaces, I loved today's suggestion to SWITCH JOBS. Dancers too burnt out to BUST A MOVE? Why not go into museum curation and MOVE A BUST? Negotiating can be one of the most draining parts of business development, so try something new and STRIKE A DEAL with the Pro Bowling Association to DEAL A STRIKE.

I wasn't as amused by TRAIN A RIDE and PLANE A BOARD. Since when is it a job to be a train or plane passenger? I'd have liked the latter much more if the clue had referred to the person in charge of boarding the plane. You know, the … boarderperson.

The flight manager?

Boardinghouservisor?

Now I see why John and Will Shortz chose to simply go with "flying."

I didn't notice the plethora of themers as I solved, so I'm glad I took a second glance. Six themers is rarely easy to grid around, and there's remarkably little glue, given the constraints. The Latin HAEC is a deep cut, but a bit of ICI here and some crying OYEZ ain't bad.

I hardly noticed these dings, what with so many great long bonuses like PLASTIQUE / PHYSIQUE and excellent mid-lengthers of the SUB SHOP variety. Perhaps a layout where all the themers ran horizontally would have emphasized them more, but I can see the merits in this more unconventional approach.

It's too simple a concept for what I seek in a Thursday puzzle, but kudos to John for uncovering so many switches involving two jobs from wildly different industries.

I imagine I'm going to get a lot of confusion-laden emails today, from people who missed the giant black X in the grid — four representations of X: NEW YORK (TIMES), MALCOLM (X), (KISS) GOODBYE, (CROSS) SECTION.

It's not the first time we've seen the idea of using a letter made out of black squares, or a symbol representing a range of words, but John did a fantastic job in executing this one. Four themers that start or end with a 7-letter phrase makes for beautiful symmetry, and all four themers are super-solid. Great decisions.

What was truly standout was the gridwork. This is a 72-word puzzle, qualifying it for themeless territory, so it's already tough to begin with. And with four 7-letter entries locked into place, so much flexibility is taken away. Given that, I would have expected there to be either a lot of gluey bits to hold everything together or for the long slots to be filled with neutral or subpar entries.

Not so! Man oh man was there greatness all around. From SAUTE PAN to HOME BREW to CRIME LAB to HUMANITY to ANECDOTE to IM BATMAN to NERD CRED to MCGREGOR to ALL IN ONE, this would compare favorably to many 72-words themelesses. Stellar work.

Smart decision to leave himself with a ton of 8-letter slots. Some constructors would have favored more symmetry, by breaking up each side 7/7 instead of 8/6. While I can see how that might have been visually more pleasing, I'd much rather have all the snazzy fill that the 8-letter slots opened up.

Very well done. I gave the puzzle serious POW! consideration based on superb execution alone.

Nice finds, famous people whose last names are car makes, getting an additional S to form possessives. I wasn't sure what was going on when I uncovered ABRAHAM'S LINCOLN — I thought that might relate to some sort of train? — but it all became clear upon solving HARRISON'S FORD. Being a Seattleite, I enjoyed seeing the great ICHIRO SUZUKI get his due … more or less.

I like that John pushed himself, going down to 74 words. With a theme-dense 15/13/13/15 arrangement, many constructors would just go up to 78 words, the max allowed. But John works in bonus long material such as PERSIANS, TRAIN SET, BOUNCERS, as well as some mid-length goodness like ARMANI, BIOMES, HYDROX. I much appreciated getting a lift through some of these bonuses.

Generally a pretty clean grid, too, although starting the puzzle with ABED and ABAFT wouldn't be my preference. (ABED = an odd way to say "in bed," ABAFT a pretty niche term.) It's too bad, since the rest of the puzzle contains only minor blips like TEL, OSSO, ON AN. That top left corner sets the tone for me, so I started my solve with not the greatest of impressions. Luckily, the bonuses and pretty smooth solve helped correct that first impression.

Well, except for ["Hey ___" (casual greeting)]. What an odd clue.

I really liked a few clues, CURL getting elevated with a clever [Permanent thing?], i.e. part of a perm. And probably the best fill in the puzzle, TRAIN SET, got a bit of a groaner in [Something to keep track of?]. That last one felt pretty stretchy to me, but I admire the effort.

It's tough to find a neat and tidy set like these four themers, fitting so nicely into crossword symmetry. Fun to see.

Debut — and another teenager! Great use of a revealer, interpreting MORNING PERSON as a person with the initials A and M. People initialisms are a well-worn theme type, so it's important to add an extra layer if you want to stand out. John does just that, as the MORNING -> AM - > "A. M. people" link is clever.

When you have four featured people, I personally like seeing representation in terms of male/female, ethnicity, and variety in their careers. I loved seeing AKIO MORITA, a giant in the business world, kick off the themers. Am I biased because I love being in Japan, where I blend in (until I open my mouth, that is)? Yup. I would have enjoyed seeing an African-American and a Latino perhaps, but what are you gonna do.

Without doing an exhaustive search, I can't say how easy it would be to incorporate another woman to balance things out. Sorry ALANIS MORISSETTE, your 16-letter name isn't favorable for crosswords. Chancellor of Germany ANGELA MERKEL? Twelve letters is an awkward length for a themer. AGNES MOOREHEAD, your 14 letters are also an awkward length.

Ah — ALICE MUNRO, sorry. Your literary power apparently was no match for ANDY MURRAY's serve. I still am a big fan.

With a theme based around names, I prefer seeing fewer names in the fill, as excessive proper nouns make me feel like I'm doing pub trivia instead of a crossword. I normally like ED HARRIS and Jackie ROBINSON, but perhaps with so much ELIZA, ROMERO, BRYN Mawr, AVON, FIRTH, DESADE, etc., maybe I would have preferred different long downs today.

The 10/10/13/10/10 letter themers makes for an audacious debut. I was especially impressed by John's upper left and lower right corners — big, open spaces, cleanly filled. Typically I don't mind a somewhat esoteric INO or CLU Gulager, but given how many proper names are already jam-packed in, I would have preferred different types of glue if possible — even a partial or abbr. to mix things up.

Similarly, ENZO Ferrari: I like your Z, but perhaps not today.

Nice revealer, requiring a little thought on a Monday. I like that.