Robert Cirillo author page

We haven't seen a word ladder in a while. They don't get published that often these days, so when they do, they usually need some lift to make them stand out. I like the pairing of AN APPLE A DAY and CHICKEN SOUP, perfect material to add to the SICK -> WELL ladder.

Nice placement of the words in the word ladder. I've highlighted them below to help them stand out — such a pretty cascade.

Even though there aren't that many theme squares — just the two 11s and the six 4s for a total of 46 — needing to use so many different theme entries makes for a tough construction. Robert does well to space them all out as best as possible, both left to right and top to bottom. Smart thinking there.

But it does make for filling challenges just about everywhere in the grid. Because so many of the theme entries are short, it means that there must be more long fill than usual — some entries in the grid have to be long (in order to stay under the max 78 word limit), so if the themers aren't long, fill must be.

That makes things tough. Check out the middle left, for example. Robert has the lovely CENTRAL BANK in there — great fill, at least to this macroeconomics geek — but when that has to interact with SICK and AN APPLE A DAY, and then OUT TO WIN / UNLEASH / COALESCE all get into the picture, it's pretty tough to avoid gluey bits like LESE, MCI, DIO, ONS. That's a lot to concentrate into a single region.

OUT TO WIN felt a bit off, too. "In it to win it" would be gold, in my book. OUT TO WIN … wouldn't win. Additionally, having to work with SILK fixed in place, THOS and OLIO are prices to pay.

I like seeing traditional themes like word ladders once in a while, if they have something extra to help them stand out. Although there were some rough patches due to the long AN APPLE A DAY and CHICKEN SOUP, those two entries helped elevate my solving experience.

Nice start to the week, MA AND PA cluing in four theme phrases starting with MA and PA, respectively. The 15/13/7/13/15 is a tough construction, but Robert executes on it fairly well. Typically I'd expect to see only a pair of long fill entries, but Robert gives us BARBARELLA and STORM SURGE in the vertical directions, and EX-HUSBAND and URSA MAJOR in the horizontal. The extra effort is much appreciated, adding a lot of snazz to the puzzle.

Typically I might balk at long fill in the horizontal direction, especially since both EX-HUSBAND and URSA MAJOR are longer than the center revealer, but today I think it's perfectly acceptable because of the theme. Given that the MA*PA* patterns are so clear, it's much less likely that EX-HUSBAND or URSA MAJOR are going to be confused for theme material.

One hitch I had: as Rob noted, MARDI GRAS PARADE stuck out for me as the only three-word phrase. At first I thought I might be wrong, MARDIGRAS being written or interpreted as a single word? But no, it's definitely Mardi Gras. If another one of the themers had been three words, perhaps I wouldn't have felt an inconsistency? I really like MARDI GRAS PARADE as an entry, but it might have been nicer to get something else as snappy but with two words.

Out of curiosity, I checked onelook.com to see what other 15-letter options there are. I was surprised that I couldn't find any other options, at least with a cursory 15 minute search. So perhaps I would have paired MA AND PA with MADE PAR, making it a 7/13/15/13/7 arrangement? As always, tough trade-offs for any crossword.

Speaking of trade-offs, today's puzzle is another great example of getting a whole bunch of extra goodness for the price of a handful of lesser entries. I did notice the MPAA, RAES, UNAPT, EDUC, ETE kind of stuff during my solve, and I personally prefer a silky-smooth solve for Monday puzzles (so beginning solvers can feel that the NYT xw is within their grasp). But for the more experienced solver, it's a real treat to get the aforementioned long entries, plus DECANT, INQUEST, MODEL T and its neat clue.

Wow. I had to rub my eyes after solving this puzzle to make sure I saw it correctly. Six long (and snappy!) theme entries plus a revealer, and good long fill to boot? I had to study the puzzle to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Excellent work.

A fine example of the "word which can follow both halves of the theme phrases" type. The usual knock on these is that the theme answers are often blah to tortured, because it's difficult to find two-word phrases which fit this criteria. But Rob scoffs at that, giving us six great theme answers, including my favorite of the bunch, WHITE SMOKE. True, there are many phrases that can end in HOUSE so he did have a big set to choose from, but the fact that he chose HOUSE and not, say, CABER or WEASEL, is to his credit.

If only there were such a thing as a CABER WEASEL. I'm not sure what it would be, but I want one.

Typically, with six+ theme answers, there isn't much flexibility for good long fill. It is true that Rob didn't use any 8+ long downs, but the sevens are really good: OPEN BAR, SET SHOT (which always makes me think of basketball players in the 60's dressed in those hilariously short shorts), and DREAM ON. Excellent work there, and the short fill is remarkably clean given all aforementioned constraints.

If there was one thing I could ask for, it would have been a snazzier revealer. This type of puzzle has been done enough now that having something like DOUBLEDAY is a welcome extra layer of elegance. Not sure what it would be for HOUSE though. Someone invent a DOUBLE HOUSE already (CABER WEASEL first though).

Finally, I love the fact that Rob sent Will another grid even after his puzzle was accepted. (I asked if he could send his previous grid for us to post, but he had already deleted it.) Five or ten extra hours in order to produce a snazzier and cleaner grid AFTER an acceptance? That's the striving for perfection that all of us constructors should strive for.