Royce Ferguson author page

Triple-stacks! In our usual weekly shelter-in-place call, Jim Horne and I noted that it's been a while since we've seen grid-spanning triple-stacks; refreshing to experience one after a break. VICTORIAS SECRET hiring its first transgender model is a great way to anchor a puzzle, and SEALED ENVELOPES shines too.

Not only that, but a pair of vertical grid-spanners connecting the stacks? I marveled at the grid pattern for several seconds when opening it up; a rare occurrence for me. There's something almost regal about it, with that cross in the center. If you squint, the entire picture looks a bit like a crown.

Squint harder!

A couple of great clues, too. VINE as a "tree-hugger." Hens that BROODED on their eggshells. NFL having a lot of "down time" … Jim pointed out that this might be doubly clever, as there's the "first down" kind of time, but the potential down time related to coronavirus. I'm curious to see what socially distanced football looks like. Gives players even more incentive to not be tackled.

Royce did well to leave himself flexibility in the starts / ends of 4- and 12-Down, TAL / PER and CLO / STS flexible letter combinations. A solidly executed puzzle, not an easy task with such tough constraints, with only some ARY and KEATONS.

I could have used a bit more of a challenge, perhaps making the clues for the long entries more deviously clever? Surely ONCE IN A LIFETIME could be made even better by playing on ... reincarnation?

I didn't get quite enough snazz to give this one the POW! — ALL ALONG THE LINE and much of the mid-length material feeling more neutral than assets — but big bonus points for (socially distanced) tackling such a dauntingly regal grid pattern.

Dangerous curves ahead! I enjoyed many of the discoveries today. It's easy to think of phrases containing CAR, but much harder if the snippets before and after CAR must also be real words. REINCARNATION = REIN (CAR) NATION works beautifully. When I finally figured out the gist of the theme, it helped tremendously in finishing the rest of the puzzle, and that's a great feeling.

I also appreciated that Royce adhered to crossword symmetry, which meant he had to find some themers where the chunk before CAR had to work backward, like the MAS in MAS (CAR) PONE reading SAM. Same with the PAL in META (CAR) PAL having to read as LAP.

What confused me, though: why do the tunnels turn so suddenly? What sort of twisted (ha) city planner puts a sharp 90-degree turn in the middle of tunnels? Hopefully, one with top-notch legal representation!

As much as I enjoyed the theme finds, I would have had more fun uncovering them if they'd been straight. Something akin to one I did with CATs a while back, maybe.

Speaking of that CATs puzzle, I got mail from some mystified solvers who finished the puzzle but didn't realize there were CATs anywhere. I wonder if today will be similar, people shrugging that sure, maybe SWEET is a hit for Neil Diamond, or SAM is a cousin to cream cheese because ... because who cares.

I used to get regular mail from a certain solver, short and sweet: "TOO F*CKING CLEVER, JEFF." It amused me, but I took it to heart. I wonder if forgoing TUNNEL / VISION, straightening the turns, and drawing in cars over the tops of the three black squares would have been more elegant.

Overall, a strong debut. It's not easy to execute on something like this — crossword symmetry can be a bear when you have limited choice in themers — and Royce pulled it off with above-average craftsmanship.