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Shirley Surely weave we've awl all winced inn in grammatical discomfort upon seeing a homophone written in place of the correct word, write right? Oar Or maybe it's just me.

Themes based on a set of homophones and themes making related puns based on homophones are nothing new, but had the two ever crossed paths to form a theme based on a group of eggcorns? If they had, I must have missed it, though maybe I just haven't been solving crosswords long enough.

In my brainstorming for this theme, I felt like there couldn't be too many possibilities since the requirements are pretty limiting: four words that sound similar, appear in crossworthy "in the language" phrases, and can trade places between those phrases while still making grammatical sense all while leaving room for some wacky but reasonable cluing opportunities. Oh, and matching pairs for symmetry, too. But maybe I just didn't brainstorm hard enough.

I thought I had a decent set of themers with AIR / HEIR / ERR / EYRE, but I wasn't sure my puzzle would get accepted because of an inelegance: two of the original phrases use AIR and none use EYRE. But in the end that wasn't a problem; the grid got the green light. The notes that mattered were the ones I did play, not the ones I didn't. I'm pleased to finally be making my NYT debut after plenty of failed attempts. I hope you enjoy this comedy of airers errors.

– puzzle by Christopher Youngs

Like many others, I started constructing during the pandemic when my wife ever so gently suggested that I find a hobby. Since then, thanks to the collaborative and supportive spirit of editors, constructors, and the larger crossword community, I've published a few dozen puzzles in a number of mainstream and indie outlets. When I'm not constructing or solving crosswords, I'm a research scientist developing immunotherapies for cancer; that plus my proud membership on Team Rebus, makes for a very on-brand NYT debut!

In the first version of this grid, each rebus square started with the letter N, and the editorial team requested that I shake them up a bit more. After some revision, I was thrilled when they accepted this puzzle. The theme ate up a lot of real estate, so I was glad to squeeze in a few bonuses, and I'm especially excited to debut the entries THE CASTRO and DRAG KING. I know that solvers have mixed feelings about rebus puzzles and hope this one didn't leave anyone feeling too salty.

– puzzle by Rebecca Goldstein

Very excited to be making my debut in the New York Times.

There are three ways ITSA can be broken up to "wrap." I was glad that the puzzle could include one of each, though I found there are surprisingly few candidates. I guess you'd expect only a few possibilities for the entry beginning TSA, but it's also fairly limited with other ITSA combinations. For the entry beginning A and ending ITS, my initial entry was a bit of a stretch and it was Joel who suggested improving it with A BATTLE OF WITS.

I was pleased that 14A [Hookup that may get kinky] made the cut. Hopefully, it got a chuckle or at least a groan. The editors wrote several clues, including the clever 28A and 33A.

Many thanks to the editing team for green-lighting the puzzle and improving it.

About me: I am an attorney at the SEC in Boston. I owe my interest in crosswords to my Dad. He always made the Sunday puzzle a family affair by calling out clues to us kids. He passed away in 2008, but I'm sure he's still solving out there.

Hope you enjoy the puzzle, especially to anyone who's calling out clues.

– puzzle by Philip Koski

Delighted to make my debut for the NYT! I'm a college student studying Computer Engineering at Columbia University, though I'm originally from Los Angeles.

The idea for this one came from JAMES BOND, which left me trying to clue the potential film adaptation: LeBron forms friendships on a new basketball team? Though it didn't make the final set, I enjoyed the process of playing with movie titles and cluing while constructing. In the end, I did my best to include films that made for lively theme entries and appealed to solvers.

A huge thank you to Jeff Chen, who waded through a sea of crossword ideas as I was getting started. For any puzzlemakers from underrepresented groups, the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory is a great resource for mentorship and collaboration.

I'll be donating all of the proceeds from today's puzzle to the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Happy solving!

– puzzle by Alexander Liebeskind

This is my first NYT puzzle since the birth of my daughter, and it is dedicated to her and her amazing mom. I submitted it before her conception, so it's fitting that my clue for 22A survived the edit! Family and friends may also spot the homage to my mom — a mighty practitioner of both the written and spoken word, and the person most responsible for my love of language.

I'm excited to be sharing my work with Saturday solvers for the first time, and hope this provided the anticipated challenge. I can still remember the first Saturday I ever solved — well, my friend Tom mostly solved it, but I made some useful contributions, including the realization that the clue "Player coached by Hank Stram" was generic rather than specific. (April 12th, 2008 — a Walden, which unsurprisingly holds up quite nicely.)

That particular solve gave me a real boost — I started attempting Fridays and Saturdays solo during college (occasionally completing them), and, after graduation, embarked on my earliest construction efforts.

I began this at the 17A/14D crossing, which I envisioned as a micro-theme (though initially the answers were not cross-referenced). From there, I built in a generally southeasterly direction, focusing on preserving flexibility (i.e., letter patterns with several answer options, and answers with several cluing options). I hadn't intended to feature the pair of grid-spanning downs, but as I experimented with different lengths for those slots, the grid seemed to click into place this way.

– puzzle by Hal Moore

DANIEL: Like many new constructors, I began in earnest during the 2020 lockdown since all of opera went on an extended hiatus. My first mentor was Brad Wilber, who in addition to being a terrific teacher is also a huge opera fan. With his help, I had my debut publication this year. Through Brad, Doug and I were introduced virtually last year. I was eager to learn more, had innumerable questions, and wanted to collaborate when possible, and Doug and I hit it off beautifully. His generosity and willingness to help me hone my constructing chops has been a wonderful gift. We still trade theme ideas and chip away at them in a glacial way.

I approached Doug with this idea after coming up with a fun clue in a themeless puzzle for TRIP ADVISOR [Personal injury lawyer?] and wondering if there might be a theme worth exploring. We went back and forth with an ever-expanding list, had to kill a few darlings (CROSS TRAINER [Catholic school teacher?] ), and came up with this very fun theme set. Doug's experience in refining a theme set was incredibly valuable.

Given all the alternative careers and side hustles people have had to adopt due to the changing times, it seemed very timely. Performers, in particular, have had to reinvent themselves and develop new skills, and many have faced the grim reality of how quickly their livelihood can be taken away. The stigma of having side jobs and parallel careers has been torn down, for the better. Those in the arts have had to be immensely creative and improvisatory. Fortunately, that is all part of the training.

DOUG: So glad I got to work with Daniel on this and a few other projects. And I'm very much looking forward to a time when we can sit down together with Brad in person. Enjoy the puzzle and the rest of 2021

– puzzle by Daniel Okulitch and Doug Peterson

Last week, my father told me that one of his first memories of crosswords was identifying the word OBOE in a Sunday Times puzzle that his mother was solving, an early moment in their lifelong bond over puzzles. My earliest puzzling memory is seeing them solve together (or better put, compete with each other) on Saturday mornings. Although crosswords have long been in my consciousness, I did not start solving on my own until January 2020, the same month my grandmother passed away. The itch to construct came quickly after beginning to solve, and this puzzle was born a few months later. I wish I could share it with her.

I could not be happier to be making my debut with this puzzle. STOP DROP AND ROLL is one of those fun, familiar phrases from elementary school that still rattles around in my head for some reason, and it clicked to me that it could make a fun revealer that links three unrelated things. The dopamine rush from recognizing a connection like this is one of the things that got me hooked on solving, so it is fulfilling to debut with a puzzle centered around that element. I am also happy to inject a lot of my personality into today's grid, from basketball and dessert to geography and transit.

Many thanks to the Times editorial team for helping me improve this puzzle immensely from its first version. Most importantly, thanks to my friends and family, who have supported me at every turn! I hope you enjoyed it!

– puzzle by Tomas Spiers

JESSIE: This is our 3^rd puzzle for the Times and Ross's 102^nd crossword of 2021: 49 in various print and online publications and 53 on his personal puzzle site. And on the day this puzzle goes live, Ross will be coming out of his 8^th surgery related to Schwannomatosis. These figures are related.

I regularly hear people ask Ross about his crossword productivity; he generally just says he's wired for wordplay. Only I know that it is also a coping mechanism, and one can draw a pretty straight line between chronic pain and his remarkable daily output.

A couple of months ago, I suggested he write about how making puzzles became such an essential part of his life. The result was an essay that represents a touching insight into the mind and process of the puzzler I love. I encourage you to read it here.

ROSS: *gurgle*

– puzzle by Jessie Bullock and Ross Trudeau

As a lifelong fan of word games, I have been a force to be reckoned with at Scrabble and Boggle for about as long as I can remember. Though there have been a number of Scrabble-themed puzzles over the years, I had never seen one themed around Boggle. I got the idea for this puzzle several years ago, but that was about as far as I made it. I had a different set of synonyms and didn't think I'd even be able to come up with a hypothetical Boggle board on which they all could be spelled, let alone one that could be worked into a crossword grid.

Fast forward to last year, when in a sudden burst of inspiration, I was pleasantly surprised to get this grid working after a few attempts. This arrangement felt particularly fortuitous, as I was somehow able to build around the central 4x4 block, even though all of the answers passing through it were at least seven letters long!

I did have flexibility with a few letters that weren't used in any of the three theme words (and with something like this, I'll take any flexibility I can get.) Incorporating the three theme answers and revealer after the central block already locked down so much real estate was also a challenge. I'm happy with how it turned out, though, a few clunky short answers notwithstanding.

I hope you enjoy the puzzle — and if you feel so inclined, maybe even see what extra words you can find in the Boggle grid :)

– puzzle by Trenton Charlson

I've come to like this type of themeless grid construction. There's a nice balance to it — there's a "maw" in the center that's gaping but not too gaping, which means you can fit in some pretty marquee entries while still maintaining the flexibility to do fun stuff in the corners. I seeded this one with THAT HITS THE SPOT, sandwiched the two 10-letter entries around it, and was pleased that all four corners came together nicely from there.

Very excited to debut BIBIMBAP in the Times — long overdue, as it's both a fun word and just plain delicious. And there's some sentimental value there for me, too, as it happens to be what my wife and I had for dinner on our first date, way back when.

It's worth noting that when I constructed this grid over a year ago, I was planning on THAT HITS THE SPOT being a debut as well, but I was sadly scooped a few months back. I see you, Joseph Greenbaum. Interestingly, while Mr. Greenbaum chose to clue this entry with the pedestrian clue of "Ahhhh!", with four H's, I decided to stump solvers with the far more challenging clue of "Ahhh!", with three. Cruel, I know.

Anyway, this puzzle was a blast to construct. I hope everyone out there enjoys solving it as much as I enjoyed making it.

– puzzle by Evans Clinchy

DAVID DISTENFELD (Constructor) is delighted to be making his crossword debut in The New York Times. Previous credits include: The Los Angeles Times (Thursday Puzzle), Wall Street Journal (Monday Puzzle), Law & Order: SVU (Puzzled Juror) and Springsteen on Broadway (Understudy). He is perhaps best known for that one time at Candy Kitchen when he won a free pound of fudge.

Mr. Distenfeld dove headfirst into crosswords during the pandemic and has been keeping track of lively phrases of fifteen letters or less ever since. Prior to constructing puzzles, he was hired to coach an English soccer team in an attempt by its owner to spite her ex-husband, eventually winning over players and fans alike with his folksy, optimistic demeanor.

He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Enya, his children Esai, Edie & Elia, and his toy poodle NNW — all of whom inspire his constructing on a near daily basis. And while his last name does, in fact, anagram to TD SEINFELD, he has never played professional football nor is he related to noted coffee/car enthusiast Jerry Seinfeld.

Finally, he would like to thank the Times editorial staff for this first acceptance after over a dozen soul-crushing rejections. Can't wait to celebrate with you guys at the after party!!

– puzzle by David Distenfeld

I hope everyone finds something to enjoy here and doesn't find the cost of ANAT, ATANY, EYER, etc., too high. My husband is the baker in our family, and I do wish his especially excellent molasses cookie could have been among the offerings!

Most of the words clued at last New Year's Eve Zoom party (see Will's notes) vanished from the puzzle as I worked with the editing team through several revisions, but the clue for 65-Down is Geoff's, and the clue for 110-Down is Eva's. Cluing participation trophies go to Kevin, Lynn, and Oren. (The only COOKIE CUTTER lost in the editing process was a ball, replaced by the elf.)

Though fans of 54-Across often find it impossible to fathom, my favorite is 107-Across. Here's my grandmother's recipe:

• Cream together 1c. each brown sugar, white sugar, and margarine with 2 eggs and 1 tsp. of vanilla.
• Combine 2 c. flour, 3 c. OATMEAL, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 1 tsp. salt.
• Mix into the creamed ingredients and stir in 2 c. RAISINs.
• Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and flatten with a glass BUTTERed on the bottom and dipped in cinnamon sugar.
• Bake for 10 minutes at 350 DEGREES.

– puzzle by Laura Taylor Kinnel

NOKI: I retired to Portugal over six years ago, thinking it would be easy enough to hop back to see DC family and friends while shaving off significant flight time to visit relatives in Thailand. That was true for the first five years. But last year's waves of lockdowns have thwarted many travel attempts and have certainly intensified the sense of distance.

Throughout all of this, my dad & I kept our connection by solving crosswords online together. Last year, we seized on the idea of making puzzles together: We kicked around ideas, made some awkward puzzles, and unsurprisingly, got several rejections.

Finally, Robyn Weintraub kindly volunteered to mentor me via the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory. She helped tighten our themes and raise our standard for fill. We took 30+ stabs at this puzzle before finding one good enough to submit. Even so, we still needed a final assist from Wyna Liu & the NYT puzzle editors to get it over the finish line. We have a lot of people to thank for this debut.

The idea for this specific puzzle arrived in my brain as NASA's Perseverance made its landing back in February. Something about seeing that little rover land so far from home hit home for me. Given the theme, I tried to evoke Space Invaders in the grid. It may show up better if you squint.

Whether you and your loved ones are near or far, we wish you health, happy solving, and a very merry holiday.

LAWRENCE: I have been a fan of crosswords from an early age. When my daughter was in grade school, she was interested in what I was doing while eating breakfast, and I can remember doing half of a puzzle, including partial answers, and helping her finish the puzzle. I think this kindled an interest for her, and that interest took hold during the pandemic, and led to a shared interest in learning how to make a puzzle.

I can trace the origins of this NASA theme to my first job as a junior engineer working for IBM on the Instrument Unit (IU) for the Saturn Apollo program.

Kudos to Robyn Weintraub for her help and encouragement on our early attempts, and thanks to the NYT puzzle crew to get this one into print.

– puzzle by Noki Trias and Lawrence Barrett

Hope you enjoyed the letter-moving shenanigans in this one! On the theme side, I came up with the idea to move around vowels first. I wrote a script to find all word pairs that existed in the XWord Info list (thanks!) with two vowels switching — A for E, I for U, etc. (You could probably do it in one line with regular expressions... I should learn how to use those properly!) The resulting word sets were fairly short, and A for O was the only pair with raw material for enough phrases that tickled my funny bone.

I submitted the puzzle with the theme set from the final puzzle plus PACHELBEL'S CONAN, which I clued as the composer doing an impression of the late-night host (yikes!). The editors liked BOOK 'EM DONNA better but felt the fifth themer was too much of a tradeoff for fill quality. An 11-letter answer in the middle of a grid creates constraints.

For fill: if I made the puzzle today, I would try to work in a few more long answers and avoid drastically dividing the puzzle into its north/south halves. Happy with HERDS CATS, but feel the short fill could be snappier.

– puzzle by Stephen McCarthy

I've previously expressed my philosophy of themeless crossword construction, and it holds true for this puzzle: pack as many interesting, novel entries into a grid as possible without sacrificing fill quality. I strive to construct the sorts of puzzles that I most enjoy solving, and I hope you enjoyed the ride.

Surprisingly, the final across entry is a debut to NYT crosswords and even stumped Jeff Chen's impeccable word list. My proposed clue was: "Setting for gifted children?" Sam's (Ezersky) clue is fantastic as well! I was thrilled that the editors kept my angles for 32-Down and 47-Across.

If you, like me, appreciate the U.S. Postal Service and are still seeking a unique and functional gift, consider the 2022 Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places. I've visited 10,556 post offices across the country! Find out more at the Postlandia blog.

– puzzle by Evan Kalish

So nice to be back with my second puzzle — and on Christmas of all days to boot! I guess with a little bit of imagination, the grid is maybe sort of Christmas tree-shaped. Personally, though, I mostly see an old telephone.

It's not intended to look like anything in particular, though; the wacky grid design is purely incidental. It started simply as an attempt to build a triple stack of 15s. Once I had that in place and was trying to figure out where to go from there, I soon realized that I could build that little arch around the central crossing entries and use left-right symmetry rather than rotational. That's nice since it gave me the freedom to play around with the placement of black squares in the upper half of the grid until the very end of the construction process, rather than having a fixed layout that I needed to adhere to.

I'm especially pleased that the one layout that did end up working for the upper part is the one that perfectly matches the big stairstep chunks of black squares in the lower half, which I think certainly added a bit of elegance to the puzzle.

Hope everyone's having a wonderful Christmas. It truly makes me happy that something I made gets to be a part of it for so many people.

– puzzle by Johan Vass

Like many of my puzzles, this was inspired by my son's interests. I thought it would be fun to put bugs in a puzzle, and "working out the bugs" seemed like a crossword-friendly phrase. I initially submitted a totally different interpretation on the phrase in the summer of 2020, where bugs were "worked out" of long phrases in the grid, leaving a garbled string of letters. Not surprisingly, they passed on it. After having the idea to put the bugs in the clues, I had two more rejected puzzles before the team agreed to workshop with me on the concept ... then multiple proposed theme sets before I got a green light to make this grid. So, it took a long time to work the bugs out of this puzzle!

Some of my clues that I had initially proposed were very contrived, and it took a while to get it in my head that the clues should read very naturally. My clues like, "Man tissues" hiding "mantis" and "Crick ethics" hiding "cricket" were nonsensical and confusing. I still kinda like my weird clue about Taylor Swift's hit song "Wildebeest Dreams," though.

The original title was Beta Version, and the clues with bugs were not italicized. I appreciated that the editing team was willing to share with me their thoughts on the changes, which I trust are for the better!

– puzzle by Christina Iverson