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I often tell constructors how important multi-word phrases are in themelesses — it was one of Rich Norris' major points to me, way back when I first started creating them. Not only do they tend to be more colorful than single words (which can often come across as workmanlike), but it's a neat challenge trying to figure out where the word breaks ought to be.

But as Randy points out, CONTORTIONIST is a strong exception to this rule of thumb. It's not something you hear every day, and what imagery it evokes! Plus, that fantastic clue — someone getting bent out of shape indeed. That's the type of wordplay that makes a themeless entry stand out.

NOTHING BURGER might also be an exception. It is a multi-worder, but I'm not positive it's that well known. (I personally find it amusing when Kevin O'Leary from "Shark Tank" says it.) It's reasonable to expect solvers to learn something new, but then the entry doesn't generate the same level of cleverosity as CONTORTIONIST and its clue.

Solid center of the puzzle, CONAN OBRIEN and CENTRIPETAL acceleration filling things out. So much goodness, I didn't mind a little ME DO / UNOS holding it all together.

I might have tried to rejigger the SW and NE corners, though. Those intersecting triple-stacks of 7s might not look that hard, but I think it's one of the most underestimated challenges in all of themeless construction. Looks so innocuous, doesn't it? But there's a reason why we get SERIO and MSS up top and WILEE and NEER in the opposite corner. All that glue, for what? BIT PART is nice, and this physics geek likes INTERIA, but overall, those corners hold more liabilities than assets.

Generally, I try to avoid this sort of grid pattern. Shifting some blocks around could have broken up at least one of those triple-stacked 7s.

Overall though, still a good Saturday challenge — especially that PROLE / PRIVET / PRADA region, with a ridiculously hard clue for PRADA. I wonder if fashionistas knew that the brand uses the same word as a luxurious Italian house? I was super thankful to guess the PRIVET / PRADA crossing correctly!

ADDED NOTE: Astute reader Mike Knobler pointed out that the PRADA clue meant "house" in the "place of business" sense. D'oh! Went over my head; I should have (eventually) figured that out.

– puzzle by Randolph Ross

Famous showdowns, the opponents going HEAD TO HEAD, i.e., the first participant flipped around so that their head touches the second's. When I got to ????? BOWSER, this Super Mario Bros. nerd KNEW it had to be MARIO BOWSER. I was simultaneously disappointed in the boring execution of simply sticking two opponents together, and frustrated by not being able to make MARIO work. Neat a-ha moment when I realized that it had to be OIRAM, not MARIO, and then another one when the meaning of HEAD TO HEAD snapped into place.

Solid choices for the themers, Don QUIXOTE vs. the WINDMILL in particular amusing me. I'm often on Tom's wavelength, having similar interests, so I enjoyed the selections. I can see, though, how some might feel like it's too heavy on the fanboy stuff — LUKE / DARTH VADER, MARIO / BOWSER, BATMAN / JOKER, etc.

And what, no DLEIFTAHMCCOY? Tom, Tom, Tom.

I do have extremely high expectations for Tom, one of the top creative minds in all of crossword construction. While I did enjoy the moment when everything dawned on me, it wasn't quite enough to make me say that this was one of his best puzzles.

Solid execution though, and a good amount of snazzy COOKIE CUTTER / IRON LADY / NO CALL LIST / AMEN TO THAT to help perk up my solve. It wasn't a ton of long bonus fill, but you only really need a handful + smooth short fill (SCHS / ALG / OSTEO / HITEM is well under average for a Sunday) to create a feeling of gridwork excellence.

– puzzle by Tom McCoy

Fun imagery, someone SITTING, suddenly jumping to a STANDING position, WALKING in alarm, and then jolting to RUNNING. I'm imagining it as a Festivus miracle!

(Awesome clue for POLE for us "Seinfeld" fans.)

Let's start with the feats of strength. Great choices for themers, SITTING DUCK, STANDING ORDER, WALKING PAPERS, RUNNING JOKE all phrases I'd happily work into any crossword. SITTING DUCK is particularly colorful to me, as my two-year-old son doesn't say much yet. But man, does he QUACK like the dickens when he sees a duck!

It's cute. And a little bizarre.

I also appreciated that Trent maintained consistency in his themers: (verb in ING form) + noun every time. Some might gripe about WALKING PAPERS being the only plural, but when do you ever see a singular walking paper?

ARROWHEADS and AWKWARD AGE, both nice bonuses. The latter caused me a pause at first — AWKWARD STAGE or AWKWARD TIME felt more spot-on — but I can buy AWKWARD AGE.

(For me, that's pretty much any age.)

Now, for the airing of grievances! Not many, but OSS, ASTA, and NEHIS are stale entries, ones that constructors ought to phase out. AMOR is tough too, for newer solvers. I don't mind AERIES so much since it's a word heard on "Game of Thrones" recently, but I've heard complaints about that being esoteric too.

Nice debut, overall. Not a ton of extras outside the two long downs, but PARAGON, MAKES DO, and the Festivus EPISODE of "Seinfeld"? Good stuff, all.

Now if someone would just work THE HUMAN FUND into a crossword.

– puzzle by Trent H. Evans

Initialism puzzles have been done to death in crosswords, so it's super important to add some extra element: tough letters, amazing themers, an interesting revealer, etc. Bruce did well by employing that last one — THE EIGHTIES, phonetically sounding like THE A Ds.

Er, THE A Ts!

Me speak English goodly. For reals!

Solid themer choices. Love me some ATOMIC THEORY. If you haven't read "Baby Love Quarks," I highly recommend!

It's not easy to produce a colorful and smooth grid around five longish themers. PIANO TUNER plus its fantastic clue — someone involved with a grand (piano) opening, indeed! — was a standout, a rare gem of a spot-on clever clue gettable by newer solvers.

And with just OLLA and AMAS eliciting UGHs, that's great execution. I've become a big fan of Bruce's ever-increasing attention to grid detail. Very happy that he pointed OLLA out himself.

It's tough for me to get excited about an initialism puzzle, but Bruce pulled this one off well today.

– puzzle by Bruce Haight

TEAM BUILDING today, explaining how six NFL franchises were formed. Apparently the rapper TI was a founding member of the TITANS. And who knew NCOS helped build the BRONCOS?

(Also, who knew that there was a rapper named TI?)

Such an appropriate fact, that RIOTS are an integral part of the PATRIOTS. My book agent is a die-hard PATRIOTS fan, which makes things difficult when I have to point out that they're the moral equivalent of a cat dingleberry implanted inside a dog turd.

Great effort to work in such a ton of long downs — NO FEWER THAN six! This is an incredibly tough ask; it's so difficult to get every one of them to sing. I love, love, loved THE DOG ATE IT and TENTH INNING — such great entries!

Not so hot on DSL MODEM. It is a real term, no doubt — something essential for DSL service. I don't know that I've ever called my (DSL) modem anything but just a modem, though.

And I'VE GOT A PLAN? Huh. I stared at that for a while during my solve, and I'm still staring at it. That one gets some side-eye from me. Feels arbitrary as a sentence / statement. Unless it's someone's famous catch line?

A couple of prices to pay for the audacious grid layout, but I don't mind ORA ENT ORO that much. And good old ODIE, who's only borderline crossworthy (sorry, bud!) gets saved with that delightful clue. Funny to think of ODIE as Garfield's frenemy.

A couple of oddballs in BATHOS and UBUNTU. I think they're fair game for a mid-week puzzle, seeing as all the crossings are fair, but man are they tough. UBUNTU, in particular, is hard to suss out unless you have some programming background. Or you're Bantu (it means "humanity toward others").

Fun concept, and I love that the authors trashed the hated PATRIOTS. PAT + RIOTS = detestable. And that's a fact. Ipso facto. Q.E.D.

That's the way I'm taking it, at least. Stupid winning Patriots, why must you win so much grumble grumble.

– puzzle by Amanda Chung, Karl Ni and Erik Agard

Trickiest part of this construction was figuring out to get enough of the seven "theme" entries to be 1.) long and 2.) interesting. Wouldn't be too fun for I be hidden in IMAC, for example, since IMAC and MAC are so close that you'd never notice that something was amiss.

The fact that all seven themers had to start at the top of the puzzle took away a lot of flexibility, so it wasn't easy to lay out the grid skeleton. I wish I could have made all seven as long and interesting as RENUNCIATION to ENUNCIATION, but it just couldn't happen.

Hopefully, some of the shorter ones played out in a fun way. I liked ISLAM to SLAM pretty well. And it was funny to think about the Greek god ARES streaking as he BARES his bottom.

I wanted to work in more long bonus fill, but it was tricky — I didn't want to confuse the issue of what was theme and what was fill. As it was, ESPERANTO looked a bit too themey to me. But breaking it up would have pushed the grid over the 78-word limit, and more importantly, the puzzle would have been swimming with oceans of boring short fill. Bleh!

Hopefully, no one spent hours wondering how ESPERANTO fits into the theme. Sorry if you did!

Anyone notice the black squares in the middle of the puzzle look like an iceberg? No? Not even if you squint?

WELL SQUINT HARDER DAMMIT.

– puzzle by Jeff Chen

I always look forward to Josh's byline — he's one of the best at implementing sizzling themeless entries along with clever clues. Easily in the top ten themeless constructors, for my money.

There were so many long entries I loved. ON THE CLOCK meaning getting paid, a school bully taking LUNCH MONEY (okay, that brought back some bad memories …), the DIVING BELL, LAUNCH PADS. Great stuff.

Best of all, SPELL CHECK was elevated to stratospheric heights with such a brilliant clue. I was befuddled by what might pursue the wrong type. Some person attracted to people that weren't good for them? No, literally wrong type, as in typos!

QUICKSAND, also. The fact that it takes time to sink in, i.e., you lower into it very slowly, is in clue of the year territory.

A bunch more wickedly bright clues too. My favorite was [Hot green stuff], which baffled me until I realized it wasn't temperature hot but spicy hot. Hotchi matchi, that's a great clue!

Everything was cruising along for my POW! … until I hit the speed bumps. That SW corner was so tough. I couldn't get past (my own) BALD head — I'd never describe myself as BALD PATE. Okay, it is legit, but it felt weird. Speaking of weird, SHEAVE. Huh.

And then the SE, where I ultimately failed. I didn't know there was such a thing as a TENT BED, which is my fault. I sorta kinda maybe knew that a WET CELL historically was an important tech development, way back when. The IDYL I'd seen in crosswords. And not having watched much Jon Stewart or Bill O'REILLY, and not having seen Rocky Horror (I know, I'm an infidel!) … oof.

Ultimately, the failure was on my shoulders, as it was all gettable — especially Bill O'REILLY, who I should have thought of (I plunked in COLBERT at first). Sigh.

I bet if Josh had broken up ADVISORY at the I, he could have improved those SW / NE corners, replacing SHEAVE and working in some more sizzling entries.

Tough call — I like a low word-count challenge. But there was a little too much side-eye today for my personal POW! taste.

– puzzle by Josh Knapp

Andrew is known for his "stair stack" themelesses. GEORGIA DOME / CARROT JUICE are pretty good, but SEAT FILLERS is the marquee entry that will hold this puzzle in my memory. What a great misdirectional clue, pointing to people who don't pay for their tickets — illegally watching? — no, people paid to make a crowd look bigger. Awesome!

SNAPCHAT FRIENDS down the middle spiced things up, too. It didn't do a lot for me, unfortunately, not being on Snapchat — okay, barely knowing what Snapchat is; fine, are you happy?! — but it's a technical feat to run a solid grid-spanning entry through a stair stack in this manner.

Some other feature answers, too — I read Jill's O MAGAZINE every month after she's done with it.

Fine, I steal it and hide it away before telling her that it got delayed in the mail!

And the TAXI SQUAD of an NFL team, what a fun term. For those that didn't know it, it has a fun history, a team owner putting scrubs on the payroll of his taxi company to keep them around.

I personally like O MAGAZINE better than TAXI SQUAD, as I'd guess that more solvers would have heard of the former than the latter. But that's a tough call. Even if you didn't know the latter, it's a neat story of how the term came about.

As much as I love clever clues, sometimes clues can try too hard. [Scratch on the table?] was going for "scratch" as a term for money. But "scratch on the table" isn't a solid base phrase to riff on (although our toddlers sure have put a lot of scratches in our table). And it's been years since I heard anyone say "scratch" and mean "money."

Continuing on the money kick, [High note?] for C SPOT … hmm. Calling a big bill "high"? As in, that hundred-dollar bill is high?

Umm … no.

So although it was a solid stair stack, it didn't have as many feature entries as I like (due to the real estate taken up by SNAPCHAT FRIENDS), and it didn't leave me with enough WACK (What A Clever Klue!) moments to give it POW! consideration.

– puzzle by Andrew J. Ries

★ LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP is exactly 21 letters? Apparently the crossword gods had no HATE, only LOVE! Great puzzle idea + solid execution = POW!

Oh, you poor pen / pencil solvers out there, you have my sympathies. How in heck are you supposed to write LOVE and HATE in the same little box all at the same time? Cramming in eight letters — yikes!

Actually, not easy for e-solvers, either. Hopefully, the picture below is worth a thousand words. More like two thousand, given the duality of those squares.

Apparently the NYT web app can accept all these as correct answers: H, L, HATE rebus, LOVE rebus, L/H, H/L, LOVE/HATE, HATE/LOVE. Something for everyone!

Setting those qualms aside, I loved the way Hal interpreted that LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP into the rebus squares. Sort of Schrödinger, but not really, a bit of LOVE and a bit of HATE. Spot on.

And some great theme phrases. In particular, ROL(LOVE)R IRA / WORDS TO T(HAT E)FFECT used such nice, long entries. S(LOVE)NIA wasn't as fantastic, but W(HAT E)LSE IS NEW was awesome.

Check that — I almost fell into a devious trap, putting in SOFIA for [Neighbor of Hungary]. I know, SOFIA isn't a country, it's a city. (Okay, maybe I didn't know that! Bah!) Finally sussing out S(LOVE)NIA made for a great click.

Not a ton of special squares — Hal could have worked in one or two more, perhaps — but that did allow him to weave in a ton of great long fill. Man oh man, TOTAL RECALL, MAO SUIT (Blofeld wearing one = great clue!), HUNTER GATHERER, THE FAR SIDE with the cows declaring that THEY'RE JUST EATING GRASS! So much goodness. And not that much short glue, either.

It all played out for me like a best of all worlds: an idea worthy of a Sunday-size palette, plus so much themeless-like goodness. POW!

– puzzle by Hal Moore

Something new at XWord Info this week: "Jim and Jeff, at the Puzzles"! I was a huge fan of Siskel and Ebert's back and forth — often disagreeing, but always done respectfully. Jim and I will alternate days, of who goes first and who does the rebuttal.

Such perfect SPREADing of the four CHEESEs today. I loved that Jacob:

1. used four four-letter cheeses, for perfect consistency
2. spread them so regularly — exactly every other letter
3. aligned them either to the beginning or the ending of the theme phrase.

Near perfect, I say! My only hesitation was in BLEU — you can ask most anyone for FETA and EDAM and BRIE without confusion. Ask for BLEU at the front of your grocery store, and who knows what you'll get! Besides the stink-eye.

But ultimately, that's a small complaint. So I dug the elegance of these finds.

I wasn't exactly sure who BURL IVES was, so I might have chosen BERLINER instead. BURL IVES is undoubtedly crossworthy though, so it's simply a matter of preference.

Along with Stulbergian craftsmanship — fun bonuses in GET BUSY, AL ROKER, STOOD ASIDE, and TAKES A BOW with very little grid glue (HOO and maybe EWERS) — this was in my POW! running.

– puzzle by Jacob Stulberg

Ha! Shows what Jim knows. I barely noticed the lack of consistency. I'm no uber-picky perfectionist.

Okay, it was the lack of tightness that bugged me. Puzzles can be perfectly fine if you can choose among dozens or even hundreds of possible themers. But it's so elegant if you can employ a perfect set. Why ROSE and not … um … PANSY?

Why LILY and not … er …

Okay, maybe it was a tight set! Neat realization that so few flowers are used in this metaphorical sense.

Okay, I admit, Jim is right — I would have preferred each themer to be a simile, or each a noun phrase, etc. Consistency is so elegant. But if it's colorful — even flowery — language vs. consistency, I'd take the former any day.

Great gridwork, as I'd expect from Tim. Those big NW / SE corners are executed so well, hardly a weed yearning to be pulled. (TOI, yank!) The themers take up a huge amount of real estate, but Time deployed his black squares so wisely to separate them. And those chunks of black squares almost look like rows of flowers in a garden!

The wide-open spaces create a slight mismatch for an early-week puzzle — easy theme + tough fill creates solving dissonance — but I thought the long bonuses like METADATA over OXYMORON were worth it.

– puzzle by Timothy Polin

I was delighted by MILLE FEUILLE — watching bakers build their "thousand layer" pastries is fascinating; a neat mix of art and science. You need an aesthetic sensibility in order to entice the consumer, but also an understanding of chemistry to make the textures and flavors come together.

Same goes for crossword construction. Novel and interesting themes take creativity. But without the ability to execute on a solid grid, the puzzle doesn't come together.

I thought Jeffrey did well with this theme. There are probably many more French cooking terms that have entered into common usage, but I couldn't immediately think of any. And I like that each one here has a literal translation. BOUILLABAISSE = "boil and lower"? Fun!

The chemical reactions had problems, though. There were so many gluey aftertastes: EBON, EDDA LATHS, AERO, LE ROI, etc. Part of the problem was that Jeffrey had to work around that central 13-letter BOUILLABAISSE, which creates so many problems — especially given that the 12-letter HORS DOUEVRES and MILLE FEUILLE also force black square placements.

But a bigger part of the problem was trying to incorporate too many long bonuses. Break up EYES OF BLUE at the O, and it's easy to clean up EBON. Break up AS WITH at the I (and then get rid of the black square in front of AFT), and you can clean up the tough SHINZO ABE / TZE crossing.

(It's important to know world leaders. But I'd be sympathetic to a solver who put in SHINSO ABE.)

A solid recipe, but the execution of the bake could have been improved.

– puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler

I liked the visual of INBOX stacked atop the OUTBOX, too. But HEES and especially LXX gave me major pause. I wonder if shifting those guys all the way to the left would have helped.

Jim brings up a good point about restricting themers to only those with OUT embedded within a word. And given those constraints, RAINBOW TROUT is no doubt a colorful (ha ha) choice.

There are still a good number of options, however — enough to make me want better than CARPING ABOUT and FROTHING AT THE MOUTH. I think the former is decent, but nothing to write home about. And for the latter, I so badly wanted FOAMING AT THE MOUTH. Both are dictionary supported, but FOAMING resonates much more strongly for me.

Given the need for some HEES LXX and OST URSI (yikes!), I would have preferred to remove ZEES from the grid. As much as I like the Q and Z in QUIZ, needing ETRE and DEKED (tough for non-hockey players) added to the grid's feeling of not being as smooth as I like. I was glad to hear that Alex changed his mind about this over time!

The Venn diagram of what Jim knows and what I know has surprisingly little overlap. (His circle is about eleventy-thousand barleycorns bigger than mine, though.) I love Trader Joe's KEFIR — it lets me think that I'm doing healthy for myself (I squint so I never notice the massive amount of added sugar). We've had this dissonance so many times now that I've come to appreciate the subjectivity of it all.

One person's weird is another's deliciousness. Just as long as the crossings are fair, why not learn something from your crossword?

I did have some qualms about execution, but overall, I enjoyed uncovering the rebus squares, and the stacked INBOX/OUTBOX made for a nice visual.

– puzzle by Alex Eaton-Salners

Sometimes I feel like I have to HUNT AND PECK when a grid is filled with tough names. I'm personally familiar with NEMEA and Boba FETT, being a big fan of Greek myth and Star Wars lore. But pop music? Shudder! Names like DANGER MOUSE are dangerous to my ability to successfully complete a puzzle, when I barely know what "Gnarls Barkley" is. IT'S A MIRACLE that I finished with no errors, given so many DELIA, DEIRDRE, SHTETL, KOENIG entries in the grid!

I did love some entries, especially THAT'S GENIUS, which people say to me much less frequentsomely than I would not unlike. PASS THE BAR and IMAGINE THAT were also strongly on my WAVELENGTH(s).

Sometimes my constructor background stabs at my ability to enjoy puzzles. I see two elements that shouldn't coexist: 1.) a 70-word puzzle (just two under the maximum for themelesses), and 2.) more crossword glue than I want to see in any themeless. About five of AMAS DECI ESS FETT SEP THU XKES feels like an unpolished finish.

It's a shame. Other people have different (but perhaps equally valid) philosophies on themeless construction, some more liberal on how much crossword glue is okay — or even what qualifies as crossword glue!

Thankfully a couple clues helped elevate my solve. The clue for HAS BEENS was delightful — riffing on the astronomy term "distant stars" was brilliant. Similarly, riffing on the football "offensive line" for BARB = brilliant!

– puzzle by John Guzzetta

When I started doing themelesses, it was all about the entries. A couple of sizzling ones like SELF DRIVING CARS were what drove (see what I did there) my final impression.

These days, it's more and more the cleverness of the clues. I came away entertained today, even though there weren't that many entries I could point out as marquee — just PIPSQUEAK, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, CLEAN SLATE. It was all about the great clues, showing off such wickedly brilliant wordplay. My favorite was "reproductive system" repurposed for MIMEOGRAPH.

Themelesses built around grid-spanning entries typically don't have much real estate left over for much else. And it's usually difficult to convert the limited number of longish slots into great entries, due to rigid grid inflexibility. TAKE STEPS isn't going to win any awards, for example. It's so critical that your grid-spanners seriously sparkle, since they're likely among the few that will.

I've heard some constructors muse about creating themelesses with zero feature entries that shine on their own, but which allow for fantastically clever clues. I wouldn't go that far — I wouldn't want a themeless loaded with TAKE STEPS or even MIMEOGRAPHs, for example — but I can understand the notion.

– puzzle by David Liben-Nowell

★ It's rare that I can't figure out how I would have pulled off a particular theme, and I love when it happens. It's like seeing a great magic trick unfold — everything works together so amazingly, and you're left with a sense of wonder. How the hell did he/she do that?

It's easy to deconstruct letter addition or subtraction themes. Synonym themes. Words hidden in phrases. All of these are simple to pull off, using various computerized tools. But syllable additions? No idea, besides a whole lot of sounding out words to yourself (while the people around you slowly go crazy from all your babbling).

So many complex word changes! KING JAMES BIBLE to KING JAMES (LeBron) BUYABLE? Genius! WRITING to RIOTING is such a neat transmogrification, too. And CENTER to CEN-UH-TER = SENATOR is the best of all.

I might have liked one more themer, especially since OREGON TRANSPLANT didn't seem kooky enough for this Pacific Northwesterner. But I'd much rather have one too few themers along with a stellar grid, than one too many, along with serious compromises.

There are few constructors would could pull off a 132-word Sunday grid — one of the toughest tasks in all of construction — while keeping the solving experience so smooth. Just a bit of CEES and HOERs? That's way, way, way less than an average (140-word!) Sunday. With a couple of bonuses in SOLAR PANEL, BEANIE BABY, OKAY OKAY, and the delightful triple of AHI TUNA / PITCREW / SO THERE, it's an elegantly constructed piece of art.

Next time someone asks me for an example of a sound change puzzle, I'll be pointing to this one.

– puzzle by Joel Fagliano

I never used to understand the allure of FISHing. You sit quietly in a boat for hours on end, with nothing to do? Really?

Now that I have two (very) active toddlers, I'm starting to understand.

I enjoy trying to guess the theme in "what's the connection?" puzzles. I didn't figure it out until I got to REEL, so my a-ha moment was decently delayed. I enjoyed how well-disguised TACKLE was — a SLIDE TACKLE is very different than fishing TACKLE!

Unless fishing is a lot more violent than I thought?

As I analyzed the puzzle, I realized I knew the fact that TACKLE was a fishing term ... but not exactly what it means. Apparently, it's a catch-all term for fishing equipment? This made me enjoy the theme a little less, as it seemed like a redundant answer, given that one example of TACKLE listed in the Wikipedia article is REEL.

Maybe I should stop anally looking everything up and just enjoy puzzles.

Pretty good gridwork, although it's not as smooth as I think a Monday ought to be. NEG MEDO REDDI and CTR aren't bad, but the grid would have been so much elegant if that SW corner had been redone. As much as I liked James GANDOLFINI on "The Sopranos," I have a feeling that there are other alternatives in that slot, facilitating better surrounding fill.

I did appreciate Caitlin's strong work in the north and south though — POTHOLES / I PROMISE and DIET SODA / SLEEPS ON are solid bonuses. With just the prices of ESO and ENDO respectively, that's more like it in terms of trade-offs.

– puzzle by Caitlin Reid

I wanted to love this puzzle! Organic chemistry was one of my favorite subjects in college, and I've even done two puzzles similar to this, one around water and one around benzene.

I enjoyed the METHANE, CARBON DIOXIDE, and AMMONIA molecules floating in the grid. That was neat!

But why these particular molecules? Just because AMMONIA and METHANE are symmetrical lengths?

Why not H2O, which most people will know much more readily than AMMONIA (NH3)?

And why is OHO in the SW? It feels weird for water to be present, but not acknowledged.

ADDED NOTE: astute reader David Malik pointed out that I must have not had my C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ (caffeine) yet, since H2O = HOH, not OHO. D'oh!

And don't get me started on bond angles. The angles in an AMMONIA molecule aren't 90 degrees, but 106.7 because … okay, you've stopped listening. For good reason. Man, am I annoyingly picky about chemistry puzzles!

I don't mind a bit of ETO OBI AERO GTS kind of short stuff in the service of a densely-packed theme. But when you risk something as bizarre as MALAR, that might be the one thing that sticks into solvers' minds.

At least the annoyingly picky ones.

Now, the NE was more my speed. A J and an X worked seamlessly in, without any gluey short stuff, and a HOT WAX to boot? Yes! That's the type of gridwork that I expect out of a NYT puzzle.

(Was I the only one to be highly amused by WITH CHEESE looking like WITCH CHEESE? Someone explain to me why that makes me laugh so much.)

I do appreciate the effort to work in some beautiful organic chemistry into a puzzle. I wish the execution had been equally as beautiful.

Or that I was less OCD about chemistry puzzles. Sigh.

– puzzle by Greg Johnson

Truthfully, I wasn't hot on the idea itself at first, as it felt like an unspecific hodgepodge of Yiddish words that have made their way into English usage. There are too many of those for me to feel like was a tight enough theme.

So initially, I politely declined. But Scot is persuasive, plus I like him a lot and wanted to help. We went back and forth, changing theme material from his original submission, i.e. deleting the oddly-spelled SHLEMIEL, adding SCHMALTZ, etc.

Finally, we added YIDDISH as a revealer — I felt strongly that at least this would tie things together a bit. It still wasn't a theme that delighted me, but at least it worked well enough for my taste with YIDDISH smack-dab in the center.

It's not the most innovative theme ever, but I hope we worked in enough fun YIDDISH words and bonus fill to keep solvers entertained. Who doesn't like saying OY GEVALT!

As I was filling the grid, I realized 38-Down could be YINGLISH, which seemed so fun! But ultimately, it would have been duplicative of YIDDISH. I also wasn't sure if that term was precise enough for this theme. Ah well, perhaps YINGLISH will find its way into another crossword.

– puzzle by Scot Ober and Jeff Chen

I love it when crosswords do bizarre things. It's so much fun to get a note from the NYT's production team that something weird is coming. And hoo boy, was something weird today! I solved on paper to make sure I got the proper experience, and it took me about twice as long as usual, given the twisty themers: THREAD, LACE, STRING going back and forth. We've done an animation below to help the themers stand out.

Honestly, I don't totally get the concept. It's fun to have these three words zigging and zagging. But why? A MESSAGE THREAD goes back and forth. But wouldn't the entire answer zig and zag, then? Is it just that the three different synonyms can go back and forth, like with sewing a … hem? Or like a shoelace?

I think I'm overanalyzing this.

For a puzzle like this, where the themers are short in the grid, the long bonuses are such an important source of entertainment and color. Loved some of it: EMAIL ACCOUNT, GYM SOCK, and BOAR HUNT. The clue for BOAR HUNT made it even better, participants going "hog-wild" = such great wordplay. Fantastic!

(Not so fantastic for the boar.)

But I was plus/minus on others: MADE IT BETTER felt a bit forced, not really making the puzzle better. IN ONE ACT had a partialish feel, I GET IDEAS was from a 1950 song, and ATOM MAN is an alter ego for Lex Luthor?

Things that make you say "huh."

It's tough to build around 1.) twisty theme answers that force a lot of constraints, and 2.) short themers, which necessitates a lot of long bonus fill everywhere in the grid. Dealing with both of these at the same time is no fun!

Overall though, I appreciate when constructors go all crazy and break the rules. This one didn't hit for me, but no doubt it will stick in my mind. Lots of puzzles tend to go in one of my ears and out the other, so it is an accomplishment to get something to lodge in.

– puzzle by Sam Ezersky

Some delightful feature entries: TATAMI MATs always making me feel at home (I love visiting Japan!). And how can you not love a DUDE RANCH? The SILK ROAD is so evocative, Marco Polo along it for 24 years. And I'm fascinated by intellectual property law, so I enjoyed getting TRADEMARKS defined as "commercial slogans." It didn't feel quite right to me at first, as most slogans as "trademarked," not TRADEMARKS. But then I realized that they're actually both — fun realization!

Not so fun: STALIN ERA, which brought the death of tens of millions of people. I usually would point out things like CRIME BOSS and DEAD END as assets to the puzzle, but man, what a shiver-inducing vibe, that CRIME BOSS / STALIN ERA pairing. Not sure it passes "the breakfast test" — I would have STRESS ATE everything in sight!

COSSETS is not in the assets category for me. Apparently "cosset" means "mollycoddle"? Huh.

Also in the "huh" category: NATALE.

Check out those COSSETS and NATALE corners — there's a reason for these oddball entries. The NW / SE might not look like much of a challenge, but yikes, are they ever. I rarely leave a section that big to fill in a themeless (or any puzzle, for that matter), because you're usually going to need short gluey stuff (see: ANO CMAS ESA) or weird mid-length stuff. C.C. did make her task a bit easier by adding a black square just before LEAVEN, but those huge chunks of white space were still too leavened to fill smoothly.

I find more and more that a themeless is all about the connection you feel to the constructor — did you get that great vibe of being right on someone's wavelength? I didn't today, as I usually want a more uplifting solving experience. Personal taste. I can see how others might love the subtle message implied by pairing CRIME BOSS with STALIN ERA.

– puzzle by Zhouqin Burnikel

Interesting dilemma faced by Will: today's puzzle features CHARLIE ROSE dead center. After being fired due to allegations of sexual harassment — one of the bigger names in the #metoo movement that's helped give so many victims a much-needed voice — should this puzzle have been published?

It's not the choice I would have made. Even with the clue, calling him out as part of the #metoo revelations, I'd much prefer to not see him at all in my crossword.

Sam is quickly becoming one of my favorite themeless constructors, always integrating great long stuff like THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PEA SHOOTER, PRESS PASS, AA MEETINGS, FOOD PORN — what a HERCULEAN EFFORT to get so much sizzling material into a very difficult grid design. 64 words with great, flowing grid feng shui, everything so wide-open? That's incredibly tough to work with.

(Note to TROCHEE ECT IOLA: I'm looking the other way because of all the puzzle's delightful assets.)

Ultimately, I understand that Will accepted this puzzle a long time ago, and he wanted to honor his commitment to Sam. A person is only as good as his/her word. And it's a strong piece of construction, no doubt.

But I would have asked Sam to try to rework the middle if at all possible, or if not (most likely the case), I would have paid him a kill fee. If CHARLIE ROSE's inclusion front and center — no matter what the clue — makes me (a guy who tries to ignore the news) uncomfortable, I can only imagine how others will feel.

– puzzle by Sam Trabucco

★ It's such a shame that David Steinberg's puzzle was so recent — and so beautiful! I don't know much about art, but I loved learning about it through David's diagramless.

This particular painting has such an interesting story and message behind it. It's a fantastic blend of art and logic — it's obviously a pipe … but the caption begs to differ. I love me a good paradox!

Although my wow factor was diminished because David's puzzle was stuck in my memory, not nearly as many people do the variety puzzles, so I'd bet most solvers will still have a neat experience as they read up on the painting. Or, if they already knew about it — fine, I'm an art dummy, are you happy? — they can appreciate how closely the shape of the pipe is mimicked by the circled letters.

I also liked that Andrew included the "explanatory" quote: "it's just a representation, is it not?"

I admit that I don't fully understand that, but the notion behind it amuses me.

Even though all those circled letters plus the themers added up to a ton of constraints, I appreciated that Andrew worked in some fine brushstrokes: HUMAN RACE, MARS ROVER, DOG TREAT, CAGE FREE, FUEL TANKS. I didn't get QB RANCH at first until I (head slap) parsed it to Q BRANCH. I thought as a huge Bond fan I knew everything there was about the series — apparently not!

I bet Daniel Craig would be a good quarterback.

I do wish that the full caption, CECI N'EST PAS UNE PIPE, had been underneath the pipe so as to better copy the painting (even if that meant not using the quote). And a connect the dots from A to B to C would have been easier to follow, especially if you didn't already know C E C I N E S … what a confusing mess of letters.

But overall, I liked Andrew's take on the famous painting almost as much as David's.

– puzzle by Andrew Zhou

Whoever runs NBC's schedule has to be a crossword person. Has to! How else can you explain how tidily the following lengths match up:

JEOPARDY 8

ALEX TREBEK 10

WHEEL OF / FORTUNE 7

VANNA WHITE 10

PAT SAJAK 8

A complete set of titles + major players = crossword gold. I love it!

Mike did a nice job with his grid, too. PAPER MOON and GODPARENT are solid feature bonuses. AP TEST, QATARI, SOAPBOX further enhanced my solve.

A couple of dings in SNO KAN ARAL, but I think the trade-offs here are very good.

The lone sticking point for me was the ERLE / ESL crossing. I think most solvers ought to be able to get it. But I wonder if there are going to be some newbies who'll struggle in coming up with English as a Second Language, and I don't blame others for not being familiar with ERLE Stanley Gardner. Hopefully, the overlap in the Venn diagram isn't big.

An amazing theme find today. Neither JEOPARDY nor WHEEL OF / FORTUNE could have made for a puzzle of their own, but paired — as they are on many stations — they synergize to make such a neatly complete puzzle. I liked it enough to give it POW! consideration, but there's one coming up this week that really stood out for me.

– puzzle by Michael Black

Will's got a tough job, adhering to the NYT's tone and brand. Other editors get to debut all sorts of interesting terms at their leisure, but Will is careful to maintain standards that he feels is appropriate for the NYT. Several years ago, he rejected one of my themelesses because DROPPED THE F-BOMB was too crass. And a while back, he said he wouldn't allow MANSPREAD, for similar reasons.

The Times, it is a changin'!

(F-BOMB debuted in 2015, MANSPREADS today — don't forget the cheeky SHTUP!)

It's a slow process of adoption, but I think that's a good thing. MANSPREADS felt a whole lot edgier back when the term first arose. Now, it's more mainstream, more acceptable for NYT usage.

Today's MANSPREADS visual was a bit too graphic for my taste, given the image in the bottom center of the puzzle.

What, you don't see it?

Um.

I don't either.

Ahem.

Let's change the subject and talk about puzzle tech. I like Ross's use of mirror symmetry, which feels appropriate for the theme. Check out the placement of the MANSPREADS revealer, down the centerline of the grid. That's rarely done because it forces a 10x3 chunk — you can't deploy black squares around it in columns 7 or 9 like you usually would using regular symmetry. And 10x3 chunks in a themed puzzle usually = no bueno!

It's a good thing Ross is a solid constructor. Some AMS ISS OPP LOA needed, but that's not that bad. A reasonable price to pay for the long bonuses.

The grid did feel pretty tough though; not welcoming for newer solvers. Entries like ELBERT, BYNES, TYNAN, MAXWELL ANDERSON give the puzzle an "I have to know trivia to do crosswords?" feel. That isn't the case since the crossings were all fair, but still, it can leave newbs with a sour aftertaste.

Also, given the simple theme, the complexity of the fill felt dissonant.

Overall, I liked the acknowledgment of the super-annoying phenomenon — dudes, keep them legs together! — but I felt like the bit wasn't enough to sustain an entire puzzle.

(And now I can't look away from that bottom center visual. My eyes, they're burning!)

– puzzle by Ross Trudeau

Melinda Gates! I'm a big fan of what she and the Mr. have done with their wealth — hard to think of other individuals who've done more for the world. Not all of the Gates Foundation's projects have been successful, but I like that they learn through their experimentation and failures. And several have hit it big, making a huge difference in the developing world. Inspiring!

Makes me think about getting back into biotech/pharma development sometime in the future. Why am I wasting my time writing crosswords?!

Nice concept, phrases starting with a single letter, having that letter doubled for kooky results. EE READER was my favorite, as ee cummings is a fascinating figure. And I love me some JJ Abrams — his reboot of the "Star Trek" movie franchise was amazing!

I felt like some of the themers were a stretch, though. JJ CREW should be JJ's CREW, yeah? BB COMPLEX felt similarly strained.

XX FACTOR made me a little uncomfortable. Several people pointed out a problem in one of my puzzles, that chromosomes don't necessarily define gender. I felt terrible that my assumption hurt some solvers' feelings, and I worry about the same happening today, given that the clue only mentioned women and girls.

Super solid grid, not a surprise given Joel's involvement. I love how he pushes the envelope, taking out black squares in the NW and SE in order to give us OIL GAUGE and RADAR GUN; same in the remaining corners, with JM BARRIE and BLUE ROAN. Given that this is a Wednesday puzzle, having a more (BB) complex grid feels fitting.

BOOOOOO on the clue for BRIDGE! BOOOOOO to the NYT for eliminating the awesome BRIDGE column, says this BRIDGE fanatic!

Grumble grumble. Fine, it's mostly for old people, grumble.

Nice concept, excellent gridwork. I wish the theme had tied to Melinda's work at the Gates Foundation, though. It's always neat when the puzzle is intertwined to the celeb.

– puzzle by Melinda Gates and Joel Fagliano

★ I love it when constructors do kooky things with print grids. It's neat when a puzzle works much better on paper than in (most) electronic formats — score one for the dead tree edition!

Daniel gives us four examples of self-referential themers, i.e. SHADES OF GRAY goes into boxes that are actually SHADES OF GRAY. INSIDE THE BOX is literally INSIDE THE BOX. Meta!

The difference between INSIDE THE BOX and BETWEEN THE LINES is small — the two sides are bolded on the former, but not the latter — so these didn't feel quite different enough for my taste. Still, four solid themers overall.

(We've taken some liberties in the visual below, adding color to help accentuate the differences between the last two themers.)

Nice grid execution, too. I was already delighted by the strangeness in the grid lines, but my solving experience was enhanced even further when encountering goodies like SEA LEGS, MINIONS, FAKE ID, HEATER as baseball lingo. Well worth the price of a bit of ESS STL SADR.

Great idea, memorable puzzle. I'd love for more constructors come up with ideas on kookifying print grids. There's something so satisfying to this old-schooler when a print version outshines its electronic kin.

– puzzle by Daniel Kantor