11/21/19 "Mind the Gap" by Aimee Lucido

Hard, but excellent, puzzle! I got the revealer (MIND THE GAP) very early on in my solve, after realizing that 41D needed a blank square to fit GYM SHOE. But it took me a long time to realize that while the blank squares read blank in the downs, they are in fact rebuses that read GAP across. I imagine this made the puzzle very difficult to fill as I would have no idea how to make my fill program understand that directionality.

The theme entries were done quite well -- YOGA PANTS, TOGA PARTY, and THE BIG APPLE are all fantastic, with SINGAPOREAN being a step down IMO. The surrounding fill was definitely a little lackluster, but nothing stood out as particularly egregious to me. GYM SHOE and SNEAKER were a fun combo. I'd never heard of REPO MAN before; I spent the whole time reading the clue as a tower (read: building) of cars, like a parking garage or a freeway pileup or a wreckage yard. But my post-puzzle googling tells me this is indeed a thing. 

As for clues: Very sad that Ms. Lucido missed out on the opportunity to clue 57A SINGAPOREAN as related to one of my favorite films of last year, "Crazy Rich Asians." The puzzle's clue, Native of the Lion City, is just boring. Also thought that 73A would have been better clued as the shoe company. I enjoyed the clue at 42A for PRAYER: Occasion to speak up?

Aimee Lucido, Will Shortz, Crossword, Crosswords, NYT, New York Times, crossword answers, crossword blog, crossword blogger

11/20/19 "Talk Circles" by Erik Agard

Really fun idea with a cutesy revealer that seems more Monday or Tuesday appropriate. But the number of theme entries and the really impressive crossing of all six theme entries with the revealer made the execution a little shaky. I didn't like the long separations between the bunched circles, the stacking of PRATE and ORATE in a way that felt repetitive, or the choice of abbreviated OP (opine would have made more sense). Fill like UPN, ENO and ANA made the puzzle feel glue-y and detracted from the simple fun of TALK IN CIRCLES. But, considering how complicated and ambitious the grid/theme design is, this is only surprising in that it's not much worse.

All that being said, some really great entries made their way into the puzzle: EMPANADA, BLACK PANTHER, and WHAT CAN I DO, to name a few. And despite a couple tricky spots, 'twas overall a fast solve. The cluing was on the easy side for a Wednesday. Only because I normally love Erik's puzzles so much was this puzzle particularly disappointing.

Tricky spots for me:

• Had TEVYE in for TOPOL at 19A. Oops. I can read, I promise.
• For 13D (Tyro, in a modern credence) I had no idea what tyro meant, so even though I totally know the word NOOB I needed the crossings to figure it out. NW was my worst corner.
• Could not for the life of me figure out 47D SICS ON (Sends after) even after I had the last four letters from the crosses. 
• 66A SPINY EEL: Animal trivia is definitely a weak point for me.

crossword. crossword puzzle. crosswords. erik agard. crossword answers. crossword blogs. 

11/15/2019: "Is That a Thing?" by Debbie Ellerin

... Yes, indeed it is a thing. Thanks for asking. 

Photo Credit: Kelvin Zyteng

I enjoyed the entries IS THAT A THING and I CANT EVEN (and SUSHI BAR and DATA SCIENTIST). The middle of the grid was smooth -- I got the most traction early on in the center left with RATED R and AXEL, which gave the section away. OLD SCORES was fun and also clued fairly easily, which really opened up the grid for me. I got tripped up in both the NE and the NW -- had HURDLES in for HASSLES for a while, and the combo of OBEAH, LISLE and LATEN wasn't fun at all. Other than IS THAT A THING, which I really truly loved, this puzzle felt like a solid meh. Lots of good, not a lot of great.

Love
IS THAT A THING 45A ("What do think... real or not?") In case you missed it, I really enjoyed this entry. It's something I say and hear all the time, especially in the context of crosswords. Love when modern expressions make it into the puzzle.

I CANT EVEN 31A ("No words") I wish the clue had been a little more fun, but another great entry using modern lingo.

SAMOA 46D (Cookie topped with toasted coconut, caramel and chocolate) I totally got tripped up here, even though I love Girl Scout cookies and especially Samoas. I was expecting this to be a generic type of cookie instead of a brand name. Love the entry, love the long clue that makes it sound much more complicated than it actually is.

Dislike
BRASILIA 17A (World capital designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its modernist architecture) = Every city and its nearest neighbor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site these days. Modernist architecture makes me think Dubai, not Brasilia, which is not a super well known capital to start with. Don't enjoy random trivia nobody knows clues.

OBEAH/ LISLE / LATEN 11-13D = As mentioned above, this is an icky combo. Any one of them could've been overlooked, but altogether they made for a tough and boring corner.

LAVS 53D (Loos) = Felt like this needed an abbreviation marker. Not a common enough abbreviation to my ear, especially in the plural, to do without.

GINS UP 44D (Gets excited) = IS THAT A THING? Never heard this expression before. Vague clue for uncommon language that has a lot of possible answers.

Representation
Love seeing a Friday puzzle by a female constructor, but we could do better on the gender balance in this puzzle.

El Chapo, Ronnie Lott, Leonard Cohen, Ganesh, Mahershala Ali, Ogden Nash, Santa Claus, Helmut Schmidt
Celine Dion, Ida Rolf

11/14/19: "French Open" by Alex Eaton-Salners

... and what do YOU remember from high school French class

Moises Alex

Big Picture

Fun theme! I don't know any French other than what I've encountered in crosswords puzzles, but even I got AMI REQUEST and OUI INDEED. For EAU SKIING and ETE CAMP I only got the 'opens' through crossings. I was a little sad when I got to SLAM and the clue was not connected to FRENCH OPEN. Seemed like a missed opportunity. Overall, I thought this puzzle was fun and fairly easy for a Thursday -- definitely one of my faster times. The cluing especially seemed more suited for an early week puzzle. 

Love
AETNA (67A: Anthem alternative) = I was racking my brain for several minutes trying to come up with some sort of song that would fit there. Never heard of Anthem insurance before. Clever misdirection to make boring fill more fun!

IAGO (16A: "Aladdin" character named after a literary villain) and ALI (3D: "Aladdin" alter ago) = Disney references and connecting clues. What's not to like?

OILUP (52D: Prepare for a bodybuilding competition) = Another fun misdirection. I was puzzled about how I should fit something related to lifting or bulking up in this spot. 

Dislike
AYEAYE (45A: Nocturnal lemur native to Madagascar) = I imagine this was clued in this way so as to avoid an understanding of the entry as meaning yes, as the entry is crossed with AH YES. That being said, I don't enjoy this sort of animal kingdom trivia clue. But I did look up a picture of an AYE-AYE after finishing the puzzle. I thought, oh, well if I'm going to get a random animal clue at least I should get to look at pictures of cute monkeys. But no, in fact, according to Google images aye-ayes are really not that cute. They're rather creepy looking. I did find one picture of an aye-aye baby that satisfied my need for cute animal pictures before I moved onto golden lion tamarins, my favorite monkey.

SOFTG (13D: Introduction to geometry) = The fact that this is not a thing that should be in a crossword messed up my NE corner. It was the last area of the grid I filled, especially given the cross with EAU SKIING which, as discussed, went well beyond my non-existent French.

LOUDEN (6D: Turn up, as the volume) = This is not a thing. I have literally never heard anyone say this. Not once.

Representation
Many fewer names in today's puzzle, which I appreciated. I almost never know the various old baseball and movie references unless they've entered the crossword lexicon to such an extent that I recognize them. Well gender balanced! Missy Elliott and Neil deGrasse Tyson (and arguably Aladdin) also make for some good POC representation. Applause for Alex!

Men clued or mentioned: Iago, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Aladdin, Robert Frost, Eli Roth

Women clued or mentioned: Blair witch,* Steffi Graf, Coco Chanel, Missy Elliot

*Probably doesn't count, especially since Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl is another possible clue.

11/13/19: "Carnival Projectiles" by Ed Sessa

Featuring Everything But the Kitchen Sink (& Representation)! 

Gaelle Marcel

Big Picture

This was a tough, slow Wednesday for me. It took me forever to realize there was a rebus. At 51D POP BANDS, it finally clicked for me that there were too many letters! But my first guess for the rebus entry (having not gotten the theme at all yet) was BOYBANDS. After some quick post-puzzle googling, I've determined that both bands are in fact all men, as I thought. But OneRepublic isn't really a "boy band" per se, not like One Direction. Silly mistake. I then looked back at 50A SOAP OPERA and POP! I got it. Puzzle was all downhill from there, aside from a few tricky spots noted below.

The four theme entries and additional revealer, including grid-spanning IS THE POPE CATHOLIC, severely constrained this grid. The fact that Ed was able to fill it as well as he did is major kudos to him. That being said, there were some icky spots (SSE, ERTE, RCA) that made the solve tough in places even after I had the theme entries filled in.

Love

• Theme! It was great! POP as a rebus on a circle is so visually representative of a cartoonish BALLOON DARTS game, especially an online version. I viscerally remember playing online balloon darts on Webkinz to earn whatever the cash was called on there so that my pet wouldn't starve. The entries, especially HIPPOPOTAMUSES, APOPLEXY, and IS THE POPE CATHOLIC had all of the promised POP. Super fresh use of the sometimes tiresome circles and the sometimes tiresome rebuses -- at the same time!
• TASTER (29D: One eating before a king) = this fairly meh entry was elevated by a great clue! Couple of previous puzzles have gotten a similar idea across, but the wordplay on this was just fantastic and made for a good laugh at a spot that might otherwise have been a yawn.
• SYRUPS (8D: Some cough remedies) = Similar idea to TASTER, but thought this clue was fresh and happily un-pancake-related. 

Dislike

• SST, ETRE, RCA: Meh. French partial. Weird Abbreviations. These were clearly tough spots for Ed and they did not make for enjoyable fill. 
• HEP, TORA: HEP is seriously outdated. Even with the word "dated" in the clue I still had no idea what this was. I had HIP in there for a long time, especially since this is crossed with the French partial, ETRE. Tricky (in a bad way) crossing. Movie names from 1970 also fall in the "dated" category for me. Never heard of TORA! TORA! TORA!; not even a hint of familiarity. I had a brain fart at 65A and for some reason had NICK in for a while instead of NOOK, but at least TORA's crossings were fairly benign.
• AD MEN: Ick. Just went in and pulled that one from my dictionary. 

Representation

Major fail. Yikes.

Men clued or mentioned: Elton John, Julius Caesar, Noam Chomsky, Iggy Pop, Eric Holder, John Huston, Gay Talese, Giuseppe Verdi, all of One Direction & One Republic and of course the anonymous but gendered AD MEN.

Women: Dora the Explorer, Tricia Nixon

Without googling pictures of every one of those men, I'll add that POC representation is limited to Dora the Explorer. Not a great look.

11/12/19 My NYT Debut!

Today I made my NYT debut with my cousin Jakob Weisblat. As I shared on WordPlay and XWord Info, I first started writing crosswords almost exactly a year ago. Jakob ran into my parents at a family event and mentioned he had also recently begun constructing. Today's puzzle was our very first collaboration, built from my germ of an idea about an older pop hit, "Bye Bye Bye."

I learned a lot about constructing from writing this puzzle with Jakob and from the many I've written since we submitted in May. I also learned a lot from reading comments and blog posts written about the puzzle today. Here are some of my big takeaways:

• People have mixed, but strong feelings about the term BICURIOUS; reactions to the clue skewed more negative. @AllieLHunter posted an article about the way the term 'bicurious' can feel offensive and diminishing to people who identify as bisexual, which I learned a lot from. All in all, I think I'm okay with leaving BICURIOUS in my dictionary for future use, but I'll need to be a lot more careful about what clue gets attached to it. Jakob and I didn't write this one, but I also didn't notice it as offensive when I looked over the advance copy. I'm very interested in suggestions for a definitively bi-positive replacement in cluing rather than just a neutral/inoffensive solution.
• ITGUY, on the other hand, has to go. Although I think our original clue (Nick from "The Office") was more fun and a little less problematic, overall, I agree with Amy from Crossword Fiend that the term is needlessly gendered and not great fill. 
• BY A LONG SHOT was "easily" our most confusing entry and clue combo. Because the phrase is usually seen as 'not by a long shot' or x occurring is a long shot, our use of the phrase seemed awkward. I remember thinking it was a little awkward when we filled it in, and having a discussion with Jakob about it. The clue we wrote to go with it was "a good way to win," which is fairly similar to the editors' simplified version: "easily." One of Google's definitions of (not) by a long shot is "(not) by far," which if you subtract the negatives, fits our usage. But I totally get why this seemed awkward and in retrospect, we should have spent a little longer looking for a different theme entry.
• This puzzle was a little glue-y, especially for an easy/ early week theme set. Many readers and bloggers called out fill entries like NO TAR, NOT PASS, TONG, DII and ARTE. My default in constructing is to lean towards fun and scrabbly long entries at the cost of some meh shorter entries. One fix for this is to clean up my dictionary, which has all sorts of fusty and fake words that fit in little spots and tempt me into a sparkly down I should really let slide.

All in all, it was fantastic getting to see our puzzle in print, even if the cluing didn't look too familiar. I got a lot of really nice notes from more experienced constructors, which made the day even better. Finally, I SMASHED my Tuesday record to keep my streak going. 😂