New York Times, Friday, January 18, 2019

This grid started with the northwest corner; I had to edit it out of another themeless I was working on, but repurposed it as a block of seed entries here. I wanted to make sure to include some nice 10s going down in the northeast and southwest. I especially liked UBER DRIVER and ESCAPE ROOM when I wrote the puzzle back in July of 2017 because neither had been used in the Times to that point. Both have been used in the Times since — this is now the fourth appearance for ESCAPE ROOM in fact, so it's arguably more overused than fresh at this point. Them's the breaks sometimes.

A tip of the hat to the editing team on the cluing, as always; I especially liked their clues at 30- and 52-Down. I love it when clues appear to hint at a plural entry, but the answer is singular (and vice-versa). Among my original clues, I probably like 17-Down the best. I hope solvers enjoy!

Such pretty curves in the middle of the puzzle! It's not often that a themeless's black square pattern tickles my aesthetic sense so strongly. Reminded me of another graceful one.

Solid triplet to anchor the middle:

• LEAD BALLOON is a hilarious term. I'm curious who first came up with the metaphor. Or perhaps it was a spectacular failure of a real test … even funnier!
• BLOOD VESSEL is a great phrase, although I didn't understand the clue at first. [Needle point?] gets to the fact that it's where blood is drawn from a needle? I suppose this works. Sort of. But it seems like it ought to have four or five question marks at the end of the clue to show what a stretch it is.
• SUNSET STRIP was a relief to uncover. After reading the [… of a ‘50s-‘60s TV series] clue, I thought we'd be in for some sort of esoteric Patty Duke or Dobie Gillis reference. Thankfully, SUNSET STRIP feels like it cuts across generations, making for a larger number of solvers who could appreciate it.

Not a ton of long slots, so it was important for Andrew to make use of all of them. I thought TETRAHEDRA and ESCAPE ROOM were standouts, although I wonder if these play too much to a niche audience. TETRAHEDRA is a great word, but when you clue it to D&D (a d4 means a four-sided die), it might turn off some solvers.

PAPER TOSS was the only long entry I didn't care for. It does make sense — you're trying to toss a paper ball into a trash can. But who says "let's play some paper toss!"?

Andrew's a pro, doing a great job of balancing snazziness and smoothness. Today, there was just a bit of EDO in terms of crossword glue, with not much wastage. As I'd expect from Andrew, a strong result on the whole.