New York Times, Wednesday, January 18, 2023

As a senior in high school, I'm familiar with the unwanted cringe that women are often subjected to under the guise of romance. I wanted to reimagine the meaning of PICK-UP LINES, combining my interests in wordplay and gender parity, and today's theme answers were born fairly quickly. The plant lover in me is excited that the clue for FROND made it in — I love all things biology, and this clue also serves as a mini reference to the theme.

Part of my interest in crossword construction stems from the fact that young female constructors aren't always represented well in the Times. For my Gen Z solvers out there: I tried my best to incorporate "BRUH", but tragically, it did not survive the editing process. We will get there someday. I'd still like to extend my gratitude towards the NYT and Ross Trudeau for guiding my initial efforts in the wonderful world of crossword construction. Happy solving!

IT'S MY TREAT is right, because this is an amazing debut puzzle.

It all starts with a clever theme that goes one step beyond the "what connects these seemingly disparate entries" genre. PICK UP has enough meanings that it's not hard to come up with phrases that get at different ones. Elevating that to PICK-UP LINEs — with each themer being an in-the-language, spoken phrase — gives this concept pedal-to-the-medal pickup.

That would have been enough to get some POW! buzz, but consider the technical level of difficulty. 11s are easy to work with — you simply place them in rows 3 and 13. A triplet of awkward-length themers in the center is approaching triple double-levels of intensity. Given that they all force black square placements, you almost have to squish them together in rows 6, 8, and 10. And Lindsay stuck the landing, using strategic black square placement to separate enough between themers to fill well.

The upper left and lower right corners are so dangerous because you have to work through three themers. I imagine much iteration was involved to arrive at the clean results, even throwing in THE GOAT and HEY NOW to heighten the artistic score.

Some constructors would be so exhausted after that routine, that the other corners would be an afterthought. I say domo arigato to Lindsay — MR ROBOTO makes me a LOYAL FAN of hers.

I'm frond of the FROND joke, too. Great way to inject freshness into the clues.

Gold medal debut.