New York Times, Saturday, January 2, 2016

When constructing a themeless, one thing I like to do is design my black square arrangement around an interesting entry. If done correctly, I feel this technique can help to squeeze in a few unusual letters, avoid the temptation of a prefab grid, and perhaps even create a unique solve.

For this puzzle, TJ MAXX was the entry of interest. Once I had placed black squares around TJ MAXX (a few under the X's and one above the J), the resulting NW and SE sections seemed to want to form stacks. But, placing a black-square finger in columns 5/11 meant that what is now 27D would've been either a long entry starting with "J" bordering a stack (would this be fillable...?...I pondered) or a stumpy 3-/4-letter entry starting with "J" (if I added another black square). Since I didn't like either of those options and wanted to avoid stacked 11's in the NE/SW, I opted for stacked 9's all around (with extra 8's in the NW/SE). Lastly, I tried to place the remaining black squares in such a way to give solvers multiple opportunities to enter each corner.

Of the entries in my original submission, Will and Joel liked the NE/SE but disliked a buildup of proper nouns in the SW and the (non)phrase LEAVE LATE in the NW. After a little more back-and-forth, we settled on the fill you see. Stuff like NESSES and ANAS aren't that great, but they're relatively isolated and don't have too many bad crossings IMO.

As for clues, Will and Joel changed quite a few to bring this puzzle up to Saturday difficulty. [Auto racer Luyendyk] became [Part of "Die Fledermaus"], [Widow's peak, e.g.] became [Plugs can move it forward], and [Figures in red] became [Red menaces?], etc. Fortunately for my ego, Will/Joel kept one of my favorite original clues--[Still the most?] for STEADIEST--and even felt that a question mark was warranted. At any rate, I hope solvers appreciate the added "crunchiness" in their Saturday puzzle; make sure to thank your tireless editors! =)

That's it from me. I'll have Ms. Swift lead you to the Sunday puzzle. Happy holidays and happy solving!

HATERS GONNA HATE! A shame that this awesome phrase was used just over a month ago. This repetition — the central entry in both themelesses — reduced the impact of Dave's puzzle for me. I know that Will is cautious about not repeating feature themeless entries too quickly, but this one was unfortunate.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed this puzzle. Dave uses a daunting arrangement of quad-stacked 9s, and he executes well. That NW corner is a beaut. POWER GRAB is colorful, as is SKIN TIGHT. I'm a big RAISINETS fan, too. All that goodness, plus the clue echo [Set off] for TRIP and IGNITED (two tenses!) and HATERS GONNA HATE running through it = great work. Not a fan of NESSES as it seems too close to [Eliot and others], but it does work.

I did like the SE corner, although not as much as the NW. HAIRLINE gets a fun clue in [Plugs can move it forward], but NET LOSSES is a bit too easy to use on an edge, given how many friendly letters like S there are. Plus, this capitalist wants net profits, not NET LOSSES!

I also like what Dave did with his more typical 9x3 stacks. ADEN YEMEN was hard to figure out, and I liked the challenge. It reminded me of kooky things I've seen like AKRONOH and MESAAZ. What bizarre strings of letters, right? But people see AKRON, OH and MESA, AZ all the time on envelopes. I love that kind of stuff which masks usual commas and other punctuation.

Super-smooth incorporation of TJ MAXX's two Xs. As if NINE HOLES, NBA FINALS, LEFT TURN, JS BACH wasn't enough, adding two Xs to the corner is some serious allspice.

Great clues in [Some foreign reserves] for YEN (I plunked in OIL), and [Some ribbons and shells] for PASTA, both cluing plural answers that don't use a terminal S or I.

Very minor gluey stuff like ANAS … but I liked the clue echo of [Santa ___] for both ANAS and CLARA. Overall, a smooth and colorful puzzle.