New York Times, Wednesday, January 20, 2016

When life gives you lemons you make ... a cocktail. After rejecting 2 different drink-themed crosswords, this one was finally accepted.

Initially, the first puzzle featured MIXED DRINKS (WATER hidden in DESERT WARFARE, e.g.) but it did not pass the bar. The second one was similar to today's puzzle but Will and Joel felt there was inconsistency with the entry OLIVER TWIST. When I explained why it was different they agreed to take another sip. They suggested changing the order of the entries as well as having the revealer come before the garnish. We knocked back a few different recipes before arriving at this one (and even then they added a few flavorings of their own). I tried to strain out most of the gluey bits so I hope the few that are left don't ruin the taste of this crossword cocktail.

A toast to Will and Joel for their invaluable input. Cheers!

GIN + VERMOUTH + ICE = DRY MARTINI It's pretty unusual to have a themer past the revealer, so I was initially confused by uncovering OLIVER TWIST after I thought the puzzle was already over. But I like getting surprised — how many times does a puzzle give you a second a-ha moment?

I think what the clue for OLIVER TWIST is getting at is that a DRY MARTINI can be garnished by an OLIVE (‘r = or) TWIST. It took some self-convincing to believe a bartender would pronounce it as "(do you want an) olive ‘r twist?". It's such a nice feeling to get an unexpected a-ha moment though, that I gave it the thumbs-up.

With hidden words puzzles, I like consistency — it would have been great if each of GIN, VERMOUTH, and ICE had been hidden the same way. But finding VER MOUTH inside RIVER MOUTH is a nice discovery, and it's hard (impossible?) to break I CE or IC E at the end of a phrase. So I give that a pass too.

That READE/IDRIS crossing is going to be tough for some, and I sympathize. I'm a huge fan of IDRIS Elba, as he starred in "The Wire" and one of my favorite movies in recent history, "Pacific Rim." But has he made it big, to the point where he's "important enough" to expect NYT solvers to know him, even if the crossings are nebulous? I don't know about that.

I EVER sticks out as the most inelegant entry, more so because it's around that READE/IDRIS crossing. Difficulties are bound to arise when you have so much overlap between themers — the TINI of DRY MARTINI over IVERT of OLIVER TWIST in this case.

I was confused by the AMA clue, and the AJA crossing also felt a touch unfair. I like that AMA (ask me anything) was clued with a fresh feel (it's usually clued to the American Medical Association), but I don't think solvers should be expected to know the 40-year old Steely Dan album without fair crossings.

But a strong construction everywhere else, and a surprising second revealer that was almost genius.