New York Times, Monday, January 27, 2014

A few years ago I was watching TV and a commercial for timeshares came on. In this commercial the word TIMESHARE is shouted an absurd number of times, as if its writers missed the day in grammar school when pronouns were introduced. And that was it. I wish I could say that today's puzzle has a more interesting, Eureka-esque story behind its inception, but alas, it doesn't. I'm hopeful that, in time, the puzzle will come to accept and embrace its humble beginnings.

So, my first thought after turning off the TV was to have TIME wedged in between its two associated two words, generating wacky phrases. As in AIRTIME + TIMETRAVEL = AIRTIMETRAVEL, e.g. Seemed like a good idea, but the concept never took flight, and I ended up depositing a half-filled grid with the rest of my misfit puzzles.

Months later, bored and looking through my files, guess which half-filled grid caught my eye? I realized (Eureka!) that the TIMESHARE thing could be done in the same way as all of those other two-words-that-have-one-word-in-common themes, but with a little twist. And there you have it.

Nothing stands out in my memory with respect to the actual construction. As a high school math teacher and number enthusiast, I was excited to be able to get FIBONACCI in the puzzle. Also, "Music for Airports" is almost always on in the background when I'm constructing, and so ENO, despite being crosswordese-ish, always elicits a smile.

Hope you enjoyed it.

While "words that go with" sorts of themes have become quite common, this one is a cut above the rest, in my opinion, because the shared word, TIME, connects with both halves of the other theme entries. That's elegant. Also, there are five theme examples, besides the "revealer," which is a lot. And the revealer itself is fun.

Beautiful start to the week. Crosswords have evolved a lot over the past five years, so putting a new spin on this type of theme is important. And TIMESHARE is a perfect way to do that, each of the theme answers "sharing" TIME, i.e. AIR TRAVEL goes to AIR TIME and TIME TRAVEL. Neat concept, perfect for a Monday. Comprehensible for many beginners, interesting for many experienced solvers.

And check out the theme density! Typically constructors shy away from six long theme entries, because it causes all sorts of crossing problems. Four of James's themers are shorter (eight or nine letters) which makes the construction easier than having all 10+ letter entries, but James also throws in something unusual for a six-themer: two long downs. CLEOPATRA and FIBONACCI are fantastic entries. And he also tosses in MAGNETO and BLEND IN. Awesome!

The two long themers are fantastic, but they do come at a price. EMEER is one of those words that makes me cringe, especially on a Monday. EMIR is the more common spelling, never having taken the dreaded "variant" tag in a NYT crossword clue. Out of curiosity, I tried to rework that east area on my own, but with CLEOPATRA running through that area, I couldn't come up with anything better. It would take replacing the ????P???A pattern with ACAPPELLA or WIKIPEDIA or something, which is a pretty major change.

I was curious to see if one of these other long down alternatives could get rid of EMEER (and OLEIC too, hopefully)... but not THAT curious. Anyway, James's grid also incorporates I DUNNO and HOLD EM in that region, so it seems like a favorable trade-off overall. Still, EMEER...

If it hadn't been for EMEER, OLEIC, and the lesser ugly ECOL, this might have been one of my favorite Mondays of all time. And even with them, I found it mighty enjoyable. Well done.