New York Times, Wednesday, October 19, 2016

I like words that can be parsed in a way that has a completely different meaning. I had a similar puzzle a few years ago about neckwear: PROPER TIES, CASUAL TIES, etc. My original submission for this puzzle was a 15x16 grid that led off with PRO VISIONARY and ended with PRO VOCATIONS. That version had 4 nice long non-theme downs, fewer 3-letter words, and placed the title entry at the end where I liked it.

Unfortunately, PROVISIONARY doesn't Google very well compared to "provisional," so Will and Joel asked if I could replace that theme answer. PRO TESTER was the best I could find. However, that meant placing the singular PRO VOCATION in the center of the new 15x15 grid, losing the long downs and forcing the two Utah-shaped black blocks on the left and right. In the end, it comes down to trade-offs, and the stronger theme answers make the revised version a better puzzle than the original grid that arguably had more interesting non-theme material.

My favorite clue—35D "Person who had a major part in the Bible?"—is the work of the editorial crew, whose efforts greatly improved the puzzle, as always. Thanks, Will and Joel—that made me smile! I hope the puzzle brings a smile or two to everyone else as well!

Great wordplay today, with five PRO- words split up and given a kooky interpretation. What a clever revealer for these "professions" in PRO VOCATION! So much fun to get PRO TESTER as "a professional in testing," and then even more fun to get that spot-on revealer. Awesome solving experience.

At first I hitched on PROPOSER. Is that a real word? Turns out it is, especially when referring to Parliamentary procedure. I also wondered if a CURER was a real word (from PROCURER). Hmm. And it would have been nice if PROFILERS had been singular, like the other themers.

Then I decided I was being way too nit-picky and I should just sit back and enjoy Tom's finds.

A couple of nice bonuses, in PANORAMA / EARDRUM and YOURE ON! ANDERSON isn't as colorful to me, especially since the cross-reference made me jump around the grid, but it still works. (I have "Aqualung" stuck in my head now — thanks a lot, Tom.) I really appreciated Tom's effort in those two corners, since he could have easily put more black squares at the R of OPENER and D of DRIVEL and made his life easier at 78 (instead of 76) words.

In terms of smoothness, I didn't care for the ARA / HROSS / LIS section — three dabs of crossword glue glaringly concentrated in one place — but again, I liked the theme so much that it didn't bother me as much as it usually would. Anyway, this is a common region of stress for puzzles that utilize a central 11-letter themer — once you place those black squares at the sides, you take away a ton of flexibility.

Overall, such a joy to solve.