New York Times, Tuesday, October 6, 2020

ACME: It's been wonderful collaborating with Alan. I believe this is our third in a row. Altho the idea was Alan's, these particular themers resonate deeply with me.

We originally had FROCKCONCERT which still makes me giggle but initially cost us a potential rejection. Happily, Will and Co. let us substitute in FRACKANDRUIN which in the end I think is a stronger, appeals to my politics and a more timely phrase.

FRIGHTFULOWNER is all too real in my current landlord situation and FRISKYBUSINESS is a shout-out to my dearly departed love of my life, Blackjack.

ALAN: It was fantastic collaborating with the funny and talented ACME! This was actually the first collaboration we had accepted by NYT last December. It still feels like my debut puzzle, which is really exciting. This idea came out of a spitballing session on another idea and we both had fun making these theme entries and clues. We got three entries pretty quickly but the fourth one was elusive. We are very thankful to the editors for working with us on an improved fourth theme entry. Team Will also tweaked several clues, definitely for the better, including the very enjoyable clues for 39D and 62A.

I could not have made this or any other puzzle without Jeff Chen and Jim Horne's XWordInfo.com site, their wordlists, and all the help Jeff and others have given me. I do not know of a better place for a new constructor to start. The crossword constructing community is amazing, and so supportive. Now if I could get Jim to help me with some tricky RegEx searches :)!

Not all "add-a-letter" puzzles need a revealer — something to explain why the letter is being added — but they often help elevate a concept. Jim Horne and I were chatting in our weekly discussion of the puzzles, brainstorming what could be fun for today's. After many failed ideas, we decided it was a waste of time. F that, man!

Hey … F THAT, indeed!

Amusing results for half the themers, FRISKY BUSINESS the big winner. The image of kitties sitting around in business suits is priceless. FRANK AMATEUR is entertaining, and it's even better in the context of FRANK Costanza and Festivus.

FRACK AND RUIN … too close to reality, considering the environmental / economic debate around fracking. Will Shortz tries to stay away from politics, so I'm surprised to see this one pass muster.

FRIGHTFUL OWNER is another big yikes. Maybe it's not a problem if you've never had a scary landlord, but that power imbalance is no laughing matter.

I did appreciate the consistency of 1.) always adding an F to an R word, and 2.) always doing it at the beginning of a phrase. Perhaps alternates like (generating computer code to discover other possibilities … stand by …) FROCKED THE BOAT? FRIDGE LINE? FRAIL SPLITTER?

Today's themers are harder to work with than yesterday's because the longer lengths make for gridding awkwardness, but any time you have just four themers, there's no reason that there should be so much AEROS ICERS SSGTS ATA MME RDS SSS. More black squares separating themers 1 / 2 and 3 / 4 would have helped — there are too many separating themers 2 / 3, so they could have been redeployed.

Overall though, any humor is so valuable these days, so FRISKY BUSINESS made up for a lot.