New York Times, Thursday, October 6, 2022

When I started toying with this idea ("zipper words," which can split into two common words of equal length, neatly interspersed), the 6+6 ALTERNATIONS was the only viable 12-letter candidate I could find in the universe of 12-letter phrases**. The fact that its dictionary definition is "repetitions of two things in turn" seemed like a miracle with no purpose but to inspire a crossword with precisely this theme!

(** Not strictly true. I also found UPRUNS + NOOSES = UNPOROUSNESS. Yuck + yuck = yuck!)

The editors introduced two key changes, presumably to yield a smoother or more enjoyable solving experience for more solvers: they re-clued MERGELEFT as an early, explicit hint to the theme (I had originally clued it straight, then referred back to it at the end of the puzzle, within the PARESDOWN clue), and they introduced the " — " clues (in lieu of straight clues in those slots). I'd be interested to know how solvers felt: was the early hint too much, too soon? Did you find the " — " clues frustrating?

I found this puzzle unusually challenging — but also unusually satisfying — to construct. Hope you can say the same about solving it!

Constructors always come up with similar core ideas, and their executions can be so different. Although we both featured ALTERNATION(S), Simeon's layout features "every other letter" discoveries much better than mine. One criticism I received was that my puzzle made it too hard to figure out what the two component words were — it's not easy to mentally skip letters. Simeon's pairings present them so well!

MERGE LEFT is a fantastic way to explain what's going on; an orderly zippering of two lanes into one. It's a perfect CLUE for how to shuffle CLUE / OLDS into COLLUDES.

Fun to include PARES DOWN, too. I thought it odd at first — why homophones instead of something more straightforward like MATCHING PAIRS? — but PARES DOWN is playful. It also gives a fun rationale for orienting the pairs vertically.

A drawback to this approach is that the two composite words never get clued, making for an extremely tough solve. I used to take pride in giving solvers three-sigma challenges, but I've realized that making people feel smart is my higher priority.

I might have eased things up by cluing 11-D as [Hint], 12-D as [Former GM brand], and added a head-scratching 11-A clue for COLLUDES. As a solver, I love double-take a-ha moments like "WTF, there is no 11-A … OR IS THERE?!"

Great gridwork, not at all an easy task given the pairings Simeon had to fill around. I appreciated all the long Acrosses he threaded throughout. Without so many solid long entries like ACIDIFIES, HAWTHORNE, and TRADITION, the solve would have been a start-and-stop traffic jam of short entries.

ALTERNATIONS makes for a perfect center revealer for this concept. Neat presentation.