New York Times, Monday, November 1, 2021

Excited to be making my New York Times debut! A couple of years back, I crossed paths with a crossword constructor who gave me a crash course in puzzle construction over a cocktail or two at the local bar. That one-time encounter left me wondering, how hard can this construction process really be? Turns out, pretty darn difficult. Especially if you attempt to doodle a puzzle manually in Excel!

But after downloading some construction software and receiving valuable feedback from the New York Times puzzle team on how to create a smoother fill (shout out to Joel Fagliano!), I'm pleased to be able to finally share the outcome of this pandemic project. As a Brit living in Boston, football had a whole different meaning growing up, so I hope I picked a theme that makes my sports-loving friends here proud! Enjoy solving this one!

DAAAAA … GUMMY BEARS! I used to love the "Gummi Bears" cartoon as a kid and was glued to NFL PrimeTime in my 20s. I'd totally watch a show about Zummi Gummi rumblin', bumblin', stumblin' … whoop whoop!

I've seen a lot worse on Netflix.

Solid job disguising the NFL squads, the CHARGERS, da BEARS, the BROWNS, and the BILLS integrated into phrases that point away from those teams. It'd be way too obvious if Fiona used MEAT PACKERS, for instance, as that would give away the game completely. Like our hapless Seahawks this year — tough start to the season.

Tough start to the puzzle, too, I KNOW not coming easily, the tough palindromic clue for NOT ON, plus unfamiliar KASHI slowing me down. Perhaps it was the cluing, as "No need to say it again" felt more like DAD STOP REMINDING ME! and [Like a butterfingers] wasn't as much INEPT as HALLOWEEN CANDY EATEN BY DAD WHO THEN BLAMES THE DISAPPEARANCE ON GHOSTS.

I'm not proud of it. He said as he licked his fingers.

I enjoyed much of the bonuses, Fiona making great use of four long Downs: MANHATTAN, WISE GUYS, ARMY BRAT, IRISH STEW excellent. Plus GORGONS and HERALDS! I don't at all mind a bit of SSE for such color. I'm less keen on the aggregation of difficult vocab of KASHI, UMIAK, SCARP, OMSK for newer solvers, but I can see the counterargument that for some folks, an UMIAK their everyday mode of travel.

The lower right corner gave me pause, with ALLAS difficult to parse into ALL AS — I did end up liking that one — and the unfortunate ESSES, an entry I hear newer solvers complain about all the time. I'd love to see what Fiona could do with a black square at the final S of ESSES, then refilling.

It'd have been great to somehow get more tightness — a basketball theme did that extremely well by featuring the complete set of non-pluralized NBA teams — but this theme works. I appreciated that it wasn't blatantly obvious from the get-go, with the teams fairly well disguised.