New York Times, Wednesday, November 21, 2018

I'm very excited for my NYT debut. I was an Economics major at the University of Chicago and now spend my days at an ad agency in Austin, TX. I've been solving the Times crossword off and on since college, but with increased vigor since becoming a dad earlier this year. My new schedule comes with a good deal more at-home hours, and I've filled some of that newfound surplus trying out crossword construction.

I had been toying with this theme idea for a while, keeping a running list of potential theme answers on my phone. I liked the idea of cluing the flipped form instead, because, in addition to the solving curveball, it allows you to showcase both versions without having to dedicate double the grid real estate. This allowed me to include nine examples of themed wordplay (plus a revealer) rather than just three or four.

The most challenging part was achieving the interlock in all four quadrants, given a relatively short list of options in my theme bank. MANCAVE and PACKRAT each span two other theme entries which put some strain on the fill in those sections. But those were two of my favorites, so I went for the higher theme density, and I think the final version worked out well.

Oddly, the example that first gave me the idea (JACKBLACK/BLACKJACK) didn't make the final version. I had it in the northwest but was having trouble filling the surrounding area satisfactorily. Other near misses for various reasons include KINGFISHER, ARMSTRONG, and SHOWBOAT.

Debut! A constructor friend of mine, Jeb Bennett, came to me with this idea a while back. I wasn't fond of it because his themers didn't change meaning that drastically when the words were flipped, but there were one or two that were neat. In that vein, I liked Brandon's TRADE FAIR (FAIR TRADE), since FAIR drastically switches meanings.

I also liked OVERPASS (PASSOVER). The individual words don't change their sense, but what a difference does the order make. I've been to a Passover Seder, but never one on an OVERPASS. It is true that Passover got its name from the spirit of the Lord passing over marked homes, but the juxtaposition of Passover on an OVERPASS amused me anyway.

HOUSECAT to ... people call a brothel a "cathouse"? I like the meaning change of "cat," but talk about icky!

Strong revealer in FLIP FLOPS. I think most mid-week solvers would have figured it out on their own, but probably better to be safe than sorry, risking confusion or even irritation.

A little too ambitious of a grid, I think. It is true that with mid-week puzzles, you can get away with more esoteric or oddball stuff than for early-week puzzles because entries like ANTIFA or OGEE aren't going to stump (some) solvers. Even the KISLEV / DURST won't baffle (okay, maybe). But when you also have to also resort to a load of crossword glue: EFF, ESTO, IATE, OTT, SRA, STA … and SIEG?

Part of the issue is the theme density. Crossing pairs of themers in each corner makes for an incredibly hard job of filling. I would have been fine with fewer themers, but if you decide to go big, I think it would have been better to stick to the max of 78 words.

I'd rather have broken up AGREES TO and APPLE PAY to clean things up. While I do like APPLE PAY, AGREES TO isn't more than neutral. And some older solvers might even consider APPLE PAY to be a liability (it's an electronic payment system on iPhones).

I liked that Brandon came up with some strong FLIP-FLOPS, but it would have been nice to get another round of grid rework.