New York Times, Saturday, November 23, 2019

This puzzle draws some inspiration from a classic grid pattern, one that caught my attention when Roland Huget used it back in 2017. As a solver, I enjoyed wrestling with the vast expanses of white space, and as a constructor, I had become fond of working with themeless grids heavy on 7-letter entries. So, when I set my sights on constructing a low-word-count puzzle sometime later, a certain layout naturally came to mind, and I started playing around with the grid on Crossword Compiler. Not really expecting much, I tried crossing AQUAMAN with AQUINAS, and miraculously stumbled upon an upper-right corner that stood out to me as particularly clean and lively. I wasn't having that kind of luck with the other quadrants. When I noticed that GARAGES could be extended into PARKING GARAGES, allowing the puzzle to breathe a bit more, I tinkered with the grid pattern, settling on the layout you see today.

I was fortunate to find a nice fill for the symmetrical corner, anchored by HILARITY ENSUES, and moved onto the middle region. Filling both remaining corners well with the middle in place was difficult — I remember trying countless iterations of the lower-right in particular — but I eventually prevailed and came up with something I was happy with. I'm proud that despite the low word count and daunting layout, the puzzle seems pretty clean, as well as being rather free of esoterica and proper names. This allows more of the focus to be on wordplay, which, in my opinion, is never really a bad thing.

Speaking of which, there are several clues I am glad to see in the final version, especially [Who's first?] for SILENT W, as I think it repurposes the innocuous-looking question mark rather nicely. My other favorite clues of mine include the other question mark clues at 17-Across, 10-Down, and 34-Down, as well as the clue for 57-Across, as to my knowledge, this is the first time such a cluing angle has been used for ESSENES, and I think it's an interesting piece of trivia (a crossword has to have at least some trivia, right?)

I hope you enjoy the puzzle, vast expanses of white space and all. Happy solving!

It's rare that I do a week's worth of puzzles and one jumps out at me as an instant POW! winner. Today's fit that bill. Impressive from a constructor's standpoint, and a delightfully challenging and entertaining solving experience.

Those gigantic SW and NE were especially mind-blowing. Regions of 7x7(ish) scream I CANNOT BE FILLED WITH BOTH SNAZZINESS AND SMOOTHNESS! I've tried it and failed. I've come up with a relatively smooth product, and also a relatively snazzy one, but never both at the same time. I even went as far as to send in a 58-worder to Will Shortz, who kindly said it was a strong construction but lacked color.

Let's call a spade a spade: it would have sucked to solve. I'm glad Will rejected it.

I like how Trenton balanced ease of construction vs. solving flow. The center isn't perfect — it does sort of cut up the puzzle into four quadrants — but it's workable. I never felt like I was completely cut off, stuck like a duck.

It did help that my knowledge of Trenton's love for rare letters breezed me through that NE. Superhero ... let's see, who has a rare letter … AQUAMAN! That led to AQUINAS and I was off to the races.

Fantastic long entries, too. HILARITY ENSUES? Dang it, I wish I had debuted that one! PARKING GARAGES isn't colorful in itself, but it has so much potential for a clever clue. Get it, you get tickets in PARKING GARAGES? Not speeding tickets, but entry tickets?

That one could have used some clevering up.

So much to love in this one. First-class use of the mid-length fill slots — WITS END, LAB MICE, MAKE PAR, I MANAGE, ALTO SAX, BEELINE, CLIP ART, SASHIMI. That's great for a normal themeless featuring 7-letter entries, and it's phenomenal for a construction this daunting.

Beautiful work all around. Both the constructor and the solver in me give Trenton a standing O.