New York Times, Monday, November 3, 2014

Janet Bender, of Somerset, Pa., is one of the old guard of crossword constructors, starting at the Times during the end of the Maleska era (1992), and, if memory serves, appearing in Games magazine before that. I assume she constructs without computer assistance, because her submissions come with hand-printed grids. Until relatively recently, our correspondence was done entirely by U.S. mail; I don't think she had an email address. Her puzzles have a quiet, unflashy solidness that's comforting, especially on a Monday.

Initialisms kick off the week, theme phrases starting with CC. Such a shame that Zhouqin "C.C." Burnikel wasn't somehow involved! (One of my first LA Times puzzles was a similar CC theme, directly inspired by C.C.)

Many novice solvers like simpler themes, and initialisms can serve that purpose well. I find that these types of themes land most solidly when 1.) the theme phrases are all colorful, 2.) there's some selectivity or completeness to the themers, and 3.) an extra element gives the solver an additional layer of complexity. Back when this type of theme appeared on the scene, none of these criteria would have been important (to me, at least), but crosswords rapidly evolve.

On the first criteria, I like COLBY COLLEGE and COLOR COPYING quite a lot. Neither is sizzling hot, but they do the trick. I hadn't heard of COUNTRY COUSIN, so that's hard for me to judge. Sounds fun, anyway, and anything that gives me a laugh by thinking about Cletus from The Simpsons is good in my book. COMPASS COURSE (93K Google hits)… isn't it a COMPASS HEADING (257K Google hits)? That's what I'm used to, at least.

The second criteria: it might have felt tighter to me if the initials were something harder like JV, or if a specific subset of all the CCs out there had been selected. CC is a pretty easy set of initials to work with. Many ways to uncover potential candidates, but a "C* C*" search over at onelook.com turns up quite a bit (even with the "Common words and phrases" option). My favorite might be CREDIT CRUNCH, given my personal interest in corporate finance, but I bet something like a COVER CHARGE might be more universal.

Finally, some je ne sais quoi element could have helped. Four CCs, stat! Hmm — that doesn't quite work. Maybe a little three-letter entry like CCS (as in email CCs:) could have tied it all together? Other ways might have been packing the grid with six or even eight crossing CC answers. Many possibilities, anyway.

I really like some of the extras in YOINKS! and DON'T ASK. That, along with TY COBB and OH YEAH = Janet taking great advantage of her shorter pieces of fill. Many constructors focus all their efforts on entries of 8+ letters, and let their sixes and sevens slide. Not Janet! Well done there, excellent bonus material to help beef up the solve.

ADDED NOTE: oftentimes, I'm a doofus (dare I say, a COUNTRY COUSIN?). Perhaps more often than "often," actually. A few people, including Will, have pointed out that the theme is actually CO* CO*, which definitely helps with theme tightness. There aren't nearly as many options when it comes to that letter pattern. I'm curious to see how many people actually recognized this CO* CO* pattern vs. those on a COLLISION COURSE with my blunderous assumption — I've heard from people on both sides of the coin! Sorry C.C. — I'm pulling you from my Notes and pinch-hitting (the Oakland A's outfielder) COCO Crisp to bat for you.