SEASON TO TASTE

Laura Taylor Kinnel is a math teacher and the director of studies at a Friends boarding school in Newtown, Pa. This is her fifth crossword for The Times.

Last New Year's Eve, when Laura got together with some wordplay-loving friends via Zoom, she gave them words from a working version of this puzzle, for which some of the celebrants suggested clues. I wonder if they'll remember any of them now.

I hope everyone finds something to enjoy here and doesn't find the cost of ANAT, ATANY, EYER, etc., too high. My husband is the baker in our family, and I do wish his especially excellent molasses cookie could have been among the offerings!

Most of the words clued at last New Year's Eve Zoom party (see Will's notes) vanished from the puzzle as I worked with the editing team through several revisions, but the clue for 65-Down is Geoff's, and the clue for 110-Down is Eva's. Cluing participation trophies go to Kevin, Lynn, and Oren. (The only COOKIE CUTTER lost in the editing process was a ball, replaced by the elf.)

Though fans of 54-Across often find it impossible to fathom, my favorite is 107-Across. Here's my grandmother's recipe:

• Cream together 1c. each brown sugar, white sugar, and margarine with 2 eggs and 1 tsp. of vanilla.
• Combine 2 c. flour, 3 c. OATMEAL, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 1 tsp. salt.
• Mix into the creamed ingredients and stir in 2 c. RAISINs.
• Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and flatten with a glass BUTTERed on the bottom and dipped in cinnamon sugar.
• Bake for 10 minutes at 350 DEGREES.

For a puzzle all about COOKIE CUTTERS, it's hardly cookie cutter! Neat meshing of rebus, space-skipping, and visuals to create something unlike anything I've seen before. I'm a huge proponent of utilizing the Sunday Magazine's glossy color printing for crossword innovation, and printing cute COOKIE CUTTER shapes as rebus hints is a step in the right direction.

Get it? A step in the right direction? Because after GINGER, you have to step right over TREE to get to SNAP, thus making a GINGER SNAP?

I know that joke wasn't a cut above, but—

What do you mean I'm on the naughty list?

Having to work with pairs of crossing themers is rarely straightforward. Laura's task was somewhat easier than usual since each entry in a crossing pair is independent of the other, but it's still not a walk in the park when you have so much theme material.

Although there is a liberal amount of short glue, I appreciate that Laura worked hard to keep the crossings fair. If you don't know the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), at least you can piece it in through crossings.

Neat to get DR FAUCI featured in the lower left for a feeling of nowness. Also great to uncover THE BEES KNEES, a delightful entry.

There was something unsatisfying about the pre-printed shapes giving away the rebus in the Downs, but figuring out the "cutting" of Across answers still made for a solid a-ha.

There's so much potential in the NYT Sunday Magazine print format. I'm looking forward to what creative ideas 2022 will showcase.

We don't exactly duplicate the grid here. If you have an NYT Games Subscription, you can view the PDF which uses images of the cookie-cutter shapes — an elegant idea.

I don't get to pick the POWs around here, but this is my favorite crossword of the week. The gimmick is seasonal and pretty and apparently obvious, until the deeper levels reveal themselves. It's unique and clever, yet easy to understand. That seems perfect for a group solve around the kitchen table after overindulging in a family holiday meal.