New York Times, Wednesday, December 31, 2014

This is a pretty theme dense puzzle, and as such, it came with a unique set of constraints. There are three consecutive 13-letter theme answers in the middle of the grid, which required some big blocks of black squares and also led to two R_R strings. Additionally, the 1A/68A bonus themer/revealer forced some relatively closed off corners, which I generally try to avoid.

Luckily, I was able to find a clean way to fit five long downs that each cross three theme answers and gave the grid some non-thematic liveliness. Will changed a few letters here and there, and as always, smartened up many of the clues. After this puzzle was accepted, I noticed the theme had been done before, though without the revealer and with only one repeated theme answer, so hopefully those of you with a long memory won't mind too much.

I like not seeing a theme coming. Neat to reach the end of this one and smack my forehead, knowing that I could have figured out the themers, related to STICK positions: PARK, REVERSE, NEUTRAL, DRIVE, LOW — or PRNDL as it's commonly seen.

David does a great job of masking the themers. I really liked how they all have different-ish meanings from the car-related ones. THEME PARK is a solid entry in its own right and has nothing to do with a vehicle being in PARK. DOUBLE REVERSE and GENDER NEUTRAL don't achieve the disguise as well, but they both 1.) do the trick and 2.) serve as very colorful entries.

INTERNAL DRIVE certainly disguises DRIVE. I'm mixed on how much I like it as an entry, though. Yes, it's a real thing, but I doubt I'd pick it as a marquee entry. OPTICAL DRIVE feels a little more colorful. And the sci-fi nerd in me jumps up and down to use IMPULSE DRIVE. If I had been constructing this one I'd have had to force that dorkasaurus to realize that 1.) it's too similar a meaning to a car's DRIVE, and 2.) most humans won't know what this is.

Ambitious grid. Those three central entries cause all sorts of problems, 13 being the most inconvenient length. I do like getting such goodness as MALLCOP, LIMA PERU, and RACE DAY, but I'm not sure the parallel downs of LIMA PERU / ONE CARAT and DETECTOR / EYES ON ME were worth it. That sort of arrangement is almost always hard to fill cleanly (PLAT / OMARA and ARRAN / ORO), and the long entries are often not stellar. I'd prefer to have LIMA PERU and EYES ON ME broken up with black squares, and a focus on getting A+ entries where ONE CARAT and DETECTOR sit, along with cleaner fill.

Fun theme concept giving me a "hey, that's cool!" moment at the end.