New York Times, Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Anyone who's been following my crossword career (so, my immediate family) might remember that I've mentioned in past blurbs test-running my puzzles on my marine biologist friends at the summer camp I worked at on Catalina Island. They always complain when my puzzles' clues are too obtuse and tricky, but keep asking for more anyway. Well, this puzzle's for them! It's my earliest day of the week yet, with a fun marine biology theme inspired by those friends.

The clue for 64-Across was changed by the editorial team, from the same "that's not actually a 65-Across," which I'm glad for. I waffled a lot on including that answer, as I found arguments online both for and against it being a 65-Across, depending on what your definition of a 65-Across is, and I think the new version of the clue works the best for this puzzle's progression. Feel free to sound off in the comments if you are a 65-Acrossologist.

Also, an earlier draft of this puzzle had BURGERTIME at 11-Down, which is a classic arcade game that I have had a fondness for ever since a close friend told me I look like the hot dog from the arcade cabinet art.

Trivia! An ELECTRIC / EEL is not really an EEL?

Uh oh.

(running off to correct roughly 58,000 EEL clues I've written over the years …)

Why yes, I did know about the MANTIS SHRIMP — and that it's technically not a shrimp but a crustacean! How did I learn this? Shiver me whiskers, from my Octonaut friend, that crazy Kwazii—

What has my life become?

I loved the clue for SEA / CUCUMBER. It is certainly not a cucumber! Clearly spoken from the mouth of someone who's had some unpleasant teatime sandwiches.

It was a shame to end on the strange ORCA / WHALE. We Seattleites are lucky to hear about orca pods all the time, and sometimes we even see them in person. Saying "orca whale" will get you Space Needled.

Knowing Grant's fondness for old-school video games, I smiled as I dropped in Sonic's foe, Doctor ROBOTNIK. Then I lost all my rings upon reading that they've changed him to Doctor EGGMAN. It's a terrible name change, but at least the rise of the chickens is less threatening than the rise of the machines.

My brother used to go around saying, "Actually, a year isn't 365 days, but more accurately 365.25, and even more accurately—" before getting punched in the face. I bet some solvers might have a similar reaction today, but I enjoyed learning some interesting, albeit trivial, trivia.