New York Times, Thursday, March 2, 2023

I got good at making crosswords through (1) making a lot of them, and (2) reading detailed constructor's notes on XWord Info. So here's my attempt to provide (2) to other constructors.

The version of this puzzle I submitted had four rebus squares, resulting in a few dud themies (MISS TEMPLE) and a layout with 26 three-letter words. I am grateful to the Times for letting me submit a revamped grid with just three rebus squares.

Here are some stats:

-- I submitted this on August 10, 2021. Grid revisions took from November 5, 2021, through December 17, 2021, and then I received an official acceptance on January 7, 2022. It ran on March 2, 2023.

-- The themed puzzles I typically write are published for USA Today, and have around 35 cells of theme content. This puzzle had 62 cells of theme content, and the gridding process was eye-wateringly painful. Four layouts went back and forth with the Times' editing team, but I went through about twenty before submitting, even experimenting with 15x16 and 21x21 grids. (Rest In Peace THE TOOTHPASTE MILLIONAIRE.)

-- There are 76 clues in this puzzle. Twenty-four (32%) were kept identical. Twenty-one (28%) were updated slightly. Thirty-one (41%) are new. I'm glad they kept my references to the Baudelaires and "Let's Talk About Sex," and I'm sad that my clues about ESTE Haim and INS Choi were cut.

Fantastic example of making the most out of your rebus themers. All too often, the Across rebus themers stand out while the Down crossers are sad pandas in comparison. Five years ago, something like (STEM)MED or SY(STEM) might have been employed in the Down direction, simply trying to make things work.

It's ideal to use pairs of long crossing rebus themers. LOSE ONE'S TEMPER is strong on its own, but when you cross it with the fresh and fun GHOST EMOJI, it haunts me that others haven't achieved this level of greatness.

Will Shortz is typically hard and fast about breaking rebus entries across words of a phrase, and Malaika managed to do this five out of six times. Talk about a TASTEMAKER! (Even though that's officially a one-word answer, it has the multi-word feel that so many editors prize.)

IT'S TEMPTING to ask for a fourth rebus square. These days, with such a huge body of rebus puzzles, three feels thin. However, scan through some of the puzzles and count up the long rebus themers. Six is definitely above average.

Excellent rebus rationale. STEM CELLS = put STEM into single cells. I'd be tempted to play on different rebus squares for variety's sake, but SCIENCE is too long, and using the abbreviations SCI TECH ENGR MATH would be inelegant.

Appropriate to STEM education, this debut exhibited a standout foundation.