New York Times, Thursday, March 3, 2022

I have been looking to incorporate chemical formulas into a crossword puzzle for about three years. I always thought that there was a good deal of potential for cleverness in this theme genre. I fiddled around with theme concepts related to the chemical formulas for salt, water, even carbon dioxide, and the greenhouse effect. However, when I stumbled upon the revealer (JUST ADD WATER) while brainstorming another theme, I knew that I had found the perfect opportunity to flesh this theme out.

I will be interested to hear how difficult NYT solvers find this puzzle compared to other Thursdays. From WATER to H20 to HHO could be a tricky transition, so I tried to clue the theme answers in a straightforward manner.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the puzzle is how the relatively short theme answers allowed me to make the puzzle themeless-esque, with only 69 words in a 15x14 grid. I really like the northeast and southwest corners, with DEMENTOR, DRAG RACES, TURN A LOSS, JANE EYRE. In terms of clues, I like the connection between 14A and 59A in symmetrical spots; also 25A, which references one of my favorite stories/pieces of music.

JUST ADD WATER, now that's my kind of cooking, especially when it's one of my nights to make dinner and at the eleventh hour I need a miracle. Simple.

Unlike how to solve this puzzle. I started by writing in an HHO rebus — this has been done before, so that felt right. Except it wasn't. HIG(H HOLIDAYS), yes! BA(HHO)GY pants, no. I eventually figured out that the Across themers needed the HHO, whereas the Downs didn't.

How to write that in, though? I eventually settled on (G/HHO), all jammed into the tiny square. The anticipation of all the questions I'm going to get about how to properly enter the answers to keep a solving streak alive … it's enough to make my eyes water.

Solving logistics aside, I enjoyed the evocative and entertaining theme answers. HIGH HOLIDAYS with blaring FRENCH HORNS at BEACH HOUSES at the ELEVENTH HOUR made for a fun image.

Solid bonuses, too. The gridding task isn't as challenging as the solving task since you can enter HIG(H HOLIDAYS) simply as HIHLIDAYS and fill normally. Still, such excellent color in the corners: DRAG RACES run by DEMENTORs wearing STETSONs would be fun entertainment during the HIGH HOLIDAYS.

Constructors love playing in the water. Other soaking wet grids appeared in 1996. 1998, 2005, 2013, and 2016.

This is the first one where the moisture seeps in between consecutive horizontal cells.