New York Times, Monday, March 30, 2015

This was one of my early puzzles from 2012 and I was NOT very optimistic about it. I didn't like the asymmetry, I didn't like the fill, I didn't like the 30 (!) three letter words, and I was afraid the birds looked more like stealth bombers. I did not think a puzzle about stealth bombers would fly.

Will must have been up in the air about this one because it sat on his desk for six months — he eventually wrote me saying that he really liked the bird art, but could I clean up one corner of the fill? By that time my fill skill had improved some, and I took the opportunity to make wholesale changes, all of which were approved. Six months later I suggested more changes, some of which were approved. I still don't like AYLA, BEHR, and ABBES, particularly for a Monday, but at least Will and Joel came up with a current Beyonce clue for BEY. Long after the redos I realized this puzzle grid has diagonal symmetry like the kite puzzle I did, but the theme entries are vertically (not diagonally) symmetric.

I wanted to point out the birds pretty directly in the clues, ala the fish puzzle I did, but Will just hinted at them ("Flier in a V formation" as the clue for GOOSE). There certainly is something appealing about a little "grid art" oyster lurking in the background for the observant solver, but it surely will fly over the heads of some Monday solvers. At one point I was considering ALFRED HITCHCOCK at 49-Across — I think he might have liked this puzzle!

Grid art! Bruce is carving out a niche for himself with these diagonal symmetry art pieces. The bird visual came through strong and clear for me; enjoyable change of pace, especially for a Monday.

Bruce brings up an interesting point about symmetry. Since so few of these diagonal symmetry puzzles have been published, it's difficult to figure out what their rules should be. My first reaction was similar to his — if the grid is diagonally symmetric, shouldn't the themers be too? But that's far from an absolute.

Matching grid and themer symmetry seems like the most elegant solution, but in this case, it might not be possible. With diagonal symmetry, long themers must intersect at some point — a tough task, dependent on a lot of luck. And grid-spanners (entries of 15 letters) can only be placed in row/column 3 through 13, otherwise they'd force double- or triple-stacked grid-spanners. All sorts of difficulties, so I'm okay with a bit of inelegance.

I would have liked FLOCK TOGETHER to be symmetrical with something, though. It doesn't have a matching themer in WRAPPING PAPER, nor does it sit in a centered spot, like it would with usual symmetry. Same goes for GOOSE. Sure would have been cool if GOOSE (or GEESE) were flying up diagonally or something!

Very difficult construction. Not a surprise that the roughest patch was down in that SE corner, with such a big space, constrained in a few different ways. And Bruce's point about the preponderance of 3-letter words was one I definitely noticed. Switching back and forth between acrosses and downs tends to make my solve feel somewhat choppy; not as much flow as I would like.

Finally, I wish Bruce had knit his "for the birds" concept together with something a little more thematic than CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF. ALFRED HITCHCOCK would have been great! Would have given BIRDS OF A FEATHER / FLOCK TOGETHER quite a different (Halloween-y) feel, though.