New York Times, Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Mary Lou:

Erik got in touch with me last January about co-constructing a themeless. We emailed a few times about it before I shared a grid I'd been playing around with. It had the LION->LIMN->LIMB->LAMB words in the corners and three other themers. Together we came up with three themers that were stronger than the ones I had initially chosen. Erik then arranged them in a grid with a ladder structure. I filled the grid and Erik tweaked it slightly. We worked together on the cluing. It was a privilege and a pleasure to work with Erik. So glad he reached out to me. Hopefully we'll get back to that themeless soon.

MARCH comes in like a LION, out like a LAMB. Great fodder for crossword interpretation.

Solid phrases, MARCH OF PROGRESS, showing a progression from WINTER WONDERLAND to SPRING HAS SPRUNG. I liked that notion. I did wonder about WINTER WONDERLAND, which is the opposite of being like a lion — more gentle and lamb-esque, yeah? But WINTER WONDERLAND is fun to say, so I let it slide.

Not hot on the word ladder, though. So many word ladders have been done over the years that one has to be sizzlingly incredible to stand out. The motion from LION to LAMB is a good raison d'etre, but if you have to include LIMN, that's a reason to brainstorm other ways of showing LION -> LAMB.

I wondered if my cringing reaction to a featured rung in the ladder was unfounded. I had seen it recently in a Matt Gaffney metapuzzle, where Matt had painted himself into an extremely difficult corner to fill. Matt's one of the best, and he admitted that compromises had to be made.

Joon Pahk, who's way smarter than me — a former physics prof, winner of six-figures on "Jeopardy!" — agreed, tactfully saying "LIMN is an unusual word."

I asked my wife Jill, who went to Harvard, then med school, and is always educating herself in new subjects. She knew what it meant, but said she wouldn't use it in conversation, for fear of 1.) mispronouncing it and 2.) the other person not understanding her.

Out of curiosity, I wondered how long a ladder would be required if you used only "good" words. I came up with LION LOON LOIN LAIN LAWN DAWN DAMN DAMP LAMP LAMB. Yikes, much longer. And admittedly, LAIN isn't great.

Now, I did enjoy the bonuses in the fill. CORDON BLEU, LET IT SLIDE, GIANT PANDA are fantastic. Spiced up the solve.

HEAR THINGS felt a tad off though, not as strong as HEARING THINGS. And ooh my, OMOO was the only thing that could be jammed in between LION and MARCH OF PROGRESS? Oof. Or should I say, OXX?

A strong idea, with three fun, colorful themers. But I would have enjoyed a simpler idea more: LION at 1-A, and LAMB as the final across answer.