New York Times, Monday, April 12, 2021

AIMEE: Ella and I had a lot of fun filling this puzzle together, particularly the big corners. It's not super common for early-week puzzles to have such big open corners, but the lengths of the themers we had required it for this one, so we tried to make the most of it. I think my favorites may be WHAT IFS, GET ON IT, CAT LADY, NARWHAL, and DREIDEL.

ELLA: This was the very first puzzle Aimee and I ever made together. It was a great puzzle to learn on because the corners were a perfect canvas for experimentation and iteration. And we definitely had fun with the clues! Hope you enjoy solving this one as much as we enjoyed making it!

I hadn't heard the term INSIDE BASEBALL before — I figured it must refer to the infield fly rule's intricacies, what comprises a balk, why a fielder can't catch with their hat (true!), etc.

How a country that abhors rules can love a game with a nearly 200-page rule book is beyond me.

Some interesting discoveries; five-letter "hidden words" can be tricky to uncover. The clue for BREAKFAST ROLLS hit my ear funny because I'm used to them being more of a sandwich, but ASTRO inside is a neat find. And for considering myself an uber-nerd — a strange one, to boot — I'm ashamed not to be able to identify the STRANGE LOOP.

A lot of colorful fill today, excellent use of mid-length slots. Aimme is spot-on, that CAT LADY, BULLDOG, WHAT IFS sizzle. NARWHAL, CHILLIN', DREIDEL, HASHTAG are fantastic one-worders, too.

I wasn't as enamored by all the glue required, though — AGUE, ADIA, and ATOI can trip up not just newer solvers. I'd sympathize with non-millennial solvers who got the OBI/BAE crossing wrong, too. With such a wealth of riches in the 7-letter slots, I'd have loved more balance between color and cleanliness, which might have reduced the possible sticking points for Monday solvers.

Delightful clue for RING: a good thing to have "on hand" at a wedding, indeed.

Ultimately, this comes down to a "hidden words" puzzle, so I'd have enjoyed longer finds. An hour of searching turned up ORANGE RIND and (1ST) MARINE REGIMENT, which this Seattle homer would have loved.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid nearly cost me my education. I was studying physics at the University of Alberta when that book came out, and for two weeks, I didn't study, do homework, or go to class because I was so caught up in that damn book.

It felt like Douglas Hofstadter had written it especially for me by combining all the obsession of my youth — logic puzzles, art, music, math, and wordplay — before I realized that none of them were ever going benefit me in real life.