STRETCHING EXERCISES

Jeremy Newton, of Austin, Tex., is a software engineer who makes mobile games. Titles he has worked on include Crosswords With Friends, Zynga Poker, Dragon Academy, and many others. He's been a puzzle enthusiast since he was a child when a grandmother got him hooked on Jumble. As a crossword constructor, Jeremy says he likes "wacky themes" (as a glance at today's grid might suggest).

This is Jeremy's 14th Sunday crossword and 21st Times puzzle overall.

HI YALL (55-Across) from Austin, Texas!

I'd never seen the 7 members of this tight theme set executed in a puzzle before, so I gave it a go. The first iteration was a 21x called "Put Some Muscle Into It!" where I added each muscle to a phrase for wacky results. Like:

• S[QUAD]CAR TISSUES
• GUILTY B[AB]Y ASSOCIATION
• SHEPHERDS PI[LAT]ES

After this version of the puzzle was rejected ("didn't quite excite" the puzzle staff enough), I noticed enough material for a solid rebus theme but wanted to execute something more unexpected. Because this theme set lends itself to the notion of "stretching," I landed on sharing each muscle between two Across answers. After construction, I realized I might have been channeling this fun 2019 Sunday grid "That's a Tall Order!" by Finn Vigeland.

Several theme answers near the top and bottom were cemented fairly late in construction, as real estate and interlocks allowed. But ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY and BEST RAP PERFORMANCE were locked at center from the beginning as seed entries and motivation for knocking this version out.

Favorite answer/clue combos that made the cut:

• 85-Across ["And, uh, that about covers it"] SO YEAH
• 76-Down [Name of the girl on "Game of Thrones" who said "A girl has no name"] ARYA
• 103-Down [Like the clue for 103-Down?] META

Hope you all enjoyed this one!

Jeremy! One of the most creative constructors out there; he'd be high on my list of Sunday Specialists. One involving doors he wrote with Tony Orbach was such a memorable puzzle.

Today's isn't mind-blowing, only a few months since our last "stretching" puzzle. The Sunday canvas is so big that it's a shame not to use it for big ideas.

However, a secondary way to make a puzzle feel Sunday-appropriate is to use colorful entries that are longer than 15 letters, so they'll feel fresh.

AB-SO-FREAKING-LUTELY is an entry I'd ab-so-fricking-lutely love to build a puzzle around. Not only that, but it incorporates two of the stretched muscles, an AB and a GLUTE!

BEST RAP PERFORMANCE is also strong.

I've been a big fan of BENICIO DEL TORO's work ever since seeing his star turn in "The Usual Suspects," so I loved getting his full name. Even though it's only 14 letters long, so could fit into a 15x15 grid, it'd be an extreme challenge to work it in as 15x15 fill.

Jeremy is so creative about his fill, too, one of the few constructors who regularly debuts entries that we don't already have on our word list. I hadn't heard of the AQUADUCK, only recently learned about THIRST TRAP, and somehow had missed TEAL GREEN.

And AB SO FREAKING LUTELY — this entry alone was worth every minute I put into my solve.

I'm not so sure about ROLL A TWO, as it feels arbitrary. Jim Horne, who's been involved orchestrating many plays over his lifetime, hadn't heard the term SET CREW. So yeah, what makes for strong fill is so subjective.

Jeremy's gridwork is always so polished. His 140-word grid is cleaner than most of the 15x15's this week!. It might seem like he had an advantage with this theme — those stretched squares give fewer overall squares to fill — but it gets tricky with so many funky elongated-letter crossings.

Although the theme didn't delight me — it might have been stronger if the muscles were in anatomical position — I appreciate the reminder that sometimes a Sunday doesn't need a great concept to still have a raison d'être.