New York Times, Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Dr. Arno Penzias, who once headed Bell Labs in the 1990's, turned 88 on April 26^th. This puzzle is a tribute to Arno and a fond reminiscence of my Bell Labs days, where I received this gift from Arno.

The three 15-letter theme entries were waiting patiently in one of my empty grids for over a decade. The pandemic allowed me to dust off the cobwebs, reload Crossword Compiler, install the XWord Info Word List and revisit construction after a 10-year hiatus. Arno's t-shirt quote and the synergy with the PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE phrases led to this time-capsule offering. The cruciverbal grid-gods were clearly smiling as BIGBANG + PENZIAS and TSELIOT + WHIMPER slid cleanly into the grid (with a little assist from the corner cheater squares)!

P.S. A short farewell message to Nancy Salomon, my mentor, who passed away this month. Without her "tough love", I would not have derived this tremendous joy that comes from constructing crosswords. Thank you Nancy for pulling me into this pursuit and introducing me to my crossword tribe!

Ashish is back! I always enjoyed catching up with him at the ACPT, both of us having spent a lot of time and lost many life-years to the startup world. I appreciate his scientific viewpoints, and that sure came through today. Fun idea, the puzzle (and the universe) coming in with a BIG BANG and going out with a WHIMPER. What a nice find, those matching 7s.

Fun to get a progression of PAST to PRESENT to FUTURE, too. I especially liked how the words progressed from left to right. What a nice find in NET PRESENT VALUE.

What, you don't know NPV? Rubbing my hands together as I prepare to launch into a delightful discussion of payback period, internal rate of return, NPV—

Ah. The National Public Vote has been tallied, with 99.99% voting against.

I thought I was well-read in physics, but PENZIAS was new to me. I debated if PENSIAS / PRES was stronger, but ultimately decided that Crucivera, the goddess of crosswords, would favor a rare letter.

(I'd say this is an unfair crossing, but I fear her wrath. Off to go make a sacrifice to atone for my blasphemous thinking …)

The TS ELIOT clue struck me as imprecise. TS ELIOT penned WHIMPER? He did pen many words, including WHIMPER, but he more penned The Hollow Men.

There's so much packed into the puzzle that it's no surprise to get so much ARN(old?), BBL, PCBS, SES, SLO, ULM. That's too much for one puzzle, so I might have asked to cut out TS ELIOT and PENZIAS. BIG BANG and WHIMPER, along with the PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE phrases, make for a solid enough puzzle.

Ashish has made some awesome mind-benders in the PAST; I'm hoping his FUTURE brings more.