New York Times, Wednesday, June 17, 2020

This idea sat around for a long time because I couldn't come up with a revealer. I loved that BLANKET OF SNOW, SHEET OF ICE, and BED OF ROSES went together so well (bed item + OF + something in nature), but with only those three I didn't think it was a solid enough theme. Then finally I got FIELD OF DREAMS and was good to go!

I think I first tried regular crossword symmetry, which could work since the theme answer lengths are 13, 10, 10, and 13. I don't remember if I had trouble with that or just felt like playing around, but I ended up doing mirror symmetry and making the theme answers sort of visually represent BLANKET, SHEET, and BED. I really like that extra "layer". And BED is even under some black squares that sort of look like a bed! That made me smile :)

The stickler in me loves my clue for LAY: [Word often misused in place of "lie"]. I try to avoid correcting people in real life (the struggle is real), so it was fun to throw it in here. And it's particularly fitting to mention considering the theme!

Day 3 of the CUJO (Cracking Up Jim Horne with Overthinking) show!

(inside Jeff's head as he valiantly tries not to embarrass himself)

Okay, Jeff. This theme is what an overthinker's DREAMS are made of. BLANKET OF SNOW, SHEET OF ICE, BED OF ROSES … solid "X OF (nature thing)" theme. It works. But FIELD OF DREAMS as a revealer? How does that work? DREAMS aren't something occurring in nature.

Or are they?

Could this be a meta-answer? DREAMS do often involve SNOW, ICE, ROSES. Especially when your daughter is obsessed with "Frozen," forcing you to watch it over and over, "A Clockwork Orange"-style.

According to the clue, FIELD OF DREAMS is a hint to the other themers. Why?

Because … BLANKET, SHEET, BED are things that are around you when you dream?

Because … oh! Because you can have a SNOWFIELD, an ICEFIELD, and a — drat. ROSEFIELD isn't a thing.

What a minefield.

Does FIELD refer to the field of dream analysis? Or perhaps psychoanalysis, which I'm clearly needing after this rambling brain vomit--

Jim: Ahem. You've been silent on the phone for 78 minutes now. Have you figured it out?

Jeff: Well ... you see ...

Jim: Don't worry, me neither.

It's a valiant attempt at doing something above and beyond. Both Jim and I got more confusion than a click from the FIELD OF DREAMS revealer, though.

The layout also made it hard to connect the dots. As much as I enjoy mirror symmetry, regular symmetry would have been better. The beddish set of black squares didn't work well enough to justify the herky-jerky presentation of themers.

I do love TOSCANINI and TEEN IDOLS as fill. However, with so many themers in short slots, those great long bonuses murk up what is theme and what is not.

This is a near-great set of findings, the three X of Y themers described by FIELD OF DREAMS in a myriad of different ways. Unfortunately, none of those multiple ways were spot-on, almost tangling each other up, leaving me with not such a dreamy overall impression. Overall, though, I'd rather constructors shoot for the stars, striving to do something above and beyond, even if it doesn't end up having the desired impact.