New York Times, Thursday, July 26, 2018

The inspiration for this puzzle was the too-late-can't-sleep thought that #FOOLISH would be a neat answer for a clue like [Hashtag for an ashamed Pennywise?], with # standing for POUND. I liked the idea of blending what # has meant and means now. I'm a science teacher and, when I've written something like "# of atoms" on the board, some students have quizzically asked what I mean by "hashtag of atoms." How cool that symbols adopt new meanings over time ... and how interesting the misunderstandings that causes!

While the original Twitter angle didn't pan out, I still loved that # has so many distinct meanings and wanted to explore that here. That I was able to fit OCTO / THORPE into the puzzle as an Easter egg made me even more excited about the grid. Fingers crossed that you have a rewarding, aha moment while solving. (I'd be remiss if I didn't pay tribute to Anna Shechtman's related # puzzle from May 29, 2014. I didn't know of her puzzle until after I'd submitted mine, but it's certainly in the same concept family and should be acknowledged!)

Finally, I'll note that my original clue for HANDYMAN was [Gendered term for a fixer upper] — it's important to acknowledge how gendered our society is, even if my clue didn't survive final revisions.

While I have the space, I wanted to promote two fantastic crossword packs to benefit charity: Women of Letters and Queer Qrosswords (which I edited) are both collections of fun, modern puzzles written by and themed around women and LGBTQ+ folks, respectively. Each packet features an array of constructors, including many big names you'll recognize from the New York Times crossword byline! You can get each packet for as little as a $10 donation to a worthy charity. Check out the websites for more information.

I have frequent internal debates when it comes to scoring words for our XWI Word List. I usually give an entry the benefit of the doubt, leaving the constructor to make his/her own judgment, but when I ran across OCTOTHORPE a few years ago, I waffled like a politician wearing flip-flops. Downgrade? Or keep it at the "pretty much fine" level?

Ultimately, I left it at the "pretty much fine" score, because if you don't know it, it's an interesting thing to learn. I don't know that I'd go around dropping the word into everyday conversation, but I'm glad to know this curious oddity.

I enjoyed Nate's usage of the pound sign's various alter egos — NUMBER, POUND, SHARP. Spot on! Fantastic themer choices like NUMBER CRUNCHER and RAZOR SHARP, too.

The OCTOTHORPE is also used to note a SPACE in editing? To me, this is much less interesting, at the level of seeing STET or DELE in crosswords. I understand why Nate chose to include it for completion's sake, but to me, it detracts from the overall impact of the puzzle.

Sometimes less is more. There's too much packed into the grid, what with HASH / TAG plus four sets of themers plus OCTO / THORPE. I love the audacity, but I don't love the grid result. I stopped counting dabs of crossword glue at five, but it still kept coming (the NW corner alone with EDUC AMTS SMEE, yikes!).

Not a great trade-off. I think the puzzle would have had stronger impact without the SPACE themers and/or the OCTO / THORPE revealer — especially since the latter had to be broken into two parts.

I love Nate's efforts to push for more diversity and inclusion within crosswords. Thus, it was a little odd to see him use the gendered HANDYMAN, no matter how it was clued. But then again, sometimes a certain piece of fill generates the best result in a crossword, and you have to go with it.

But overall, some fun plays on the different usages of the OCTO / THORPE, and some great themers.