New York Times, Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Today marks the first (and I expect only) day that I will look favorably upon eggs of any kind. The funny thing about a distaste for America's favorite breakfast food is that there is quite literally no way to avoid them. That said, when you spend time avoiding, people tend to fill you in on all the different ways you have yet to give them a go. "Well, have you had them poached? Over a steaming bowl of ramen? Deviled? Soaked into bread or baked into a pie?!"

I unfortunately have, and although I certainly won't enjoy them in a meal, you can sure bet I am enjoying them in the New York Times. That's all for now, and if anyone wants to collaborate on a puzzle about, say, olives, you know where to find me.

It's been years since I've solved such a novel and memorable Tuesday debut. I admired this crossword on so many different levels!

It all started with the visual element, two Os as EGGS done over HARD, over MEDIUM, or over EASY. The clusters of circles even look like FRIED EGGS, the Os sitting high like yolks. It's unconventional, and it's charming.

I also enjoyed the misdirect. I didn't understand what was going on as I was solving, so it had to be HARD to MEDIUM to SOFT, of course. I sure had egg on my face, thinking that [Virtuoso] was probably ACS because mechanical engineering HVAC formulas take virtue to chug through.

Even after understanding the theme and admiring the pretty pictures, I took an extra five minutes to admire the construction. There's way more long fill, both in the Across and Down directions, than in a typical Tuesday. It's not all sparkly — ROSHAMBO more interesting than workmanlike RELEASE, for example — but the sheer quantity seemed impossible to pull off. I wouldn't have thought about using something as long as WIFEHOOD above PRINT MEDIUM.

The mid-length fill was even stronger: two standard deviations over easy. PREGGO JANGLY STASIS tucked into a single corner? Shiny as 24 KARAT gold.

I did wonder if newer solvers might look oddly at ROSHAMBO and/or misguess the crossing with LEMMA. I used to think LEMMA was commonplace until it came up in the NYT Spelling Bee a few weeks ago, and my Harvard-educated wife asked what the hell that was. I, of course, took the opportunity to deride Harvard's lack of lemmatic abilties.

After solving thousands of crosswords over more than a decade, it is incredibly rare that I sit up straighter on a Tuesday. For today's excellent debut, I got out of my seat to clap.