New York Times, Thursday, July 29, 2021

I guess I don't really have a whole lot to say about this one. The theme idea probably came from seeing a fill-in-the blank clue, and wondering if there was a way to subvert that ever-ubiquitous convention. For a while only "landfill" came to mind as a possibility; the other two presented themselves to me some time later, practically simultaneously. I liked the elegance of having those two clues both be in-the-language phrases without the blanks, and Will and company agreed.

I typically go with a 16-wide grid when I need an even number of columns, but here, with a 14, 12 and two 10s, it turned out that a 14-wide grid worked much better. I didn't have too high of hopes that the arrangement you see here would work out, but I was pleasantly surprised; using NEWSCASTER instead of JOURNALIST certainly helped.

In any case, I hope you found this puzzle ful-fill-ing :)

Fun trick, FILL IN THE BLANK meaning "insert the word FILL into the blank to make sense of the clue." LandFILL, FILLmore and more, and IFILL, for one. The last two are genius, the clues playing so perfectly on the phrases "more and more" and "I, for one," that I didn't care about how odd they looked as [___more and more] and [I___, for one].

(Gwen Ifill was an NPR NEWSCASTER.)

I wish the themers had been more colorful, though. It's tough to be excited about uncovering DISPOSAL AREA, PRESIDENTS, and NEWSCASTER. The first feels more like a dictionary entry than a desirable crossword entry, and editors frown upon one-word themers since they tend to be less snazzy than multi-worders.

What could have helped? Perhaps GARBAGE DUMP for the first? The second is tougher … COMMANDERS IN CHIEF is a great phrase, but it's too long, at 17 letters. HEADS OF STATE? That doesn't work with this mirror symmetry layout since it's twelve letters, an even number. Hmm ... US PRESIDENTS would have been more interesting than just PRESIDENTS.

As for Ifill, NEWS ANCHOR feels stronger, especially since NEWSCASTER undersells the fact that Ifill reached the top ranks of her business.

I enjoyed so much of Trenton's fill, POGO STICKS the big winner, especially with its play on "bouncers." No telltale question mark needed, either! TOUR DATES is a solid phrase, too.

However, the spacing of the themers gave me a let-down, since it felt like the theme was compacted into two regions, leaving broad swaths (rows 1-3, 6-9, and 13-15) devoid of theme. I see why Trenton did it — each theme answer forces 1-2 black squares on either side of it, which creates inflexibilities. It's possible to space things out using unorthodox black square shapes, though. And zingier themers might have even allowed for a regular-symmetry layout.

Innovative idea, but the execution didn't wow me.