New York Times, Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Proud indie constructor here, and proud to be making my NYT debut with this puzzle. The theme is straightforward, for sure, and it's a bit lucky that the theme worked out to allow left / right symmetry. The fill also comes in reasonably simple, including a fair amount of baseball-related answers (some clued that way, some not). Overall, though, it's pretty clean, I think, and that's something I strive for in every puzzle I make, whether it's a simple one like this or a fifty-eight-word freestyle.

A good chunk of my constructing philosophy, in fact, comes from my experiences as a solver. But I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that constructing for my own site, and receiving feedback from solvers, has influenced me as well. (There's too many to name here, but: you know who you are, and it's always appreciated.)

In any case, here's hoping that y'all enjoyed solving this puzzle as much as I enjoyed making it.

How apt — teams playing the NATIONAL PASTIME to be wearing red, white and blue! Made me wonder — why do any teams NOT wear red, white and blue? Ye scurvy traitorous turncoats.

I was curious enough to look up all the team colors. Were there others that only wore red, white and blue? If not, Chris's would be a super-tight set; a delightful find!

Alas, I only had to get to the Chicago Cubs to find a counter-example. Oh well. And there are a ton of teams who use red, white, and blue, but they also use other colors, like silver.

OMG, I waste a lot of time.

ADDED NOTE: Jim, a big baseball fan, noted that Chris actually did use a tight set — AMERICAN League teams in red, white and blue! I stand corrected. And I sort of remember that there is such a thing called the American League. It's still confusing, since the Yankees logo is red, white and blue, as is the Twins, Angels, and Rangers. And the White Sox logo doesn't actually have red in it.

ADDED ADDED NOTE: Maybe I just don't get baseball.

Mostly good gridwork, although I think ISSA RAE crossing ENERO is a no-no. I get that ISSA RAE is becoming more famous, but is she at the point where a great majority of educated, newer solvers ought to know her? Maybe in a few years, with a few more big roles. And ENERO is a tough Spanish word (for "January") that many regular crossword solvers will know … from doing crosswords.

Given that early-week puzzles have to be friendly to newer solvers, I'd have sent the puzzle back for rework on that square alone.

I'm obsessive about early-week puzzles, which must feel fair and fun for newer solvers. A single square can ruin the whole experience.

But overall, some good fill, GOOD EGG a really good egg, and I liked Chris's usage of mirror symmetry to work in BOSTON / REDSOX. It's a rare debut that goes past the usual rotational symmetry grid layouts, so I appreciated that.

ADDED ADDED ADDED NOTE: I'm officially a moron.

Jim had to explain to me that the three teams were indeed a tight set — team names featuring the colors RED, WHITE, and BLUE, in order! (He added highlighting to make it obvious, even to us meatheads.) The theme is much more impressive now that I actually see what's going on. Not sure how I so badly missed the real theme.