New York Times, Thursday, July 8, 2021

The AM/FM radio will soon be a thing of the past if it isn't so already, but it's still fodder for a challenging Thursday gimmick. The editorial team commented that although they seldom accept two-way rebuses, the concept here was entirely appropriate so they gave my RADIO transmission a warm reception and suggested some fine-tuning. As submitted, my grid had circles in the rebus squares (radio buttons) and easier clues which would have made the solve a bit easier, Wednesday level say. I applaud the changes and thank Will and company for the sharp editing.

John's comment about the AM/FM button amused me. I can imagine younger solvers coming to the end of their solve, wondering, what's AM/FM?

Then wondering, what's a RADIO?

One reason the NYT doesn't take many two-way rebuses is because it's hard for solvers to figure out what they should write in the special boxes. Additionally, what should electronic and app versions consider "correct"? Will people lose their streaks if they enter AM/FM, because the electronic version doesn't recognize slashes? It can be a morass of solver complaints, many of which will be justified. We've chosen to represent the special squares with a slash (see grid below), which made the most sense to us.

I appreciated that John picked some colorful theme answers, ALA MODE and OFF MIKE snazzy. I'd prefer for all of them to be longer, at least as long as MAMMA MIA and HALF MAST, but they're all reasonable.

It'd have been great to have more connectivity in my solving flow. I started and stopped all throughout, and finally got stuck in the bottom right corner. It's so frustrating to be stuck inside a mini-puzzle that the rest of the puzzle can't help you with. The grid would be much harder to fill if there had been no black square between TORT and OUR, but it would have made for such an improved solving experience. There are other ways of opening up the grid, too.

I found it strange to have the M not change from Across to Down, only the A to F difference. That qualm aside, though, I enjoyed discovering the four rebus squares, that last one in the SE a relief to finally crack.