New York Times, Monday, August 15, 2016

This puzzle's got an embarrassing backstory. Originally, I managed to drop EGGHEADS in as the first themer, apparently not noticing that the revealer is HEADS WILL ROLL and it's probably not wise to dupe theme words. And by "originally," I mean "to the point where I was content to send it to Will," because I didn't realize it until Joel sent a far-too-polite note about a "pretty bad dupe." Luckily, they were cool with me reworking the grid around EGG HUNTS, et voila. Figures the new grid would contain a TOO dupe, then — though, I've never actually been bothered by small dupes like that in the fill.

Anyway, when making easy puzzles (especially those which might end up on a Monday), I tend to hold myself to pretty high standards with respect to subpar / unfamiliar fill. I often see tweets on Mondays from solvers who just finished their first NYT crossword ever, and the last thing I want is to stymie such a would-be new solver with an even potentially-frustrating crossing, or other similar downer of a moment. Setting the solver up for success and all that. I think it's a huge responsibility for early-week puzzles, which can have particular influence on someone's relationship to crosswords, to provide an experience which leaves them wanting more.

I'd say this puzzle is solid in that regard — the least familiar / legit things are probably ET TU, LTRS, ETHNO-, EXT, but they're all inferable / crossed fine at worst. Though, wow, did I write this during a phase when I valued getting an X into the grid at literally any cost? EXT is so avoidable, would not do again.

I hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

Such a well-executed puzzle. Colorful themers, strong long fill, nary a gluey bit in sight, and a really fun revealer: HEADS WILL ROLL, describing an EGG roll, BARREL roll, DRUM roll, and LOG roll. Hits most every criterion I look for in a Monday puzzle.

Okay, there was one point I considered before giving this the POW. Will has said that he's not taking "words that can follow (or precede) X" puzzles anymore, and rightfully so. Over the years, these have been done to death. And I can just hear people asking me, "Isn't this essentially a words-that-follow" puzzle?

Yes and no. I came up with a tiered system:

• Lowest level: using the word ROLL at the end of the puzzle for a revealer, with the clue [word that can follow the starts of …]. I think many will agree that this is pretty boring.
• Middle level: using a dry phrase as a revealer, i.e. ROLL TOP [Type of desk, and a hint to the starts of …]. A little better, but still not punchy.
• Higher level: using a colorful, themeless-worthy phrase for a revealer. ROLL CALL ["Sound off!" and a hint to the starts of …] is pretty fun.
• Best: using a colorful, themeless-worthy phrase for a revealer — which cleverly hints at the position of ROLL: HEADS WILL ROLL indicates that the first word — or "head" — of each phrase is a type of roll.

And EGG HUNTS, BARREL RACE, DRUMSTICKS, LOG CABIN are all phrases I'd give check-marks to in a themeless. As are HOT SEAT, FAMILY TREE, END OF STORY, even IM NEXT. Sam wisely spreads out his long fill so he doesn't have to struggle with filling it. Beautiful results, only the minor blights Sam pointed out. And ET TU I'm perfectly fine with.

Doesn't hurt that I'm a huge Andrew Luck fan. Go COLTS! And go Sam! Really well done.