New York Times, Monday, August 21, 2017

The phrase "KIND RED SPIRIT" had been sitting in my brainstorming notebook for a while when I also thought of "GO OGLE IMAGES". To round out the theme, I wrote a python script that would find all English words consisting of two other English words smushed together, which gave me THINKING and LEGEND from which I found the other themers. (The script also outputted a bunch of compound words such as LIGHTHOUSE and FIREBRAND, but even after filtering those out there were still plenty of non-compounds such as THINKING and LEGEND to choose from).

The original submission clued the revealer with reference to the store, but I like the edited version better because of the "mind the gap" wordplay. The parenthetical word counts also weren't in my original submission, but I think adding them makes this puzzle much more appropriate for a Monday.

I've always enjoyed a type of puzzles called charade puzzles, which break words down into smaller parts and provide clues to the smaller parts, so such puzzles may well have inspired this theme. Here's one of my favorites, from Richard Lederer:

My first represents company,

My second shuns company,

My third assembles company,

My whole perplexes company.

(The answer is a 3-syllable word, where "my first," "my second," and "my third" refer to the word's first, second, and third syllables).

ANSWER: CONUNDRUM

Tom minds THE GAP today, splitting up common words to form two new words for kooky effect. Some amusing ones, KIND RED SPIRIT and QUICK THIN KING my favorites. I've seen many split-word themes before, but I don't remember this exact implementation, so kudos for the novel twist.

Interesting choice to expand to a 16x15 grid. Even though the wider grid ought to proportionally allow for a higher word maximum (78 is the norm, Tom went up to 81), I usually find that sticking to that usual 78-word maximum is a good thing.

Why? As a solver, wide grids sometimes make me feel like the puzzle is taking much longer than usual to solve, and that can leave me with a sense of irritability, that I couldn't finish in a normal time. Me and my stupid expectations!

But it is so hard to keep to 78 words in a 16x15 grid — while keeping the fill clean and snazzy, that is. Tom would have had to take out a pair of black squares somewhere, perhaps the one at the end of YOU BET (and its symmetrical partner). That would have made for quite the construction challenge.

And that would have only gotten him down to 79 words! Having to take out yet another set of black squares … perhaps the one between DYLAN and KNELT and its symmetrical partner? Yikes, that starts to feel like compromises in fill would be inevitable.

So I don't mind that Tom decided to go the 81-word route (my solving expectations be damned!). His fill is mostly strong — just a bit of SSS, TUN, OFA, with some nice bonuses in PLANKTON, SECURE LINK, BASERUNNER.

But I do wonder if it would have felt more like a Monday-ish puzzle if he had split THE / GAP (3 / 3) smack dab in the middle of a normal 15x15 puzzle?

Overall, some amusing themers and good bonuses in the fill made for a pleasant solve; nice and accessible for Monday solvers.