New York Times, Friday, August 30, 2019

It's been a great summer. I recently got back from playing trumpet on a concert tour of Europe with a big band made up of a group of old friends from Texas Christian University. Playing with the Curt Wilson Alumni Band and exploring Spain and Portugal with my wife Beth was magical. Thanks, Curt! And now I get to share another puzzle with you in the New York Times on the day after my birthday? Life is good.

Queue times for themeless puzzles are long, so looking at this now is like opening a time capsule from February 2018 when I submitted it. As usual, Will, Joel, and Sam made it better. They deprived you of masterful gems like ARMERS and RENEGERS that appeared in my initial version. Happily, they liked my edits, and now this puzzle has made its way into your hands. They were on the crossword field playing defense for you, dear solver, and I'm glad of that. I've learned a few things since then.

One of the ways I've learned is through the surreal experience of reading comments about my puzzles from hundreds of people across multiple forums online. Those of us who make puzzles do read those comments and reviews. Observing how solvers react to puzzles is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a constructor. Kind comments warm my heart, and critical ones help me improve. My favorite professor when I was a psychology grad student once listened carefully to my thorough analysis of a case and declared to the entire class, "I'm listening to what Trent is saying and thinking to myself, ‘Trent has no idea what the *^%! he's talking about.'" My patients reap the benefit of that man's brutality to this day.

Happy Friday Crossworld! I hope you enjoy the solve, and I look forward to your thoughts. Have a fantastic weekend.

P.S. If you're interested in making your own puzzle, stop on by the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory on Facebook. While the focus of the group is to increase the participation of women, people of color, and other groups underrepresented in the puzzle world, there's something for everyone interested in trying their hand at puzzle constructing. There are lots of us there who would be happy to help you.

Ha ha ha, do you look fat? Don't ask questions if you don't want the answers!

I soon as I typed those sentences, I RUED it.

Seriously though, DO I LOOK FAT hit me the wrong way. First of all, isn't the stereotypical joke "does this dress make me look fat?" Second, it's a stereotype. Third, let's be honest, maybe I have EATETH too much.

72-word themelesses have to be near perfect, given the ever-escalating bar. I enjoyed OFFICE WIFE and MELLO YELLO, a bit of EVIL GENIUS. I did wonder if OFFICE WIFE held connotations of cheating? Made me uncomfortable, but it's fine, if not as amusing as "work spouse."

As did MOHEL, EDDA, ILIAC, and the bizarre strings of EATETH AEAEA. That last one looks like the result when my 3-year-old son gets onto my computer.

Even EVERDEEN might be tough for some. As much as I loved "The Hunger Games" (remember all those ridiculous questions about "does Jennifer Lawrence look too fat to play the role of near-starving Katniss?), I wonder if its specific names will stand the test of time.

#TeamPeeta

I enjoyed some of the long fill, SNEAK PEEKS and EVIL GENIUS in particular, but both of them are hard to clue in clever ways. For a puzzle featuring EVIL GENIUS, there wasn't a lot of wickedly clever wordplay going on.