New York Times, Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Hello fellow puzzlers, I'm excited to make my NYT debut! I'm glad Will Shortz and company didn't blacklist me after my first dozen or so failed submissions. They provided feedback and encouragement that helped me along my slow climb to acceptability. I also want to thank my mother Metah for being my test solver!

CARPENTER ANTICS was the lone survivor from a very short-lived attempt at a woodworking-themed puzzle. After imagining the Sunday funny pages illustrated by pointillists gave me DOT COMICS, I pivoted to the "add ICS" theme. I had some vague notion of "Icees for dessert" to justify the otherwise seemingly random letters added at the ends of phrases, but I didn't see a good way to work it into the grid and I didn't think it was ultimately necessary. On the fill side, I was happy that AMERICAN and EUROPEAN fit in symmetrical positions.

Outside of cruciverbalism, some of my favorite hobbies are fly-fishing and music. I dabble in recording, and I have an indie folk-rock album called "Under the Farthest Skies" on Spotify and a few other platforms. I've also recently started putting some live takes of new songs on my YouTube page. I hope you enjoy the puzzle and/or the music!

I nodded as I read Grant's thoughts about his puzzle. The ICS additions produced amusing results overall, but I would have loved some rationale that elevated the theme, like a related "I see" puzzle. I spent a few minutes thinking about it, coming up with ADDICTs as a phonetic hint. It's a bit off, though, and not super pleasant.

DOT COMICS was a perfect way to kick off this puzzle. If you're not familiar with Lichtenstein, he's the one who forms modern cartoon art out of dots. The word DOT doesn't change meaning, but the result so aptly describes his oeuvre.

Solid way to end, too, with POP changing meaning from pop open to pop being ignored by his kids as he tries to discuss POP TOPICS like sharing and the importance of apologizing. (NAPPED is an apt crossing word.)

Five themers can be tricky to build around, and there are signs of strain in the grid. I dislike RRNs (random Roman numerals) like MIII, since they feel like such a constructor's crutch. Peter Gordon at the Fireball isn't as opposed though, often relishing in giving crazily difficult MATH CLASSICS like [Product of LIX * XVII]. Along with AS IT in that region, I'd have tried different themer spacings, iterating until finding a better result.

Peter does hate partials, and Rich Norris at the LA Times hard caps them at two, so ALL OF + AS IT + A TEST would have resulted in a redo request.

AVI crossing AVIATOR … given that AVIATOR's etymology includes AVI, that's a no-no.

Some rough patches in this debut, but enough humor in the themers to give me some smiles. I enjoyed the AMERICAN / EUROPEAN pairing, too. Rare to see symmetrical long entries relate.