New York Times, Monday, January 11, 2021

I started constructing a little over a year ago and have published puzzles in USA Today, Universal, and American Values Crossword Club, but I'm excited to have my first puzzle in the NY Times! I've been addicted to solving crosswords since my days in law school where I'd tear out the NYT puzzle each day from the newspaper and solve them during particularly dull classes.

This original submission had references to both SUBREDDIT and HEROWORSHIP, but we had a debate about whether those sandwiches were the same thing. We settled on CUBANCIGAR as a "hero" "sub"stitute. (Apologies for the dad joke, I couldn't help myself.)

I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to Erik Agard and others who are generous with their time at the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory on Facebook. I'm very appreciative of the many people who are going out of their way to increase diversity and representation in mainstream crosswords, and to help newcomers get a foothold in the constructing game! I hope you'll be seeing more of my puzzles soon.

This was such an easy "Name That Theme." PARTY, CIGARS, HOPPING … post-game celebration! You know, how people hop up and down after they pop the champagne? What does REDDIT have to do with anything, you ask? Exactly my point — REDDIT has to do with everything! Have you seen how much nonsense people debate about on subreddits?

Fine, I'll look at the first words instead. WRAP, CUBAN … CUBAN CIGARS! Oh — that's a themer?

Okay. WRAP CUBAN CLUB SUB. Is it the Castro underwater club, Raul and Fidel piloting ... while wearing saris?

Maybe not as easy as I thought.

I love, love, love Jon Favreau's "Chef" and "The Chef Show." I enjoy watching someone immerse themself in something they love. "Chef" featured his obsession with the drool-worthy Cubano, so it's odd to hear it as a CUBAN. Sure, a CUBAN sandwich is a type of sandwich, but it's not in the same category as WRAP or SUB, which are general terms. CLUB is different, too, since it's ordered all the time with just the one word, whereas I'm not sure what you'd get if you walked into a Denny's and ordered a Cuban. Probably a 911 call.

Consistency isn't essential in all circumstances, but I'd have preferred the original HERO, even with its similarity to the SUB — a much more minor offense. CUBAN ironically left a bad taste in my mouth.

Fun to get such strong bonuses in a debut, ANTENNAE, FLAX SEED, BARN ONE (featured on Monty Hall's rural show ... right, BAR NONE), AP EXAMS. Such color! Speaking of color, DIWALI. That may trip up early-week solvers — it does look odd if you've never seen the word — but it's more than fair. Don't agree? There are about a billion and a half people who might take issue.

I'd have preferred more smoothness, though, especially in the middle. If you have to start with GETAB in a critical spot, it's time to adjust your grid skeleton. Doubly so when you need a tough foreign word like OEUF to make it work.

Enjoyable concept with some forgivable hiccups. Congrats on the debut, Martha!