New York Times, Monday, January 23, 2017

My first version of this puzzle had RUMP ROAST RECIPE at the top and RUMPELSTILTSKIN at the bottom. I considered myself quite lucky that the revealer was exactly 15 letters, but I was disappointed there were not any decent 15 letter entries starting with RUMP. There is something called a "rump legislature"- some might say humorously close to a Trump legislature - but in the end I couldn't get behind that.

Will and Joel wrote back that they did not think my top entry was crossworthy and it would have been better to have something like FAIRY TALE as a revealer to make it a bit less obvious. I felt sorry for myself for a few days and then it occurred to me that RUMP ROAST and FAIRY TALE were both nine letters!

When I sent this puzzle to my 87-year-old Mom - my main puzzle tester- she wrote back that she could not figure out the theme even after filling the whole puzzle in, so I will be anxious to see if this proves to be a little tricky for early week solvers.

One of my favorite things to do in cluing is to clue an outside entry on theme, but subtly so solvers wouldn't notice until they were done with the puzzle. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, I've often found it hard to get editors to go along with this! Here, Will and Joel went along with cluing AHA (at 10-Down) as "So THAT'S the story here!", as a small bit of Easter egg humor for observant solvers.

Really enjoyed this one. Very nice that Bruce perfectly divided up RUMP EL STILT SKIN into its syllables, sticking them at the starts of snappy phrases. I particularly liked RUMP ROAST and the legend of EL DORADO. I'm more familiar with golf's SKINS GAME than a SKIN GAME, but the latter does appear to be legit. And STILT WALKER … don't they just call them "person on stilts"? But again, the term does appear to be in use, and it's a fun word to say.

I always enjoy a good a-ha moment, and it's tough to get one on a Monday. If the theme is too hard, solvers won't understand (see: Bruce's mom). I thought this one was just about right, hiding in plain sight until I got to the very end and finally put those syllables together. Good choice to have an oblique revealer in FAIRY TALE — I think it would have been too hit-solvers-over-the-head-with-a-hammer obvious with RUMPELSTILTSKIN as a revealer.

And what nice fill! Not a surprise to me that Bruce's puzzles have taken a quantum leap since (warning: shameless plug ahead) he went all in on the XWord Info Word List. I loved getting the bonuses of PASTA BAR / E READER / DAD BODS (I'm trying very hard to avoid the first in order to avoid the third), SOFA BED. That's one great corner.

Bruce's puzzles used to be fairly well sprinkled with crossword glue, but this one is so nice and clean, generally.

I did have some qualms about the SW, though. SAULT crossing ELO is rough, almost making me disqualify the puzzle from POW! contention (given that this is a Monday puzzle). And STRING UP … I know there are a lot of nooses in Wild West movies, but … ick.

But overall, such a fun hidden theme, giving me a solid a-ha, and a well-executed grid. It's so difficult to make a Monday puzzle that's interesting to more experienced solvers, while also keeping the fill easily accessible to noobs. Great job!