New York Times, Friday, January 30, 2015

In my themeless solving experience, I've noticed that many constructors start with a seed entry. However, I'm not entirely satisfied mimicking what my predecessors have done before me. So, my goal for this themeless puzzle was to find two stack-able, seed-quality entries that wouldn't overly butcher the crosses.

I remember picking WII SPORTS early to fill one of those two spots, because (a) it would be an NYT debut, (b) it would probably be familiar to anyone who owned a Wii (the game was bundled with the console, after all, and even entered the pop culture sphere via a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory and the hilarious Tropic Thunder), and (c) I thought I might be able to form some nice bi-/trigrams from the crosses. After looking through a few candidates for the second entry, I latched onto DR SCHOLLS, because (a) that long string of consonants at the beginning seemed like it might just mesh with WII SPORTS and (b) the brand, though somewhat old, is still alive and (dare I say...?) kicking.

At this point, I modeled the black square pattern around these two entries and (what I thought would be) good potential bi-/trigrams. I immediately knew that the bigram "WD" would really only work at the end of a word or in between words (e.g. CROWD, LEWD, RAWDATA, SHREWD); however, once this crossing was dealt with, I had a few more versatile combos ("IR," "IS," and "SC") nearby. Anyway, long story short, if you had a slight inkling that the black squares in the NW area seemed conveniently placed, you have a strong intuition. = )

My original grid had some problem entries in the NE, and, though he didn't initially accept the puzzle, Will suggested that I fix the area and resubmit the puzzle. In addition to patching the NE, I also took some extra time to search for a more interesting south section. Fill quality can become subjective to a point, but I was happier with the trade-offs in the printed version.

As for the clues, Will and Joel changed quite a few — for the better. I'm happy to see my clues for 13A, 19A, 21A, 46A, and 42D survive with little editing, but Will's/Joel's clues for 26A, 48A, 2D, 32D, 35D, 38D, and 50D are undoubtedly awesome. I'd also like to highlight the clue for 14D. The clue [Hawke of "Boyhood"] looks innocent enough but actually serves a very important role: it solidly places this puzzle in the now. Not a year ago — which would be too early for a "Boyhood" reference, not a year from today — at which point "Boyhood" will have run the awards circuit and, unless successful, become slightly less relevant, but now — when the film and a few of its actors are currently up for Best Picture and (likely) all over the news. I believe this little bit of currency really adds to a themeless, and I'm glad Will/Joel agree, at least for this puzzle! =]

I hope your solve was enjoyable; if not, I'll try to get you next time.

Unusual layout today, built around pairs of feature entries intersecting. What a beautiful set in PHARAOHS / WII SPORTS / SCHOOLS OUT / DR SCHOLLS. Something old, something new, something hard rock, something you can put in a moc. I like the diversity of answers from a wide range of subjects; something for everyone.

Jim and I have recently had some thought-provoking discussions about "what is good fill" as we prepare to make word lists available. SANA is an interesting example, as Rich Norris mentioned to me a few years ago that he couldn't justify having it in crosswords anymore, as SANA'A is the generally accepted spelling. But it's perfectly fine for Will, as he's used it several times in recent memory. So much of "good fill" and "bad fill" is subjective.

I had trouble with both the PANTERA / FARIS crossing, as well as the BEDELIA / SEGOS crossing (SAGO and SEGO are so hard to keep straight). I liked learning all the three names I hadn't known, but learning each one separately would have been preferable for me.

Overall, I liked David's vibe, saying YEAH MAN! to the beautiful DRUM SOLO with its hard-hitting [Hard-hitting musical performance?] clue.