New York Times, Tuesday, January 6, 2015

One of my constructing idols is Patrick Merrell. When I was first solving and making crosswords, I admired how he was able to bend and stretch the conventions of crosswords while still making it entertaining for the solver. So when I come up with a simple theme like today's, I always try to think of an extra wrinkle that'll make the puzzle unique or different in some way.

For this puzzle, I had the idea for the DNA strand in the middle, but obviously needed to use other black squares. The problem was that the other black squares sort of ruined the visual element. I brainstormed some other ways to make it pop, and ended up with what you see in the print edition. If nothing else, it'll be a different solving experience, and in my book, different is always good!

DNA! I often feel ambivalent about "a single word hidden in phrases," because once you've found one or two of them, the rest is repetitive. An exception is when I can't see it coming. I don't know if it was the graceful black square curves, or the themers running vertically, but I was pleasantly surprised to have to go back and look for the DNAs. Well done.

What a smooth execution, especially considering the huge constraints. Once you fix those curves into place, you don't leave yourself much room for themer placement. Joel wisely squeaks a 7-letter one right in the middle, and then has to tackle the high overlap on the left and right.

Normally, a few letters of overlap is pretty easy, if the letter combinations are friendly. Here though, there are seven places, running from the BA of AT BAR to the AL of REALTOR. Seven places means seven potential pitfalls where you might be forced to deal with a strange UO or a LW combination. Luckily, there are a good number of *D NA* phrases to choose from; plus, the puzzle symmetry allows you to swap BRAND NAMES and GOOD NATURE or TOOTH AND NAIL and ISLAND NATION.

With all those constraints, to finish with just an ENROL is impressive work. I imagine it took Joel several iterations to find themers and placements that allowed friendly letter combinations.

I wish the visual had done a little something more for me. As much as I like the oddity of removing the side black squares in the print version — I almost always like something weird and new — as a whole, it doesn't look a lot like DNA to me. Those black curves are very pretty, yes, and they sort of twist around. DNA-like? Hmm. And as with Liz's previous DNA puzzle (see Jim's note), I would have LOVED to see A-T and C-G base pairs somehow. Ripe for crossword goodness, people!

Love, love, loved the clue for GRAPH. It doesn't have the plural of "axe," but it does have the plural of "axis." And to get a brilliant clue right on a themer — someone give poor Eisenhower a baseball glove or vacuum BRAND NAME already — added so much to my solving pleasure.