New York Times, Saturday, October 21, 2017

BRAD: As I recall, this collaboration started when Sam sent me a dense and ambitious block at the middle of the grid. EMOJI and ROGUE ONE were the clear stars. It was mostly beautiful, but I think there was some plural that set off my Hinky Meter.

SAM: What, ALGEBRAS is bad? More importantly, I now want to make a puzzle containing HINKY METER.

BRAD: I sent back something that kept ROGUE ONE and crossed it with a specific EMOJI that we thought lent verve in its debut.

SAM: Yes, credit to Brad for the use of a particular EMOJI, and double (nay, triple) credit to him for the [Sext symbols] clue. One of my favorites.

BRAD: Sam supplied another great pop-culture 15, and helped me out with the nice SET MENU in the NW, as I wanted to recycle COSMIC JOKE from an abandoned draft of something I did with Byron Walden. Sam was crushing it on the cluing front, too: 39A, 10D & 11D echo. We submitted two clues for 17A, both his, and I was hoping maybe to see the other one, which poked fun at an urban myth about their shelf life.

SAM: I love me a Wilber-Walden collaboration--a guaranteed thirty hours of staring and erasing (and fun).

BRAD: Sam and I both worked on all the remaining corners after the SW went in, trying out combinations off the Z, voting Version 1 or Version 2 like at the eye doctor. Always a joy to see Sam's mind and craft going on all cylinders.

SAM: Brad is one of the great collaborators in crosswords. I believe this is his 25th collaboration in the Times, a testament to how well he plays with others. (Hey, I now have something in common with Emanuel Ax!) He is forgiving and supportive, but his keen eye also gets you to perform at your best.

I haven't enjoyed a debut entry as much as COSMIC JOKE in ages. Not only is it a beautiful, existentialist, Vonnegutesque term, but I struggled so mightily with the -MICJ- string in the middle. It had to be wrong. Had to, had to, had to! What a joy to finally piece it together, sitting back and admiring the awesome entry.

HOSTESS TWINKIES and HOT PEPPER EMOJIS made for delicious feature entries. I know the former is bad for me. But gosh darn it, they're so satisfying. Especially when deep-fried. Twice. The latter wasn't entirely familiar to me, as I'm still not much of an emoji user. Aren't there a million emojis these days? Doesn't it seem arbitrary to choose these specific ones to feature? There's probably some hilarious special meaning to HOT PEPPER EMOJIS (that all the kids are giggling at me for not knowing).

Along with some MC ESCHER, SEA SNAKE, TINKERER, GREENLIT, there were enough strong entries to keep me happy.

Brad's Saturday Stumpers and themelesses in general are some of my most favorite and most feared puzzles. (That's how I'll define "Wilberian" from now on.) He has such a wealth of information, being a librarian and all, that I always pick up something new from his puzzles. He's usually good about not introducing too much, making sure that all the learning doesn't turn off solvers.

Today, it was STANHOPE. I enjoyed reading up on it, basically an old-school term for a horse-drawn carriage, named after an old English dude. I'll tuck this term away for trivia nights. STANHOPE being the sole new term for me, the puzzle didn't come across as teachy.

COACH K might be tough for some, but the longtime Duke bball coach (you might go by COACH K too if your last name was Krzyzewski) is no doubt crossworthy. Five NCAA championships!

I enjoyed COSMIC JOKE so much that I thought about handing out the POW! based on that alone. But with some wastage in MAIN GATE, SYSTOLES, RECAST, IMARETS — all fine entries, but all paling in comparison to COSMIC JOKE — and a bit of CEE, TO BED, NAES, it didn't quite make it.

Kind of a COSMIC JOKE that COSMIC JOKE made everything else seem less interesting in comparison!