New York Times, Thursday, October 22, 2020

I distinctly remember the "aha" moment I had solving David Kwong's brilliant blank square puzzle from 2013. Years later, when I started constructing, I vowed to write a blank square puzzle of my own. It was one of the few times when I searched for a revealer entry with a particular gimmick in mind, rather than the other way around. Luckily, RUNS ON EMPTY popped up while mining for potential answers, and I think it provides a solid raison d'être for this Thursday crossword. (I additionally stumbled upon the revealer to this puzzle.)

With few exceptions, blank square crossword puzzles are largely constructor-oriented, so I maxed out at 78 words to keep the experience smooth for solvers. Today, I'm fairly sure I could craft this grid smoothly at 76 or even 74 words. In retrospect, I'm glad I stuck to 78, so that folks can focus on the mystifying clues at 21A, 36A and 50A instead of some dauntingly wide-open section of the grid.

After mailing in the puzzle, I learned of a certain offensive connotation for 62D, and I promptly removed it from my wordlist. Recent discussions have brought up an important question: do offensive words that have alternate, innocuous definitions belong in crossword grids? I firmly stand by the answer "no," but without ever having heard of 62D's derogatory usage, I wasn't able to apply that judgment before submitting this puzzle; and, sadly, the Times editing team wasn't able to make my suggested revision (NAP / VEAL) before the puzzle went to print. This is not the first appearance of 62D in the Times, but I don't see that as any consolation, and I apologize for its presence here.

On a brighter note, I'm excited to debut GURU NANAK in the Times and to see that my clues for 24A, 2D, and 23D made it to print. I'm also enamored by the editing team's clue for 30A, which fools me every time I read it.

Lastly, a tiny metapuzzle: five non-theme entries in this grid have something interesting in common. What is it?

PERUSE, OOZE, WHOS, IOUS, and RUES all rhyme without sharing any final letter combinations.

How often do constructors hope that their work leaves solvers with an empty feeling? I enjoy the occasional "leave some squares blank" puzzle. Two from 2013 stand out, one playing on "Wheel of Fortune," and David Kwong's ingenious puzzle Sid mentioned above. Another from 2015 also won a POW!, but this trope goes back a long ways.

Today's RUN ON EMPTY theme worked well, the consistency of RUN atop (three squares to be left blank) so neat and tidy. I particularly enjoyed LABOR UNIONS above what was before the Big Bang: an empty space. Perfect!

Will Shortz is usually pickier about "hidden words" themes; that the hidden word must span across two words of a phrase — DRUNK DIAL wouldn't be acceptable. Despite DRUNK DIAL's evocative nature, I'd have preferred something like BOBS YOUR UNCLE, MR UNIVERSE, OVER UNDER, etc.

Will has also told me that he shies away from puzzles with squares intentionally left blank, saying that solvers expect to put in something, so it's unsatisfying to leave a square untouched. It's like listening to an unresolved penultimate chord in a piece of music. You feel on edge, unsatisfied, until that last note hits home, and then all is right in the world.

Thankfully, there were so many bonuses in the stellar gridwork to overcome those reservations. Sid's craftsmanship is so strong. See how he leans heavily on down entries for bonus fill, and spaces them apart? AD EXECS to BAD JOKES to WOULD I EVER is a perfect example of great spacing.

I also enjoyed Sid's featuring of GURU NANAK. I hate being forced to learn things when all I'm looking for is entertainment, but GURU is a word, and NANAK looks like Pakistani names I've seen. Although I didn't know this person, that didn't affect my ability to finish the crossword, and I ought to know who founded a religion with 25+ million devout followers.

A huge number of clever wordplay clues. GYM as a place where you might see "squatters" — that's people doing squats. [Gear for the bench] had me thinking about baseball, not a judicial bench and ROBE. Delightful!

Some Thursday crosswords focus on being hard for hardness sake, but I like this type much better. A reasonable trick, a colorful grid, and a slew of headslap-inducing wordplay clues to make the solve crunchier? That's my jam.