New York Times, Thursday, October 24, 2019

Let's see. I don't have a lot to say. Here's a video of Dr.Fill solving the puzzle.

Needless to say, DF has no trouble here — all the entries are actual words, relatively uncommon for a Thursday! DF was glad to get the break. :) [Not to mention the fact that the words were obviously all in my dictionary as well. I do try not to reuse clues from my clue database, available for free.]

As usual, Will Shortz changed a decent number of the clues. In general, he improved things (as always!). Still, I was sorry to see [Lady Macbeth's concern] disappear for 1-Down and was pleased with my original clues for the 5-Down/6-Down pair, which were [Medically dangerous fibrous material] and [Medically useful fibrous material]. I also had [Muffin type?] for 37-Down; is that allowed in the current political climate?

One final tidbit: I have never put a fill-in-the-blank clue in any puzzle I've submitted to the Times. I figure if Will wants a FITB clue, it's always easy to put one in. So any time you see an FITB clue in a puzzle of mine, it's something that the editorial staff provided.

I hope everyone enjoyed the puzzle!

About ten years ago, I struggled mightily with a puzzle that ended up blowing my mind. No matter how hard I struggled with that one, I couldn't fill in its lower-left corner. But when it all clicked, it clicked in a big way. It's now fixed in my memory as one of the ground-breakers I tell non-crossword people about (as they roll their eyes and pretend they have somewhere else to be).

Today's plays in a similar vein, with NOTHING appended instead of SECRET — let's call it "secret lite." It works, literally NOTHING there, with NOTHING prefixing BUT THE BEST, TO SNEEZE AT, etc. (NOTHING) UP MY SLEEVE was the best themer; such a snazzy phrase, and perfect for this theme.

I wanted much more out of the puzzle, though. Once I figured out the first themer, the rest of the solve was like listening to my daughter tell the same knock-knock joke over and over. (Dishes who? Dishes the police, open up!) The theme would have had more punch if it had been limited to just the four long entries, instead of a full ten dishes-the-police repeats.

There is something to be said about (NOTHING) BUT NET, though, as one of Matt Ginsberg's companies (funded by Mark Cuban!) is investigating a camera / software system that might be able to predict if a basketball shot is likely to go in. I always look forward to chatting with Matt; he's always got several somethings up his sleeve.

Overall, too easy for a Thursday puzzle. Will Shortz doesn't like it when solvers have to leave squares blank, but I wonder if a central 7 that had to be filled with literally nothing (the down answers would skip those seven letters, similar to the SECRET puzzle) would have been more memorable.