New York Times, Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Hi everybody! We're excited to debut/return to the NYT crossword today! A love of puzzles has always been a shared hobby in our marriage, but Jess honestly never even thought she'd get into solving crosswords, much less constructing, as she assumed being able to spell was a prerequisite. But crosswords became a perfect habit for us to do together right-before-bedtime; working through a puzzle really helped us both relax and clear our mind of the day's stress.

Like all things in life for Kim, he took a perfectly normal hobby and made it an obsession, and like all things in life for Jess, she couldn't let things go out the door without making sure they were perfect. So, we quickly found ourselves spit balling themes over the dinner table, something that became even more important during a pregnancy in a pandemic, when co-constructing was a great way to use our minds for other things besides worrying. This theme's genesis was during that time when there was certainly much despondency around. But as you may have guessed, its timing was ironic for us with our hearts fuller than ever before, as we welcomed our first child into the family. We apologize to her for not figuring out a way to get her name into the grid.

For the construction bits, we toyed with having the HEARTs follow a staircase down to the revealer, but those options for the fourth themer were less sparkly than HEAD FOR THE HILLS and if you turn the puzzle sideways, there's a rough heart shape that's also getting broken. Lastly, as with many of our puzzles, there are lots of favorite constructor bits in here — food, cities we love, world football, 80s and 90s pop, Star Wars. Hope you enjoyed it!

You're breaking my heart! Literally, HEART in the middle of THE ART OF WAR, separating by one square at a time. I appreciate the extra layer, helping to elevate this from the standard "hidden words" pack.

Great theme phrases, too. HEAD FOR THE HILLS almost felt related, referring to the eternal struggle between the HEAD and HEART. It's been a minute since I've heard IN THE AIR TONIGHT, but the tune snapped right back.

I'm hoping that the earworm will head for the hills soon.

Like Kim mentioned, I would have loved for the final themer to have the HEART broken further to the right, completing a progression from NW to SE. I was surprised to find that there are few possibilities for that last one. Couldn't find anything that was 15 letters, but WEATHER CHART or THE DEPARTED would work with a matching length.

I love the notion of the shaded squares looking like a heart (when turned sideways)! You can always "flip" a grid along the NW-SE diagonal, making Across answers Down and vice versa, so that would have accomplished it.

Will Shortz doesn't often take puzzles with the same letters in sets of circles or shades, because it becomes too obvious. Once you realize the HEART letters will fill the second set, you can plunk them into the rest. I wondered, was there a way to avoid this? I doubt it, since without the shaded squares, it'd be impossible to figure out.

Five themers, with three spanning the grid, is no easy feat. Well done to incorporate CHEF'S HAT, a delightful entry. Even more impressive when considering it strings through three theme answers. There aren't many possibilities. Our word lists have only that one entry for the C??F?H?? pattern.

With a theme set like this, the problems usually occur when you get to the perimeter, having to work through two themers. Take the bottom right, for instance. The K in LIKES makes it even tougher, and few constructors would aim to end with LOEIL in their grid.

Not the smoothest ride today, but full of ups, what with all the pizzazz in the themers and bonuses. Appropriate for a puzzle about love and heartbreak.