New York Times, Saturday, October 7, 2017

This one started out with HELLSCAPE. After I got a stack I liked in the NW (no 3's, yay!) I toyed with using FIRE ESCAPE (opposite GARAGE SALE singular) as an asymmetric minithemer, but I just couldn't make it work. But some failed attempt made me see that DRAMA might be a good ending in that slot. Rounding the corner at I WANT IT ALL was the hardest part. Thinking about I WANT CANDY for that slot helped inspire the clue for PINATA. Between that clue and CONDOM, I wouldn't say this puzzle razes the mansion of the breakfast test, but it does jump on the furniture quite a bit.

If you haven't noticed, I have a fondness for the non-question mark misdirection clues like [Dish transmitters]. They've got to pretty precise to avoid the punctuated caveat, so it's gratifying to be able to come up with several of them in one puzzle. But as much as I appreciate the diabolical nature of the [Early '60s] misdirect in the KENNEDY, I mean, LINCOLN ERA clue, that one wasn't mine. That one needs more than a ?-- it needs a horror movie audience yelling "Watch out! It's a TRAP!" Hope you all enjoyed the ride.

Low 66 word-count offering from Byron, a toughie to fill, especially in those giant NW / SE corners. It's tricky enough to get both color and cleanliness in a triple-stack of long entries, but it's so much harder in a quad-stack. I thought the NW came out particularly well, HELLSCAPE / AXIOMATIC / IDA LUPINO / GARAGE SALES pretty darn good. EX DA felt arbitrary — what's next, EX TSA or EX ESQ? — but no other crossword glue required.

I didn't like the SE as much. If you're going to need REPORTAGE to make it work, I'd prefer to stick a black square maybe at the T of REPORTAGE, and squeeze more snazz out of the remaining three long slots. ADULATION is a fine entry, as is BEE SEASON, but they're not nearly as snappy as PSYCHODRAMA to me.

Going up to 68 words could have helped the puzzle in another way, by increasing flexibility to get rid of a couple of iffy mid-length answers. OSTERIA … hmm. It is in the dictionary, and it probably will be apparent to foodies or European travelers. ON THE UP … double hmm. Maybe that's more common to Brits, but this is the New York Times, not the London Times, by gum!

A constructor's tip: see that black plus sign in the middle of the grid? Makes it so much easier to construct a low word-count puzzle like this. There's something about the way the plus sign breaks up the middle that allows constructors to breathe more easily. It's kind of like how cheater squares help along the perimeter of a puzzle, but the visual effect isn't as noticeable as a pair of cheaters, at least to me. Trick of the trade.

Great clue for EPEEIST — not a touch-phobic person, but a swordsperson who loses points per enemy touch. Love the innocent-seeming misdirect; no telltale question mark needed.

And hand up for the KENNEDY ERA trap. Beautiful!

Overall, a pretty good low(ish) word count puzzle. A couple of great feature entries, very little crossword glue, and mostly fine fill otherwise. Would have been interesting to see if Byron could have caught by POW! by revising it into a 68-worder.