New York Times, Monday, November 4, 2019

Happy Monday! I hope you find today's puzzle a pleasant way to start your week.

I submitted the first version of this puzzle in September 2018. The original revealer was HEAVY METAL MUSIC. It was rejected because not all the metals in the theme were considered heavy by the editors. TIN PAN ALLEY was the offender. My extensive fact-checking before submitting the puzzle (the Wikipedia article on heavy metals) had led me astray! The editors pointed out that tin is, in fact, one of the lightest metals on the periodic table. You fine people of the crossword internet will undoubtedly weigh in on this most important of questions. Tin. Heavy? Or not?

In any case, they suggested changing the revealer to METAL MUSIC. I did that, and thus today's puzzle made its way to you.

Some of my clues were a bit of a stretch for a Monday puzzle, so the editors rightly changed them. I will admit to one major disappointment. The original clue for 26-down did not survive: "Rank for Horatio Magellan Crunch." I just giggled and giggled over that one. You know how some things inexplicably tickle your funny bone? Cap'n Crunch is one of those things for me. Did you know the Cap'n was orphaned in World War II and adopted by JFK (who later had his likeness sculpted into Mt. Crunchmore?) I didn't think so.

One more thing. I recently started a crossword blog called Grid Therapy, where I offer puzzles free of charge. Have a look around if you'd like to add something new to your solving routine. I aim to post at least two a month, if not more. You can sign up to be notified when new puzzles appear. I hope to see you there and welcome your comments or emails. Have a great week, everyone!

I was sure the revealer was going to be METALHEAD. Sure. SUUURE! I was so confident that I filled it in and paused only briefly at the empty square left at the end. Crossword constructors do all sorts of kooky stuff, I reasoned.

Like convincing oneself that Will Shortz would allow a purposeful blank space in a Monday crossword.

IT COULD HAPPEN!

Monday crosswords should lure in unsuspecting novices — why don't you try this one, oh yeah!, didn't you get such a rush from filling in every box correctly? Why not try another one? Heh heh heh — huh? No, I wasn't evilly chuckling.

Zynga's Crosswords with Friends pushes far to the side of easy-peasy-[Sour yellow citrus fruit]-easy. Every single entry ought to be so gettable that if you can't fill in every box, perhaps it's a sign that you can't actually speak the Englishes. It's not an approach I'd recommend for the NYT, but it does make their puzzles accessible to a tremendous slice of folks.

Should a novice NYT solver be expected to know (or at least have heard of) SARI / NAAN, LUZON / KABUL, IFILL? Yes ... probably? However, having so many of these together risks leaving the newb with a feeling of "This can't be correct." I'd have cut some of these, even if it meant tossing in a couple of (easier to figure out) partials, abbreviations, etc.

I appreciated the attempt at tightness, linking all the metals to music instead of using METALHEAD to describe "anything that can start with a metal." It's a shame that METAL MUSIC isn't a stronger phrase, though, and that the assortment of a band, a song, a musical achievement, and a locale felt only tenuously connected.