New York Times, Tuesday, December 13, 2016

I'm delighted to have a puzzle in the Times, as would have been my great-grandmother, Maria Thusnelda Steichmann Kuraner, an early crossword connoisseur, shown above. (She took a better picture than I do.)

I've enjoyed comparing my submitted version with Will Shortz's finished product. Of my 76 clues, 36 (47%) were changed, almost always (I confess) for the better. I've tried to assign a reason for each change, failing only in one case ("per unit" for "apiece").

• Ten clues were made less obscure.
• Eight were improved in style ("prefix," for example, became "lead-in," and "retailer" "seller").
• Four were made less stupid—that is, some attempt at cleverness on my part was tactfully removed.
• Three were made more accurate (apparently, the coati's range is not restricted to South America).
• One was better spelled (there's no "e" in "chocolaty").
• And nine were made more interesting, of which my favorite is 6 Down: RAID "Unwelcome cry at the front door." I wish I'd thought of that.

Debut! Kooky interpretations of legal-sounding phrases made for an entertaining solve. My wife and I are hooked on "The Grinder," where Rob Lowe plays a TV lawyer-turned-pseudo-real-one, so I really liked this theme. THREE PIECE SUITS read as lawsuits involving too-easy jigsaw puzzles made me laugh. Same with BOXER BRIEFS as legal briefs about pugilists.

The only one that I hesitated on was DENTAL RETAINERS. I liked the wordplay using the dual meaning of the word "retainer," but don't most kids call their mouthwear just a retainer? The phrase felt manufactured to fit into the theme.

Debuts often suffer in their short fill, as smoothing out a grid is a skill that can take a while to get down pat. But David does amazingly well, really just an ENE here, some ERNS there. WINEY did seem a bit iffy, but it does have dictionary support.

There were a few mid-length entries that felt inelegant to me, though. SCORERS … I guess I could see Kevin Durant or Steph Curry called a SCORER. An INBOARD motor … I was so sure it was ONBOARD. But INBOARD does also have clear dictionary support. GO FETCH … not just FETCH? After consideration, I think these three are all probably fine, but I wouldn't go out of my way to use them in another crossword.

What I would go out of my way for are WHEEDLED and VARMINTS, excellent choices for long bonus fill. Both are such vivid, interesting words. Both make me think of Looney Tunes characters, and for me, that's a great thing. (Not as much for my poor wife.)

Very enjoyable early-week puzzle; looking forward to more from David. I'm sure his great-grandmother is beaming with pride up there somewhere.