New York Times, Friday, December 25, 2020

WENDY: Everything that Crossworld says about Erik being generous, kind, patient, and brilliant is all true. I would also say that the standards he sets for himself are an inspiration. What I learned from Erik while working on this themeless — how to use Crossfire properly (!), that pluralizing uncommon names isn't a great idea, using words with "un" or "re" as prefixes can drag down a puzzle, and only the most common abbreviations are acceptable.

The first seed entry that came to mind was GRETA THUNBERG — because, well, she's Greta Thunberg! For me, that is the highlight of the puzzle.

This is my first New York Times crossword. Without my great friend, the brilliant Martha Jones, with whom I've written several puzzles, I would not have taken the plunge into constructing. Patrick Merrell, an amazing constructor, spent time teaching Martha and me the basics of construction. Laura Braunstein, Tracy Bennett, Rebecca Falcon, David Steinberg, Patti Varol, and Robyn Weintraub also helped, supported, taught, and encouraged me. And, of course, Erik is hands down, the best in the business with a heart to match.

ERIK: Honored to be involved with Wendy's NYT debut, and looking forward to many more from her. I will steal "generous, kind, patient, and brilliant" because they're all perfect adjectives to describe her. You can show her some love on Twitter at @WendyBrandes1.

GRETA THUNBERG, an audacious way to seed a themeless. Her direct manner of speaking to world leaders caused all sorts of debate, some even claiming she was doing more harm than good, her approach furthering the divisions of our fractured political landscape. No matter what you think of her, a Time Person of the Year is crossworthy.

She could spark debate in the crossworld, as well. As much as I admire her efforts to change the world, I don't necessarily want my crossword to be world-changing. I much more appreciate the diversions, the humor, the sparks of joy coming from a clue like [Toy associated with France] — a toy POODLE, that is.

I'd just as soon had the fun-to-say NOT BAD AT ALL headline the puzzle, with GRETA or THUNBERG somewhere else in the grid.

I'd seen a few of the clues before — [Labor leader?] for DOULA, and [Perfect score … or half of one] for TEN — but their wordplay still made me smile. I especially like the latter, with its dual riff on the word "score."

There was enough to enjoy in this grid, some rarely-seen entries like ONE BEDROOM and LEASE TO OWN, along with snazzy JUICE BAR and GAME TIME. GRETA THUNBERG's unfortunate length — 13 letter entries force all sorts of gridding constraints right off the bat — makes it difficult to incorporate a lot of other strong, long material, though.

Still, solid debut. And it was fun to see a few Agardian touches, like his love for the WNBA seen in the clue for Rebecca LOBO.