New York Times, Saturday, December 27, 2014

Yay! My first themeless publication!

Though all my NYT crossword publications thus far have been themed, I think I more prefer experimenting with the concept of what makes a "good" themeless puzzle. (If you call it a freestyle, I would advise that you watch less "Dancing with the Stars" and/or Olympic figure skating.) Is there really such a thing as a "final evolution" of themeless crosswords, as exemplified in the PBTI (Patrick Berry Themeless Ideal), an acronym coined by Rex Parker? Or, might there be newer, undiscovered, perhaps seemingly inconceivable grid patterns that, when filled diligently, might also create a(n) equally/more pleasurable, albeit bizarre, solving experience? And, how does the great unicorn that is "style," a.k.a. one's personality as a constructor, fit into all of this? I hope my themeless puzzles make these questions even harder to answer for future generations. =)

As for this puzzle, which I jokingly labelled "MTV.Movie.Thefts" in my files, I toyed with a few ideas: (1) using 14s as semi-spanners and (2) having intersecting marquee entries. Though Will accepted my original submission (see right), I became increasingly dissatisfied with the huge black square formations on the left/right and the fill quality as a whole.

After some further experimentation, I found a nicer looking black square pattern but had to sacrifice my plan for having MICROSOFT, MTV..., GRAND..., and ADULT... intersect in such a way. However, the new grid allowed for better crossings with MTV... and GRAND... Also, oddly enough, ADULT SWIM reappeared as a fill possibility in a slightly different spot! (Prior to this, I had only heard legends of the crossword gods' mysterious ways.) Once I found that BRICK OVEN, in the spot symmetrical to ADULT SWIM, gave some good fill possibilities, the last task was to keep as many bland entries out as possible.

While the entries HEMPS, ETAIL, ADAK, ADAWARE, SNELL, OSAMA and others may not be ideal, I was more satisfied with the trade-offs in this puzzle over those in my previous iteration. Will agreed and opted to publish this one instead.

As for the clues, I see I have much room for improvement, which is to say that Will and his team rewrote new (often harder) clues for about half the entries. My favorite, completely unaltered clues are [Comes to a sudden close?] for SLAMS; ["Verily"] for TIS; [Playskool product tester] for TOT; and [Quite like] for FANCY (fortunately for the large majority of the NYT crossword solving base, I decided to not clue this with respect to Iggy Azalea's chart-topping single; you're welcome). Of Will's rewrites, I particularly enjoyed [Pre-texts] for IMS, [Limited expense?] for TRAIN FARE, [Big name in air circulation?] for SKYMALL (my original clue didn't include the first three words, which are key in giving the pun a fair chance), and [Like many ideals] for LOFTY.

I hope you enjoyed the solve and enjoy the remainder of the holiday season!

Nice debut themeless today. David's a young 'un, and I like the vibe he brings to the puzzle with GRAND THEFT AUTO, MTV MOVIE AWARDS, and ADULT SWIM, doing a good job of making the puzzle feel contemporary without feeling like it's trying too hard.

And I love the quest for continuous improvement. It was fascinating for me to study David's original grid, which I felt had more compromises and fewer assets. That RESPIGHI / NEI crossing alone might have been enough for me personally to reboot the corner, not to mention to have A RAG in the same corner. I'm sure it makes a lot more work for Will to consider these upgrades, but I found the effort well worth it.

As much as I personally hate to lose LOLCATS and DWEEBISH from the original, I loved the addition of SKYMALL and its great clue, plus HES BACK, LONGBOW, TRAIN FARE with its nice clue, and oddly enough ... DAYS INN. That last one could have easily felt dated (not unlike an actual DAYS INN; apologies to any DAYS INN shareholders, zing!) but that clue made it really interesting to me.

And it's funny how different constructors see certain entries with such different perspective. To me, ETAIL is a perfectly fine entry, something you see in the WSJ and business page regularly. But I can understand how someone not really interested in online businesses might think ETAIL is more at the level of EMAG or ELOAN.

A tough SE corner, one I ended up guessing on. ATARAXY wasn't familiar to me — maybe it should have been — but crossing it with ADAWARE felt unsatisfying. Then to have the oddball ADAK right there … I can totally understand the desire to work in SKYMALL, as well as that juicy X, but it makes for a tough trade-off though.

Nice overall vibe all in all, David's voice feeling like it really came through.