New York Times, Saturday, February 22, 2020

One day, while at the gym, the phrase DEN OF INIQUITY wryly came to mind in regard to one of the… let's say, infelicitous… conversations I happened to overhear in the sauna (thankfully, I wear headphones the rest of the time). I noted that it was 13 letters, and I thought of QUIZZICAL LOOK as another interesting 13 containing a Q shortly afterward.

Later, I recalled a grid pattern with stacked 13/14 pairs that had been used a couple of times recently (one of which I helped edit the clues for). I thought it would be cool if I could put QUIZZICAL LOOK in row 2 with a 14 starting with Q underneath it, though to be honest, I wasn't expecting too much.

I was pleasantly surprised when the top stack took shape but wasn't celebrating yet, as I know all too well the feeling of having one section come out nicely, only to have the symmetrical section refuse to cooperate (I have many half-finished themelesses haunting the abyss of my files). So, I figured it was more than pushing my luck to not only put DEN OF INIQUITY into the bottom half, but also to try to place a Q above the U so that all four long entries would contain a Q.

Fortunately, it turns out that the exhilarating phenomenon of having the logistics of a theme simply work out perfectly sometimes applies to themeless puzzles too. I sometimes agonize over which option for a section of a themeless feels like the ‘right fit'— not so much here. I don't think I've ever had a themeless feel more "meant to be" than this one.

In addition to the featured long answers, I was pleased to incorporate a nice set of 8-letter answers, and also some fun shorter fill like ROYALLY and IO MOTH.

In terms of the clues, it feels like more of my clues were changed than usual, and that the new clues are almost exclusively easier than mine—maybe test solvers found it hard. I'm particularly glad that my original clue for ARSENE made it through. However — I came across the title of the collection while reading up on Arsène Lupin and thought it was hilarious that a certain detective's name was spoonerized for copyright reasons. On that note, I hope you thought this was a peat nuzzle! (sorry)

Ah, Trenton, I got your number! As soon as I saw his byline, I started thinking, where will the Qs be? The Zs? The Xs? [Expression of one at sea …] IT HAS TO START WITH QUIZZICAL! Summertime cocktail … FROZEN DAIQUIRI!

I felt so smug, my knowledge of Trenton's body of work coming in handy yet again. I enjoy when a puzzle pumps up my smugness. (Neither my kids nor my wife enjoy it nearly as much.)

There's not much else besides the long feature across answers, but RISK FREE, FOR SHAME and APPLIQUE are all assets. In total, there's enough color to pass my bar — DEN OF INIQUITY nears that level all on its own — although I wouldn't call it outstanding.

Man oh man, was I sure there was an error in the grid. PARLAYS is misspelled! So what if [Negotiation talks] doesn't seem accurate for PARLAYS? There's some crazy Saturday wordplay kink … ah, I got it. PARLAYS are bets involving the prior bet, in the vein of "double or nothing." In this case, you either double the A to get two total As, or you put in an E if the odds are nothing. The E is odd!

Math is hard. So is English.

So is seeing a weird word like PARLEYS that maybe I should have recognized.

The only grid blip: ROTI crossing MOA. I'd cry foul if this were a Monday puzzle. Even a Wed. Okay, maybe a Thursday, too.

But what happens on a Saturday stays on a Saturday!

As much as I usually enjoy rare letters — and Trenton integrates them as well as anyone — I'm becoming a bit too smug for my britches when it comes to doing the Charlson. I'd love to see him innovate and push his oeuvre a bit.