New York Times, Monday, February 23, 2015

Sometimes, the enjoyment in Monday and Tuesday grids can only be found in the theme. With the typical 78-word grid, crossword standbys are bound to make up much of the fill and clues can't get too interesting or novel.

For this reason, I always aim to make my easy puzzles with a low word count. For one thing, it's a fun construction challenge. Getting Monday-level fill in a 72-word grid often takes the exact right arrangement of the themers and black squares, which is the sort of design problem I like (cause I'm weird like that). Luckily, the grid shape I found was still fairly segmented, which allowed me to work on each corner without too much spillover.

But besides being fun to make, the longer vocabulary and lack of three-letter answers allows for interesting words and phrases you wouldn't normally see on a Monday. In turn, those can get fresh (but still easy) clues that test a novice solver's brain in a way they haven't experienced before.

All in all, I'm really proud of how this one came out, and I hope solvers like it too!

Joel has such an interesting perspective. The construction was SO smooth that I assumed it was a 76 or perhaps a 74-word puzzle. A 72-word themed puzzle is hard enough to achieve with a few gluey bits, so to nail it with nary a glop is amazing.

My personal style is a little different. I always try to work in six snazzy long downs (unless grid constraints are severe), but that tends to ignore the mid-length 5-, 6-, 7-letter fill, leaning heavily on the short stuff that Joel points out as pretty boring for solvers. I hadn't really considered how important that mid-range stuff is, but I see what he means when I look at fill such as JUNTA, IM SURE, and ACCT NO (which looks really cool in the grid — a nice surprise to have to work at uncovering a Monday entry). I like those entries no matter how they're clued.

And his approach also gives the solver interesting trivia. Who knew WYOMING was the least populous state? I wouldn't, because my approach to grid design tends to ignore these 7-letter entries. (Also because I get WYOMING and Wisconsin confused.)

Finally, IM GAY brings us a reminder of a momentous event in TV history, Ellen coming out. Great stuff.

I might have liked a third fruit instead of BITTER PILL — if only BITTER PEAR or RANCID BANANA were metaphorical, sigh — but the theme coheres well enough. (I'm afraid the consistently very high quality of Joel's work has me spoiled ugli.)

A great construction, and a Monday puzzle chock full of interesting fill and tidbits.