New York Times, Saturday, March 21, 2015

I remember when I accepted my first triple-triple-stacked crossword for the Times. It was by the illustrious, triply-named Martin Ashwood-Smith back in 2000. I rushed it into print on May 19 of that year, because I thought it was so cool.

Over time, though, I've become a little less enchanted with triple-triple stacking, partly because, well, it's been done multiple times now (22 times, including today, according to XWord Info). Also:

1. Today's grid design is inherently flawed, because there's so little connection among the three parts of the grid. Just two letters link the top to the middle, and two others link the middle to the bottom. An elegant grid provides greater flow among the sections, giving the solver more options for how to proceed.
2. This grid has an oversupply of three-, four- and five-letter words. Of the 70 entries here, 56 (or fully 80%) are of these short lengths. And almost necessarily there's a lot of crosswordy stuff, like EHS, ITEA, USM, EDUC, ENES, SETT, EAR TO, POA, EDT, SO HOT, EFS, ADAS, IAL, LESE, OREN, etc. Altogether these don't make for lively solving.

What sold me on this puzzle, when I accepted it in April 2012, was the liveliness of the nine 15s. Every one of them is a gem, in my opinion. So the puzzle does provide some genuine pleasures, and I give Fred Healy major kudos for these.

But this is to report ... today's crossword is the last triple-triple-stacked puzzle in my files. And it's likely to be the last one I publish.

I'm still a sucker for elegant construction challenges, including crazy stacking, but it's time for this design to be retired.

Hanging my head in shame, I was forced to turn in my Hoosier credentials this week, never having heard of A HOOSIER HOLIDAY. A very sad day indeed. I assuaged my chagrin by watching The Shot five times in a row. Nobody stopped the clock!

A triple stack of triple stacks, with narrow throughways between. The top section was a brambly brawl for me, between the aforementioned Dreiser reference and my shallow familiarity with the Rolling Stones. Weren't we all raised by toothless, bearded hags? (Just kidding, my mom is actually too beautiful for her own good.) I liked a lot of the down answers in that section, both for scrabbliness and for liveliness: ISUZU, JEEP, CHO, KORAN, HYMN. NISAN and POA were new to me, as was ITEA, the other plant genus in this grid.

The middle and bottom triple stacks came together more easily, but looking over the finished grid, I admire the top stack more. It sparks more, to my eye. Besides, ORANGE POPSICLES were never my favorite — grape all the way!

Hansel, SO HOT right now.