New York Times, Thursday, March 21, 2019

This is my second NYT puzzle, and it was made about when my first NYT was published. And like that puzzle, this one utilizes left/right symmetry, again because of the lengths of the theme answers. But as an indie constructor, I enjoy doing unconventional things to get themes to work, and I'm always pleased when they do.

The hardest part of this one, by far, was fitting FACE/OFF in. Because it's an even length answer, I couldn't run it horizontally, and so it had to go in the center column. And the left/right symmetry meant having two answers of (at minimum) eight letters flank it and intersect with whatever entry went through the slash. It took lots of trial and error to get it to work, but I'm pleased with the result. That said, the shape of the center largely forced the rest of the grid, including making 7-Down six spaces long (more on this in a bit). I could have broken the top two rows up into three answers each, but I try to avoid too many shorter answers when possible, and I'm pleased with how these corners came out.

That said, I am a bit conflicted about 7-Down. As clued, it's a perfectly reasonable answer, in that it is unquestionably a third-person pronoun. Many people will see no problem with this clue/answer combo and move on without a second thought. But some people won't. I, for one, had some reservations about it then, and I don't think I'd use this answer if I were making this puzzle today. When the puzzle was accepted, Will et al. agreed with me that this was a clue to handle delicately. After all, as a pronoun, it's restrictive and (needlessly) excludes non-binary people, and has largely been supplanted by the singular they anyway.

There was a fair bit of discussion on how to address such concerns without being awkwardly worded, overly wordy, or calling too much attention to the answer; in the end, we agreed that the clue as written would work best for the previously mentioned reason that the clue works without distracting from the rest of the puzzle. Still, even though it's not discussed in the clue, I'm glad that Will et al. took the time to discuss this issue carefully and consider multiple viewpoints and suggestions.

Even having seen SLASHER FILM used in a crossword in the same way, I still appreciated today's theme. I liked that Chris found three solid movies that used slashes in their titles. It took a while to recall that FACE/OFF indeed contained a slash, but it triggered a funny thought: that ridiculous flick (about two guys who trade faces) was the very definition of a SLASHER FILM.

Perfect use of mirror symmetry. It's a constructor's nightmare to come up with a clever concept, only to discover that the themer lengths don't match up. 15, 11, 11 ... 8? Groan, bang head, curse at Crucivera (the god of crosswords)!

Then the constructor's a-ha … wait for it, wait for it … the 11's can match vertically, with the 8 vertically in the center! That's divine intervention right there. All praise Crucivera!

Did you get Chris's explanation about the 8 presenting a challenge? It's much different than with normal symmetry since, with mirror symmetry, there's no way to break up the answers on either side of the 8 (you'd create 1-letter words).

It gets even trickier considering you need to work around another fixed constraint: a crossing themer in AM/FM. But Chris is a skilled constructor, well up to the challenge. I wondered if DR ROMANO had staying power, but what else in that stack would someone hitch on? To top it off with RED FLAG running through the stack is a bonus.

Hardly a dab of crossword glue, too. Such care taken throughout the grid. Longtime solvers might roll their eyes at AREOLAE and LOESS (HIE too, perhaps), but despite their potential foreign feeling for some solvers, they have merit as real words.

Fun clue for RETINA. I often wish I were the holder of many (ice cream) cones. I suppose my optical cone cells will have to do.

If there had been more novelty for me — if my OCD brain hadn't immediately remembered the 2013 puzzle — this would have been my POW! A tidy theme, tight set of three examples, a fun wordplay revealer, and great craftsmanship.