New York Times, Friday, March 4, 2016

So this is my second crossword published in the Times, and if you compare this puzzle with my previous one, you'll notice a host of similarities. Both are themeless, both feature stacks of 11-letter entries across the top and bottom three rows, and both are built around the seed entry of a famous NBA player. Last time, back in 2014, it was KEVIN DURANT; this time, I give you Kareem ABDUL-JABBAR. I swear, I have other ambitions in life beyond cramming as many basketball players as possible into Times puzzles. Eventually I'll have no names left to play with besides FESTUS EZELI or someone equally obscure. I should quit now while I'm ahead.

Anyway. This puzzle was a joy to construct — I remember it began with the realization that the fun CARTOONLIKE fit perfectly beneath ABDUL-JABBAR, and it all flowed from there. I liked getting to sneak in PERIWIGS (which I've always thought is a cool word, no?) and ONE-TWO PUNCH.

Including the name LOUIS C.K. in a puzzle was always something of a bucket-list goal, as the comedian has always been a favorite of mine. Funny, though — I thought I was so original for including Louie at the time I wrote this puzzle, as he'd never been featured before. Then his name showed up three times shortly thereafter — once each in November 2014, January 2015 and March 2015. Great minds think alike, or something? At least I had the neat twist of crossing the comic's name with TITLE ROLE, since he has one on his FX show. It's the little victories.

As for the clues, I'm happy with a few that I wrote (especially the "pyramid scheme" wordplay for CHEERLEADER), but I'm equally grateful for Will sprucing up some of my duller clues with some flavorful ideas of his own. "One who can see right through you?" for RADIOLOGIST is great. Wish I'd thought of that. Also the BAHRAIN clue in the print edition includes a picture of Bahrain's flag, which is crazy. I didn't even know that was a thing.

I like seeing new themeless grid patterns which don't fall into the normal "triple-stacked long answers in each of the four corners." It was fun to get two pairs of long answers crossing each other in the NW / SE corners, something you don't see in many themelesses. It is tough to do this with all four entries being great, so the kooky/awesome PERIWIGS and DRACONIAN crossing EPHEMERAL and DISPARATE is pretty darn good. I didn't care as much for the opposite corner, as PROHIBITS and TOLERABLE fall more into "everyday language" in my eyes, but TITLE ROLE and BLOTCHES are nice.

Evans does employ normal triple-stacking in the upper right and lower left, and does a reasonable job with it. I especially liked ONE TWO PUNCH under a RADIOLOGIST (with a great clue, [One who can see right through you?]), and a sneaky GARDEN SNAKE … or was that a GARTER SNAKE? I enjoyed working my way out of that trap.

That triplet does require some crossword glue to hold it together — A GUN (partial) and ZAC / ADANA / EDOM, which produces two very tough crossings for some. I suppose ADANA being a historic Churchill conference site and EDOM a Biblical location makes them things that a NYT solver ought to learn if he/she doesn't already know them, but I think these crossings carry a high risk of dissatisfaction for a good chunk of solvers.

I absolutely loved seeing Kareem ABDUL JABBAR in a prominent location — how is it that this is his debut in any major publication? I remember his skyhook and defiantly dorky goggles (if anyone is looking for a present for me …), but his "Game of Death" role stands out most for me, a seven-footer fighting Bruce Lee. Who knew a guy that tall could move like that?

In general, Evans used a good chunk of his long slots to good effect. Aside from the aforementioned neutral ones, there was CARTOONLIKE — cartoonish is more in use, yeah? — but still, there were enough colorful ones that I enjoyed the puzzle overall.