New York Times, Wednesday, April 13, 2016

As is sometimes the case, the idea for this one came from what would wind up being an unused entry: COLLISION CORSET. Not sure why that popped into my head but, there it was! So, armed with/infected by that, I went in search of phrases that could work the same way — with the added ET sound, plus the change of spelling/meaning to the base words — and came up with these. Though I like them all enough, my favorite is VANITY FERRET — mostly because I could see myself strutting around with one of those, looking down my nose at the less fortunate, posh-pet-challenged passersby.

Not too many clue changes from my original submission, but, for vanity's sake, two worth noting. For WANDS, I'd wanted to give a nod to my daughter, Sarah Kate, and her love of all things Harry Potter, so had offered "Diagon Alley purchases." Then, for YOGI, I'd looked out the window and thought of my neighbor, NYT sportswriter Harvey Araton, and plunked down "'Driving Mr. ___' (Berra book by Harvey Araton)." Well, those didn't make the cut, but at least I get to mention friends and loved ones here!

Thanks again to Will and crew — and, happy puzzling!

Some funny results today involving a sound addition, Mountain Dew to MOUNTAIN DUET, Vanity Fair to VANITY FERRET (hilarious!), magazine rack to MAGAZINE RACQUET. I was never sure of the pronunciation of CRUET (crew-eht, not crew-ay). Huh. Now I know.

Far and away, my favorite section was the lower left, with GET FUZZY crossing PLOTZ. I recently introduced my 11-year old nephew to the hilarity that is GET FUZZY, with Bucky Katt's poorly thought out evil schemes, and Satchel's innocent dunderheadedness. And PLOTZ is Yiddish slang to faint away in dramatic form, as in "that drama queen just plotzed!" Love, love, love that bonus fill. The L of PLOTZ is going to be tough for people who don't know that or NALA of "The Lion King," unfortunately. I can see an argument that it's not particularly fair.

I also liked entries such as SCHERZO, ASGARD, SNUCK UP ON, but overall, I felt there was too much crossword glue for my taste. The theme density is a little high, given that all four themers are long. But still, I noticed the little bits everywhere, from ETHNO / ENVIRO — two prefixes crossing each other — to a smattering of TAI, HTS, OPP, NEOS, ENNE, etc. Some of it is in the name of working in great fill, like NATCH, but man, the price to pay in that north region is steep.

Will has mentioned that he's trying to phase out SDI, Reagan's "Strategic Defense Initiative." I actually don't mind it that much since the so-called Star Wars defense system was a big topic of discussion when I was a kid, but I see where he's coming from — those acronyms are rough. It looks almost necessary given the layout, stuck in that highly constrained region between SNUCK UP ON and LACE INTO.

LACE INTO … dictionary says it's legit, as "attack, devour, or scold." Still, it's not my favorite use of a precious 8-letter slot.

Some amusing results generated off of solid base phrases, with some rocky points. Still, the image of Satchel Pooch PLOTZing away gave me a huge smile.