New York Times, Monday, April 18, 2022

What I enjoyed most about constructing this puzzle was creating a grid with six theme answers, which I had not tried before.

When I was searching for theme answers, there were not too many options fitting the pattern for TA*LK and CHA*NGE. Since TAKE A WALK and CHALLENGE were both 9 letters, the same as LOOSE ENDS, I thought about having all theme answers be 9 letters long. Five 9-letter theme answers seemed like not enough theme content for the puzzle, so I wondered if I could squeeze in six theme answers.

I came up with a workable grid by closing off the middle and finding an arrangement of theme answers where I could find a couple of words that crossed through three of the theme answers. The resulting grid, to my delight, still provided space for six down answers that were seven letters or longer. The grid worked out so well that I've used variations of the grid when constructing other puzzles.

Curious smash-up of tried-and-true theme types, "words that can follow X" and "words split to the ends of phrases." Both have been done so many times that editors rarely take straightforward examples. Today, LOOSE ENDS does double duty by hinting at "words that can follow LOOSE, physically split to the ENDS of theme phrases."

My favorite themer was LIQUICAPS, since "loose lips" is an evocative phrase. Although LIQUICAPS isn't an everyday word, it's easy to reason out from the component words and has a fun Q to boot.

Editors typically try to avoid one-word themers because they're drier on the whole than multi-worders. CHALLENGE isn't as vivid as CHAISE LOUNGE, for instance.

There are exceptions since some one-worders are more interesting than others. For example, in industry, CANNIBALIZATION perfectly describes new product sales eating into the profits generated by your old ones.

I appreciated Carl's effort to create elegance by separating each key word into two equal halves. It's not possible with TOOTH, of course, but the others split nice and even.

Jim Horne cracked me up when he asked what a (loose) BALL was — "it sounds painful!"

Then it was his turn to laugh when I sheepishly asked what sins music groups had to commit to be in BANDS HELLs.

The overall effect wasn't nearly as synergistic as peanut butter and chocolate, but I enjoy attempts to mix old genres, hoping for a novel crossover.