New York Times, Saturday, April 23, 2016

I think this puzzle may have been the first to benefit from my "seed list," an extensive list on my phone containing entries that I think would be cool to put in a puzzle (alphabetized and sorted by length, because when it comes to crossword obsessiveness, it's go big or go home). 1A, 9A, 64A, 10D, and a handful of other entries came from that list. Unfortunately, the primary seed entry (RAGE QUIT) would end up being scooped two times before publication, but whatchagonnado.

Some scattershot points of interest:

• As usual, Will, Joel and the rest of the team made some fantastic edits to the clues. My favorites are those for 46D, 60D, and especially 28D, among others.
• Unless the entry gets scooped within the week before this puzzle's publication, this is the New York Times debut for TUMBLR! Compare that to the crossword performance of REDDIT (Appeared in the NYT 3 times) or TWITTER (Clued in NYT as the website 6 times). It's okay, Tumblr, you consonant-heavy website, you. We still love ya.
• Sweet Fancy Moses, my ELAINE clue made it through without changes! As an avid "Seinfeld" fan, being able to reference one of the all-time best TV moments was a real… kick.

That's all from me. Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

Paolo is one of my favorite rising stars in crosswordland, mostly doing themelesses but also showing some early-week range. One of the millennials (or younger?), he does a great job of capturing the flavor of his generation. It's so tough to make your shortish entries sing, but I was pleasantly surprised to uncover TUMBLR. I only vaguely know what that is, but Paolo did a nice job making sure that each crossing made it gettable. RAGE QUIT is another prime example.

Ah, RAGE QUIT. Byron Walden once told me that he avoids putting marquee answers at 1-Across. I thought that was odd--wouldn't you want to highlight your great entries? But I've gradually come to see his point. Today, RAGE QUIT headlines the puzzle … but as Paolo points out, it's been in the NYT puzzle twice already in the past 12 months. I usually don't mind repetition, as it'll naturally occur, but there's something about RAGE QUIT that makes it less fun to see over and over. Perhaps because it seems like such a specialized term? Or how angry it sounds?

But back to the great stuff. Paolo takes nice advantage of his long slots, giving us the colorful YOU HEARD ME, TAX EVASION, RAN RAMPANT, GINGER ALES as home remedies (for indigestion, motion sickness, etc.), and STARGAZE. Along with clever mid-length entries like GYM RAT and LA-Z-BOY, there's a ton of snazzy material packed in.

I might have included BROMANCE in the list of assets a few years ago, but it feels like it's losing its shine, similar to RAGE QUIT. It has shown up in the NYT crossword a lot now, so perhaps it's simple overexposure.

I also like the fortuitous crossing of DATA SET and STATS. Sure is fun to get those related answers crossing each other.

With just a smattering of the EDD (crossworthy or not?) and ESA (this stands for … what? Ah, European Space Agency), I'm impressed at how much solid material Paolo worked in without requiring much crossword glue.