New York Times, Tuesday, May 3, 2016

This puzzle's theme is a variation on a much overused one, and I hope solvers don't find it too straightforward. I remember coming across a puzzle from many years ago that used HARRISONSFORD as an entry, and I started wondering if there were other famous people with similarly automotive last names. I was unaware of Ichiro's last name, as his jersey features his first name rather than his last, and discovered this fact with the help of XWord Info. Furthermore, I was a bit worried that Freddie would not make the cut, since he was born Farrokh Bulsara, while the other entries featured birth names.

The fill, too, I think I could have improved, particularly those 4x4 corners — I would be interested in seeing if I could rework the grid structure to allow for longer words.

Overall, however, I'm happy to make my second appearance in the NY Times with another celebrity-based theme, probably surprising to those who know me and my pop-culture averse nature.

Hope you all enjoy!

Nice finds, famous people whose last names are car makes, getting an additional S to form possessives. I wasn't sure what was going on when I uncovered ABRAHAM'S LINCOLN — I thought that might relate to some sort of train? — but it all became clear upon solving HARRISON'S FORD. Being a Seattleite, I enjoyed seeing the great ICHIRO SUZUKI get his due … more or less.

I like that John pushed himself, going down to 74 words. With a theme-dense 15/13/13/15 arrangement, many constructors would just go up to 78 words, the max allowed. But John works in bonus long material such as PERSIANS, TRAIN SET, BOUNCERS, as well as some mid-length goodness like ARMANI, BIOMES, HYDROX. I much appreciated getting a lift through some of these bonuses.

Generally a pretty clean grid, too, although starting the puzzle with ABED and ABAFT wouldn't be my preference. (ABED = an odd way to say "in bed," ABAFT a pretty niche term.) It's too bad, since the rest of the puzzle contains only minor blips like TEL, OSSO, ON AN. That top left corner sets the tone for me, so I started my solve with not the greatest of impressions. Luckily, the bonuses and pretty smooth solve helped correct that first impression.

Well, except for ["Hey ___" (casual greeting)]. What an odd clue.

I really liked a few clues, CURL getting elevated with a clever [Permanent thing?], i.e. part of a perm. And probably the best fill in the puzzle, TRAIN SET, got a bit of a groaner in [Something to keep track of?]. That last one felt pretty stretchy to me, but I admire the effort.

It's tough to find a neat and tidy set like these four themers, fitting so nicely into crossword symmetry. Fun to see.