New York Times, Saturday, May 30, 2020

For those that know me, it won't be surprising to hear that this one started with CHOO CHOO TRAIN. The entry & clue popped into my head one night building tracks and bridges with my oldest child. Now we've got another toddler, which means double the CHOO CHOO TRAIN fun!

I'm always a wee bit nervous when opening up the preview after not thinking about a puzzle for a while. You grow and get better at constructing in the time between submission and publication, and what at the time seemed like the best puzzle ever made sometimes just...doesn't anymore. I still like this one though. All the stacks came out pretty snazzy and clean. The top right was the last area to fall, and I remember debating between GO GREEN and CANTEEN at 14-Down, ultimately landing on CANTEEN for cleaner short fill around there.

I also really don't know why a SHAVING KIT would come with oils and a brush. But, I am approaching 30 and still can't grow any sort of respectable beard. Happy to see that clue made it through editing, and shoutout to the editing team for their nice misdirects on STAMP and MISTS.

Finally, if you enjoyed this puzzle (or even if you didn't), I post a few free puzzles per month over at my blog Puzzles That Need A Home — come swing by!

I love it when a puzzle makes me feel smart. Whizzing through this bad boy 66-worder made me a SPRING CHICKEN once again. There was so much variety, something for everyone, yet so much of it struck a chord with me. It's like when Cliff Clavin went on Jeopardy!

As a father of two little kids, I loved CHOO CHOO TRAINS and its devious clue — there's a lot of milk being chugged at my house.

SPREAD TOO THIN? Me? During the pandemic, trying to manage kids, work, projects, sanity? You don't say.

Oil and a brush? Yes, it's a SHAVING KIT (gotta keep the blades brushed off and oiled) with great wordplay misdirection toward the arts, but it also hits the mark as I attempt to cut my son's hair as he jiggles continuously. Now, that's an art.

I've played "Rhapsody in Blue" dozens of times in orchestras, so GLISSANDO gave me a big pick-me-up. Ah, the good old days (when I used to be able to play well enough that neighbors didn't stick their fingers in their ears).

Who you callin' a CHEAPIE? Me, because on principle, I eat whatever my kids don't, no matter how much they've pre-chewed it? Okay, fine.

Even the things I didn't know didn't feel force-fed. "Maundy Thursday" was new to me, but it was easy enough to figure out LAST SUPPER. I'll happily learn something, as long as it doesn't get in the way of a successful solve.

And some great clues? STAMP as one "stuck in a corner"? Spicing up the otherwise boring NINETEEN via a novel clue, that all of its letters are Scrabble one-pointers? [Airdrops?] confused me even after solving MISTS, but what a delight to finally understand it. "Air drops," indeed.

Such great craftsmanship, too, nothing I gave the stink-eye (maybe BANC, but as a finance guy I think it's generally fine). That's a tough ask out of a 70-worder, and a 66-worder is a much, much tougher construction.

A pure delight from start to finish. Brian, I choo-choo-choose you!