New York Times, Saturday, June 10, 2023

Hi all! Here are a few words about how this puzzle was constructed.

For this kind of grid, you start by using software (i.e., brute force) to fill the center region only. But with ten connected slots, it's a real test of wordlist quality. You need a wordlist that's both very large and very precise (ideally > 95% usable, otherwise the chance that ten random entries are *all* usable vanishes quickly).

I spent a month improving my wordlist for 11-letter entries specifically, after which an exhaustive search still took several months. This resulted in four usable centers and two final puzzles — this one and a puzzle published in AVCX last month.

TELESCOPIUM is maybe the main weakness of the center stack. I have a vague memory that I considered removing this from my list in my pass through the 11-letter entries but decided to keep it because it's essentially gettable (even if not really interesting). It's funny how that works!

CAWCAWED is a case of finding something that works, with the pattern CAW????? being shockingly constrained. I'm thankful for the editors' clue on this one, which took something contrived and made it very cute!

Thank you for solving, and for reading!

I've tried my hand at this "four pyramids" themeless style, but I've always kept the center relatively small. That way, it's not that difficult to come up with a center that pleased me, and from there, you can tackle each corner (mostly) independently.

I once considered starting with a center as big as today's — for a few milliseconds, that is. I'm not a fan of the brute force approach, and that's the only way it seemed even remotely possible. I'm sure the usual haters will come out, complaining that a computer-heavy process goes against the human touch that gives crosswords distinction and life, but there's something to be said for all the technical work that goes into tackling specific filling challenges like this. The raw amount of data entry hours that John put in … I love seeing hard work pay off.

An entry like TELESCOPIUM can be divisive — ZUGZWANG and CHICXULUB elicited strong reactions from both lovers and haters. At the time, I grumbled about how these were tacklers on my way toward the goal line, but looking back now, I appreciate them. I've taken up chess more seriously recently, so it was a thrill to read up on ZUGZWANG and realize that I already knew what it meant.

With TELESCOPIUM, CINNCINATUS, CAWCAWED, the Triple ENTENTE (and MAIA and ARAM to a lesser degree), there's even more potential for evoking all sorts of powerful feelings. CAWCAWED is my least favorite of the bunch, although, in a few years, when the crows have broken their entente with the resource-depleted Earth, I'll be retracting that statement.

The eye-popping middle region is a sight to behold, though it wasn't as much fun to solve as others we've had.