New York Times, Thursday, June 17, 2021

This is my first puzzle to use left-right symmetry, and I really came to appreciate the complexities of the form by working my way through this grid. The outward hooks of the theme entries forced me to move the entries one column closer to the center than I normally would have placed them. But the length of the theme entries and their shortening because of the hook shapes meant that they nested easily enough. The gridding challenge came with how to construct the middle sections, especially the longer entries in the top half and the 7-9 stack that crosses two theme entries toward the bottom.

The placement of the revealer was definitely my major hesitation when I submitted the puzzle. With everything going on in the bottom corners, the FISH / HOOK revealer just wasn't realistic down there. I'm grateful that the editorial team allowed the oddity of a split revealer at 1-/11-down.

As for the fill, it's rare for a favorite entry to be of the 3-letter variety. But I was thrilled to get the theme-adjacent DAM centered at the top. Elsewhere, I dig CAT PEOPLE (though despite loving my cat, Puck, I am a dog person) and LAP DESK (which I use a lot). I originally submitted a clue referring to ALASKAN Amber, a beer that is ubiquitous on the West Coast; but I just learned that it isn't distributed east of Ohio, so it makes sense that it didn't make the cut.

I'm a huge fan of mirror symmetry. Something about it appeals to my sensibilities — perhaps it's some primal echo to the left-right symmetry of the human body? It's not for everyone, a few people telling me how much they hate it. More accurately, how it pains every fiber of their existence. As for editors, Mike Shenk at the WSJ dislikes it, Rich Norris at the LAT enjoys it, Will Shortz appreciates it but abhors up-down symmetry. Hard to please everyone!

I appreciated this FISHHOOK concept as a "starter Thursday." A friend of mine recently got obsessed with the NYT XW, and she confidently gets to Wednesday but is intimidated by Thursdays. I'll point her to this one and see how she does. The fish bending into fishhook shapes isn't a difficult concept to suss out, but it sure produces a pretty visual.

I thought they'd be ridiculously easy to fill in after GOLDEN SPIKE. No sir! I read [Drink that might be served with a metal cup] and confidently filled in MOSCOW MULE. (From a non-fisherman perspective, if perch and sole and char are fish, mule probably is too? Doesn't it all taste like chicken, anyway?) Great misdirect away from MILKSHAKE.

I was only vaguely aware of the UPANISHADs but it helped a lot that I knew the last four letters had to be some type of fish. I don't like being forced to learn things when I simply want to be entertained, but the crossings are fair. I would have preferred PHYLICIA RASHAD because she was so incredible in "Creed," but I imagine a lot of Hindu solvers will delight in seeing UPANISHAD in their crossword.

I prefer trickier, harder-to-figure-out Thursday themes — not including FISH / HOOK and leaving me to figure out the concept might have increased my fun — but there's merit in providing a wide spectrum, including ones that might hook (sorry) people looking to break into tough Thursday territory. Well-executed grid — especially around those hooks that take away flexibility in filling — and an aesthetically pleasing one, at that. At least, for us left-righters. Sorry, 180-normative and diagonalites.