New York Times, Thursday, June 24, 2021

I am utterly thrilled to be making my debut in the Crossworld today, and to be making it in the NYT makes it a dream come true!

One of the things I did during The Covid Times was to rifle through old papers and objects from childhood. I found an elementary school essay that specifically mentions my love of crosswords, so this is a long time coming for me! I owe this love of words, puzzly and otherwise, to my parents and my grandparents, and I'm grateful most of them are still around to be able to do this one.

This theme idea came to me when, as I know is common, I was working out an entirely different puzzle concept. I came across the revealer phrase (Oh, Lucy van Pelt, you scoundrel...), and I was off in an entirely different direction. I have fond memories of reading "Peanuts" as a child; as a classical pianist, I particularly love Schroeder.

The puzzle initially had a few more rebus squares, but the fill suffered. Despite trying to make it work, I had to be rid of some them (Farewell, Talking HEADs and Lena HEADey!). I'm quite pleased with the final themer set, particularly 28-Across. The result, I believe, is 40-Down.

Deepest thanks to all the folks who looked over this and other puzzles over the years. I'm hoping that this one, even if the theme doesn't tickle everyone's fancy, will leave solvers wanting some delicious 38-Down or having 15-Across as an earworm!

I tried to read a "Peanuts" book to my kids. After the barrage of confused questions about how Snoopy can balance on the top edge of his doghouse, why the dirt cloud rises so high around Pigpen, and what noise exactly Charlie Brown's teacher makes, I threw my hands up and yelled "Aaugh!"

SHAKING MY (HEAD), indeed.

YOU BLOCKHEAD was a fun revealer for this old-school "Peanuts" fan. I'm curious to see if Millennials will be baffled. Now who's square?!

Right. Square, as in BLOCKHEAD, that's me.

These days, rebuses are such a tried-and-true theme type that you need a strong rationale for squishing those letters into a single square. BLOCKHEAD — HEAD squeezed into a BLOCK — explains things well.

Repeated rebuses used to be the norm, but these days, I prefer variety. My solving experience dimmed after I encountered my second HEAD, making me realize that I'd be looking for more of the same. An extra layer — perhaps synonyms for "bathroom," like LAV and LOO and WC — might have given me a stronger, more memorable a-ha moment. I can see the appeal of this straightforward approach for newer rebus solvers, though. Rebuses can be tough to suss out, so repetition would be useful for those verging on Thursday territory.

Nice selection of themer phrases, HEADS WILL ROLL my favorite. It would have been nice to get stronger crossing Down answers, since PIN(HEAD), GOT A(HEAD), (HEAD) WEST aren't nearly as juicy as SHAKING MY HEAD. It's tough to do this with the HEAD placements at the sides of the grid, so a phrase like BANNER (HEAD)LINE would have given some room to work in some great Down rebus phrases.

That said, this layout did allow Danny to work in great long bonuses, and what fantastic results! All over the grid, I kept encountering a wealth of riches, from TEA ROOMS to MOON RIVER to NOT SO BAD to EYELINER to STAGEHAND to BIRIYANI (if you've never had it before, what are you waiting for? Yum!). Danny could easily have taken the easy way out and broken up TOLERANCE at the R, or TEAROOMS at the first O, and I'm glad he didn't. Such excellent bonuses woven together with virtually no crossword glue.

Not a standout rebus, but strong debut craftsmanship.