New York Times, Friday, June 25, 2021

I'm excited to be back with my second puzzle in the Times! This puzzle was my first attempt at using a staircase stack and I was happy to work in three entries that I wanted to highlight. Luckily, their letter combination also allowed for a lot of flexibility in grid design — so much so that it resulted in almost twenty different versions of this puzzle. This iteration was the one I labeled "final final" ("final" through "final 4" were already taken); perhaps I need to find a better naming system when saving my puzzles?

Since writing this puzzle over a year ago, I've found more joy in the clue writing process and hope I can more of my playful clues survive the editing process in the future. Continuing to develop my crossword constructing chops has been a very rewarding process, and I'd love to offer support to any new constructors or anyone curious about getting started. I would be happy to collaborate virtually, or if you're in the Austin area, coffee and crossword construction is always a great combo!

One last note: if you enjoyed this puzzle, my next themeless puzzle is tomorrow's Universal crossword as part of their #UniversalXwordPride month. Hope you check it out!

Some great debut entries! CAN WE TALK, MINIMOONS, MEET CUTES, MAGIC ACTS; all so colorful. Love them!

Fantastic clue for TABLE LEGS, too, playing on "four on the floor." And I'm not an aficionado of OPART, but wow, the "Shadow Play" image seen here is mesmerizing.

MALE PRIVILEGE leads a ton of unfairness in the world, even in our beloved crossworld. Authorship has heavily favored male constructors, and the situation got a lot worse in the 21^st century, notably in themelesses (look at the chart's Friday and Saturday columns). Only recently have efforts to course-correct been effective — last year was the first time in the Shortz era that a themeless day of the week was over 30% female.

I'm encouraged by the efforts of Erik Agard (USA Today), who assembled a crack squad of mostly female constructors. David Steinberg (Universal) has also done some spot-on theme months, notably a month of all female constructors. I've also been impressed by the thoughtfulness of his recently hired assistant, Amanda Rafkin, in her feedback and suggestions for improvements on my submissions.

Hopefully we all can continue working to make gains, striving for equal representation of male/female voices. It's not only a social issue, but a business one as well. Crossword solvership is equal — maybe even skewed more female — making a strong case for the NYT to redouble efforts to tamp down MALE PRIVILEGE.