New York Times, Saturday, June 3, 2017

This puzzle was constructed in September 2016 and accepted for publication in December. This grid layout has appeared in The New York Times before and I have always been struck by its pleasing symmetry and intimidating look.

In my first attempt at this grid I used my homemade grid filler, but it had difficulty with the open quadrants. Fills were hard to come by, which hindered progress, and meant that fewer fill possibilities came under consideration than I would have liked. The resulting puzzle, while a good effort, fell short of the mark.

In September 2016 I purchased a commercial grid filler and was impressed with how well it handled this grid. The puzzle we have before us was constructed using that tool. I went on to construct several more open grids using my new toy, some of which have been accepted for publication.

I have found that the two grid fillers complement each other well. When I don't have to deal with large open areas, I use both. In fact, I often prefer my old grid filler when seeking to fill areas that have pre-placed letters.

This puzzle was constructed in five stages — the small center, followed by each of the quadrants in turn. The center was quick and easy, and I decided to include scrabbly letters there because I knew the rest of the grid would offer little or no flexibility in that regard. The quadrants, of course, were more difficult and took more time. In the end I was surprised that the time it took to fill this grid was not significantly greater than that of a typical grid.

My favorite clues are the ones for ALFREDO (47A — Saucy name?) and AIR HORN (6D — Bleachers blaster).

My constructor's spidey sense tingles when I see huge open white spaces like these. Gigantic chunks, roughly 7x7, can't consistently be filled with entries that are both sparkly and smooth. I girded myself for a solving experience filled with made-up sounding -ER, -EST, RE- words, plus a bunch of esotery.

What an immensely pleasant surprise in the NE corner, then! There isn't anything that shines except IRON MAN (I love me my superheroes), but so many of those seven-letter entries are fine. PIRATES and ARACHNE are nice, THISTLE, BATTLES, and CONCISE too.

Okay, the PACA is iffy, but it is a real animal, so I can let that one slide. ENSURER was the only real sticking point for me — I plunked in INSURER, sure that it was correct. But with just a single made-up-feeling entry, this corner was a standout, as compared to other wide-open puzzles.

The SE demonstrates the typical trade-off constructors must make with these types of big corners. It's so smooth, only PRIE needed as crossword glue to hold it together. But nothing much stands out to me. And it does feel heavy with names that can't take clever clues. Yes, RODRIGO Duterte is (unfortunately) crossworthy, but you're never going to have a playful clue for him. Similar issue for Robert Cavelier de LA SALLE and PETULA Clark.

The SW suffered the most, I thought. It had the most snazzy stuff — I love TIM RICE's lyrics, and BAD DEBT and WEENIE are great entries that could have taken imaginative clues — but RAMADAS (open-sided shelters?) felt 1.) esoteric and 2.) like a constructor's crutch, what with that friendly vowel-consonant alternation.

Oh, and UNALERT … oof. It does appear in some dictionaries, I guess. Along with the ARECIBO / TIM RICE crossing, which is probably unfair to many solvers ... double oof.

Along with the lack of interlock — notice how all too easy it is to describe the puzzle in terms of four quadrants — this isn't my favorite style of themeless. Still, it did provide a good Saturday workout, and the change of pace every once in a while is welcome. And that top right corner turned out well for this type of puzzle!