New York Times, Thursday, August 13, 2015

This crossword was submitted earlier this year, so it is fairly fresh in my mind. My biggest concern had been whether it could be painlessly implemented using the submitted solution, which had four blank squares, one at every "break" point. I see that an instructional note was used, to deal with this.

The final version's grid fill is slightly different in the NW corner than what I had conjured up (IKON changed to IHOP, ASKIN changed to ASHEN). The grid turned out fairly Scrabbly, but that's not something I ever especially shoot for. I do, however, enjoy making unusual puzzles, with weirdish theme slants and at least a few oddball words. (Hi, all you SHAVETAIL H-HINGEs!) Not surprisingly, all my puzzles have landed on a Wednesday or Thursday, so far. (Or in the "too darn weird for us" reject pile, of course.)

I always include a title on my submitted puzzles, and I dubbed this one "Divide and Conquer". Hopefully, solvers will be able to do just that — and have lots of fun in the process.

I love seeing a new trick. Plenty of puzzles have utilized blank squares, but I can't remember any quite like this, where SERVICE BREAK is interpreted as SER VICE (note the "break" in the middle). Great idea.

I liked how Jim used his longest across answers for this themers. COMMER CIAL (break) is a great answer, and SPR ING (break) VACATION is pretty good too. With a gimmick that's hard to uncover, it's so helpful to have an idea of where the tricksiness might show up.

Since theme answers go both across and down, it would have been great for all of them to be longer than the surrounding fill. SHAVETAILS is a neat answer, but for me, it mutes the impact of the theme since there are so many short themers. A bit confusing.

On the other hand, some people also like finding those little hidden surprises, like B AD lurking so innocently. I can dig that.

H HINGE is likely going to cause some consternation, especially as it crosses the difficult ANTHER, but I thought it was neat. It's a very common hinge, and that HH start is so wacky. The real question: when will THINGE show its amusing head in a NYT crossword?

Hmm. I could have gone without HAG and OLD BAT in close quarters. Two derogatory terms targeted at a similar demographic felt like too much to me. Perhaps that's too touchy, but it bugged me.

So, some flaws in the puzzle, like SHORT L UNCH (break) feeling awfully made up, and I would have loved a few more long, zingy "break" answers (MADE A CLEAN BREAK, CAUGHT A LUCKY BREAK, etc.). But these days I can overlook quite a bit if the theme tickles me. Very fun solve.