New York Times, Wednesday, August 25, 2021

The genesis of this puzzle came from an early 2019 brainstorming session on the word "state," during which I noticed how many synonyms there are for the verb "say." After playing around with different approaches, I honed in on finding two-word phrases that I could clue punnily (also using two words) as types of speeches. Among these phrases were STREET ADDRESS and PIZZA DELIVERY, both of which were included in an early version of this puzzle, clued as [Block quote?] and [Cheesy dish?] respectively.

Although this earlier version was accepted by the Chronicle of Higher Education (my first professional acceptance!), it didn't have a chance to run before their crossword was discontinued. When I later submitted it to the Times, the team suggested restricting the theme answers to more persuasive speech types and cluing them as examples of what those speeches might say.

The final piece to fall was coming up with 27-Across—an entry that felt at first like a stretch but now is actually my favorite of the bunch. Something about the image of a salesperson hawking a niche single-use culinary item just feels right to me.

For those of you keeping track at home, this puzzle was accepted in its final form in mid-June 2020.

I spent much of a my 20s sleeping with the TV on, needing distractions from the 80+ hour work weeks. The inane 3 a.m. infomercials somehow soothed me, so now I have fond memories of spiralizing fruit-cutters, knives that can cut through both cans and tomatoes, and spray-on hair. I even gave my brother one of these as a gag gift because the pitch was so hilarious.

Turns out that spring-shaped things are more fun to eat!

I might even buy a cherry PITTER if the clue had contained infomercial-style PATTER. Best of the four themers by far; such a clever way of thinking differently about a common phrase.

The others worked, although Adam and Will Shortz sure could use some marketing classes. Throw in some exclamation points! Compel people to act now before they lose the opportunity of a lifetime, because supplies are limited! Come on, not even one mention of "but wait, there's more!"?

Note the placement of the four excellent long bonuses, DNA SAMPLE, DYSTOPIA, IDEALIZE, BLUE STATE — it's a near-ideal layout for many four-themer puzzles. The DNA SAMPLE and BLUE STATE slots are particularly friendly, since they only run through one themer; plenty of freedom to choose whatever you think is snazziest. DYSTOPIA and IDEALIZE are a bit tougher since they must work with two themers, but with friendly crossing letters, there's still much freedom of choice for these slots.

A couple of fantastic clues, ESPN showing a lot of plays but no musicals. BLUE STATE is already a colorful entry, and the misdirection in "leans to the left" makes it even better.

Solid puzzle that could have hit POW! status with some Mad Men-like assistance on the themer clues.