New York Times, Friday, August 25, 2023

One time, I was complaining about dating to Adam Wagner, and he sent me [the video below]. The (incorrect) idea is that dating is just like looking for the right porta-potty. You should sample a certain number of boyfriends/porta-potties, and then go for the first one that's better than all of those.

In spite of a multitude of serious issues with this analogy (I don't know how many boyfriends I'll be able to sample, porta-potties don't cheat on you, sampling a porta-potty is fast, and they don't change over time, you don't necessarily need different things from a porta-potty at age 20 vs. 40, no porta-potty has ever rejected me, etc.), the porta-potty thing became a bit of an inside joke between us.

Though it has not helped me find a boyfriend (yet!), the analogy inspired me to seed a puzzle with PORTAPOTTIES, and now here we are with a NYT publication (the second best thing, really). I also owe Adam for the incredible clue on that entry!

Today on Next Level Constructor, we hope to string you along. Bavette, bigoli, capellini, fedelini, linguine, pici, stringozzi … although they all have unique characteristics, they're ultimately variations on a spaghetti theme. That's not to say they're unworthy in any shape or form — but they are all long and thin. Not a surprise that when cooking contests do focus on pasta, they put the spotlight on the accoutrements rather than the spaghetti itself.

Similarly, 70-word themelesses are variations on a theme. Er, on a themeless. Most of the sauce is usually concentrated in the four corners. Sometimes, a central entry or two shines in a most appetizing way, or may even feature something wildly unexpected. Who would have ever considered pairing stinky cheese and ahi tuna, for example, yet that taste combination is bound to be memorable. If not delicious — at least, not in the traditional sense.

PORTAPOTTIES lends itself so well to clever cluing, and [Heads outside?] hits the mark. Tamped-down memories of my kids having emergency Honey Bucket stops makes it difficult for me to enjoy it, though. Talk about stinky cheese.

NO PAIN, NO GAIN does make for an appropriate pairing — especially given my kids' mac-n-cheese-driven constipation.

There's not as much fresh material as I would like in a themeless — one of the few debuts was BELIEBERS, from the 2010s — but sometimes innovation is all about novel flavor combinations. I did appreciate the OYSTER touches, especially the sharp use of ARM RESTS as places to literally rub elbows, and the shout-out to my beloved Motorola Razr flip phone of yesteryear.