UH? OH ...

Dory Mintz, of the Bronx, is a software engineer for a digital marketing company, Wunderkind. He likes to bowl (recently rolling a career-high 218) and calls himself "a passionate albeit subpar Scrabble player." He was reading an old art textbook when the phrase at 33-Across jumped into his head, and a crossword theme idea was born.

This is his second puzzle, and first Sunday, for The Times.

I'm thrilled to be back in the Times. For a while there, my puzzles were selling like whatever the opposite of hot cakes are, and I was beginning to lose hope that I'd ever make it to the two-timer's club. But a few months back, I received an email saying that today's puzzle was a yes and that my name would be back under the bright lights, alongside all the news that's fit to print.

But I digress.

I got the idea for this puzzle while reading my dad's old college art textbook during the doldrums of quarantine. The phrase GOFORBAROQUE came to me and seemed like a potentially fun entry. I figured if I wanted to get this phrase into a puzzle, it would require an add-a-sound-esque theme. I then went to my brain trust of my parents, sisters and girlfriend for help coming up with words that become other words when adding an "uh" sound (formally known in linguistics as a schwa, I would come to find out). Side note: I would like to publicly thank them as well as apologize for my constant pestering during the construction process.

One last thing, I have tried to include ADELE in all of my puzzle submissions with the clue: ___ Dazeem (infamous mispronunciation of Idina Menzel). Today's marks the first and only time ADELE was accepted for me, however the team at NYT felt that the reference was too ephemeral. So I wanted to showcase the clue here before I officially retire it from my future submissions.

I got worried when uncovered GO FOR BAROQUE first, since the broke to BAROQUE transformation is an old standby in crosswords, a staple of sound change themes. Pleasantly surprised to get a laugh out of some other themers, GRAVY TERRAIN my favorite. Near-perfect description of a "Close Encounters" scene.

GRAVY TERRAIN also near-perfectly demonstrates a principle that Will Shortz adheres to when it comes to "kooky themer" concepts. My acceptance rate in this category is low, partially because my sense of humor often doesn't mesh with Will's, but also because it's taken me a long time to understand this critical principle:

You shouldn't have to write a clue that involves both words of the resulting phrase.

What does that even mean? Let's look at DERIDE APRICOTS as a counter-example. Can you think of a clue that doesn't involve both a synonym of "make fun of" and "fruit"? Not really, because the two words have no natural relationship.

GRAVY TERRAIN, on the other hand, screams for a descriptive clue about mashed potatoes. You don't have to clue it as [Mountains and valleys for which a brown substance can run?]. There's an elegance in being able to say only "mashed potatoes," and that's why it's part of Will's criteria.

I appreciated the handful of excellent wordplay clues. Repurposing an actor's "speaking part" to describe LARYNX is something to speak highly of. Similarly, imagining an ESCALATOR as a "non-stop flight" is non-stop entertaining.

A different variety of clever cluing is the "tricky riddle." What is rectangular but has more than four sides? That's the kind of joke I wish my kids would tell me — a MENU often lists many more than four side dishes — instead of their knock knock interrupting cow MOO! (Repeat.)

These go a long way to elevating the solving experience, so important when the theme is tried-and-true.

This fanatical fantasy basketball guy enjoyed FANTASY SUPPORTS — excellent use of rhyming in "beams" and "dreams" — and is enjoying the schadenfreude of last year's THUNDER COLLAPSE. It's going to be another decade before I forgive Oklahoma City for stealing away our beloved Sonics …