New York Times, Monday, September 29, 2014

I work on and sometimes appear in the television show "Comedy Bang! Bang!" on IFC. I have the stop-start nature of TV production to thank for my New York Times debut — this puzzle was created in between seasons two and three of the show. In the past few years, it has been a total joy to have gotten to work on so many labors of love and see them at completion.

The idea for this puzzle came from watching a player spotlight package during ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker. "I Knew You When" was in my head probably only because it's the title of a "Friday Night Lights" episode.

I made two small grid changes in Eric's fine puzzle today. He had CREEL, a fishing basket, at 34A. It's a hardish word. I wouldn't have minded it, actually, even for a Monday, but my 22-year-old assistant, Joel, was not familiar with H. R. HALDEMAN, which intersected it. He suggested STEEL instead, and I agreed. No one should have trouble now.

Another issue was the constructor's answer TEN-K at 67A. That could have been tricky for beginners, as the number in the race name is usually rendered in digits and the hyphen is unexpected. Of course, not everything in a Monday puzzle has to be easy, as long as the crossings are fair. I don't want to baby everyone. But all in all PECK seemed like a better choice.

It seems only appropriate that a debut constructor would debut a theme that's novel to me. A slice of Americana today, the HOMETOWN HERO MAKES GOOD out of HUMBLE BEGINNINGS. Quintessential Midwest spirit; excellent NYT crossword material.

The theme spoke to me, as I recently wrote to a guy out of this mold, Joe Moravsky, as part of my send-a-fan-letter-a-month goal. As some of you know, I'm obsessed with American Ninja Warrior, and seeing Joe go so far this year on a nearly impossible obstacle course inspired me. He wrote back to me within hours (awesome!) with a funny rejoinder to my comment about the difficulties of climbing in tennis shoes. His response:

LOL, next time rock climbing shoes WILL BE COMING WITH ME.

This is an audacious first puzzle. With five themers, typically newer constructors shy away from incorporating very much longer fill. It was a treat to see HR HALDEMAN and NINE MONTHS appear, but we're also treated with ALL TOLD and CLIP ART. That's a lot of snazzy stuff packed into a grid already dense with constraints. Excellent use of those two 7-letter slots.

The trade-offs. I can never decide if I love or detest YEGGS, appearing in a spot that's somewhat highly constrained (once you fix the snappy OLD MEN). I'm okay with YEGGS when crosses are fair, but I wonder if newer solvers will be turned off by the ESME crossing. I think I was supposed to read ESME in college (along with many other things I skimmed). Or was that OMOO? The SER / PEALE crossing might cause similar dissatisfaction (can someone tell me if church programs really have SER. on them?). I feel it very important to make the Monday puzzle a satisfying entryway into the NYT crossword.

Otherwise though, just a TRY A here, an ANO and an APACE there, not bad. I really like Will's change, as TEN-K always seems so odd to me. I know quite a few constructors who strive for TENK, ONED, etc. but I'm personally not a fan. The 10-K of running and the 10-K of SEC filings are never written TEN-K, so I find it odd.

Nice way to start the week.