New York Times, Saturday, January 16, 2021

Always a thrill to offer a Saturday themeless in The Times, but this puzzle feels particularly special to me!

I'd never before made a grid with triple-stacks across the top and bottom. Since I eschew computer-assisted filling and/or personal word lists while constructing, the feat always seemed impossible, or at least not worth the shorter compromises going Down. So when I noticed how well MUSEUM EXHIBIT and LET IT GO ALREADY could stack together as you see now, with a ___ THE ___ phrase sitting atop, I had to try conquering the challenge once more.

A sincere thanks to the town of BUSHEY for its existence, which saved me from ripping up the whole puzzle at the very end, when I still couldn't get BUT HEY to fit 1,000 headdesks later. Oh, and a non-sarcastic "Thanks, Obama!" — 10-Down might sound a bit arbitrary as far as crossword answers go, but I'm hoping the clue has turned it into a smile-inducing "aha."

I should also note that, for those keeping score, the grid has 64 answers. This ties my lowest answer count to date, alongside my 2018 ACPT Finals puzzle (see: "The Hug"). It might not seem like much, but the feeling is similar to that when you shave even just a second off your best 5K time.

*Grins from ear to ear*: "Yes we can!"

Show of hands. Who's ever heard of a GUITALELE? The cities of EASTON or BUSHEY? The SARANAC river? STYRENE?

What, you've never heard of STYRENE? My first job was as a mechanical engineer in product design, so I specified a lot of parts to be manufactured from ABS — acrylonitrile butadiene STYRENE. You probably have at least fifty items in your house and car made from ABS, since it's a cost-efficient, durable plastic that has thousands of uses. Easy to process for injection molding—

Huh? You want me to LET IT GO ALREADY, you pompous buffoon?

Something to think about when expounding on what a great entry EX-LIB is, you snooty librarians.

Just kidding! Every author knows the ins and outs of the purchasing process; the real decision makers are in the libraries. I loved EXLIB. Loved it more than life itself. Okay, maybe it felt weird and foreign, but I bow down to the kings and queens of the known world who CALL THE purchasing SHOTS.

(While muttering about EXLIB.)

A couple of great feature entries, MUSEUM EXHIBIT an A+, especially because of its innocent [Remains to be seen, say] clue. Wow, that is a brilliant repurposing of a common phrase!

Also fantastic: the triplet of NATIONAL ANTHEM / AT EASE SOLDIER / CORNISH PASTY. MERRIAM WEBSTER connecting the top and bottom makes it even more impressive.

OBAMA SUPPORTER, not so much. Perhaps this would have felt strong back in 2016, but these days it has an almost arbitrary quality to it. See what an editor would say about CLINTON DONOR or ROMNEY VOTER or [Dick Cheney] as BUSHMASTER. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

For any readers still with me, don't worry. This puzzle spanked me as hard as it did you. Appropriate that REAR ENDS was in the grid.