New York Times, Monday, November 23, 2020

Most of the ideas for the crosswords I make come from a twisty interpretation of everyday things I see, read, or hear. The inspiration for today's was just like that — seeing "two IDs required" in a newspaper article. With the assistance of the very constructor-useful onelook.com, I selected the three most lively theme answers available. (Sorry, ETHIDIUM BROMIDE didn't make the cut.)

While Monday grids with all-easy answers are most easily accomplished with a closed-off grid of maximum answer count (78), I wanted something more intricate for Will, the Times, and you. So, wanting to have the IDS revealer as the last Down answer and opening up the grid as much as this-human-ly possible, I managed to complete today's 74-answer diagram. The 10 answers Down of 7+ letters were a little tricky to accomplish, necessitating the one answer that I'd rather not have used (40 Down NAES), but Will didn't mind it, and I hope you didn't either.

For any early-week crossword I do for the Times, the cluing is a tug-of-war challenge for me. For any puzzle for Will, I always check the database of Times clues, striving for as many "new" clues as possible. The extra challenge comes from avoiding trickery and ambiguity at the same time.

Will kept the essence of somewhat more than half of my clues; the changed ones were typically made easier with a better-known fact, such as HEIDI as the "Project Runway" host rather than Mrs. Ted Cruz.

And that's all I have to say about that.

You want two forms of ID? Why? The PRESIDENTIAL BIDs were free and fair! Do I need to PROVIDE EVIDENCE? Sigh, I'm going to need some more ROLAIDS ANTACIDS, which have more than PAID DIVIDENDS during these past two strange weeks.

See what (I D)(ID) there?

I would have loved TWO FORMS OF ID as a revealer today. IDS by itself at least points out what's going on, but it doesn't give adequate rationale why there are two of them in each theme answer.

Stan's such an old-time pro, having done this for decades. I was impressed by how smooth the solve went (mostly). True, there are only three theme answers, so I expect nothing less than an exceptionally colorful and clean grid, but incorporating EAST BAY (anyone remember J.R. Rider?), DUE SOUTH, IT'S A GIRL (no gender reveal parties though!), MATZOH, while only relying on a bit of YALE U (do Elis say that?) is solid.

The one knock: PARIETAL crossing ULSTER. Man, those are tough words to expect newer solvers to know. Hopefully, you've gone to med school or been reincarnated from the Victorian days.

I would have liked a stronger revealer to tie everything together and a snazzier set of themers — especially given that there are dozens to pick from — but this one mostly worked as a newb-accessible Monday.