New York Times, Monday, December 19, 2016

This puzzle's theme is actors who have played Santa Claus in movies. I looked through the entire IMDB list of actors who have played Santa Claus and picked an iconic group that's varied in time periods. Tom Hanks was somewhat forced in order to give Tim Allen a symmetrical partner, but it's quite interesting that Santa was one of several characters Hanks portrayed in "The Polar Express."

I also tried to incorporate some colorful longer fill, such as SHOWMANCE, FACSIMILE, FRESH AIR, and TRICKSTER. I am a little disappointed my original clue for ETATS didn't make the cut; it was "French word that when reversed becomes its English singular." My original grid was a more ambitious 72-word design, but it was revised as Will wanted Ed Asner instead of Edward Asner and Monday-friendly fill.

Anyway, Merry Christmas!

Who knew so many famous people played Santa? (Don't all raise your hands at once.) ED ASNER is my go-to — I adore "Elf" (people look at me funny when I randomly say "So, good news, I saw a dog today!"). ED ASNER is such a great straight man in this Santa role.

I haven't seen any of the other films, but some nice trivia to learn — curious that FRED ASTAIRE played Santa. And TOM HANKS, too (in a voice role, at least)? Huh. I wasn't sure who this EDMUND GWENN fella was, so it was much appreciated that Jason made all his crossings very easy. Whew!

Nice Monday construction, such a smooth solving experience (aside from GWENN for me, at least). Jason does so well to keep his crossword glue to minor stuff like MMI, RIN, ETATS, MIN. And I don't mind MMI quite as much as Completely Random Roman Numerals such as DCXI, since MMI has actually been seen in recentish movie title screens.

And what nice bonus material, NPR's FRESH AIR, SHOWMANCE (didn't know the term, but it sounds so fun), FACSIMILE, TRICKSTER, INSINUATE, even WALL-E — that's a ton of extras. It was much appreciated, since very few of the Santa-players elicited much of a reaction in me.

Minor nit, it would have been great to not include PESCI, since he's an actor who sort of muddies the theme. I paused briefly, wondering if he played Santa in "Home Alone."

I love the holiday spirit, how it tends to bring out the best in people, how it inspires me to express my appreciation for those that have made my life better (thank you all for reading my random musings!). So I feel embarrassed that I haven't seen many of these movies! I'll have to get on that — I bet people who have seen all of them will have a much more poignant reaction to this puzzle, which felt a bit too much like a listicle to me. It might have been to have something extra, like just using the movie titles in the clues, with SANTA as a revealer.