New York Times, Monday, December 29, 2014

For those of you who care about such things, I mailed this puzzle in on November 13, 2013, and it was accepted on February 5, 2014.

Every time I look over the grid, I want to read TEA CHEST as one word — the bizarro superlative TEACHEST. You know: teach, teacher, teachest.

When I submitted this puzzle, I didn't think it would be a Monday — possibly a Tuesday or Wednesday. But it seems that lately Monday themes are getting a little less straightforward and predictable. I think that's a good thing. I like a Monday with a little bit of a twist.

In looking over the grid, I guess there is nothing that really prevents this puzzle from being a Monday. The proper nouns MARTI, NIMITZ, HENSON, and MOTT might give some solvers pause. Possibly even BOB MARLEY, who makes his NYT debut today (and I think it's high time).

Speaking of Bob Marley and high times, I see that his family wants to lend his name to some kind of commercial marijuana venture. His daughter, Cedella Marley, said "My dad would be so happy to see people understanding the healing power of the herb". I think the Marley family might have an easier time touting the "healing power of the herb" if Bob hadn't died at 36. But who knows — without the ganja, maybe he would've died at 26.

Fill-wise, the only thing that really bugs me is ERO. TOS is a little hard to take, too.

Happy New Year to one and all!

Super fun punchline, playing on the old joke of "spelling it out" as I T O U T. Hits my 4th grade funny bone right on the spot. And what better to accompany it than the next installment of Pete's "Benjamin Button" photo act? Hello, John-John!

Great clues today, a wonderful bonus for a Monday. READS gets a witty one, playing on (James) Joyce, (Lewis) Carroll, and (Joyce Carroll) Oates. (I'm sensing a theme in there somewhere.) MOUSE made smile — a real squeaker indeed. And my favorite — being a bit of a math nut, I froze, trying to figure out what sort of higher-level polynomial expression 2n + 1 referred to. Wiped my brow (and smiled) after realizing it's simply a way of expressing ODD numbers.

Six themers in a 15x puzzle causes all sorts of difficulties. So many areas where down answers cross at least two themers. Thankfully, there wasn't one hot spot with a myriad of gluey bits, but they did crop up enough that I noticed them as a whole: the odd LITCHI (I gorge on LYCHEE whenever I can), ON IN, STE / MLLE / ETE, SOPPY, etc. Notice that many of these unsightly bits sit in an area where two themers cause high constraints.

I often find that a better way to incorporate six themers is to stack pairs on top of each other when the letter combinations allow. Take EYE CONTACT and TEE TIMES in rows 3 and 5, for example. It's doable to squeeze those two answers next to each other (in rows 3 and 4), because the letter pairs where they would overlap — *AT*, *CE*, and *TE* — are all friendly. This abutment allows the constructor to effectively treat two themers as one, giving a lot more flexibility in black square placement.

It would take away the nice "every other row" pattern currently in the themers, but I'd take silky-smooth fill over that. Personal preference.

Overall though, a punchline giving me a laugh, along with some nice long fill in BOB MARLEY and LOW IMPACT and STYMIES. There's nothing more important to me in a crossword solving experience than getting a smile.