New York Times, Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Yep. I'm a math teacher. I hope the sight of the six trig functions didn't trigger PTSD (Post Trigonometric Stress Disorder) in any solvers out there. Math seems to be the most visceral subject in the high school curriculum — even long after high school. When I meet adults for the first time and they find out what I do for a living, I usually get a response like "Oh, I really [past tense verb] math!". Your two Mad Lib choices for the past tense verb are "loved" or "hated". I'd say the ratio of those two verbs is about 10 to 1. I'll let you guess which way.

I like that the revealer is LEFT RIGHT, as the trig functions kind of march down the grid in a left-right manner. I even considered constructing the grid so that the trig functions were pushed up against the sides of the grid, but CSC wouldn't play along. I also considered taking out LEFT RIGHT altogether, as it made the fill in the center a little strained. That triple column of RETOW/VIRNA/ENIAC probably has a favorable/unfavorable rating of 200 to 1. Again, I'll let you guess which way.

After this puzzle was accepted, I found out that AXL ROSE anagrams into a rather salacious phrase. Am I the last person on the planet to learn this? I like that he's balanced out by YOYO MA in the opposite quadrant, as sort of a musical counterpoint. Also, YO-YO MA anagrams into "Yo, mayo", but that's not nearly as exciting.

My favorite clue that made the cut is [Where S is …] for MORSE CODE. I hope some folks interpreted the dot-dot-dot as an ellipsis and stopped to scratch their heads for a moment. I also like [Took out the junk?] for SAILED, but I have to admit I used essentially the same clue in an Orange County Register puzzle about a year ago.

Appropriate theme for a math teacher, the six TRIG functions hidden within phrases — in order! Not that there's an absolute right order in which to present the six, but SIN COS TAN, COT (cotangent) SEC (secant) CSC (cosecant) is how math books go over them.

(CSC is the inverse of SIN, SEC inverse of COS, COT inverse of TAN, in case you're interested. I know you're probably not, but I am. So there.)

On one hand, there's something impressive about packing in the seven themers. In order! I particularly like HIT A NERVE hiding TAN; great phrase. And there's something awesome about SEC hidden inside MORSE CODE. Feels like the plot of a Dan Brown book.

On the other, so many constraints producing so many compromises in the grid hit a nerve for me. I personally wouldn't allow THAN I (partial) crossing LENAS (plural name). Then you get ANS, LTR, DIAS, the oddly related seeming ECCE ESSO OSS, RETOW … that's not good at all.

And LEFT RIGHT … I get that you need a middle themer hiding TRIG. But LEFT RIGHT was last used in the Maleskan era. Is it a valid phrase? Dunno. At the very least, I had enough hesitations that I would have much preferred something different. JUST RIGHT would have been a lot better to me, but that J would have stressed the grid even more. PATENT RIGHT is better too, but it's more common in the plural.

Maybe even leaving out TRIG would have been better. SIN COS TAN tells the story pretty well without TRIG, anyway.

I did love the clue for TACO STAND. [Shell station?] hinting at the Shell gas stations, misdirecting from TACO shells = brilliant.

And that clue for MORSE CODE! I fell into Pete's trap with both feet. Part of me still wonders what that ellipsis is leading to!

The math-lover in me enjoyed seeing the TRIG functions in proper order. The crossword-lover in me had problems with the execution.