New York Times, Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Somewhere along the line, PRAIRIE OYS got into me head as a funny phrase that might work in a puzzle, but I had two concerns: first, would it be funny to editors and solvers (funny to me isn't funny to everyone)? And what was the glue — the revealer — that would justify omitting TER at the ends of familiar phrases? Soon enough, LETTER DROP (read as three words) became the obvious solution. (BTW, I had prairie oysters for lunch once, back in the early 1970s in Montana at an A&W that sold them as "Blazing Bull Nuggets." Wow! Tasty and spicy!) GIMME SHEL also struck me as funny, though the base phrase — the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" — is anything but.

I was committed to making a six-theme puzzle, knowing full well that the theme answers (if going across) would all be separated by a single row, and there would be extra pressure on the non-theme fill — with 25- and 27-Down cutting through three theme entries. So I moved things around until everything seemed to work pretty well. And a tip o' the hat to OSAKA for just existing — and anchoring the most challenging section of the grid.

Off-topic note: some of you know that, like several other constructors, my entire career has been as a full-time writer (television, plays, novels). If you're curious, please visit my website and have a look. Thanks!

LETTER DROP parsed into LET TER DROP. PORTRAIT PAIN made me chuckle-cringe, imagining a model developing a cramp, and the painter pleading for him/her to hold the pose just a few more minutes. (I have a weird phobia of being asked to sit for a portrait, in a fixed position for a long period of time. There's probably a term for it — fixaphobia?)

I had a good laugh at PRAIRIE OYS, people in wagon trains kvetching about the rough rides. I didn't know what a PRAIRIE OYSTER was, though, which took away from the amusement. Apparently, it's a hangover "cure" consisting of raw egg, Worcestershire, hot sauce, salt, and pepper.

I'd rather have the hangover.

LETTER DROP does have dictionary support, but is the term used these days? Hard for me to say since I rarely go to the post office. I think I've seen slots before, but I always thought they were "mail drops."

No long bonuses in the grid, but CHIMERA, ERNESTO, POISONS, and PLODDED are all pretty good. I especially liked CHIMERA, as it has so many interesting definitions: the Greek fire-breathing monster, a wished-for thing impossible to achieve, and a biological organism with a mixture of genetic tissues. Great word.

Some crossword glue holding everything together. But considering there are six themers, to keep it to the minor evils of LAN (local area network), UPSY (can only clue it one way), HST, TSP, DES, and AM SO isn't bad at all. PREXY isn't something I've ever heard in real life, but it does have dictionary support. Perhaps it's a term used more by a different generation?

None of the themers made me out-and-out laugh, so I might have liked fewer examples. That would have allowed for more sizzling bonus fill like CHIMERA worked in for good measure, plus fewer short, gluey bits.

ADDED NOTE: Reader Deb Gordon points out that PRAIRIE OYSTERS are also slang for ... ahem ... bull testicles. OYS indeed!