New York Times, Tuesday, March 29, 2016

There are some things about this puzzle that I really like.

• I like that the sets of circles are symmetrically placed.
• I like that the themed entries (are there three or five? — more about that in a minute) all run through a set of circles, with DOGLEGS running through two.
• I like the atlas-y feeling middle of the grid, with LIBYA, RIYADH, OSLO, MALI, EL PASO, and ERIN.
• I like that I no longer play golf, and now have a hobby (crossword puzzle construction) that actually pays me a little bit of money.
• I like that I was able to fit the names of my three children — ELIE, ESME, and ESAI — in the grid. (By the way, the baby's on its way — ELKE if it's a girl, ESAU if it's a boy?)
• I like that, in the spite of the presence of ELIE, ESME, and ESAI, the fill was not too ugly, given that diagonal entries often put a real strain on a grid.

Now, about those themed entries. DOGLEGS and GOLF COURSE are certainly legit. What about LADIES TEES? They're definitely on golf courses, but they don't really have anything to do with doglegs. I also have the symmetrically placed ON A PAR and CARDED in the grid. Themed entries? If so, they're very, very weak. "On a par" has nothing to do with golf, other than sharing the word "par". "Carded" could be clued in a number of ways. I chose to clue it (and Will & Joel chose to keep it clued) in a golf sense.

I hope this gets you ready for the Masters, which starts in a little more than a week. I don't care much for golf on TV, but that course is so gorgeous, I often tune in for just a peek.

DOGLEGS today, four types of dogs "bent" into the shape of golf course doglegs (when a fairway takes a bend). Pretty, those sets of circles in the grid. Something graceful about them, and they sort of evoke the image of a big golf course within the grid. (Sort of.)

GOLF COURSE is more or less essential to include as a revealer — just DOGLEGS might leave too many non-golfing solvers scratching their heads. Tough to find something equally perfect for the symmetrical spot. LADIES TEES are definitely real, where we horrifyingly poor golfers pretend we're are allowed to tee off. To Pete's point, it felt pretty shaky as a themer.

I might have preferred something like DOGLEG LEFT to match GOLF COURSE. Of course, that would mean all the dogs would need to bend left, making it very difficult to achieve symmetry in the sets of circles. But as pretty as that looks (SETTER symmetrically matching COLLIE), this is a rare case where I might have voted for asymmetry. Golf courses are never (rarely?) laid out to have rotational symmetry, so more random placements of the DOGLEGS might have been more evocative.

That could have also helped with the difficulty involved with placing diagonal entries in a crossword. Diagonal entries are notorious for necessitating crossword glue; such a tough task to fill around diagonal entries. Peter already does pretty well though, with really just an I GOT around one of them and an INGLE (I'm still undecided on that one), using his black squares really wisely to separate the sets of circles.

Solvers may have missed the bonus entries, ON A PAR and CARDED, placed in symmetrical spots. They don't directly tie into the DOGLEGS theme, but they do add a little more golf-y feel to the puzzle.

Loved the clue for HAT. "Overhead expense" is common in business-speak, so to repurpose it for a hat purchase is clever.

Some pretty grid imagery today, along with solid execution.