New York Times, Friday, May 31, 2019

This puzzle is brought to you by the free Wi-Fi that I couldn't actually get to work.

I mean this in two senses: I first created the grid while sitting in a packed bus, unable to connect to its alleged "complimentary internet" ... and that NW corner, where I began, originally had FREE WIFI in place of FREEMIUM.

Flexibility is key to balancing liveliness and smoothness in themelesses. When I construct these puzzles, I place the black squares as I go, and let their constraints trickle down to flesh out the eventual skeleton. In the grid to the right, my top stack is basically finished, and already clears my bar for enjoyment, but I've left myself a whole bunch of fun options for 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-Down since their lengths aren't yet fixed. I generally try to cram in as much cool stuff as I possibly can when I get started, and if there's even one thing that makes me scowl, I peel back.

That said, for this puzzle, in particular, I took a completely different approach than usual: dropping that black square right below THREE the moment I saw it would facilitate AREN'T WE ALL and WHAT'S NEXT with still zero junk (gird to the left). There's something to be said for a truly eye-popping, low-word-count grid, and maybe some time (read: "never") I'd love to see if I could've pulled off, say, a quad stack of 9s in those Downs. But I was super pumped about what I had going for me here, so I did what I did and moved on to make sure I could pack as much juice into the symmetrically opposite corner.

You'll notice that I tacked on four more black squares to form those T-shape configurations, which still feels inelegant to the constructor in me ... but zippy stuff like HIT JOB, Y SHAPE, BRO HUG, COACH K and SPRINKLE wouldn't be there without them.

As always, hope you enjoyed!

Sam's voice shining through today, so much colloquial OH REALLY, AREN'T WE ALL, WHAT'S NEXT packed into that NW corner alone. The opposite corner featured some freshness in UBERGEEK (hand raised!) and GOOD DOGGY, beautiful stuff.

Sometimes Sam's puzzles are too young-feeling for me, making me feel over the hill (insert old man shaking fist emoji), but there wasn't anything that felt out of my grasp today. Indeed, even the BROHUG is something I awkwardly give to guys I'm sort of friends with, and I don't know if we should be handshaking or hugging. Good ol' hard slaps on the back, saving the day!

FREEMIUM was another one that might feel too modern, fresh for some. I play "Clash Royale" obsessively, so FREEMIUM came easily to me. You can get pretty good at the game with a free account (which I've proudly achieved; only taken me two years), or buy your way into greatness with premium in-game purchases.

There's so much open space in the two marquee corners that I would have thought the remaining two corners would be relatively easy to fill with color and cleanliness. I did like COACH K / STOOGE (I admit to making fun of Dukies; it's just too easy) in the SW, but the NE corner felt iffy.

A MOI isn't great to start; then I wondered how many normal folks would be elated by HYDROXYL, taking up a valuable long slot. (I'm a fan, as chemistry was one of my favorite subjects in school, so to drop it in with just a -OH reference felt great.) Then, Y SHAPE? I disagree with Sam here — not sure it works well as a stand-alone phrase. Toss in OPEL, and the entire corner felt shaky.

As much as I liked HIT JOB, I bet replacing it with something a little less sparkly would have given the corner a better net result.

A lot to love overall though: good use of long slots, plus mid-length entries like EMERALD TYMPANI AMPERE adding some color, sound, and sparks.