New York Times, Friday, June 3, 2016

A non-15x15 themeless! The 14x16 shape is a refreshing change of pace that helps Josh work in the beautiful SHERLOCK HOLMES and COLONEL SANDERS much more easily than usual. These 14-letter entries are normally "awkward lengths" in that they force black square placement in a 15x15 grid. Smart thinking to try a 14x16 in order to give more construction flexibility.

And what a great clue for COLONEL SANDERS: [Wing man?]. Neat quote for SHERLOCK HOLMES too: "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact." So Sherlockian. I can see why Josh chose this pair to build a grid around; two colorful and well-known characters with huge potential for clever clues.

As with most all Knapp puzzles, there's a lot of snazzy material packed in. It's hard to achieve good grid flow like that of the SE corner, with two big entrances/exits to that space, and it's even harder to achieve with great material like OLD HICKORY, NO PROB, CRACKPOT, FLOOR IT. Very well done there.

The opposite corner is pretty nice too, with GUN CONTROL, colloquial TIL NOW, even CAPULET, APERCU and CAVEAT. AVENUE B seems arbitrary, but thankfully that final letter gets a very easy crossing, making it fair, if not super elegant.

The bottom left and upper right corners might seem like they'd be easier to construct — only one way in or out — but they not only have to work with the SHERLOCK HOLMES/COLONEL SANDERS pair, but also with a seven-letter slot stacked in proximity. I love ONE LOVE, and CABOOSE is pretty good too. I wasn't as much of a fan of these corners as I was of the rest of the puzzle though, with STAINLESS, LOATHSOME, and ELEGANTLY feeling like there was more potential left untapped in those slots. I wanted more of the SCOFFLAWS kind of entry — such a fun word!

I really appreciated the relative lack of gluey bits, as I've come to expect from Josh's puzzles. Perhaps not as much in terms of snazzy assets as usual, but I do have quite a high bar for Josh.