Neat idea, an -ING ending changed to a short -EN or -ON sound. Consistently executed, each two-word phrase morphed from something ...
read moreNeat idea, an -ING ending changed to a short -EN or -ON sound. Consistently executed, each two-word phrase morphed from something colorful, i.e. (HOLDING TANK), to (celeb) + (noun) = HOLDEN TANK.
I really wanted it to be HOLDEN'S TANK, since HOLDEN is strange when used as an adjective, but HOLDING to HOLDEN'S would be even weirder.

Such an impressively executed grid. I didn't have even a minor hitch the entire way through — incredibly smooth for any puzzle, but even more so for a theme-dense puzzle also containing a ton of long, snazzy fill. Sean uses the dreaded 11-letter answer in the middle of the grid, which sort of splits the grid in half, plus calls for "Utah blocks" on the sides. Makes construction tough, leaving some chunky, wide-open corners to fill.
Beautiful work in the toughest areas, the NE and SW. The HAIR DYE / UMPTEEN combo is gold, and Sean finishes out that corner with nary a gluey bit. (NYT solvers absolutely should know their world leaders, so EHUD Barak doesn't even give me slight pause.) And NEW AGER / A LA MODE / DIAL TONE — three beautiful answers! Sure, it came with the cost of ELA and AM TOO, but considering how clean the rest of his grid is, that's a good trade-off in my eyes.
And the mid-length stuff: UTOPIA, CELEBS, LL BEAN, even SOLACE and BUCKO = excellent use of those often neglected 5- and 6-letter slots.
I had no idea what the NAME clue meant: [Arnold, Ronald, or Roland]. Was Arnold Ronald Roland some famous rapper or Silent Era actor? I think it's just getting at the fact that they're anagrams of each other.
The kooky end results didn't totally sizzle for me since LANDON GEAR feels like such a forced phrase. (If only there had been some way to make it into LANDON'S GEAR!) But all five answers were done consistently, using five snappy base phrases. And the grid execution really heightened my overall solving experience.