OP-ED COLUMN interpreted as "entries hiding OPED within." Nice touch to have them going downward … in the COLUMNs of the grid! I ...
read moreOP-ED COLUMN interpreted as "entries hiding OPED within." Nice touch to have them going downward … in the COLUMNs of the grid! I particularly liked HOPE DIAMOND, which has all sorts of lore associated with it. EUROPE DAY was interesting too — I had no idea that it was a thing, but I'd bet it's quite a bit more well-known in ... well, Europe.

Very nice grid, with some wide-open corners in the upper right and lower left. That allows Jacob to work in some entries Monday solvers probably haven't seen much of. There wasn't anything super exciting other than HAYRIDES, but it's pretty neat to come across a little COURAGE and SPRINTS. APPROVED!
I also like how much care and attention Jacob put into his short fill. It's not easy to work with five themers, especially when you have a middle one of 11-letters splitting the grid in half. But Jacob keeps everything very smooth. DWI is about the only gluey bit I could find, but that's a common enough acronym. Driving while intoxicated / driving while impaired / driving under the influence are confusing to keep straight ... as demonstrated by my getting the acronyms wrong in my first draft of this blog post (thanks for the catch, Kevin Loughrey and Jon Markman!)
I did find the puzzle more of a stop and start than a usual Monday, but that was more due to tougher vocabulary and names. That's okay with me as long as all the crossings are fair. Shirley EATON is pretty hard, and ODESSA isn't something beginning solvers will likely know. These both are common(ish) in later-week crosswords due to their friendly letter patterns, but it's really important that every crossing is gettable when they're in a Monday puzzle. Jacob does well in this regard.
Some nice mid-length fill in NEWMAN! OH STOP, COP CAR, SEA DOG. It's all worked in so smoothly.
PIANO PEDAL didn't hit my ear very well (don't you just call it a pedal?), and SLOPE DOWN is one of those less-interesting add-a-preposition phrases, so I didn't care for them as much as the colorful HOPE DIAMOND. A well-crafted puzzle though, with the added bonus of having those OPEDs all being within downward COLUMNs.