I indeed felt SPENT after finishing this puzzle — I'm curious to find out whose clue that was! Some great feature entries, ESSENCE ...
read moreI indeed felt SPENT after finishing this puzzle — I'm curious to find out whose clue that was! Some great feature entries, ESSENCE MAGAZINE with its clue about "Dynamite Afros" (Erik has been known to sport a dynamite Afro!), with EASY MONEY stacked onto top. DISCO BALL also shone (pun intended), even more so given its fantastic clue, [One lighting up the dance floor].
I love Erik's website themelesses, as he's one of the best constructors out there in terms of writing devilishly fantastic clues.

LOZENGES was a perfect example of Agardian cluing. By itself, LOZENGES is not something I'd count as a puzzle asset. But [Hackers' helpers] had me thinking about decoding, encryption schema, password crackers. Great a-ha moment when I realized that "hackers" meant "people that hack." Cough cough.
Erik is much younger and hipper than me, so I do struggle with some of his entries and clues. CAN I LIVE was foreign to me, and I haven't heard anyone say NO BIG. Then again, I play bridge and do crosswords, so I tend to hang out with people who still cling to the 20th century.
ASAPROCKY was another mystery. It took every crossing to figure out — thank goodness each one felt fair! For fun, I tried to guess what the guy's (woman's?) name really was before looking it up. Sadly, my best guess was Asa Procky, followed by As a Procky. ASAP ROCKY is a pretty catchy name, but boy is it tough to suss out.
Unusual to see a Maleskan EFTS in an Agard themeless, but it is a dictionary supported word. Otherwise, strong craftsmanship in putting this grid together. Those big SW / NE corners are so tough to feel cleanly and snazzily, especially with grid spanning entries running through them.
I like when a constructor's vibe and personal interests show through in a puzzle. This one didn't resonate with me, but that's not a surprise given how different my interests are from Erik's. I'm curious to hear how younger people reacted to this one.