New York Times, Monday, August 8, 2022

This is my second puzzle for the Times. My first was a collaboration with my daughter, Tess Davison that appeared in January 2020. There have been many rejections in between that one and this one!

I began working on this puzzle in January 2021. I seem to remember a small controversy about a clue for the entry PAD that would be immediately obvious to most women and girls but completely puzzling to most men. Some commenters pointed out that since most puzzle constructors are men, many puzzles are very male-oriented. (I know I get hung up when a theme is sports-related.) So, as a female constructor, I decided to think of a theme that would be familiar to more women than men — and came up with makeup!

My original attempt has gone through a couple of revisions, and I'd like to give a shoutout to the Puzzles team — especially Tracy Bennett — for their help and encouragement.

My seven-year-old daughter (also named Tess!) is obsessed with MAKEUP. The other day, she did herself up and asked, "How do I look?" Given my principle of never lying to my kids, it was difficult to make up something that wasn't "like a rainbow threw up a rodeo clown." CLEAN UP on aisle Tess! I managed to say something that didn't make either of us BLUSH, but I did disappear into the SHADOWs before she could ask me more.

Needless to say, AMNESIAC and EGRESS were right on point today.

This concept sounded familiar, so I searched *MAKEUP* in our Finder (the asterisks mean "anything of any length"). Plenty of MAKEUP GAME and MAKEUP EXAM puns, along with an imaginative interpretation of KISS AND MAKE UP, but the last puzzle of this exact nature was back in 2012 — more than long enough that another go-around is perfectly fine.

Tidy intersection of MAKEUP and LINER NOTES — that's a great way to deal with a six-letter revealer. Putting MAKEUP as the last Across entry would delay the punchline until the end, but a six-letter final Across can cause gridding problems.

And crossing thematic entries like this allows for efficient use of space, assuming the letters around the intersection don't cause problems. The K can be a tough nut, but Kathy did a nice job in that region, AKA a fine entry, and not a drop of crossword glue in that corner.

There's a bit of OPIE (outdated) XTRA (adspeak) in other locales, but bonuses such as STALE AIR and ICED TEA more than make up for them.

Not a theme that will shake one's foundation, but the most crucial aspect to a Monday puzzle is newb-friendliness, which this one achieves.