New York Times, Friday, September 17, 2021

A rare sighting of diagonal symmetry, only the ninth in the Shortz era. Three have employed it for grid art reasons, my favorite evoking BENJAMIN FRANKLIN's kite. One explained it using a mathy SYMMETRIC MATRIX rationale, two more were Joe Krozel's ultra-low-block-count pair built on the same grid design, leaving only two other random themelesses.

Why don't more constructors use diagonal symmetry? It opens up new possibilities, with long answers intersecting each other in places we usually don't see. MELTING POT crossing WALL TO WALL at the L, CHICAGO BEARS setting off GLITTER BOMBS (reminds me of the flashy Jim McMahon days) — these are individually possible in themelesses with regular symmetry, although they would call for much different layouts.

One reason to shy away from diag sym is that not all editors enjoy non-standard symmetry. There isn't a searchable repository of LA Times themelesses, but I'm 95% confident that Rich Norris hasn't published more than a tiny sprinkling (if any?). In an era when there's a drenching oversupply of themelesses from constructors and a minuscule pool of publishers, it's hard to give anyone a potential reason to say no.

I'm glad this one made it through the gauntlet, the visual effect strikingly different. Aside from aesthetics, this diagonal symmetry allows for a different distribution of long/short entries. Matthew features a whopping 20 slots of 8+ letters, way more than the average of 12-14. Getting so much DO NOT EAT, PR AGENCY, LEGO MOVIE, LIONS MANE was a treat.

I wasn't as wild about some of the wastage, DETACHES, IN RETURN, SESTINAS, STEADIES more neutral than assets. Along with the side effect of requiring more 4- and 5-letter entries than usual, giving a start-and-stop feel to the solve, it didn't wow me overall.

What did impress was the number of great wordplay clues. [Ground shaking stuff?] is in Clue of the Year territory — as in PEPPER that's ground and shaken on salads. Standing O for that!

I'd love to see more unusual symmetries in themelesses, but I can understand why constructors (myself included) are hesitant. Given how many themelesses I solve, I relish being treated to the PEPPERy spice of life.