Adam Aaronson author page

A themeless rarely contains a handful of entries that weren't already on our XWord Info Word List. Adam went big today, with a whopping seven that Jim Horne and I hadn't already considered! DID YOU HEAR is the standout — hardly an entry for the sheeple.

You'd think that I would have figured out MEEPLE more quickly. Some even look like tiny STAND-UP GUYs. You know it's a Saturday when you don't even get a "in slang" tag to help you.

More Saturdayness: ITALIAN LIT is eco-centric? Even with the telltale question mark, I made wild hypotheses about forward-thinking Genoans from long ago, writing about saving the Earth. Nope, that's Eco, as in Umberto ECO, a favorite of crossword constructors everywhere. Enjoyable insidery nod.

THESE PARTS didn't come quickly. I debated if I liked it or not — does it sound like a partial without "around" or "in"? — but around these parts, I decided that it's solid(ish) enough for THE U and me.

I enjoy BAKED CLAMS every once in a while, although I'm all about quantity per unit price when Jill and I have date night. If that single BAKED CLAM costs 99 cents or less, I might consider it.

68-word themelesses are rarely easy to fill, but Adam packed in a lot of pizzazz with only resorting to a bit of SMEE and SNO. The opening corner was especially colorful; a colloquial GOSH DARN IT (only bettered by "consarn it!") / OUT OF TOUCH / ON A PLATTER. Themelesses are ultra-competitive these days, but a stack like this gets your foot in the door.

I'd have loved more devilish wordplay in a Saturday solve, but getting few spots of [Go green, perhaps?] for ROT was a good start.

Finally, a puzzle for us uber-dorks! Forget the NYT crossword's usual snooty art and literature references. Chuck the too-clever culture clues. Screw science fiction — today we're treated to science fact! BARS. METER. GRAMS. NEWTON!

Wait. BARS?

BARS?!

No, no, no! You can't use a non-SI unit when you've used three standards. It should have been PASCALS.

Huh? No in-the-language phrases use PASCAL? Yeah, but—

Watt? No one knows weber SI units are important or not?

Ohm my God, my head hertz.

Reasonable early-week theme, although the parentheticals in clues gave away the idea right off the bat. Even something straightforward as UNIT could have served as a revealer.

Okay fine, no one would have recognized the BAR or NEWTON as a UNIT!

I'm out of lux today.

Although the theme straddled the no-man's-land between techies and fuzzies, I enjoyed so much of the fill. LOLCATS are from a generation ago, but I still lol at them. CILANTRO makes me remember a friend who nearly broke up with someone because he thought it tasted like soap. OOH BABY, that was a lot to enjoy!

ADDED NOTE: It wasn't until I read the constructing trio's note that I realized all the themers are fruit-related. D'oh! That helps elevate the concept, no doubt, and I appreciate that it's an observation I never would have noticed. Still, without some revealer to pull things together — a shame that FRUITY UNIT isn't a real phrase — it's kind of an odd mix-up of fruits and voltables.

★ Longtime readers know my love of Matt Gaffney's metapuzzle series. It's not uncommon for theme answers' clues to include numbers that hint at something. These numbers could lead to the letter number within the theme answer — KEVIN KLINE [7,9] would return the 7^th and 9^th letters, or L and N — or something completely different. These cryptic hints can be maddeningly difficult to crack, but once you get them, it's magic.

I went into this one with the meta-detective mindset, considering all sorts of strategies on how to use the clue numbers. Clearly, they had to lead to some meta-answer, somehow. Yet when I got to WAR HERO [4,0], I was baffled. How could an enumeration of zero possibly work? Was there a zeroth square hidden to the left of square one?

And when I typed in the last square, I was … done? Adam, this is supposed to be a mid-week puzzle, not one of Matt's deadly week 5 brain-melters!

Oh. I glossed over a long clue, for RHYMING.

Eh?

Ah! AH!

WHHHA?!

GREAT FUN is so apt, those numbers rhyming with their two-word entries. WAR HERO rhymes with FOUR ZERO, that's so novel and entertaining!

It's extremely rare that I run across a puzzle where I can't immediately recall some predecessor or even ancestor on the crosswording evolutionary chain. Along with some delights in GASTROPUB and MCDOUBLES more than making up for gloopy IS TOO VILLE (neighboring town to Whoville), I haven't decided on my POW! so quickly in ages. Bravo, Adam!

(Answer to Adam's bonus: [8, 2, 4] = GREAT SIOUX WAR)

This puzzle was brought to you by the Fonz!

Wait. Who's the Fonz, you ask? You know, the leather-jacketed, motorcycle-driving cool dude whose catchphrase was "Aaaa"? Played by Henry Winkler!

Oh. "Happy Days" is too far in the past for you? Then I'm sure you'll recognize Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckercorn, the lawyer on "Arrested Development."

That's a show your parents used to watch, back in the day?

Appropriate that I'll be eligible to get my AARP CARD in a few weeks.

I enjoyed the DOUBLE A TEAM theme, especially given the author. If you ever wonder where constructors get their inspiration, you might read Adam Aaronson's Constructor Notes today ... eh?

I also appreciated the variety Adam included. Thing, double-A group, animal, person's initials, single-A term, capping it off with a life-imitates-art AARON(SON). It's not a tight set in that there are many other options available, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of another major way to use AA to start an entry. It was so frustrating, I yelled out AAUGH!

Huh? I did it! What a feeling! AAH, THAT'S THE STUFF.

Impressive work, laying out seven themers. Squishing two entries atop each other can create filling difficulties — ERIES of AABATTERIES over the AAMEE of AAMEETING can ruin you with just one unfriendly combination. Luckily, Adam had much flexibility in themer placements and order of presentation, and he found a great meshing. Short glue, my ARSE.

Interesting choice to use ELL / ELSA vs. ILL / ILSA. Yes, ELSA the princess is everywhere, but for the price of ELL? Why not go with ILSA Lund, famed "Casablanca" lead …

What? That's a movie you remember your great-grandpa rambling on about?

AARGH!

Great quantity of long slots, and even better utilization. With 16 long slots (8+ letters), it seemed like I was uncovering goodies everywhere I went. Almost every one of these entries was excellent to memorable, too. The CLEAN PLATE CLUB has one member in my household — hey, don't throw away that perfectly good apple core! I didn't know STRANGER THINGS, but now I want to try it out because of the clue. Why would it spur on a surge in Eggo sales? I can't wait to find out.

DEBATE TEAMS is a strong entry in its own right, and [Groups with lots of issues to talk through] had me thinking about support groups. There's so much potential for clever cluing, and Aaron took full advantage of it.

I found the TIMOTHEE / EDIE cross challenging, but Chalamet is potentially the brightest male star of his generation? No pressure there! I'm glad the clue referenced the upcoming "Dune," as I'll have even more reason to see it.

A couple more not-so-familiar words in DILI and DURAG. World capitals ought to be all fair game, and although East Timor isn't the largest country, it's still relevant. I ended up loving the clue for DURAG. I enjoyed the article. Spelling it DORAG always seemed odd, too, given its pronunciation.

Great Saturday themelesses are marked by stellar fill and, even more so, by stellar cluing. Wordplay like [Not-so-big shot] is magic. Not only do you mislead toward a singular instead of plural BBS, but it's such a creative way to repurpose "big shot."

What a shame that that EIGHTY EIGHT / NIGHTY NIGHT themeless came out less than three months ago. This stairstack of doubled IGHT answers is a neat mini-theme, but one whose impact was blunted tremendously — especially considering David Steinberg's entertaining backstory of how he paired them. (Click on the red "read more" link to get the anecdote.)

Disappointment aside, I still had fun solving Adam's creation. Not only did the IGHT stacks (and even longer IGH one) entertain in the same way as David's ZZ stack, but Adam did something stairstack creators usually avoid: putting a triplet of long answers in the bottom left instead of the bottom right.

This gave Adam an incredibly difficult task. It's often difficult to squeeze much juice out of the Down answers in the lower left of a stairstack, since these entries have to mesh with the center rows. Add yet another constraint — having to connect these Downs with another triplet of long answers at the bottom — and making the most of all your long slots becomes an EINSTEINian challenge.

The cheaters in the SW / NE corners made Adam's life easier, taking away a pair of precious 6-letter slots. Still, ILL PASS to TEXAS TEA to SAT TIGHT, and EINSTEIN / NO SIREE are some solid results.

Great AREOLA clue, referencing nipple piercing. Usually hesitant constructors and editors pass AREOLA off as part of the eye, so I'm glad to see the NY Times get with the times.

I enjoyed today's puzzle, but I mIGHT have loved it a year from now, after David's puzzle faded more from memory.

I'd never heard of WHITE CLAW until last year. Not surprising, given that these days half a beer and I'll fall asleep. On a related note, Ricky and I have been working on a 21x21 crossword together, and he proposed FOUR LOKO in one spot. I was too embarrassed to admit I had no idea what that was — I said something to the effect of "what an awesome band, right?"

MARIO KART is much more my speed. Slow, that is, given that even my 8-year-old nephew can lap me. Even when I'm cheating. Apparently, I need new WHIPS. (I didn't know that one, either. Man. Talk about getting lapped.)

I love COINKYDINK, such a fun word to say, but I've heard others groan at how cloyingly cutesy entries like this are. Heck, I'm still not a fan of people saying "totes" for totally and "besties" and such. I never said I was consistent!

The most colorful answer in the grid for me was GLITTER. Surprised? Not if you saw the state of my living room, what with a self-professed crafts-lover who hasn't figured how to control her liberal GLITTER-sowing mania.

Great clue for TATTOO INK. It's already a fun entry, and wow, did it sizzle by playing on something "hard to get off your chest." Brilliant!

Similar for NBA PLAYER. I've seen Steph Curry's last name played upon several times, but I still got tricked. Did it mean the sauce? Curry favor? Ann Curry? For such a specific-seeming word, it sure has many directions it could go in.

Finally, I appreciated the fresh angle for TESSERACT. Some constructors consider it a bit of a cheat word, since it features so many common letters, but referencing the recent "Avengers" movies elevated it.

"867-5309/Jenny" got air time when I was back in high school. I even I tried calling the number once. I waited until our land line was free, picked up our rotary dial phone, and plugged away at it. I had to restart a few times because the darn dial kept slipping halfway around, as it always did, so when I got the "your call must include an area code" automated message and my mom picked up the other line to scream at me to stop using the phone for nonsense, I figured I'd have better luck waiting for Jenny to call me.

That song debuted in 1981? Forty years ago? Yikes! I'm curious to see how many Gen Y and Millennial solvers (besides Adam!) will be baffled today.

Audacious to tackle seven(!) themers, along with JENNY, even with that extra column. Neat observation that none of the numbers repeat, which would have make this theme a no-go, due to the rule of no duplications within a grid. Some top-notch craftsmanship to put together something that knitted together so well. The NE corner is particularly challenging, with two stacked themers having to flow into the central FIVE GUYS. Brilliant to work in INNUENDO, such a great word filled with … well, innuendo.

I also appreciated Chris and Adam's care in making proper names unambiguous. If you didn't know Bud SELIG, Ted CHIANG, or the ENIAC, it'd be an uphill battle to argue that any of those letters was a trap. Perhaps if you're vegetarian, FIVE ?UYS might seem better as FIVE MUYS, a Spanish chain? And maybe you could argue that baby animals are MUTE, but I would say "huh?" or maybe HUNH (probably not) to you.

Some puzzles are geared toward the young and hip, so one could argue that there should be some for the rotary dial crowd. I'd prefer to have puzzles that aren't so divisive, with some people overjoyed and some people feeling shunned. Hard to please everyone, though.

Debut entries can be so divisive, and so subjective. I didn't know yesterday's 1-Across, BEER BAR, and I didn't care for it. I'm sure others enjoyed it! I didn't know today's 1-Across, either, which begs the question, what the hell do I know? (Little to nothing.) I loved PLOT ARMOR, that I do know! As a writer, I wish I'd heard this awesome term before, and I'm going to strive to drop it casually into conversations.

YIPPIE KAY YAY … doesn't it feel incomplete without its final word? And doesn't … huh? I spelled it wrong? For f's sake, fine! YIPPEE KY YEA, are you happy now?

No?

Let's hope you're wearing some plot armor, my friend.

Interesting way to clue RHEA PERLMAN. I grew up with Carla Tortelli and Woody Boyd, so I plunked her in off the initial RH. The RH factor, boom! Sure has been a while since she's had another marquee role. With all the NBC reunions last year — notably "Parks and Rec" and "30 Rock" — I'd love to see the old "Cheers" gang back together.

(Ok, Boomer, I can hear the Millennials snarking.)

Speaking of snark, AND YOU ARE … ? is dripping with so much condescension! I think I love it, although it's a bit too Diane Chambers for my taste.

YIPPY KI YAY, MILLENNIALS!

Entertaining cluing today. [Chuck at high speed] is a perfect way to disguise Chuck YEAGER's first name. Today was the first time I didn't cringe at a MAN BUN. [Bunch of hipsters?], as in hair bunched up, like you're trying too hard to look cool, is awesome.

A lot to love, with IT DEPENDS, FALSE HOPE, PA SYSTEMS, WAKANDA forever! Enough that didn't quite resonate though, with this sushi-lover befuddled by GARI, WHEN IS IT feeling a bit odd, and some wastage with SET FREE.

★ PLAY WITHIN A PLAY deserves a standing O; such an evocative phrase. There's so much you can do with the cluing, too. I'm not familiar with The Murder of Gonzago, but I enjoyed learning about it — there's something so meta about Shakespeare writing a play about a play. You could also go in the wordplay-related-cleverness direction, since the phrase is so recognizable. Maybe use language about actors acting an act? Or reenactments? It's a perfect seed.

I dig mini-themes, and the wackiness of the consonant pileups in KRYZYZEWSKI / KYRGYZSTAN delighted me. There's a reason they call him "Coach K"! I have a feeling that this could alienate some solvers, especially non bball-fans, but I loved it. Even knowing Coach K well, all I could drop in was the K and the SKI. It was so amusing to work out the actual sequence of letters in a name that I've heard a hundred times. I'm so glad that Adam and Paolo made each and every crossing fair!

So many delightful clues, too. My favorites:

• DNA SAMPLE so aptly fits "spit take." That's brilliant!
• HSN hidden in "television shopping"; neat bit of trivia.
• FUR as [Stole something?], as in a FUR stole — grammatically it's not quite right, but it stole my heart.
• I had to think about SPA as a [Facial joint]? Ah, a joint, as in a place to get a facial! I love it when a clue makes negative sense but then suddenly snaps into focus.

I have a feeling that some solvers won't connect to this puzzle because they don't know (or care) who Coach K is, but this admirer of one of basketball's most storied coaches loved it. The entertaining mini-theme, the sizzling PLAY WITHIN A PLAY, so many smile-inducing clever clues? Definitely my POW!

I could see how yesterday's would be other solvers' POW!, though. So much about themelesses is one's personal connection to the feature entries.

PS. Congratulations to Paolo Pasco for winning this year's Boswords Crossword Tournament!

Debut! The HAMBURGLAR always makes me laugh. Of all the things in the world to steal, you target a McDonald's hamburger? So many machinations, so many plots, all to burgle a buck's worth of food? Just give it to him already, Ronald, you cheap-*ss b*stard!

Speaking of seeing stars in SWEAR WORDs …

Intriguing choices for the marquee 11-letter answers. YES SIREE BOB is an oldie but a goodie, so it surprised me to see that it was an NYT debut. I enjoyed WORLD WAR III, but I wonder if it'll be divisive, considering today's political climate. Knowing who has the nuclear launch codes and said person's penchant for ranting tweetstorms at leaders of nuclear powers … I don't love this entry as much as I used to.

The SE corner spoke to me, as I'm fascinated by TECH DEMOs, and ON THAT NOTE / TO A DEGREE both had a fun *ahem* throat-clearing flavor. Toss in MISS SAIGON, and it all became BEGUILING. Great work.

There were too many entries that I didn't connect to, though. CLAP-O-METER is self-explanatory, but I can't say I've ever heard the term. Same with PILLOW LACE. I'm glad the clue for OCTOBER SKY used the anagram of "Rocket Boys." And while that was an interesting piece of trivia, neither sounded familiar. Along with almost (but not quite) being able to pull the RYDER CUP out of the nether regions of memory storage, it wasn't quite TURNT.

I probably used that last word wrong. And I'm proud of it!

Not the cleanest themeless debut — DAK EMAG INT SLC is a lot for a 70-word puzzle — but enough color to offset that. I'd hit the LIKE BUTTON (if I knew what social media platform I was supposed to be on these days).