Allan E. Parrish author page

Anagrams today, ANGEL to ANGLE to LANGE to NAGEL. I didn't know that last one, but some research shows that he's gridworthy, what with his giant filmography as well as his hosting of two Academy Award ceremonies. I might have preferred to have him as a piece of fill rather than a themer, but I couldn't think of another ANGEL anagram to take his place.

Two nice pieces of long fill today, AGGREGATE and LETS DANCE. See how both of these run through only one themer? And how they (more or less) sit in their own corner? This grid design gives high flexibility to make those long entry sing. With very few constraints, there should be many possibilities that are both colorful and allow the surrounding area to be filled cleanly.

LETS DANCE works great for me. My pop music knowledge is abysmal, but I know David Bowie. And I even (sorta kinda) could hum the tune before looking it up! Catchy bugger; I'd count that as an asset to the puzzle.

AGGREGATE isn't as strong to me. Yes, it's a fine word, but I'd count it as a neutral entry rather than chalking one up in the assets column. Not only is a common, not-super-colorful word, but the clue is definitional. Perhaps if it had a clever wordplay element, I would think of it differently. But why not choose something as strong as LETS DANCE in the first place?

I did appreciate the effort to work in good mid-length entries: BOLSHOI, REDHEAD and NEST EGG. Even ICICLE added to my experience, with its nice [Emotionally distant person, metaphorically] clue. Anything that points out the beauty and zest woven into the English language is a positive in my book.

For a puzzle with average theme density (four medium length entries), I expect a nearly clean grid. Not enough constraints to justify more than three or four bits like ENDO, ETE, and the partialish FA LA LA. I'd have loved to see OOX worked out of the grid, maybe changing ANNALS to the spicy ANDALE!

Generally I like a revealer; an entry that ties the puzzle nicely together. But for themes like today's, I really appreciate having to go back after finishing to figure out what was going on. Nice little moment when I pulled out the LANDAU from memory as a type of transport. CARRIAGE and COACH are also nicely disguised.

Going down to 72 words allows Allan to give us many long pieces of fill. So much potential when you have six 8-letter slots — and six 7-letter ones to boot! Some of them hit the bulls-eye for me, BABUSHKA, TOSHIBA, LAPDOGS all bringing me a smile.

I did like the challenge presented by a more wide-open grid, although entries like the outdated-sounding PASSBOOK (note: Jim points out that Apple announced today that their new watch supports its Passbook feature, so maybe this term is making a comeback?), and the neutral SPEEDIER and PARENTAL felt a bit like missed opportunity. Often I'll start my own grids with six 8-letter slots but eventually break up a set so that I can get four stellar ones instead of two stars plus four placeholders. It's a tough call, because some people may really love PASSBOOK or even GRASSLE, for example. Trying to guess what a majority of solvers is going to enjoy is a tough business, indeed.

Nice integration of the J and K up in the NW corner. I like the Scrabbliness there, and if the minor price is a KEA and A PIN, I think that's a reasonable trade-off.

The Z down south though … NAZI? Yes, it's clueable to a modern movie, but my guess is that many solvers really don't want to see NAZI as they're enjoying their crossword over a coffee break.

Finally, GROK may be out of many people's wheelhouse, but I think it's a really useful word. If you haven't read Stranger in a Strange Land (where the term "grok" originated), it's well worth it.

Anagramming theme today, the letters in TAMES rearranged at the end of five themers. This one took me much longer than an average Monday, as I got held up at PERLE MESTA, needing every cross to figure out this baffling entry. I enjoyed looking her up though — someone nicknamed "the hostess with the mostest" is bound to be interesting.

I liked how Allan worked in his Scrabbly letters today. Too often a J or a Q feels shoehorned in, with compromises galore. But not only is SUSIE Q a really fun entry with an unusual Q ending, it's worked in so smoothly with QUALM. Well done. Same goes for the J up at JAPES / JIM. Those relatively unconstrained areas make for great opportunities to integrate one of these rare letters.

The puzzle has an older feel to it, what with PERLE MESTA, ADLAI, EGAD, DECO clued to the '30 style, ODAY with an "Old..." clue, ZOOT suit. I understand Will's desire to cater to different subsets of his broad audience, and this one will no doubt play better to the older market segments than the younger ones. I personally would like to see less concentration; a wider variety of old and new entries in a single puzzle. Personal preference.

I liked the fact that Allan kept his glue bits to a minimum. It would have been nice if they didn't come from the same category, though — MSGS, SSGTS, SYNS all feel a little too similar, so they stuck out in my mind.

Finally, nice extra effort put in with the revealer, TAMES, helping to explain the theme to novice solvers. It's awfully difficult to find a nice phrase ending in TAMES (LION TAMES feels awkward) so it's a good way to put that final anagram permutation to work.

Here's a list of other words that famously have no rhymes. I would have sworn that something rhymes with SILVER ... rats, I have not even a zilver of an idea.