Derrick Niederman author page

Amanda Yesnowitz got scooped!

Some delightful finds today, THEM / US in FACE THE MUSIC the big winner. I thought I had the puzzle figured out after the NO YES of ALFRED NOYES, but it was quite the opposite when I got stumped — how are THE and MUS possibly antonyms? It's so neat that THEM/US spans the words of a great phrase, incorporating a mystifying space change as it does.

ENDODONTICS might not be the most interesting themer (unless you're dentist Mark Diehl!), but that's an impressive way to hide the DO/DON'T pair. Much more accessible than ZALAMBDODONTA, anyway.

Others like FIX BREAKFAST and POOR RICHARD were less awe-inspiring, because they're easier to spot.

Is AND the opposite of OR? This Vulcanerd argues that NAND is more logically the opposite of AND; similarly NOR and OR. I'm sure RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY will rag on me just as much as my usual readers, though, for being out of OPERATOR NORM.

I was curious to see what other possibilities a methodical search could turn up. With the help of some lists of opposites and our Finder (in ascending order of WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, JEFF?!:

• NAME YOUR POISON
• I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN
• ARNOLD NEWMAN
• WHATS UP DOWN UNDER
• MELLOWHIGH
• SEAL AND SERPENT

Hardly a BOUQUET OF ROSES, this bunch.

Although the themers landed with mixed results, I loved the concept. It's rare for a Sunday theme to pique my interest to the point of wanting to know how the search was done, much less diving right in, and some of the discoveries will definitely stick in my head.

[UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES] should you let yourself be Rickrolled today.

I had a neat click when I connected THE LADY VANI___ and SHE'S NOT THERE. It's easy enough to see that SHE is missing from THE LADY VANISHES, and the link between a movie and song title felt cool. Not that I've seen the 1938 movie or would be able to sing the 1964 song, but I could at least hum the words of each title.

I enjoyed x^0 = THE POWER OF LOVE too, although that blew the door wide open to hundreds of theme possibilities. It's not as interesting a concept if the songs can be played upon with any sort of cryptic (LETS GO CRAZY = LETSGO "crazily" mixed into LOST, E.G.) or wacky-wordy wordplay, without further constraints.

ENTICEMENT enticed me, though, as it perfectly described COME ON EILEEN. ENTICEMENT is a perfect synonym for COME ON, and EILEEN interpreted as "I lean" is old-school fun. Hopefully, you noticed the italic I, I didn't at first.

Not knowing JUDY IN DISGUISE made filling in the blanks of its clue even harder. I assumed CHAN_E must be CHANCE, so finally sussing out CAR LAND made for a head-scratcher. (GARLAND made a lot more sense!)

I understand that a giant segment of the NYT's solving audience skews older. And if you feature puzzles directed toward a younger generation, why not one highlighting oldies? Aside from RUMOUR HAS IT, none more recent than 1988 … I'm curious to see how this will play with the newer crosswording generation.

I did appreciate the touch of diversity with Prince's LET'S GO CRAZY, but two out of eight is hardly what the NYT should be aiming for, especially when pop music has been more than diverse for decades.

I'm a big fan of Derrick's creative work, most notably an early kangaroo words crossword and a chess problem that blew my mind. He's had some wildly innovative ideas over the years, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Jim said it best: "I thought (it) was amazing. Many will hate it, I suspect, but I was impressed." I found it to be a bold, audacious idea — EVERY across answer and its symmetrical partner uses the exact same clue — that's memorable.

Some of the pairings were brilliant, using the type of wordplay I love: [Caterpillar product] either a PUPA (think entomology) or a PLOW (think Caterpillar, the heavy machinery manufacturer). Others were spot-on like IRONS and WOODS being a [Set of clubs in a bag], or RIDING-hood or MOTHER-hood both working equally well.

It's just amazing to think that someone would be so daring as to attempt to make EVERY SINGLE PAIR OF ACROSS ANSWERS work this way.

Now, some didn't work for me. READINGS can amount to fortunes, as in a fortune-teller reading one's palm, but SPLURGES amounting to fortunes felt grammatically tortuous. DON and NOD as anagrams for O-N-D … neither NOD nor DON would ever be clued this way normally, so that felt inelegant. Fill in the blanks with "TRIX are for KIDS" felt like it opened up just about any pairing if you located the right quote.

And the fill. Oof. As much as I loved the concept and most of the execution in the across direction — just amazing that so many of the pairs worked so well — I had a rough time swallowing DAZER. Random TEN OZ. Made-up DETAG. Odd partials OF FUN, ONCE I, ET UN. Variant TIPI. Head-scratching SSATS. Suffix -ONYM. Hits most every category that editors ask to steer clear of, and then some. Sapped my enjoyment to hit these sorts of entries throughout the puzzle.

Also, it was unfortunate not to get much bonus fill. Derrick went up to 144 words, four past Will's max of 140, which translates into very little bonus material. Just a bit of SNOWCAT, STATELINE, ANTIVIRUS.

That all said, though, the construction task is so daunting that I wouldn't have even thought to attempt it. The fact that Derrick pulled off so many great pairings is astounding, no matter what prices he had to pay to make it all work.

Memorable, for sure.