Miriam Estrin author page

Confused about the bookish theme?

Don't read too much into it.

Wonderful gridwork out of a newer constructor! On average, a Sunday grid will have about a dozen ugly bits holding it together. It's a breath of fresh air to see only a smattering of EDY ISA NNE OTRO. I did finish with an error, putting in ASTIN Martin crossing HIT DESK, but after the taste of sour grapes went away, I realized I should have known that HOT DESK fit better.

Unless you work at the WWE.

I enjoyed the bonuses, which helped keep me chugging through my solve. AND … SCENE. OLD CHAP. ABOUT TIME! (Although it was strange to have TIME and THYME, which riffed on TIME.) SENSEI next to WASABI, TOP GUN, that's a lot to love.

Miriam did use a ton of "cheater squares," i.e., extra squares that don't affect the word count. I'm all for using cheaters if they don't look too ugly, but those four black squares surrounding MAUDE are unsightly. A slew on the bottom, forming a thick podium … it's too much.

Perhaps eliminating two or even four cheaters could have made for a better trade-off. That said, I'd much rather constructors err on the side of too many cheaters in exchange for smoother, sparklier fill.

The theme felt inconsistent, given that most were direct homophone swaps, but CANDIDE to CANDIED was not, JULIUS SEES HER split the word, and PRINCE to PRINTS can be pronounced differently in parts of the country. It did make me think of the late great Merl Reagle, who always gave us so much fun with groany puns like these, so I enjoyed reminiscing.

Yet another Agard-assisted debut! Erik is chasing me in the co-constructions count. Thank goodness that he got a prestigious and time-consuming job as the editor of the USA Today crossword while I sit in my tiny office, doing … things. Important things!

Keeping one's toenails clean is an essential part of personal hygiene.

Some delightful debut entries, the IMPOSSIBLE BURGER tasting surprisingly like meat. I wouldn't call it "impossible" quite yet, but "improbable"? Sure. Also improbable is the fact that I'd pay the extra five bucks at my local burger joint to sub it in.

I loved BEERAMID, too. I figured out that -AMID ending and realized it had to some sort of pyramid. Not many portmanteaus delight me, but this one did.

I wasn't as hot on GLAMPING. It's not as eye-roll-inducing as other portmanteaus like SCREENAGER, but my eyeballs did twitch upward. The combo is … glamor + camping? It's not a word I'd use, not without embarrassment, that is.

It's rare that I love a short debut entry — all too often, new constructors brag about how many debuts they incorporated. I politely point out that introducing a bunch of terrible partials and esoterica is to be avoided. (Read: I yell at them for being stupid. Politely, of course.) NUH-UH gets anything but a nuh-uh from me.

As with most Agard joints, I was too unhip to appreciate a few things. TAKE THE L stymied me when BEQ used it a few months ago, so I (sort of) remembered it today. SET PIECE as an [Action film staple]? I've always thought of this as a stage backdrop. Its first definition is a "self-contained passage of a film, arranged for elaborate effect." Huh!

But also with most AJs, such great clues. Imperfect as a TENSE, SHRINE repurposing "martyr complex" (think of "complex" as in "apartment complex"), "something old, something new" turned on its head for TESTAMENT, even STENOS elevated by playing on "dictator" as "one who dictates a memo." A ton of entertainment throughout.

ADDED NOTE: Erik mentioned that many of the fantastic clues were Miriam's. Well done, Miriam!

I'm hoping Erik still has time to help out newb constructors as his editorship eats up more and more of his focus. Great to see so many new faces added to the NYT mix in such entertaining debuts.