Pao Roy author page

Jim Horne and I worked up a DOT THE IS puzzle about a decade ago and sent it to Peter Gordon at Fireball Crosswords. Peter quickly replied that the concept was okay, but having an O represent a DOT didn't feel amazing. Additionally, restricting the grid so that every I had an O above it caused too many trade-offs. We certainly didn't DOT THE IS with that submission!

Pao did so much better today. Novel twist on the old concept: DOTs as rebuses in the Across direction and ignored in the Downs (see grid below for clarification). I thought I had everything all figured out when I realized PALE BLUE DOT was doing something funky with POP () IDOL, and more so when () IONS had to answer the Large Hadron Collider clue. Who's brilliant?

Not I!

Devilishly delightful twist to include DOT DOT DOT in the upper right corner. Rebus or special squares are almost always featured within the longest theme entries — Will Shortz usually requires this — so to have not one, not two, but three extra DOTs tucked in was a stroke of genius. DOT DOT DOT is such an evocative entry, and it was a perfect bow on the grid.

A lot of constructors have riffed on dotting Is or crossing Ts. August Miller gave us his own execution earlier this year, for instance. That one was much more complicated, solvers having to write in DOT one way and I in the other, and we saw a lot WTF?! mail for that one. I bet we'll field some of that today, but I'll also wager that there's a heavy amount of praise for this enjoyable and creative concept that still keeps it relatively easy to fill in all the special squares.

In just three puzzles, Pao has officially grabbed my attention. This 70-worder is easy to fill with cleanliness — what's challenging is being able to convert a high percentage of long slots (8+ letters) into great material. Hitting 80% is about minimum in these ultra-competitive days (the acceptance rate for themelesses is maybe 3%). Achieving 90% gives you a fighting chance.

Scoring a perfect 100%? Almost unheard of. Incredibly well done, Pao IN RARE FORM, indeed. It's even difficult to point out what the weakest entry might be. Perhaps PALADINS, because it's a single-worder? I'm a big fan of the fantasy genre (read: huge dork) though, so I might have to cast a paladinic spell over any haters.

Pao didn't stop there! Seven-letter slots are too easy to employ as boring connective tissue. DADAIST, ER NURSE, ID CHIPS are all excellent.

SENSATE …

Well, you can't win ‘em all. Pretty dang close, though.

I'd have picked this as my POW! if there had been more clever, interesting, and/or playful clues. AUDIOPHILE becomes even stronger when you turn up the volume with a "sound judgment" riff. Same with EASTER EGGS, being "rolled out" once a year (during the annual Easter tradition). There were a handful of these sprinkled around, but not nearly enough to make this puzzle stand out.

Technically, such a strong grid product. With more time invested in crafting a zingier cluing experience, I see great things for Pao.

I love when constructors riff on letter combos looking like various objects or shapes. One of my favorites was a Patrick Blindauer, where he used V as a cone and O as a scoop of ice cream. Today's, with I + V = DOWN arrow, is so clever.

Neat that Pao arranged things so that the DOWN arrows shifted downward across the four themers! Progressing from (DOWN)WARD FACING DOG all the way to KEEP IT ON THE (DOWN) LOW — that's an elegant touch.

Curious usage of mirror sym. It's not necessary, but there's something so visually pleasing about this black square layout. Almost like a Rorschach inkblot. I appreciate that Will Shortz has been so open to left-right symmetry, which is as pleasing to my eye as regular symmetry, if not more.

Not many long bonuses, but that's okay, since Pao used the mid-length slots so well. SASHAY is evocative. TSUNAMI has that TS- start, always making me doubt myself. GONZO's clue is so awesome, self-identifying as "Whatever." KISMET is what's in the stars, and I'm glad it's in this crossword, too.

Fresh cluing all over, for that matter. I often think Zoom calls could have been an EMAIL. I struggled to figure out how a "mating call" could be I WIN, until I thought about teaching my kids how to play chess.

No comment whether I shout I WIN or "In your face, sucka!"

A bit of a one-trick pony, but I'm always DOWN for one this clever.

Now this is the kind of theme that brings you down to Earth!

The puzzle gave me an initial tremor with that crazy [What lava becomes after an eruption] clue for ROCKS. I've heard research that some solvers view 1-Across as a predictor, going as far as to stop if they can't get it right away. Glad I don't do that, because what a neat a-ha when I arrived at MAGMA at the symmetrical location.

MAGMA bubbling up through the CORE, MANTLE, and finally erupting out the CRUST? A ROCKS solid theme.

Fantastic themer selections. GLUTEN FREE CRUST is fresh, ASSUME THE MANTLE is colorful. ROTTEN TO THE CORE is more common in crosswords, but it's still a great figure of speech.

Amazing debut gridwork. Pao took full advantage of the freedom given by only three themers. THEY/THEM is excellent, easy to figure out even for a Monday, and it's a piece of fill that declares that this is not your grandpa's NYT crossword. With ET CETERA, MEGADEAL, and EGOMANIA, that's four out of four big winners.

Such excellent bonuses in SQUEEGEED and ASTEROIDS, too.

The two Qs are interesting in the west, though I don't know how fair it is for a newb to encounter SISQO crossing CINQ.

Constructors typically jump on complete sets of three, four, or five, so most of them feel stale to me these days. It's rare indeed when I can only remember one previous instance of a known set.

I gave this serious POW! consideration, but the initial quake from 1-Across was enough to set me off balance. I'm curious if some solvers don't figure out the theme today. Joanne's EARTHS LAYERS felt too overt for my taste, but perhaps something in between — EARTH by itself? — would have been perfect.

Overall, though, wonderful debut.