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REDUCING FRACTIONS is exactly the revealer I wanted! I'm so glad David pointed that out because it strongly pulls the concept together. I couldn't remember that term for the life of me, but now I can casually toss it around as I continue faking being a genius around my kids.

Neat progression, from 4/8 to 2/4 to 1/2. That sure was hard to see during my solve, though, and without a revealer, I missed the consistent steps until well after I finished.

Part of that was I was convinced the last one was 1/9, as in TOP (of the) NINTH, but TOP HALF does fit the clue. It's a shame that this themer didn't sing nearly as much as HALF-CAF. The layout is so constrained that it didn't take me long to search out and evaluate any other possibilities. I might have preferred HALF TIME and ON BEHALF (of), but not being able to include the (of) makes ON BEHALF half strange.

Interesting clue for VOODOO. I was only vaguely aware that it was a religion, and I had no idea it had Catholic influences.

Although SEAS is much more common in crossword grids than VOODOO, I found it almost as fun because of the delightful clue. "Naval gazing," indeed. And FORMAL's clue was hardly formal, misdirecting to a coin toss in [Calling for tails, maybe]. These touches were a big help as I pushed through my frustration.

I love the concept, and this would have gotten my POW! if some sort of REDUCING FRACTIONS revealer had been in play. Perhaps split it 8 / 9 in two nearby slots? That opens up a can of worms in grid construction, but it sure would have packed a huge punch.

– puzzle by David and Karen and Paul Steinberg

EVEREST BASE CAMP is such an evocative phrase, bringing up images of people who have nearly died while attempting to battle one of Mother Nature's greatest challenges. Running it vertically is even better, mimicking the fearsome climb into the heavens. Toss in the awesome clue, [It's an uphill climb from here], and it's a winner. Crazy that an elevation of about 17,000 feet could be the starting point of a climb, but of course, that's where the real action begins for serious mountaineers.

Featuring such a grid-spanning marquee in a 72-worder often makes it difficult to provide as many long slots as themeless solvers are used to. It's not a problem in the lower left and upper right, since EVEREST BASE CAMP barely affects those corners, but the fixed-in-place EVE- start and -AMP end sure cause trouble.

John was wise to cut down from the usual three long entries in the NW / SE to only two apiece. Doggedly sticking to triple-stacks in the upper left and lower right is possible, but it's likely to require trade-offs in zing and/or cleanliness. It certainly wouldn't have been possible to get such a spotless opening corner, along with the killer one-two combo of TIME TRAVEL / SPACE OPERA.

PIANO TUNER doesn't have as much to do with an ARMORED CAR, but throw in NYPD, and you have the makings of a fantastic creative writing prompt.

The 72-word themeless space is incredibly competitive, but this is an excellent example of how you can still ascend to the top, against all odds. I'll ask my CUP BEARERS to bring us some cool AGUA FRESCA (jamaica for me, please!) to celebrate John using all his long slots to great use.

– puzzle by John Ewbank

SOMETHING? ANYTHING? NOTHING. It's hard enough to create a solid grid-spanning triple-stack, and to do it with a mini-theme makes John's creation stand out. Three excellent phrases stacked together with a common thread tying them together? Love it!

Adhering to such a tight constraint almost guarantees you'll need some trade-offs to make it work. AERO and AIR is the biggest issue. AERO gets dinged on most editors' spec sheets (prefix), and duplicating with AIR is a double no-no.

However, many solvers don't care about this sort of thing, and adding airiness by including pairs of long Downs through the ends of the triple stack adds so much color. NEO NOIR FILM and ARMY TRAINEE are great entries.

The opposite side is less constrained since there are a reasonable number of phrases starting with SOMETHING, ANYTHING, and NOTHING. It's still challenging to make all the crossings smooth, though. H WORD is tenuous today when much stronger language is used, even in kids' shows. Crossing that with RIMY was hoary.

The center of the triple stack gives such an ugly letter sequence to work with: -NGP-. Don't forget that due to symmetry reasons, there have to be an equal number of letters on either side of it … but PUZZLING PROBLEM solved! (Table tennis zealot Will Shortz probably would have pushed for PING PONG PADDLES.) While PUZZLING PROBLEM feels slightly arbitrary — is TOUGH STUMPER or PERPLEXING CONUNDRUM crossworthy? — it's a reasonable solution to the -NGP- enigma.

I love when constructors push the envelope in themelesses, and this grid was largely successful.

– puzzle by John Westwig

★ I love color in the Sunday Magazine, and these six colors at the start of Pride Month are picture-perfect. We've seen some pride flag puzzles before, but solvers have always had to imagine the colors. The impact is much stronger when it's all out there in technicolor.

YELLOW LAB and DARKROOM are a perfect example of the theme pairings. How is a DARKROOM a YELLOW LAB? It's a type of lab that's highlighted in yellow!

PEACOATS confused me at first, since "pea" elicits "green." That's overthinking it, though, as a PEACOAT is definitely not green. In fact, it's navy-colored, doubly emphasizing that it's a BLUE JACKET — highlighted in blue!

I like that Rafael stuck with VIOLET rather than using the much easier PURPLE (purple prose, purple heart, etc.), since that's the official final color of the Pride flag. There are so few VIOLET phrases, though. VIOLET RAY is a thing, but it's from days of yore. Still, using BRADBURY as a famous RAY highlighted in VIOLET was excellent.

ON AND OFF are states that are highlighted in red, so that works. It's unfortunate that some RED STATES have less than positive attitudes about Pride, though. I might have preferred something like RED ALERTS and WARNINGS.

JUICE is STEROIDS slang, as in "that pro athlete is juicing." The pairing works, although the connection is less direct than the others.

The print Sunday Magazine has a huge advantage over many digital crossword platforms. Although this is a simple example of how color can be used, it's effective.

– puzzle by Rafael Musa

Veteran solvers have "hidden word" radar, and mine was pinging. ITS hard to explain, but when you see something like ITS spanning across two words over and over, ITS hard to ignore. I was pleasantly surprised that it was much more than an ITS ME or ITS WHERE ITS AT theme. KEEP IT (literally between) U (and) S is a strong rationale for the embedded UITS letters.

It's easy to search for the *UITS* string, and there are many possibilities. The plethora of choices takes away some of the impact — it's much more impressive to work with a series of letters that feels near impossible to embed in phrases — but Eric did an excellent job picking colorful themers. QUIT STALLING is one we hadn't already added to our word list.

I breezed through the grid, hardly any speed bumps. With only four themers, that's exactly what I expect. Even after a second look, I couldn't find a single short entry to fault. Top-notch smoothness.

As Eric mentioned, when you have two 12-letter themers in the middle of your grid, placing them in rows 6 and 10 is often advantageous since the breathing space between every pair of themers usually allows for more long Downs. When your middle themers are squinched together like today, long Downs often have to go through three themers, and that extra level of inflexibility can be troublesome.

Eric's layout worked well, though, even allowing for a couple of mid-length bonuses in FAJITA, DURANT, and CENSURE. Along with the refreshing MINT LEAF and MOON ROOF feature, that's a reasonable amount of pizzazz.

Although BETWEEN YOU AND ME and BETWEEN US have been used over and over, the twist of UITS made for a fun a-ha.

– puzzle by Eric Rollfing

This type of crossword tends to be extremely divisive, engendering sparkle-eyed awe or angering with red-hot ire. When this "total reversal" concept was done back in 2008, the chatter (both ways) went off the charts.

From a technical perspective, it's a fantastic accomplishment. The starting point is to create a specialized list of emordnilap entries (ones that become new, valid entries when reversed). That's only one step in an arduous process, though — matching each entry to its symmetrically-placed partner is a painstaking process. DAP must match PAD, OGRE must pair with ERGO, etc. You can code up the entire filling problem, but that's way past casual programming.

As a solver, I slogged through the 2008 puzzle, fighting through all the choppiness and the ugly fill. I did have a nice moment when I realized why the grid felt so unpolished, though. Remembering that old puzzle, unfortunately, took away from the impact of today's. Hopefully, newer solvers will get through the AMARO ENROL ORAMA pain and appreciate the level of construction difficulty.

Jim Horne and I have discussed this genre many times over the years, trying to figure out the right balance of fun for solvers and amazement over the construction feat. Whatever perspective you side with, kudos are due to Daniel, a debut effort that achieved its goal with fewer words than the 2008 puzzle, and even some nice RACECAR and SPACER / RECAPS features.

– puzzle by Daniel Jaret

Hilarious image of a reporter unfamiliar with wordplay, haplessly recounting events around a cruise ship, with viewers wincing the entire time. BREAKING STORY, cruise ship cracks! LEAKED FOOTAGE shows water seeping in! The crack widens — we're STREAMING LIVE details to you! But wait, an act of God saves them, waves pushing them to safety … stay turned for more CURRENT EVENTS!

Even better if the reporter is Drax the Destroyer.

I don't love 72-word grids in early-week puzzles because they tend to make a solve so much more challenging than the theme. When you're in mid-week territory, though, amping up the grid's difficulty to match that of the theme makes so much sense.

This is the kind of 72-word themed grid I can appreciate. Make your life easier by breaking up CIAOBELLA at the B? Or PLASMA TV at the M? Screw PRACTICAL! If you're going to go big or go home, you have to achieve a ton of go big bonuses with not much go home short fill, and this grid is a success. Along with the aforementioned, BIRD EGGS, IRIS SCAN, Ralph ELLISON, IMMERSE? ET VOILA is right (and PEABRAIN is not)!

More mid-week constructors should try this when working with only four themers — although only if they can keep glue to some minor dabs of AERO FAS URI.

It took me a while to appreciate the cringe-worthy humor, but I appreciated how Jennifer and Victor found a common thread among these common news phrases and turned it into a literalist's nightmare.

– puzzle by Jennifer Lee and Victor Galson

There's a lot going on here:

Four short entries hint at cryptogram letter substitutions.

I to O, A is E, D is T and S to R indicate that you should replace any circled Is with Os, As with Es, etc.

The four entries change from SACREDLY / DECIDE / GASMAN / MASSAGES to SECRETLY / DECODE / GERMAN / MESSAGES.

Those four new words hint at the inner workings of BLETCHLEY PARK, where WWII code-breakers worked furiously to decipher the German Enigma Machines.

Reminds me of a brilliant cryptogram puzzle that transformed ALAN TURING to HR HALDEMAN. I didn't connect today's concept as strongly, but I was fascinated by Flip's commentary. I'm so curious to figure out who the CIA is scouting out in the crossworld!

– puzzle by Philip Koski

★ Another beauty from Robyn.

I appreciate the lift her puzzles give me, never failing to brighten my day with ten minutes of sunshine and joy. From brilliant clues (MUSICAL CHAIRS as a game you "can't stand to win") to electric entries like THAT'S A FIRST, it's a SOUP TO NUTS experience that ENHANCEs my overall happiness.

– puzzle by Robyn Weintraub

I've tried my hand at this "four pyramids" themeless style, but I've always kept the center relatively small. That way, it's not that difficult to come up with a center that pleased me, and from there, you can tackle each corner (mostly) independently.

I once considered starting with a center as big as today's — for a few milliseconds, that is. I'm not a fan of the brute force approach, and that's the only way it seemed even remotely possible. I'm sure the usual haters will come out, complaining that a computer-heavy process goes against the human touch that gives crosswords distinction and life, but there's something to be said for all the technical work that goes into tackling specific filling challenges like this. The raw amount of data entry hours that John put in … I love seeing hard work pay off.

An entry like TELESCOPIUM can be divisive — ZUGZWANG and CHICXULUB elicited strong reactions from both lovers and haters. At the time, I grumbled about how these were tacklers on my way toward the goal line, but looking back now, I appreciate them. I've taken up chess more seriously recently, so it was a thrill to read up on ZUGZWANG and realize that I already knew what it meant.

With TELESCOPIUM, CINNCINATUS, CAWCAWED, the Triple ENTENTE (and MAIA and ARAM to a lesser degree), there's even more potential for evoking all sorts of powerful feelings. CAWCAWED is my least favorite of the bunch, although, in a few years, when the crows have broken their entente with the resource-depleted Earth, I'll be retracting that statement.

The eye-popping middle region is a sight to behold, though it wasn't as much fun to solve as others we've had.

– puzzle by John Hawksley

And buckle up I did!

Sam often brings me to the brink of defeat with his Saturday challenges — his spheres of knowledge sometimes have little overlap with mine. I struggled mightily with the foreign terms: COGNOSCENTE, AMO AMAS AMAT, TSURIS. Fought bravely against the partialishisms of HAS PLANS, MUST DO, DID OKAY, while the real partials of AROOM and TURNA had plans to stop me from doing okay. I did my best to adjust on the fly as the SMARTY JUNKETED YEGG nearly cracked me.

Huge relief to finally fill in that last square — although CORNILL / ILIAC felt more correct, since I'd never seen ILEAC ... and a CORNILL could be some distant relative of SEA LILY?

I'm not a fan of construction feats for their own featiness, but I appreciate that Sam laced in some beautiful entries like JUST KIDDING, RED HOT POKER, INTRO CLASS, and the amusing BACKRONYM.

– puzzle by Sam Ezersky

ROOF, TOOTH, TONGUE, and GUM, neatly (tongue-)tied together by WORD OF MOUTH. We've had dozens of body part puzzles over the years, but I can't remember something so focused on the mouth. The crossworld's resident dentist got scooped!

BLUETOOTH does a nice job disguising TOOTH, especially since Bluetooth is tech related more to the ear, not the mouth. It is said that King Harald Bluetooth got his nickname from a bad tooth, so crossword constructors are lucky that Jim Kardach had an odd fascination with the king's runestone instead of going with "RadioWire."

Although the mouth parts are consistent in their singular forms, it's odd to talk about a mouth with only a single GUM. Since BUBBLE GUMS is a strange plural, something like GUMS UP THE WORKS might have been fun. That would cause other issues, though, like having to put all the mouth parts at the start of themers, and TOOTHSOME isn't the most toothsome entry. Extract that idea!

It never feels great to break up a theme answer into two chunks since you have to use an awkward [With 37-Across …] cross-reference, but check out that beautiful plus sign in the middle of the grid! Such a great way to help solvers subconsciously add the two halves together.

Solid gridwork, Alice working in two colorful long Downs in the usual spots, POT ROAST and GO FIGURE. Go figure why many experienced constructors have difficulty producing such a smooth product. I prefer more long bonuses, even in an early-week puzzle, but cleanliness is so much more important, and working with five themers can get tricky.

I jaw on with too much lip service. Fun debut.

– puzzle by Alice Liang

READY TO GO is a rhetorical question in my household, as the kids meet that criterion once in a never. Good thing Juliana and Wendy didn't have to hide BACKPACK, STUFFIES, and STICKY CRAP in themers!

Great finds, KEYS across WHISKEY SOUR is a textbook example of how to do "hidden words" right. Most editors are particular about this theme type — it's been done so many times that something like BARREL OF MONKEYS doesn't cut it anymore. That's especially true when the target word is short, like ID. Although there are many options like PETRI DISH and CHILI DOG, TAXI DRIVER is a solid choice.

CASH is … what? Right, the green stuff that stores used to accept. Since the pandemic drove me into extended hermitdom, I still wish for THOMAS KYD to appear in today's lineup. About this, I do not kyd.

Neat for this ABC see so much CHINESE fill in the grid. I'm so envious of Gene Luen Yang, whose American Born CHINESE was brilliant. He has so much pull now that he got in touch with Supercell, who makes his family's favorite games, and they gave him the go-ahead to write a series of Clash Royale graphic novels. My order is already placed.

(Dragon Hoops is also fantastic. If anyone knows Gene, please let him know that I would gladly be his unpaid goblin underling.)

There's too much ERTE ESA KBS (usually seen as kB) POV etc., for a TUE solving experience, but these things can happen when a central 9 divides the grid into halves. Most importantly, I enjoyed the quality of finds, the rationale for the "hidden words" concept, and the chuckle I got out of CASH.

– puzzle by Juliana Tringali Golden and Wendy L. Brandes

Not your everyday Wednesday puzzle! Not getting the jist? Not me! Not after a long think, anyway. Not one Across clue doesn't not not start with "Not." Not too shabby to get something completely different!

How does one even go about creating something like this? Our clue search finder or Matt Ginsberg's clued database might be a good starting point — the latter contains a nearly comprehensive listing of every entry and associated clue for most of the major publications, along with some indies. Some coding would let you pull out every entry whose clue at least once started with "Not" into a specialized word list. That wouldn't cover thousands of entries that have never been clued starting with "Not," though.

Interesting to only clue the Acrosses in this way. I'm curious enough now to figure out how doable it might be to have every single entry clued with "Not" at the start.

(Not an insubstantial amount of time later ... Nnot that easy, as it turns out.)

I would have loved some revealer to help me achieve a sharper aha moment — maybe something like NOT A GOOD START? Not an exact science, finding a wickedly sharp way to help solvers flip on the lightbulb.

"Not again" is something I say frequently, given how often the same genres get rehashed. Not a bad thing to get something fresh and interesting, especially in a debut.

– puzzle by Jennifer Hoelzer

★ I've brainstormed with so many people on BACK TO SQUARE ONE concepts, running through such a vast range of potential implementations. I'd never considered going to back to 1-Across for Across themers AND 1-Down for Downs! Clever way to flesh out the concept and to avoid the problem I always worried about: repetitiveness. After FACET(IOUS) and SPEC(IOUS), I might have stopped solving, but then PASS(IOUS) didn't make sense. My frustration flipped to delight when I realized it was PASS(IONS).

Why IOUS and IONS? As David mentioned, they 1.) have numerous Replacement Finds and 2.) start with the same letter. In the past, I've even considered using IOUS at 1-Across, but I worried that solvers would wonder, why that particular entry? Turns out that having both IOUS and IONS crossing at the I — the Roman numeral for one! — made me forget about asking why; my critical brain simply clicking off to enjoy the experience.

Why not have all the themers symmetrically placed, though? Although there's only one strong seven-letter IOUS find in CONTENT(IOUS), you could use mirror symmetry and even delay the revealer to the bottom of the grid—

Sorry, I'll stop my TED(IOUS) why why why and simply say that David managed to create something that I could not. I'm both envious and pleased for NYT solvers who got treated to so much fun.

– puzzle by David Harris

DOOMSCROLLING / CANCEL CULTURE / WHITE RUSSIANS … nothing controversial to see here! What a story that trio of marquee answers tells; a tale for our time. The grid art enhances the picture, too, with a cyclone storming around. Not to mention KIEV and LAZARUS.

I've loved the word PLOTZ ever since a Jewish friend of mine used it. There's something so fun about Yiddishisms — he's introduced me to many over a bagel and SCHMEAR.

This "pinwheel" layout lends itself so well to ease of filling, allowing each corner to be tackled separately. Once the triple-stair-stack of marquee answers are in place, the lower left and upper right can be filled independently.

Some editors are particular about the number of short entries in a themeless, especially 3-letter ones. It's rare to see one with this many (17). My solve felt more start-and-stop than usual, and that might have contributed.

This contract bridge fanatic loved seeing ENDPLAY, although it wasn't as much of an EGO BOOST because I confidently filled in FINESSE at first. Seems appropriate to not finesse that answer — after a decade of playing, I still have trouble stripping suits to prepare for the devious ENDPLAY.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

Some great entries around the perimeter — STONEWALL as the historic monument and BOOK FAIRS reading this bibliophile's preferences so well — helped me overcome some of the DOOM and gloom that the center triplet and grid art evoked.

– puzzle by Natan Last and the J.A.S.A. Crossword Class

I appreciate that even though Ryan is already one of the best Saturday themeless constructors in the crossworld, he continues to push his own limits with challenging grid patterns. Today's uses one of his football-ish middle shapes but tilted upward. It's amazing how many long entries he jam-packed into the middle: six long Acrosses woven through seven long Downs!

Because the middle is so open, with excellent solving feng shui, it's difficult to integrate much more into the grid once you fix your middle in place. Yet Ryan managed to squeeze yet more juice out of his upper left and lower-right corners, with BARBELL and I SEE NOW / MANACLE / STATE ID jazzing up the joint.

The cluing also enhancing my solve: a TADPOLE growing up to croak. AYE said, "in passing" (a parliamentary measure). OIL HEAT for a "house-warming". And best for last, this board gamer loved the misdirect in "cut the cards," as in "forget about the (cue) cards" to AD LIB.

Each one of these clues is designed to make me, as a solver, feel smart. Saturdays often come with cluing that brags about how much smarter the constructor is than me (not a high bar), and I appreciate that Ryan took care to deliver wicked wordplay while making me feel happily smug.

I have an incredibly high bar for Ryan, and entries like HORSEFLESH and THUNDERS don't do as much for me as JET SETTERS and SOLO ARTISTS, which are real SPITFIRES. Even after solving so much of his work, though, I still am filled with a sense of awe, seeing a grid with a big, open middle like today's.

– puzzle by Ryan McCarty

I could use some SAGE ADVICE, considering the number of cooking failures I've had over the past three years. My kids have many a SERVING SUGGESTION, including outspoken ones involving a direct transfer from stovetop to trash bin. Forget about farm-to-table, they're all about pan-to-can.

I laughed at GAME THEORY. I'm fascinated by the subject, and I've never considered it as a hypothesis posited about hunted animals. CORE BELIEF also delighted me, as my insistence on finishing my and Jill's apple cores all the way to the seeds is a source of amusement for her.

BLANKET RECOMMENDATION also worked well because of a huge change in meaning. Not SERVING SUGGESTION as much, which could have been clued to Richard Williams trying to correct Serena's serve.

DISSENTING OPINION was equally flat — perhaps PERSONAL OPINION could have created more laughs by referring to a personal ad, or SECOND OPINION might have been clued to a Swiss watchmaker's thoughts on the exact length of a sixtieth of a minute.

Joe's layout is smart, not unexpected, because he's so accomplished. He packs in so many long Downs by spacing them out perfectly. EGO BOOST and PAUL ANKA aren't hard to stack since they both only intersect one themer, and then THE PLUNGE / NAMETAGS / SHORT CIRCUIT have so much separation that they can be squeezed for every last drop of zinginess. Great stuff. Although there's about AVG glue, featuring such a quantity of worthy bonuses is a great trade-off.

Sage concept that's much fresher than my sage dishes.

– puzzle by Joe DiPietro

I love it when something different comes along, especially on a Monday. It's been a long time since we had such a rectangular offering, and that one was money. Today's didn't just break out of squaresville, it also entered the ranks of Repeated Words puzzles. Bring on the carbs!

It'd be tough to open wide enough to eat this sandwich — unless you're one of my favorite competitive eaters. Even Randy "Atlas" Santel, Katina Eats Kilos, and Beard Meats Food might hesitate before tackling such a mouthful.

Although, Katina did show off Hulk Smash techniques …

Neat that all four (three) themers are the exact same length. It's like how my daughter grumbles if I don't get the jam or peanut butter to the exact edge of the bread. It is a time-consuming pain, but there is something satisfying about perfecting it, just as having the themers span today's grid is elegant. No crusts to cut off!

Working with such an unusual aspect ratio would make many constructors shake in their boots, since it's not uncommon practice to seek out and study (or reuse) prior grids that used your themer lengths. Reuse is okay, but it's so much better to customize each grid to tackle the hardest letter combinations. Plus, that gives you practice for when you need to break into unprecedented ground, like today. David did so well to incorporate not only four long Downs, but more extras by opening up the top left and bottom right corners. OVER ICE PIRANHA evokes strong imagery!

A straightforward PB&J isn't my jam these days, so I appreciated the unusual aspects.

– puzzle by David Liben-Nowell

I enjoy this theme genre of "different things you can (verb)" since it's not seen nearly as frequently as others. You can blow a RASPBERRY, blow a BUBBLE, blow a WHISTLE, and blow a KISS. Great revealer in BLOW YOUR TOP, so apt that each of the four words is at the top of a themer!

Great job hiding the meanings, too. BUBBLE GUM from last week would have worked, but that would have been too direct. BUBBLE WRAP helps to delay the aha moment.

RASPBERRY PI is fun for us casual electromechanically-minded coders, and the clue did well to overexplain so technophobes could figure it out.

Another aspect that makes this puzzle interesting is that there aren't many other things you can blow. You can blow a FUSE or a GASKET, but there's no way to incorporate those two words into a phrase with any sort of misdirection. FUSE BOX or GASKET SEALANT would make the concept way too obvious.

It's usually best to alternate themers all the way down, all the way up, etc., so it's unusual to see BUBBLEWRAP hanging out in the middle of column five. This does make the north and south sections easier to fill, but that middle ratchets up. Jacques BREL and OSO could trip up newer solvers, so it's a good thing ECO got such an easy clue. Sorry, Umberto ECO!

Great revealer that helps this puzzle top many others of its genre.

– puzzle by Aimee Lucido

★ Friends and I have turned up so many oddball wordplay discoveries over the years, and so many die on the vine because they don't fit the crossword mold. You need four to five long themers, and they must be colorful — ideally multi-word phrases, which editors prize for their color. They also have to shoehorn into crossword symmetry. It's a wonder that anything fresh ever pops up in the crossworld.

If Jimmy had come to me with a FOOD CHAIN idea, connecting a bunch of food words so that they broke up into disguised but valid words, I'd have thought it an interesting idea but likely impossible to pull off well. You could connect things like BEET SUGAR PLUM TOMATO SOUP, but where's the spice in that?

In contrast, compare these two strings, which contain the exact same letters but with spaces shifted:

APPLEGATE AUTOMATON ACHOO LIVE DATES

APPLE GATEAU TOMATO NACHO OLIVE DATES

TOMATO within AUTOMATON, along with AU finishing GATEAU, is genius. It feels impossible that the second line exhibits crossword symmetry. All praise the great goddess Cruciverba!

(Okay, DATES in LIVE DATES aren't impressive since there's no space shifting, but what are you gonna do.)

Sometimes a puzzle is best served without a revealer, allowing solvers to make the leap themselves, but I would never have figured out the theme without the FOOD CHAIN clue. I went from frowning upon all the single-word themers — some too short to realistically serve as themers — to incredibly impressed. Even as I take yet another look at the GATE AU TOMATO N sequence, my fascination is still high.

All that, plus solid gridwork? In a debut? Can't wait to see what Jimmy serves up next.

– puzzle by Jimmy Peniston

Shh...

When Michael contacted me for grid help, my initial reaction was that we should change it from a three-letter rebus to a certain four-letter one that begins with the same first two letters. I WISH IT WERENT SO, but when Greenpeace and political canvassers ring my doorbell at 8:30 p.m. when THE BABY IS ASLEEP, I don't hesitate to HASH IT OUT with them.

This three-letter rebus has inspired me to give solicitors three little seconds to run before I actively vote or campaign against whatever they're pushing. There's a reason Michael and I worked so hard to get CRASHHELMET into the grid.

– puzzle by Michael Baker and Jeff Chen

Diagonal symmetry isn't for everyone. I love the novelty of it, and there are several technical aspects that constructors can take advantage of. Some people have trouble seeing diagonal symmetry, though, so I've gotten many "this is weird" comments over the years. I appreciated Kunal's big black triangle in the upper left corner, which automatically shouts from the rooftops that this cannot be regular symmetry. You can almost picture it as an arrow that runs along the axis of symmetry.

One of the benefits of diagonal symmetry is that you can run pairs of long entries together in one corner, and you don't have to replicate the feat in the opposite corner. MONOPOLY MONEY / PALATE CLEANSER + PEOPLE PLEASER / MAGICAL REALISM is a feat of magical people pleasing.

It's so helpful to have the flexibility to change the lengths of your marquee entries in the opposite corner. NEWSROOM / DRIES OUT + TIME LOOP / UNCTUOUS is a solid quartet, and you could even try 9-letter entries instead of 8s. I like Kunal's decision to stick with 8s, which allowed for extra bonuses, even — keep it up with KOI PONDS and KEEP IT UP!

This isn't a standard 70-word themeless layout, so I'm more willing to accept some TOI GMAN ASET STET dings to make the quartets of intersecting answers happen. Still, with even more DELS IRANI (more commonly IRANIAN) SSA MTA, it's too much for me to give it POW! consideration.

Although we're seeing more diagonal symmetry lately, it's still a genre that doesn't have much precedent to study. Neat that a debut constructor would take up the challenge.

– puzzle by Kunal Nabar

My stranded-on-a-desert-island food would be BBQ PORK BUNs. Their pillowy softness, the rich aroma when you gently break it open, the redness so artificial that it looks like the Joker kissed it … I'd die of scurvy, but I'd die a happy (and chunky) man.

QUIT DAYDREAMING crossing EVERYBODY GO HOME as the puzzle's backbones? Talk about sucking the life out of the party! BORE in mind is right. Colorful, evocative answers, though, no doubt.

Several years ago, I helped a guy make a themeless around CRAPEHANGER, which tickled him (but which Will and Rich thought was too weird). Too bad I couldn't convince him to change it to something more like COATHANGER, which got a childlike riddle for a clue today: what has a hook and sometimes two claws?

I'm not the target since I exclusively wear 20-year-old t-shirts, but I'm sure COATHANGER connoisseurs laughed. (Claws apparently are notch-like features toward the ends?)

The cluing was spot-on today; Saturday-hard but written at a level that delivered great a-has. [Sports stud] … whoever will finally bring back my Sonics to Seattle? The Moneyball analyst behind the 2002 Oakland A's surge? Ah, the CLEAT!

BBC as [English Channel] has been used a few times. A spelling BEE needing a "spell checker" was brilliant, though!

And the best for last, PRIDE FLAGS are waving at those on their way out (of the closet). Playing on both "out" and "wave" makes for a fantastic twofer.

Although some long entries were downers — screw you, I'M ON A DIET, I'm gonna eat a dozen bao! — there was so much to enjoy elsewhere.

– puzzle by Spencer Leach and Quiara Vasquez

OPPOSITES ATTRACT attracts a lot of constructors! This is the third one we've seen in less than a year, with a Sunday and a Tuesday riffing on the same idea. I appreciated that John took a different angle. Instead of embedding opposites within (or at the start of) phrases, he -INGed the second word, often for kooky effect. The downside CON changes meaning to a scammer CONNING. PRO / CON to PRO CONNING is some pro wordplay.

ODD EVENING is even better. EVEN number to EVENING night; such a shift in usage. I had plenty of ODD EVENINGs while I was on a dating tear back in the day, so the clue brought back many memories.

IN OUTING didn't work as well, since OUT to OUTING isn't much of a change. Still, I appreciated the fun clue, referencing a hot new club. That also reminds me of some of my odd evenings … I thank the stars for my WHOLE PARTING of that scene.

Although it's fairly easy to suss out what is theme and what is not, LAB ANIMAL in the middle of the grid tends to overshadow the IN OUTING and ON OFFING shorties. I had some SHORT LONGING for shorter Across bonuses, which would allow the themers to stand out more naturally on their own.

That's especially true for SIREN SONG, whose question-marked clue made me sure it was thematic.

Hopefully, we don't get yet another OPPOSITES ATTRACT puzzle for the rest of the year, but if we do, I hope it gets a fresh angle like John's.

– puzzle by John Westwig

I picked up on the "what ties these disparate things together" theme after connecting BANJO PLAYER to VEGETABLE FARMER. Even knowing the revealer would be some "pick" phrase, it still gave me a pick-me-up. PICKY PICKY PICKY requires solvers to stretch their minds, describing a BANJO PLAYER as "picky" (one who picks). I love that Taylor and Christina didn't go with something more overt, like PICK, clued as [What each of 17-, 32, and 42-Across do, in different ways].

I did take marks off for not including TESS AND JAKE CHEN, who make terrorist ultimatums for only the fluffiest of white bread and artisan spring water from the Swiss Alps.

BANJO PLAYER is a perfect themer, because it's a colorful phrase and unquestionably describes a person who picks (with a banjo pick). TEAM CAPTAIN didn't work as well since most pro TEAM CAPTAINs don't do any selecting. Yes, there are some cases, like in this year's NBA All-star Game, but they're the exception. Thankfully, the humiliating playground actions are left to the Wild West that was elementary school. These days, my kids aren't forced to go through that process, as schools seem to have evolved.

Am I still resentful of continually being picked last, even 40 years later?

NO, YOU ARE!

(Okay, fine, I am.)

TriBond themes work best when the elements feel like there's zero possibility that they could be related, and they all have vastly different ways of connecting to the central bond. I appreciated that the three themers came from such different walks of life, but the meanings of "pick" were awfully similar. Overall though, this theme type can be tough for newer solvers to wrap their heads around, especially with a revealer that employs wordplay, so well done for making this one Monday-accessible.

– puzzle by Taylor Johnson and Christina Iverson

This Seattleite is outraged at the snub. Mike "The Walrus" Holmgren took us to our first Super Bowl victory, and that loss foreshadowed …

Never mind. And it's still too soon.

Whimsical imagery in today's grid, the DALI, HANDLEBAR, and FU MANCHU styles on display. The HANDLEBAR is particularly elegant; the ends turned up as if waxed by Poirot himself. For a different venue, Jill and I did a full 21x21 with a HANDLEBAR MOUSTACHE curled and furled through the middle, featuring different people who wore that style. I liked Anthony's approach better, what with the variety on display.

Right, there's PENCIL, too. That one wasn't as amusing since it has no shape. It would have been fantastic to gradually reduce the size of the circles away from the middle for a tapered effect.

Or maybe sub something else into the puzzle. Like WALRUS.

Or Marshawn.

Gridding around visual letter patterns can be tricky, but they're much easier to work with when the image is more 2-D, like HANDLEBAR, beacuse you can more easily use black squares to create filling flexibility. Well done, such smooth results around it.

FU MANCHU is tougher since it pulls a uey, creating more constraints. Neat to get ON OCCASION running through it, though some awkward USOS / OLORD is to be expected. It's not enough to cry out to one's lord, thankfully.

Fun grid art, neat to see in a debut.

– puzzle by Anthony Gisonda