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This is the second themeless puzzle I've published in the Times in which SPACE JAM sits atop COCA-COLA in the upper-right corner (great minds think alike!). But it's been over a year and a half since the last one, and I hope most solvers don't remember.

– puzzle by Peter Wentz

David Steinberg, who turns 17 next month, has turned out an eye-popping construction here — and I accepted the puzzle over a year ago, when he was still 15! My favorite entries in it are STILL DRE, CONEHEADS, TWIN BILL, JET PLANE, YES DEAR, LABOR PARTY, ZEN GARDEN, SCARFACE, SNOW TIRES, GET REAL, JASON MRAZ, BISCAYNE, and JAM TART. That's a lot of great stuff. I could have done without EDE (where I've been, BTW) and TESSAS...but overall, this is pretty fancy constructing.

– puzzle by David Steinberg

I accepted this puzzle in 2009, but held it for so long because I'd run similar themes in 2004, 2002, and 1997. Three of the four theme entries here are new, though, and I think they're all pretty nice. Curiously, there's more substandard/crosswordy fill here than I usually allow now — K-STAR, OMB, ORT, ANSA, RES, TRY TO, and others. On the whole, crossword construction has improved a lot over the past four years.

– puzzle by Gary J. Whitehead

Besides the theme, my favorite entries here are AL CAPP, OH MY, PT BOAT, PHREAK, and YOU ARE HERE. I also kind of like I CHOKED, although I'm not 100% sure it's a stand-alone phrase, which lessens its desirableness.

– puzzle by Samuel A. Donaldson

Some time ago one of the crossword bloggers (I won't say which one, but her initials are D.A.) declared that if she ever saw another vowel-progression theme again, she'd poke her eyes out. (Sorry, D.A.!) As these themes go, I think this one's pretty nice. And have heart: I try not to run this sort of thing too often.

– puzzle by Patrick Blindauer and Andrea Carla Michaels

Zhouqin is one of surprisingly many Times crossword constructors from the Minneapolis area (what is it about Minneapolis?). I like this puzzle because the repeated element (US-) at the starts of the theme entries is so unexpected, and because the "explainer" at 43D is so good. PIANO BARS, MALL RAT, NOT FAIR, and TALK RADIO are great nontheme entries, too. BTW, when I was in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, Zhouqin answered a question I'd been wondering about: how the heck is her first name pronounced? It's something close to "SHOW-tsin." Now you know.

– puzzle by Zhouqin Burnikel and D. Scott Nichols

This is one of my favorite Sunday puzzles in a while. The "reveal" along the center diagonal is wonderful. Besides the theme, I especially like the entries DODO BIRD, CAR KEYS, MEAT PIE, GET AHEAD, ON THE WAY, ALGER HISS, IT'S HOT, and I DARE YOU. That's a lot of great stuff!

– puzzle by Jeff Chen

Lots of great entries in this grid. Besides the wonderful NASTYGRAM at 1A, I especially like CAMERA SHY, EYE EXAM, BAD END, POOL HALLS, DEATH STAR, AALIYAH, NOBODYS HOME, SLY FOX, and OMAHA BEACH. I could do without SDI, which is over 25 years old and something you don't hear much about anymore. In fact, I'd like to see this entry banned. In this particular puzzle, though, it helps set up too much other good stuff, so I made an exception. BTW, John Farmer writes great clues. Nearly all of today's are his.

– puzzle by John Farmer

All six intersecting 15-letter answers in this puzzle are pretty nice, I think. I also like ARMY-STRONG and HEY MAN.

– puzzle by Peter A. Collins

In addition to the rebus entry at 36A, Jeffrey's first version of this puzzle had DAY and WEEK rebuses at the top and bottom of the grid. I thought these were unnecessary, and they constrained the construction in these areas too much besides. The revised version of the grid, which you see here today, is cleaner and nicer, I think. And the "aha" at 36A is really great.

– puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler

Others can comment on this astonishing theme discovery by first-time contributor Jason Flinn. I'd like to comment on the word REPEN at 64A. Uncommon "re-" words like this are sometimes described as "roll-your-own" — meaning they're made-up. I think it's a term that blogger Amy Reynaldo coined. To me a roll-your-own word is one that really is made-up; that is, one that is not in the dictionary and gets little or no usage online. But REPEN is real. It's found in Random House Unabridged, Webster's Second New International, and Funk & Wagnalls Unabridged. It also has real usage online. It's not a good entry, to be sure, but it's legit. And sometimes a weak entry like this helps set up other good things, like (in this case) I'M HIP, PIG OUT, and the intricate interlock in the lower-middle. So it passes muster here in my book.

– puzzle by Jason Flinn

I think of the Times crossword as being like a circus, in which you never know which kind of surprise will come next. This puzzle's theme is very unusual... and with 16 examples, there's a lot of it, too.

– puzzle by Tim Croce

There have been a couple of puzzles over the years whose themes involved words that combine with BLUE, but this is the first one that uses only song titles. Great punch line at 63A, too!

– puzzle by Amy Johnson

Do you quake a little when you see Byron's byline? He fills his puzzles with lots of vocabulary never seen before in crosswords, which makes them naturally difficult, and then he writes good, tough clues. Most of the clues here are his. So many favorites — 1A, 18A (nice bit of trivia), 20A, 25A, 39A, 54A (more trivia), 9D, 16D (mean!), 34D (whew!), and others.

– puzzle by Byron Walden

A classic grid layout with lots of fine vocabulary. My favorite entries are NETFLIX, AIR TAXI, GUMSHOE, DAY LILY, IQ TESTS, ZZ TOP, SNO-CONE, TOLKIEN, GLITZ, XEROXED, TOO SOON, ICE BATH, SIRI, and SPEEDOS. That's a lot of great stuff!

– puzzle by Bruce R. Sutphin

In the print edition of the Times, the solution to this puzzle will be shown as SUCKS2BYOU, 2BORNOT2B, etc. For online, though, the solution shows "BB" in the theme squares, as we felt that's what solvers are more likely to guess. This was the playoff puzzle at last Friday's Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament. As I write this, I'm anxious to see how quickly (or not) the contestants catch onto the trick.

ADDED NOTE: Winning time for this puzzle at the 17th Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament, held last Friday in Pleasantville, NY:

1st — Bob Mackey, perfect in 8:36

2nd — Jeffrey Schwartz, perfect in 10:34

3rd — Glen Ryan, 11:56 with one error

– puzzle by Evan Birnholz

One thing I like about Paula's puzzles is that she can make them at any difficulty level, from an easy Monday to a brain-cracking Saturday. This one falls happily in-between. She's a good clue-writer, too. Most of the clues here are hers.

Winning time for today's puzzle, at the 17th Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament, held last Friday in Pleasantville, NY:

Bob Mackey, Eatontown, NJ, in 4:25.

– puzzle by Paula Gamache

You don't see left/right symmetry often in American crosswords, but it's just as legitimate as the regular kind. This puzzle is light on theme material, but I think it makes up for it with liveliness — especially LOVER'S LANE, LIVING WILL, UP TO YOU, and NICE JOB. Joel just started his senior year at Pomona College in California. He has been my intern for the past three summers and intends to return full-time after graduating. Virtually all the clues in this puzzle are his.

Winning time for this puzzle at the 17th Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament, held last Friday in Pleasantville, NY:

Jeffrey Schwartz, New York, NY, in 4:33.

– puzzle by Joel Fagliano

Six theme entries plus an "explainer," at 58A, all wrapped in a simple, elegant construction, make for a handsome Monday puzzle. COHIBA at 43A was new to me, but the crossings are good, and everything else seems easy enough. BTW, the Monday through Thursday puzzles this week were used at the 17th annual Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament last Friday, held for charity in my hometown of Pleasantville, NY.

The fastest solver was Glen Ryan, Taftville, CT — perfect in 2 mins. 41 secs. Dan Feyer, a tournament judge (and reigning American Crossword Puzzle Tournament champ), finished this puzzle in 2:05. He beat constructor Ian Livengood, another judge, by about half a minute...on Ian's own puzzle!

– puzzle by Ian Livengood

Judging by comments on the blogs, you either love Joe Krozel or you hate him. I lean more towards the former. Joe is always pushing the envelope, in this case with a super-low word count. As in most puzzles of this sort, there are compromises — as with NINS, D'ALENE, AT US, RUNTIEST, and TREEN crossing TREES.

On the other hand, the grid has a lot of great entries — PAW PRINT, SCHOOLMATE, TIME SINK, SHEESH, MILLIONTH, WENT SOUTH, BIG BANG crossing BIG BANK, and both 15-letter entries. I wouldn't want every themeless puzzle to push the envelope like this. But once in a while? Absolutely.

– puzzle by Joe Krozel

I think Pete intended this puzzle as a Thursday, but as much as I liked the theme, I didn't think it was powerful enough to devote an entire puzzle to. For this to be a "themeless" puzzle, though, my rule is that the grid has to have 72 or fewer entries, and Pete's original grid had 74. So my colleague Frank Longo revised the construction. The last black square in the sixth row used to be one square higher, and its symmetrical mate in the lower left was one square lower.

This shift lowered the word count by the necessary two words. Then Frank reworked the upper-right and lower-left corners accordingly. The result turned out great, I think — a themeless puzzle with a mini-theme!

– puzzle by Peter A. Collins

I met Tom Pepper and Victor Barocas when I was in Minneapolis two weeks ago. There is a surprisingly large crossword-constructing community there. This puzzle's theme is first-rate, I think.

– puzzle by Tom Pepper and Victor Barocas

"Word before" and "word after" sorts of themes have become overdone, I think. This one, though, I think is particularly pretty because the key word combines with both halves of the other theme entries ... and there are six of them, not four. Very impressive.

– puzzle by Victor Fleming and Bonnie L. Gentry

I'm astonished by the amount of theme material Kevin managed to wedge into this puzzle, some of it even stacked and/or crossing other theme entries. At the last minute, just before editing, I decided this puzzle needed a theme "explainer," so the circled E and T were my idea. The E was already in place. The center-right and lower-right sections of the grid were revised to get the circled T in a symmetrical position.

– puzzle by Kevin Christian

My favorite theme answer here is THE THREE R'S, especially as R'S are a fun thing to roll. I edited this puzzle on a plane ride to Iowa two weeks ago, fact-checking a few clues once I got back.

– puzzle by Susan Gelfand

With just 58 words, this grid design is an eye-opener. My favorite entries in it are 6A, 38A, 14D, 20D, 23D, 29D, and 34D. I didn't care so much for ADSORBS, BCS (especially that), SONDE, and one or two other things. But overall this is pretty handsome.

– puzzle by Tim Croce

Mangesh Ghogre, of Mumbai, India, is making his debut with today's puzzle. How he and Doug divided up the construction job I don't know. The two pairs of stacked 15s are pretty nice, I think, although three of the four 15s have appeared in Times puzzles before (17A once, 48A twice, and 45A three times). But it's been awhile since they've appeared, and the clues for them are fresh, so I hope solvers will not remember them or at least not mind.

– puzzle by Mangesh Ghogre and Doug Peterson

A theme like this lives or dies on the naturalness and humor of the theme examples. I thought these were pretty good.

– puzzle by Michael Blake

I don't usually run rebus themes on Wednesday, but every once in a while I make an exception. It keeps solvers from getting complacent. This rebus element is pretty easy, so the puzzle felt Wednesdayish to me. Still, I'm expecting complaints from newbies who don't usually do Thursday (or later) puzzles and have never encountered a rebus in a crossword before.

– puzzle by Paul Hunsberger

As you probably noticed, the grid is an atypical 16x15 squares, in order to accommodate the theme. I'm happy to run any sort of unusual grid size like this as long as there's a good enough reason and readers get their usual amount of crossword solving.

– puzzle by Peter A. Collins

The Monday through Thursday puzzles this week were used last Saturday at the 6th annual BAC Fill crossword tournament in Oakland, Calif. Each year all the money raised at the event goes to benefit Families of SMA, which is dedicated to finding a treatment and cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. More info can be found at www.bayareacrosswords.org.

– puzzle by Ed Sessa