If I'm counting correctly, including this puzzle I have nine themeless puzzles in the NYT queue for publication and another two submitted. Out of these 11 puzzles, this one is my least favorite. This isn't to say I don't like it. If I don't like a puzzle I don't submit it. It's just to say that I like the other ones better.
The flaws with this puzzle gnaw at me more than usual for some reason. The "Texas" region is particularly grating. I hate using a plural of an uncommon name, and ETTAS is right on the borderline for me. It's better than GISELES, but not as good as ANNS. (Although it does make me feel better that they were contemporaries in the same field. It's easier to imagine an organic usage of ETTAS in this setting: The two Ettas of mid-twentieth-century jazz -- James and Jones -- had 18 Grammy nominations between them.) And I really, really hate using partials, so much so that I tried to clue I ATE as a complete sentence. My clue, changed during edit, was "Already had dinner." But it was an act of desperation on my part, as I can't really think of a non-contrived scenario in which somebody would say "I ate" as a standalone sentence. One might say "I ate dinner already" or even "I ate already," but just "I ate?" Eh, probably not. Then, to make things even less elegant, ETTAS and I ATE cross the abbreviation SEPT. Normally I would have no problem with SEPT in my puzzle -- it's a perfectly cromulent abbreviation -- but when it's crossing the two worst answers in the puzzle, it becomes a weak entry as well. Guilt by association.
The other big thing I'm not so keen on is that I didn't totally nail the long answers. ANNOTATE and ANTENATAL are both pretty boring, and DIETETICS -- I dunno. I think it's an interesting word, but your mileage may vary. I like COLPORTEUR too, because it's fun to say, and I enjoyed learning its definition, but I would understand if others thought it was too obscure for such prime real estate. Similarly, I like the clue for FLORIDA TECH (classic Saturday-level misdirection), but it's appearance in this puzzle is pretty random. It's not like Cal Tech or even Georgia Tech when it comes to prestige and notoriety. I imagine many solvers inferring it from crosses and thinking, "Florida Tech? Okay. Sounds like a real place to me."
But, of course, there are many things I like about this puzzle as well. PALE BLUE DOT is a cool debut entry, especially for Neil de Grasse Tyson fanboys like myself; FLEXITARIAN is pretty good, even if my original clue didn't make the cut ("Person you might occasionally have beef with?"); HAVISHAM is a nice literary reference; and THROW SHADE makes its first (to my knowledge) appearance in a crossword puzzle. Then there is DON'T THAT BEAT ALL, which is my favorite answer in the grid, because it's a good colloquialism, and because it's very difficult to get any grid-spanning answer through the center of a triple stack, let alone one with some sparkle.
In general, I hope it isn't lost on the solver that this grid shape is a bit more challenging, from a construction standpoint, than that of a typical themeless puzzle. It's only 66-words, six less than the themeless max, and it has a wide open middle which was a bear to fill. So I think I did pretty well, given the constraints, but "given the constraints" is not always to the benefit of the solver. There is is not necessarily a positive correlation between difficulty of construction and enjoyment of solve.
Another area in which I think I did nicely with this puzzle is the mid-range fill. FACADE, EGO SURF, TOP SHELF, NO FRILLS, NOOGIE, VAPE, BOSOMY, and PREFAB are all solid to good, in my opinion.
In general, I hope it isn't lost on the solver that this grid shape is a bit more challenging, from a construction standpoint, than that of a typical themeless puzzle. It's only 66-words, six less than the themeless max, and it has a wide open middle which was a bear to fill. So I think I did pretty well, given the constraints, but "given the constraints" is not always to the benefit of the solver. There is is not necessarily a positive correlation between difficulty of construction and enjoyment of solve.
Another area in which I think I did nicely with this puzzle is the mid-range fill. FACADE, EGO SURF, TOP SHELF, NO FRILLS, NOOGIE, VAPE, BOSOMY, and PREFAB are all solid to good, in my opinion.
The big question: Overall, does the good outweigh the bad? I think so, but, just for fun, let's do a full accounting of this puzzle using Jeff Chen's "asset/liability" score. That is, you simply add up all the "assets" of the puzzle and deduct all the "liabilities." If this difference is around 10 you have a decent themeless puzzle; if it's much above 10 you have a great puzzle; and if it's much below 10 you have not-so-great puzzle. Now, obviously this is a highly subjective, overly simplistic metric, but here goes nonetheless...
Assets
1. HAVISHAM
2. FLEXITARIAN
3. PALE BLUE DOT
4. EGO SURF
5. TOP SHELF
6. DON'T THAT BEAT ALL
7. THROW SHADE
8. NO FRILLS
Half-Assets
1. FLORIDA TECH
2. PREFAB
3. FACADE
4. COLPORTEUR
5. DIETETICS
6. NOOGIE
7. BOSOMY
8. VAPE
Liabilities
1. ETTAS
2. I ATE
Half-Liabilities
1. ERNES
2. SEPT
I decided to parse the scoring a bit more finely by using half assets and half liabilities. And under this categorization, my score for this puzzle is 8 + 4 - 2 - 1 = 9, which seems... spot on to me actually. It completely coheres with my gut feeling on this puzzle. I guess the system works!
Anyway, I hope you liked this puzzle. If you didn't, feel free to throw some shade in my direction. I never object to honest feedback. Plus, there is a decent chance I won't read it anyway, at least not right away. We are taking the kids to Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA for the holiday weekend, so I'll be busy with that. The only "cross words" I'll be dealing with are the ones I'll be muttering under my breath, as I'm pushing through a throng of people so that my sons can shake hands with some poor schmo in an oversize Elmo costume. Instead of sitting at home refreshing the comment sections of the crossword blogosphere, I'll be spending quality time with the family -- waiting in line so that we can get our picture taken with a giant cardboard cutout of The Count. It should be fun.
Until next time...
