![]() Twice now, including a puzzle I co-constructed with a very experienced puzzlemaker, David has transformed the theme for the much better. I say this from experience, as he has edited some of my puzzles. His crossword mind is brilliant – he sees things others, even experienced crossworders, don’t. Once again, today, I believe, he has presented a theme never done before. ![]() He is creative and original, pushing the envelope. His witty cluing is marvelous look at today’s and. His puzzles are always – always – free of junk, no matter how complicated. Puzzles won’t leave his desk unless they are top notch, and David’s top notch is on the upper end of top notch. We solvers are so gifted to have David in our midst. Felt like playing a video game (stand-up arcade games from the '80s, like Pac-Man, I mean-I have no idea what "gaming" is like after ~1996). Loved swooshing around the grid picking up all the theme squares. Doubly-clued themers were now doubly easy to get. After that, I had absolutely no trouble with this one. Eventually, I just skipped down to the revealer to see if I could figure out the theme concept before moving on, and after a little finagling, I got SPLIT ENDS to come into view, and after that, I remembered that the theme answers were *doubly* clued, which is to say I saw CHORTLING, which made me realize my OREGON two-letter square was misplaced. This gave me ORE- at the front of OR(EG)ON (seemed reasonable enough, except I didn't know what the theme concept was yet-I just knew there were double letters in some of the boxes, for the Down crosses, and so with OREGON I thought the double letter box was (GO) (the second square in GOUGED), not (EG). I had trouble with the theme at first because while I got GA(SC)AP easily enough, I wrote in only the railroad end of the answer: -HORT LINE. I know, that time is never coming, but it should, it really should, sooner than later. David should be on the short list when the time comes to replace the current editor. This puzzle is a technical accomplishment that is *also* a joy to solve. The slanginess of OLD ME! The hard-to-parse weirdness of " NCIS: LA." The OOZE-ing CHURROS of Frank ZAPPA! JENGA! HUBBLE! OH DEAR! The puzzle stays interesting even in the non-showcase parts. Lots of unexpected and bright little answers keep popping up, so you aren't just drowned in a deluge or crosswordese and repeaters. Everything is smooth and gettable without ever getting DULL. ![]() You've got a highly original and somewhat architecturally complex theme that plays out just as a Thursday should-head-scratching at first, then EUREKA!, and then the joy of discovering how the theme plays out in whatever theme answers you have left to uncover. Constructing is very different from editing, true, but David can do both really well, and this puzzle gives you some sense of his sensibility: cleverness, playfulness, thoughtfulness, polish. ![]() If this puzzle is his audition to take over the big chair at the NYTXW, then, kid, you're hired. Under his leadership, that puzzle has gone from a "no thanks" to a very tight, professional, respectable daily. David Steinberg is the editor of the widely syndicated Universal Crossword.
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