Margaret Seikel notes:
I’m thrilled to have the first Tuesday puzzle of 2023. As always, the editorial team added fantastic clues like 24-Down, but I particularly appreciate they kept 22- and 61-Across. With 3-Down, the literary mini-theme is one of my favorite parts of this puzzle.
As we start the New Year, happy reading and happy solving!
Jeff Chen notes:
It’s been over ten years since I exited my startup, and I’ve begun to itch for entrepreneurial action. MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS epitomizes the startup mentality, smashing through norms, creating new paradigms … as well as tweaking your sanity through ridiculous hours and stress.
Maybe I’ll wait another year or two.
I enjoyed the novelty of a “breaking” theme using a broken revealer. I appreciated that placing the first halfway up top didn’t give away the game, making me wait until the very end.
Will Shortz usually shies away from this type of repeated-circles theme, because once you fill in one set, the rest fall immediately into place — as does the theme concept. Still, Maggie chose three solid phrases that didn’t repeat the TH___ word. There are other options for TH*ING, but many of them would have created a repeat with THE, or THAT’S.
I would have loved if the concept had been pushed as hard as a startup team pushes boundaries. Something like breaking up GIZMO and DOODAD in GLITZ AND GLAMOR and DOOMSDAY DEVICE, perhaps? The predictability of TH/ING in triplicate felt more like an established business than a nimble startup creating something jaw-dropping.
I wondered about the mini-theme, trying to figure out what “The Princess Diaries” had to do with startups. Reading Maggie’s comments made me appreciate it, giving me a sense of her personality imbued into the grid. I’d love it if the NYT ran a short statement from each author next to their byline.
Not everything worked perfectly, but I appreciated the iconoclasm; Maggie breaking a crossword norm to aptly vibe with her theme.
​Margaret Seikel notes:
I’m thrilled to have the first Tuesday puzzle of 2023. As always, the editorial team added fantastic clues like 24-Down, but I particularly appreciate they kept 22- and 61-Across. With 3-Down, the literary mini-theme is one of my favorite parts of this puzzle.
As we start the New Year, happy reading and happy solving!
Jeff Chen notes:
It’s been over ten years since I exited my startup, and I’ve begun to itch for entrepreneurial action. MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS epitomizes the startup mentality, smashing through norms, creating new paradigms … as well as tweaking your sanity through ridiculous hours and stress.
Maybe I’ll wait another year or two.
I enjoyed the novelty of a “breaking” theme using a broken revealer. I appreciated that placing the first halfway up top didn’t give away the game, making me wait until the very end.
Will Shortz usually shies away from this type of repeated-circles theme, because once you fill in one set, the rest fall immediately into place — as does the theme concept. Still, Maggie chose three solid phrases that didn’t repeat the TH___ word. There are other options for TH*ING, but many of them would have created a repeat with THE, or THAT’S.
I would have loved if the concept had been pushed as hard as a startup team pushes boundaries. Something like breaking up GIZMO and DOODAD in GLITZ AND GLAMOR and DOOMSDAY DEVICE, perhaps? The predictability of TH/ING in triplicate felt more like an established business than a nimble startup creating something jaw-dropping.
I wondered about the mini-theme, trying to figure out what “The Princess Diaries” had to do with startups. Reading Maggie’s comments made me appreciate it, giving me a sense of her personality imbued into the grid. I’d love it if the NYT ran a short statement from each author next to their byline.
Not everything worked perfectly, but I appreciated the iconoclasm; Maggie breaking a crossword norm to aptly vibe with her theme.  Read More  Puzzle BlogsÂ
