Seth Bisen-Hersh’s New York Times puzzle – Sophia’s write-up

Happy New Year everybody! I’ve already written this puzzle’s date incorrectly a number of occasions, so it’s off to a fantastic begin for me.

THEME: “It Had To Be You” – every theme reply accommodates the string “BU” twice.

New York Times, 01 02 2023, By Seth Bisen-Hersh

• 19a [The 2005 compilation “Killer Queen” is one honoring Queen] – TRIBUTE ALBUM
• 27a [Chemistry lab device] – BUNSEN BURNER
• 42a [Topper for a Whopper] – HAMBURGER BUN
• 50a [Classic song about a soulmate … or a phonetic hint for repeated pairs of letters in 19-, 27- and 42-Across] – IT HAD TO BE YOU

I made a decision to resolve this puzzle with out trying on the revealer till I reached it naturally, so it took me some time to get what the theme was. As I solved, I seen that every theme reply had two Bs, however that was it (and the one purpose I knew that a lot was as a result of the B’s have been the final entries I put in to TRIBUTE ALBUM). I like all of the theme solutions; they’re all stable if not really stand-out, and the rhyme within the clue for HAMBURGER BUN is cute.

The revealer itself is intelligent, I like the way it repurposes all three of the final phrases of the track title. When it involves the track itself, I do know it however am unsure I may sing any lyrics in addition to the title…. That’s all to say that I feel it’s truthful recreation for a Monday, however for those who don’t know the title you could possibly get caught there.  Oh, and it might need been elegant if there have been no B’s or U’s within the puzzle in addition to those within the theme solutions, however I do not know how potential that may be, and in any case clear fill ought to most likely be the precedence on a Monday.

This puzzle performed very easy for me, timewise. I feel there’s a pair causes for that – there aren’t many longer solutions that require crosses to get, and there’s a considerable amount of (pretty clued!) correct names that I used to be in a position to rapidly drop in. The solely adverse within the fill is the sheer quantity of three letter phrases clogging up the corners, however the good open center makes up for it. My favourite piece of fill is BABKA and I’m shocked however not displeased that the NYT is permitting ASS-backwards into their puzzles.

Congrats to Seth on a fantastic debut puzzle!