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Will Shortz notes:

Adam Wagner, of Oakland, Calif., is a artistic lead at Patreon, the crowdfunding website for content material creators. Michael Lieberman is an legal professional in Washington, D.C. Rafael Musa, of San Francisco, is a software program engineer at Airbnb. They met by means of crossword posts on Twitter and now play on the identical workforce in a weekly Zoom trivia evening.

The thought for this puzzle was Michael's. Rafael and Adam added to the theme. They all collaborated on the grid and clues.

Adam Wagner, Michael Lieberman and Rafael Musa notes:

RAFA: It's an enormous honor to share a byline with two besties and crossword idols for what’s undoubtedly the very best NYT puzzle of 2023 to this point!

Three issues:

• 16D may be very apt
• Pour one out for my [Myrrh-thful trio?] clue for 51D
• I used to be skeptical of 3D when Adam proposed that nook, however now it's one among my favourite solutions within the grid!

ADAM: While we're with reference to pouring ones out, right here's to Mike's completely good (G)O(R)ILL(A) (C)OSTUM(E) = BLESSING IN DISGUISE.

And props to Rafa for the unimaginable, puzzle-saving (REC)TANGU(LA)R PR(I)S(M).

My predominant contribution is that this preposterous grid design, the place each single Down crosses a minimum of one theme reply… and over half cross multiple… together with an absurd 10 entries that cross three!

This can also be a full circle puzzle for me, with GET BACK IN SHAPE and PICTURE IN PICTURE echoing the revealers of my final two Sunday outings.

MIKE: In addition to the one Adam mentions above, my favorites that didn't make the puzzle (as a result of making paired symmetry work is actually, remarkably, unimaginably irritating) are:

• UNL(A)WFU(L) ASSEMB(L)(Y)
• TH(E) TWI(L)(I)GH(T) ZON(E)
• (M)(A)ISO(N)(E)T(T)E
• A (S)(T)RE(E)TCAR NAM(E)D DESI(R)E

(PARTNER IN CRIME, BEST IN SHOW, ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, and DRIVE IN MOVIE)

Jeff Chen notes:

Paired literalisms, a stable phrase describing a phrase unfold out inside one other stable phrase. Some neat finds, particularly FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES cluing MATES, which is contained inside MOUNTAIN STATES.

GET BACK IN SHAPE is so apt for a New Year's Day puzzle. RECTANGULAR PRISM … it's positively a form, nevertheless it's extra a dictionary definition than a colourful entry. Give this math nerd a KLEIN BOTTLE or HYPERCUBE any day! Still, given the constraints of the theme, it's unimaginable to seek out the phrase RECLAIM unfold out inside any form, interval.

Seven themers are powerful to grid round. Eight is just not for the faint of coronary heart. Strong craftsmanship, threading a number of high quality bonuses like ESTROGEN, POUR IT ON, and POSES NUDE, by means of three themers. It's a lot simpler to squeeze a full glass of juice out of an extended Down that goes by means of solely two themers: COLLABORATE is a nod to the uncommon triple-constructor incidence, and ITS NO BIGGIE is my favourite entry in your complete grid.

I'll most likely hear from astronomers lobbying for ENCELADUS as the very best entry, however this sixth-largest moon of Saturn demonstrates the problem of working by means of three themers.

As a lot as I love the general high quality of the themer pair discoveries, it wasn't sufficient to carry my consideration over a complete 21×21. Jumping from the underside half to the highest 4 instances chopped up my remedy as nicely.

I might have adored this puzzle if it had used solely the primary phrases (those with embedded circles) within the grid, with the second halves as clues. Several of those the fellows talked about are superior; tremendous artistic! And on condition that the X IN Y sample is so broad, there absolutely must be much more.

Jim Horne notes:

We haven't executed this shortly, and I do know many discover these notes annoying, however for the few who wish to study these items, It's time as soon as once more to play Fun with the Finder&commerce;.

Jeff talked about that the X IN Y sample is broad, and it actually is, however suppose you had been looking out to seek out fascinating ones. Our Finder will help. Click the hyperlinks beneath to see the outcomes.

• The normal Search button doesn't find out about phrase breaks, so it's not that helpful. Searching for *IN* reveals phrases like COINED. Not what we would like.
• Fortunately, the OneLook Search button does find out about phrase breaks. The sample **IN** finds phrases that embrace the phrase IN. Much higher, though phrases like FILL IN or IN COLD BLOOD are much less fascinating. We'd like IN to be in the midst of a phrase.
• The sample *? IN ?* (be aware the areas) ensures a minimum of one phrase earlier than or after IN.

See our Finder Tips web page to study extra.

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