Plenty of NYT crosswords have their ups and downs, however Tracy takes us on a thrill experience, that includes RAMPs to climb, SLIDEs to plummet down, and a wonderful diagonal of black squares to emphasise the idea. Way extra ups than downs!

Many puzzles have featured diagonally rising / falling themers. This one was a lot extra satisfying than others, partially as a result of it wasn’t so overly sophisticated that solvers griped to the depths of Tartarus (I realized a hellish lesson that day). The overt circles made it instantly clear what was occurring, and I appreciated that. They additionally served as a reasonably set of CHUTEs and ladders, harking back to that sport board.

What put this puzzle excessive: two pleasant “apticlues.” (Coinage courtesy of the good Jim Horne!) Many phrases would work with HILL, like ACHILLES HEEL or PHILLY CHEESESTEAK, however what number of are associated to one thing that truly ascends? Why have I by no means observed the awesomeness of HILL inside Sir EDMUND HILLARY?

Same goes for PARACHUTE IN. DESCHUTES RIVER would have labored, nevertheless it would not have the delight of CHUTE inside a phrase that is coming all the way down to earth.

There is not any symmetry within the themer placements, which bothered me at first. There’s sufficient flexibility in entries like SLIDE that at the least one or two pairs might have exhibited some extent of symmetry. Ultimately, although, it is so onerous to jigsaw these risers or fallers that I used to be impressed with Tracy’s skill to work in six of them.

Beautiful gridwork, too; surprising given how troublesome it may be to 1) work round diagonal themers, and a couple of) construct even a traditional 140-word Sunday grid. If I had been a betting man, I’d have set the over/beneath for gluey bits at 12 for a median constructor. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Tracy and understand how sturdy she is, so I’d decrease that to six. She was nicely beneath! She did go as much as 144 phrases, however with all the flicker of LOOM LARGE BRATWURST BEAR CRAWLS ROULETTE, I hardly observed.

This is a good instance of a puzzle that does not push the envelope of theme growth, however does a incredible job of presenting an idea that is each attention-grabbing and superbly executed for the NYT’s broad fixing inhabitants.