Grid: 15×15, Difficulty: Easy-Medium
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Constructor commentary (contains puzzle spoilers)
This is the first puzzle I’ve made where the theme answers are in the down clues. It was an interesting constructing process because I didn’t expect that to affect things but it kind of confused my brain when laying out the grid. In the end, I have mixed feelings about the grid layout. I like that it has a good number of long non-theme answers, but there are also 22 three-letter words, which is right at my borderline of acceptable.
Theme: I don’t think this is that creative or exciting of a theme but I like that it is straightforward and I think it still led to a fun puzzle. I find TRAPDOOR a pleasing theme answer and I liked the misdirection of cluing DAIRYCOW as “Jersey, e.g.” (for anyone how didn’t get it, Jersey is a breed of cattle).
TAMPA (1-Across: City annually invaded by the mythical pirate José Gaspar) I had heard of Gasparilla before but I thought it was only a music festival in Tampa. I didn’t know it involved multiple months of events. My hope is that people who have vaguely heard of Gasparilla like me were able to get this answer by making the connection from José Gaspar and maybe getting a letter or two from the down clues. In general, I think well known geographical locations are often a good opportunity to have some fun clues like this one.
POSTITNOTE (Traditionally yellow stationary (now available in over 26 colors!)) This is one of the long non-theme answers in this puzzle that I really enjoy. They’re obviously still around but Post-it notes (particularly colored ones) give me a very nostalgic feeling.
NHL (21-Across: Seattle Kraken org.) The Kraken are the newest NHL team and they clearly have the best name of any team in the league. Side note, there is a very likable character named Kraken in the wonderful queer, pirate, sci-fi novel Compass Rose by Anne Burke. I would highly recommend it if you’re looking for a nice fun read.
DPS (33-Across: Infielders’ stats): DP is apparently short for double play but I’ll admit that is definitely a stretch, especially when plural. This is a good example of the potential problems with having so many 3-letter words. You just have a lot less flexibility with only 3 letters and risk ending up with clunky words like this. I kept it in because I thought it led to an overall better fill than any alternatives. Other 3-letter words I disliked in the puzzle were STK and RET… sorry.
MII (45-Across: Nintendo avatar): Ok, so I need to complain about something. On Nintendo Switch you can choose from a bunch Nintendo characters for your avatar including Mario, Luigi, Peach, and other characters in the Mario universe. You know who isn’t included though? Wario! I love Wario because he is so uncreatively just supposed to be evil Mario, he has an awesome zig-zag mustache and stocky build, and him and Waluigi are clearly queer. Instead of accepting that Wario could not be my avatar, I very reasonably spent a solid hour designing a Mii that looked like Wario. But come on Nintendo, just accept that Wario and Waluigi are mainstream characters.
ANO (2-Down: Year in Brazil): Another petty compliant. People often clue this as a reference to the Spanish word for year, año, which annoys me because ‘n’ and ‘ñ’ are different letters and you can just as easily clue it for the Portuguese word for year, ano.
FLOWERS (6-Down: Daisies and daffodils) “Flower” is one on my favorite words in the English language. I’m not sure why, but it just feels perfect to me.
SPUTNIK (41-Across: First artificial satellite) While making this puzzle I learned that Sputnik is just the Russian word for satellite, which itself means “fellow traveler”. I thought about including this in the clue, but I opted against it because I wanted the puzzle to be a little easier given the straightforward theme.
The LilyPad 