Walbs

Congratulations on an artful and clever debut. It is so satisfying to see an innovative theme executed thoughtfully into a Thursday-like motif. The landmines were there and the fun (as always on a Thurs.) was to expose them without losing a leg! So intuitive and universally literary to juxtapose Dickens’ “bah” with Shakespeare’s FIE. Loved it!

Perfect combo of twists on the known using sly clues, and the sprinkling of the unknown - what a Saturday puzzle should be. What is the fun of racing through easy-peasy when you can learn about Ecuador and corn pits? (All post-hoc, of course.) Add to that the wonderful philosophical, paradoxical take on "THERE ARE NO WORDS" (7D). I will use that one for sure. And the chuckle is worth double when figuring out that CRAPPER (8A) is the surprise dark answer to the simple "Can" clue. I remembered from the show that TIM (58A) was either REID or RIED and the joy of a Saturday puzzle is try to build around either/both. GOLFBAG (1D) sharpens that sense of taking nothing for granted on a Saturday. I even had "LOG" pencilled in as the last three letters for a bit. To answer the Constructor's query: I don't think a question mark would have made a difference in 32A - would have tried to jam in "WINDOW" (a la slider window at the reception desk) at the end There's always Netflix or Prime if I ever need gratification without a challenge.

Thank you "Seinfeld" for points of reference (in my brain) on two clues: 1) David Puddy giving Kramer advice over the phone re: "latch hasp" (43D) on his shower garbage disposal; and 2) Kramer powering the pedicab (15A)/rikshaw with Newman riding herd. Maybe all those Must-See TV Thursday nights are paying off. Entertaining puzzle - clawing quadrant by quadrant esp. because the themed answers depended so heavily on their cross-answers.

Love the creativity, yet there is no symmetry in the final ‘big A’ figure. Symmetry is balance found in two halves of an object. The ‘big A’, however, is not symmetrical because the letter ‘t’ in 39A is not symmetrical with the letter ‘s’ in 42A. Also, these two characters (not being the letter ‘a’) are incongruently glommed into the ‘big A’. I liked the outside-the-box challenge here especially for a Tuesday, but when symmetry and the letter ‘a’ are the featured aspects of the puzzle, these two shortfalls are, with respect, worthy of note.