Indian megacity of 28+ million / MON 12-23-19 / Tolkien's Lord of Rivendell / One of 38 for Madonna billboard record / Biblical birthright seller / New World natives noted for their pyramids calendar

Constructor: Timothy Polin

Relative difficulty: Felt hardish, but ... no. Clock says it was very Easy indeed (2:39) ... ah, I see now that it's only 14-wide. That explains it ...

THEME: SPIN THE DREIDEL (57A: Play a game during Hanukkah ... with a hint to 15-, 21-, 42- and 47-Across)— circled letters inside of themers contain the letters in DREIDEL all spun around (i.e. jumbled):

Theme answers:

• MIDDLE RELIEVER (15A: Pitcher between a starter and a closer)
• SLED RIDE (21A: Snow day activity)
• HIGH-SPEED DRILL (42A: Metalworker's tool)
• RED DELICIOUS (47A: Popular apple variety)

Word of the Day: ELROND (63A: Tolkien's Lord of Rivendell) —

Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Hobbit, and plays a supporting role in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. // In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, Elrond is portrayed by Hugo Weaving. (wikipedia)

Struggled repeatedly and still ended up near a record Monday time. Now, the grid is undersized, at just 14 squares wide, but still there was a huge discrepancy between how difficult this puzzle felt and how quickly I actually moved through it—between perceived and actual difficulty. I forgot who built the New World pyramids, forgot MARA Liasson's name (Liane Hansen was causing interference) needed several crosses to get DOTCOM (7A: Amazon or eBay), wrote in WIKI (?) before WIFI (25D: What'll help you see the sites?), have no idea what a HIGH-SPEED DRILL really is, and never really processed the name ELROND, so needed all the crosses there as well. And still: 2:39. Bizarre. Didn't love this one as I was solving it, and found the revealer kind of underwhelming (the idea of mixing up a bunch of common letters like that just isn't terrible exciting, conceptually). But the more that I look it over, the more I think it's pretty good. HIGH-SPEED DRILL is a shrug, but the rest of the themers are fine, and if you think of it as an easy themeless with a little holiday message at the end, it's just fine. And they got the holiday puzzle publication date right! Today is the first full day of Hanukkah, so Happy Hanukkah to all you who celebrate!


I'm gonna reprint my last-minute holiday gift guide from yesterday. I hope some of you find it useful. Since I posted yesterday, Fireball Newsflash Crosswords 2020 made its Kickstarter funding goal, so another season is guaranteed, which is nice. Also, I've added Eric Berlin's "Puzzlesnacks" to the list. So here you go (again):

• American Values Club Crossword: the premier independent crossword puzzle. Imaginative, contemporary puzzles from an extremely talented and diverse group of constructors. You should already be a subscriber. Go ahead and make someone else a subscriber too.
• Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest: Matt's contest is by now an institution with a sizeable solving fanbase. Every Friday he releases a metacrossword. You have the weekend to figure out the meta answer. Puzzles cycle through difficulty levels week to week, from pretty easy to Ouch OMG Help! When you get the answer, you enter it on his website, and you can see if you're right and see how many others got it. There are prizes for randomly selected successful solvers. Matt's a great constructor and his contest is justly famous. For the serious solver who wants to spice things up, this subscription is just the thing.
• Crossword Nation: Liz Gorski used to be a frequent and beloved contributor to the NYTXW, but she has taken her talents elsewhere, as they say, and one of those places is her own weekly easy themed crossword puzzle. This would make a great gift for someone who enjoys solving but still struggles with late-week puzzles—or for anyone who likes cute current delicious puzzles.
• Queer Qrosswords 2: 2 Queer 2 Qurious: Nate Cardin was so successful with his first go at a collection of crosswords to benefit LGBTQIA+ charities that he decided to do another one! It's easy: donate to one of a number of charities, show your receipts, get your puzzles (from some of the best constructors in the business). Do it! Give it as a gift! Go on!
• Women of Letters: Patti Varol put together this collection of crosswords by women constructors, to benefit "women-centric charities." As with Queer Qrosswords, you donate to a charity, show your receipts, get your puzzles. Great causes, great puzzles. Go for it.
• Outside the Box puzzles (by Joon Pahk): I don't normally go too far into the world of non-crosswords, but the Variety puzzles and Rows Garden puzzles (so fun! see the sample here if you're not familiar with this type of puzzle!) available here are crossword-adjacent enough for me. If you want to diversify your (or someone else's!) puzzling fare, subscribe to Year 5 of Outside Box. Now. Go on!
• Fireball Newsflash Crosswords 2020: man I love these things. Biweekly crosswords that Peter builds with answers straight out of recent headlines. If something's in the news, chances are you'll see it here first (crossword-wise). These puzzles are hypercurrent and force me to have to deal on a regular basis with names I don't know—a very important solving skill to have. The Kickstarter for next season (2020) met its funding goal Sunday night (12/22), so get over there and subscribe with confidence, or buy someone a subscription, and add a newsy dimension to your (or someone else's) solving experience. 
• Puzzlesnacks by Eric Berlin: Hey, look, puzzles for beginning and intermediate solvers, particularly *kids*. I'll let Eric describe: "With Puzzlesnacks, I specialize in taking variety crossword types generally seen as pretty darn challenging, and making them more accessible to beginning and intermediate solvers. I post a puzzle to the Web site (http://www.puzzlesnacks.com) every Friday -- I want kids to be able to access the puzzle for free. But adults are encouraged to subscribe, for $3 / month. Subscribers get the puzzle sent directly to them by e-mail, and they get a couple dozen bonus puzzles each year as well."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]