WILBER: You make a vital point about telegraphing the short form. The only thing I see tampering with the misdirection slightly is if an editor decides that the clue must be [Hoover, e.g., slangily]. The “e.g.” is often used when you name a member of a category rather than a direct synonym. Looking at previous appearances in The New York Times, it’s been done with and without “e.g.”

WEINTRAUB: Interesting. That may be because Hoover was once used more ubiquitously as a synonym for a vacuum cleaner (à la Xerox and Kleenex) and not just a brand of vacuum.

38 Across: FLEA

WEINTRAUB: We can go lots of different ways here. There are fill-in-the-blank (FITB) options like [ ___ circus] and [ ___ market]. In general, you don’t want to have too many FITB clues in a puzzle, though, so I might choose to save those for entries that have no better alternatives. How about [Circus opener?], where “opener” implies a word that precedes “circus.” For a Tuesday, the question mark indicates that we’re employing some wordplay. Depending on the puzzle venue, the question mark might not be used later in the week.

WILBER: It’s good to have one or two FITB clues and to consider making one a “gimme,” because many solvers, rather than starting at 1 Across, will scan the whole thing for a FITB to give themselves a firm foothold. Good thinking, Robyn, selecting CIRCUS and MARKET, instead of BAG. Check your dictionary, everyone, to make sure your choice is not a one-word answer. FLEA CIRCUS and FLEA MARKET are both two-word phrases, fit for a FITB clue. FLEABAG is a single word, and so it can’t be arbitrarily dissected.

WEINTRAUB: Brad raises an important point: You can’t create a FITB clue to elicit part of a word. It’s good only for whole words. EMU, at 37 Across, might be part of “emulate,” but you can’t clue it [ ___late].

66 Across: PEONS

WEINTRAUB: This is a plural entry, so make sure the clue matches: [Serfs] is good, but [Serf] is not. Because the word PEONS has a negative connotation, though, I’m going to try to lighten it up. I land on [They’re hardly muckety-mucks]. “Muckety-muck” is a silly term for a person of great importance. “Hardly” here signals an opposite. This might be difficult for a Tuesday, but I’d rather take a chance on an interesting and amusing clue rather than settle for something boring and overused. Of course, this version raises a different issue, because the word HARD (as part of HARD LENS) appears in the puzzle grid. Do I need to stay away from using “hardly”? I personally am not bothered by the repetition because I think the two uses are sufficiently different, but for our purposes here I will err on the side of caution and flip it to [Muckety-mucks they’re not]. Your thoughts, Brad?

WILBER: I love the choice of tone for this clue and the specific intent to avoid evoking anything grim. You won’t be able to avoid every possible trigger for every solver, but keeping in mind the escapist nature of puzzles goes a long way. “Hardly” is so perfect there … I hate to touch it. [They’re far from muckety-mucks] is not quite as deft but is definitely safe from the HARD repetition. Speaking of which:

8 Down: HARD LENS

WEINTRAUB: This is a fairly specific term. It’s unlikely that I’m going to come up with anything other than a direct explanation. [Durable sample from an ophthalmologist] hits all three needs: “Ophthalmologist” indicates vision correction, “durable” signals the HARD part, and “sample” is singular, so it’s just one LENS. Nothing to love here, but it does the job. It’s generally good form, on a Tuesday especially, for the clue to hint at all the components of a compound entry.