From The Astronaut’s Logbook

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SUNDAY PUZZLE — In his print introduction, Joel Fagliano writes: “Daniel Bodily, of Woodbury, Minn., is a robotics research engineer. His crosswords often include a visual element, as seen in the middle of the grid here. A self-described ‘left-brained person,’ he notes that crosswords are ‘the closest I’ll come to being an artist myself.’”

I don’t know about that — I love the low-res video game effect in this grid’s layout. You might remember one of Mr. Bodily’s previous Sunday puzzles, in collaboration with Jeff Chen, which included a depiction of the Lincoln Memorial. There’s no arguing with the creativity and artistry in these constructions, and they’re excellent, multi-level challenges.

Today’s Theme

There are eight entries in this theme set, at 3-, 13-, 18-, 20-, 32-, 34-, 70- and 74-Down, as well as a twin set of revealers at 77- and 78-Down. The theme clues are all italicized statements that tell a story, from beginning to end; I didn’t catch that until I looked back on my finished solve, but it’s a thrilling touch. I hope solvers pick up that narrative arc.

Knowing the puzzle’s title, “From the Astronaut’s Logbook,” helps elucidate the theme’s tone. We start with 3-Down: “Woo-hoo! The engines are firing, all systems are go, and we are feeling good!” The entry here is HAVING A BLAST, which means a great time idiomatically, yes, but also literally describes a rocket preparing to soar into space. (I might be alone here, but I first thought this entry was “all systems go.” Fitting, but too straightforward for the theme.)

Our record-keeper continues upward, safely, through 13-Down: “And just like that, sky and clouds are behind us!” The spaceship has left the atmosphere and is now OUT OF THE BLUE. This saying originally drew from something unexpected coming from the sky to Earth, like a bolt of lightning on a clear sunny day, but in this case, it also describes travel in the other direction.

In space, a few events occur, but nothing too suspenseful. Mainly, the narrator feels a weightless bliss that invites a handful of other space-related idioms, although there is a clumsy moment at 70-D: “Ouch! Drifted too far and bonked my head on that darn window … but wow, would you look at the view!” They are SEEING STARS in both senses of the expression. Before you know it, 74-Down happens: “Re-entry time — let’s make sure we do this simply and practically!” It’s time to get DOWN TO EARTH.

Visually, these entries are a treat: They drift down from the top of the grid, and several help delineate a spacecraft whose nose cone is a little triangle of black squares that appear beneath 79-Down. The two revealers form the sides of the ship: 77-Down, “Who’s on a mission in today’s puzzle?,” solves to ROCKET MAN. 78-Down, “Musician who sang about a 77-Down,” adds a pop culture flourish: It’s ELTON JOHN, of course.

Tricky Clues

26A. This “Quaker in the woods” is a friend of the deciduous sort, an ASPEN TREE. Its leaves may quiver, but this species is adaptable enough to occupy the largest range of any tree and tough enough to feed elk and deer, even in winter.

30A. I love a good portmanteau but sometimes get the ingredients wrong. For “Murse, by another name,” I read “Murse” as “male nurse” instead of “male purse,” or MANBAG, and was mystified by this clue for a while. “Murse” might be dated, anyway; I didn’t even remember its use as a Seinfeld plot device in 1998.

92A. The “Shoe secured with a click” in this puzzle is a SKI BOOT, something so unwieldy and specific that I didn’t consider it until most of its letters were filled in from crossing entries. They make terrible shoes, in my experience.

125A. Similarly, “Olympic tracks?” threw me off. Running ovals? Lines made in the snow by slalomers? Not in this case: The “tracks” are musical — national ANTHEMS.

60D. This entry is in the body of the puzzle’s rocket ship at the grid’s center; all of its crossing entries are short and accessible, but I still didn’t get it for a minute after every letter filled in. “It’s run up, then rung up” solves to OPEN TAB, which I could think of only as a browser page; it’s a bar tab.

108D. Here’s another somewhat inscrutable clue-entry combination. “Bouncer in an alleyway?” solves to ECHO, and even after some online research (involving several open tabs, of course), I’m not sure if this is a bowling alley reference. Do balls and pins reverberate or just crash into one another with a regular clamor?

Constructor Notes

Once upon a time, I worked with a start-up that made super lightweight, pneumatically actuated robots for NASA in the Bay Area. While I’ve since moved on, my excitement about the space program hasn’t left me. Here’s to gearing up for the Artemis Program in 2025 and 2026! I think we’ll all be 20-Down when we’re … 20-Down.

Anecdote: While making this puzzle, I often sang the chorus of 77-Down to myself. Eventually, my little 1-year-old picked it up. He was just barely learning how to talk. Though he’s grown older now, I can still picture in my mind this cute little toddler lumbering around the house, belting out “77-Down!” That’s a memory I’ll always cherish. Maybe someday when he’s older, he’ll walk on the moon.

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