by Yacob Yonas & Ross Trudeau
[.puz][PDF][Solution] 💆🏻‍♂️ 💇🏾🧑🏼‍⚕️ Difficulty 3/5
Welcome back, solver! Join me in savoring Yacob’s overdue return to this site with “Essential Workers.”
I’m feeling a rush of creativity this week, and all credit goes to Jessie. She’s going on the job market this fall (pour one out for your PhD homies), and every day she bounces out of the office to tell me about a new job posting that’s popped up overnight. As a result, we are obliged to actively daydream for a moment or two about what it would be like to move to L.A., or the Bay Area, or Providence, or New York City, which practice turns out to be downright invigorating. TBD what the windfall is…
A couple of links/FYI’s for #rosswords in the wild this week:
Today’s Atlantic puzzle is a collaboration with Paolo Pasco, whose initials are “PP”; the Wednesday 7/14 New York Times puzzle I co-wrote with Amanda Rafkin, who needs board game advice; and the Thursday Wall Street Journal puzzle is a joint effort with Evelyn Rubin, whose gridwork continues to impress.
Some thoughts on “Essential Workers” after the jump!
Yacob: I love looking back to see how puzzles came to be, especially collaborations. A while back, when Ross and I were stewing on ideas for our next puzzle, Ross asked me in an email “how many professionals can you think of who might help someone WORK OUT THE KINKS (15)?  :D” That was the origin of this puzzle! The theme entries we found made the layout on this puzzle pretty tough, which is why we ended up with mirror symmetry. I’m pretty happy with how this grid ended up. As always I love working with Ross; it’s always a blast!
Ross: Happy solving, friends!