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Sparkling, simply sparkling, this puzzle, from the gorgeous grid design, to remarkably lively answers, to sterling cluing, to Saturday-worthy resistance. Next time you wonder "Gee, Rex, don't you like *any* puzzles?," first, stop, I like a lot of puzzles, and second, just search "Nam Jin Yoon" on my blog. Like, Patrick Berry- / Liz Gorski- / Merl Reagle-great. Because he has the potential to be one of the greats. I wish he would turn his hand to themed puzzles and see what he can do with them. I think anyone aspiring to make themeless puzzles should study the work of Nam Jin Yoon (even though there's not a ton of it to study yet!). There's a sense of play and humor in the grids that is unmistakable and irresistible. This feeling of "welcome" comes from balance, from moving the cultural and generational focus of your puzzles allllll over the map, as well as from making sure that relative obscurities and less famous names don't pile up in the same section.
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It's just that it seems like he wants you to get them, wants you to learn the names, and the foods, wants you to appreciate them. They are youthful without that extreme "look at me being youthful!" try-hardness that comes from over-reliance on generation-specific proper nouns-though he's not afraid to throw new (to-the-grid) proper nouns at you, that's for sure. They feel like the work of a young visionary and an old veteran, simultaneously. There's a freshness, a life in his puzzles that genuinely crackles, and somehow he's able to marry that energy to a very careful and thoughtful craftsmanship. But as far as people who have bylines that appear at least semi-regularly in the NYTXW, I would, tentatively, say yes, Nam Jin Yoon is my favorite, despite the fact that he's been constructing for only a few years. There are so many talented constructors working right now (particularly at the New Yorker and the American Values Club Crossword, as well many independent outlets), that it would be hard to say definitively, yes, this one constructor is my favorite. Is this my favorite constructor? I wouldn't really be comfortable picking just one.