I have officially moved to Albuquerque. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve thought this transition is scarier than those in the past. But I’ve had a hard time moving to Providence too; those first couple of weeks were difficult though my classmates alleviated the dread. Same as Ithaca. Same as DC. Same as Budapest.
Moving is just hard in general. Making connections is even harder.
I actually submitted to NYTimes awhile back a very similar puzzle to the 9/9/2021 theme, and this was their response:
I’m writing in response to your “Metric” 15x submission. With regrets, we are going to pass on this puzzle. Solid work, but unfortunately we recently accepted a puzzle with a very similar theme. That said, wanted to compliment your playful and creative cluing angles, as well as some fun entries in the bonus fill like MAC AND CHEESE, ELECTRIC EELS, SOULMATES and SINE WAVES!
So sorry for the disappointing news this time. Appreciate you giving us a chance to review your puzzle, and hope to see more from you soon!
Here was my (much easier, was envisioning Wednesday) take: https://crosshare.org/crosswords/vvMLFE4CJYs7JPZ4Ulja