I released this puzzle today specifically stating that I wanted to make "a Monday-level crossword". And... the grid layout looks eerily similar to today's NYT. If you ignore the four cheater squares I used, aaaaall the black squares on the edges are also black in the NYT grid, AND the five in the middle line up too. I know there are a lot of common patterns for early-week crosswords but that feels crazy. Really the only differences have to do with themer length (I have 9-10-10-9 and the NYT has 12-11-11-12, and the 12s can't go on the third row from the top/bottom).