Thank you so much for bothering to answer. I did feel a little shaky about those 2 entries, but it helped to get another eye on
the issue. I think you are correct; and I'll just have to tear up a large section. Thanx for the "one lap" possible answer!

I've completed a 21 X 21 themed puzzle; and although I've tried different approaches, I'm left with two unusual entries: "epulse," clued as "Electromagnetic rifle used in Starship Troopers universe." (Googling "epulse" almost always returns a trademark; but copilot AI says that "epulse" is not necessarily a trademark but "a measure of one pulse (burst), often used in laser or electrical systems." But that's not easy to find by googling. The other entry is "one law," which I have clued as "Theological movement associated with Messianic Judaism." If you have any other more simplified clues, please let me know. Or do you think these 2 entries would kill my chances of being accepted.

OK thanks very much for the clarification. Feb 18 was just one of many I found with >72 words that I *thought* was un-themed - but thinking my definition of 'theme' was too narrow.

I've been doing the NYT crossword forever and thought I knew them inside and out...but I had no idea Tuesdays were always theme puzzles  (because I usually skip Monday and Tuesday...and usually Wednesday...)

Thanks for the quick reply -

Back to the drawing board!

I recently received a rejection from NYC that stated my submitted puzzle was unusable because it exceeded the max word count of 72 for themeless puzzles. (I think my puzzle had 76 words)

That feedback confused me because I often see themeless NYT puzzles that have >72 words! (recent example = Feb 18th).

Feb 18 is a Tuesday puzzle, which is a themed puzzle.  They allow more words for themed puzzles.  Themeless puzzles are expected to be wider open and are often expected to be a lot more sparkling than average for word choice and so forth.  But yes, themeless puzzles are expected to have a maximum of 72 words.  Themed crosswords have a maximum of 78 words on spec.  See https://www.nytimes.com/article/submit-crossword-puzzles-the-new-york-times.html

You should be able to just click on the the downloaded file and it will install.  Note that Windows flags it as a possible unsafe file.  It doesn't appear to be but it apparently isn't in Windows' database.