Big Talk

May 27 2024 - reviews

This crossword was a struggle for me. I find my time somewhat inexplicable because I think most of the clues taken in isolation aren't very difficult. But something about them didn't resonate with me and I had a real hard time piecing together the top half of this grid.

For "Toadstools and mildew" I wanted the answer to be MOLDS so badly that I threw out my critical thinking skills and forgot about the first half of the clue. I had a similar mental block with "Tip over one's king, say", where I tried to fill a number of variations of the GIVEUP and GIVEIN variety. MARIAN isn't helping anything in that section of the grid because it feels like a Robin Hood deep cut, but hey, maybe that's my own education letting me down.

Perhaps I would've enjoyed this puzzle more if I liked the acrosses that span the length of the grid, but I don't any words to describe them other than "meh". BLAMESTORM is a phrase I'm unfamiliar with and the clue feels needlessly cryptic. "Confer to pass the buck" is just weird English. Who says that? This is one of the few cases where I feel like the Puzzmo hint is better than the original clue ("Group meeting where people may accuse and point fingers").

FINISHLINE caught me unawares because I had always assumed that a FINISHLINE was made with a thin strip of paper, not a piece of tape. But hey, you live and you learn. I just can't say this time that I enjoyed the process of doing it.

Water Fight!

May 26 2024 - reviews

Similar to yesterday, today's grid is an asymmetrical arrangement that has a Mondrain-esque feel to it. There's something inherently pleasing about a grid that's just a few connected blocks of rectangles. These two crosswords have been a nice break from the usual symmetrical fare (particularly when one of those puzzles was in the shape of a butterfly).

This time the asymmetrical grid is accompanied by a very creative theme. The themer clues are sets of coordinates from the game BATTLESHIP ("Hits: [A11, B11, C11, D11]"), each answer taking the form of a ship type from the game. I didn't grok the theme until I had filled BATTLESHIP, where I remembered back to my childhood that different lengths of coordinates in the grid corresponded to different kinds of ships.

Unfortunately, neither my childhood nor adulthood remembered CARRIER was a kind of ship and the bottom-left corner became a real problem for me. The down fill in that section is particularly awful, full of strange trivia and stranger combinations of letters (IRR, BAI, RAITA, UNSER). Without knowing the ship (which I almost assumed was just CRUISER again, since it began with a "C" and ended with an "ER") I had to use a hint.

I surprised myself by plonking "Most widely-spoken artificial language", ESPERANTO. I had learned about this language while reading a book on constructed languages (conlangs for short) by David J. Peterson, the guy behind Dothraki. ESPERANTO is an interesting study because it's designed to be a universal second language, one that's easy to learn for global communication. Outside of ESPERANTO, there's a whole subculture of people who build these sorts of languages for fun.

Overall, this theme rules. It does kind of hijack the usual crossword-solving experience, since the themer clues are replaced with game notation. But as a whole it's just a great idea.

Never Let Them Know Your Next Move

May 25 2024 - reviews, partner-solve

I was immediately drawn to the shape of this grid because it looks more like an abstract art piece than a crossword puzzle. Turns out that the constructor randomly generated the black squares using an absolutely insane manual process: generate numbers, apply a set of rules, fill in the squares, repeat. The post-solve blurb dives into the constructor's methodology and it's well worth a read.

Squares aside, I think this puzzle is excellent. The difficulty curve is well-paced and satisfying, providing just enough pause when the gimmes are exhausted before the grid is unlocked with an epiphany. After exhausting the easy clues, my partner and I spent a solid minute or two puzzling over the grid. My partner nailed SCALPEL and the rest of the puzzle fell into place.

I'm really happy COMEATME and BOPS are featured in this grid. There's something evocative about they way they're clued that allowed me to slot them instantly, even if I had doubts as to whether they were the proper answers.

Speaking of clues, there are tons of great ones in this grid. "Stocking up of snowballs for a snowball fight, figuratively" (ARMSRACE) is a personal favorite. I also enjoyed "Hold over water?" for CARGODECK and "It can get the juices flowing" for BOTTLEOPENER. Apart from the witticisms, there's quite a bit of strategic cluing in this puzzle to maintain the difficulty curve. ETA stands out as one example, clued as the difficult: "Greek letter used to represent the packing fraction in thermodynamics".

I didn't catch the reference for ASPS ("Snakes one of whose brethren notably killed a queen"). For those likewise uneducated, the clue refers to the death of Cleopatra. Apparently there's some modern debate as to whether she died of a self-inflicted asp bite or other means of poisoning. Either way, not a fun way to go.

Just Wing It!

May 24 2024 - reviews

I'll stand by the TXW rules of crosswords today and maintain that grids shaped like a thing make for bad puzzles. On one hand, opening the puzzle prompts an "oh, how pretty" that lasts a few seconds. On the other, actually solving the thing is an exercise in overcoming mundane fill. It's just hard for a constructor to make an interesting puzzle in the constraints of a shapely grid.

Unchecked squares^[1] are controversial but at least 11D and 21D have a combined clue: "or, with 21-Down, dwindle" (RUN LOW). It's a cute way to call attention to the head and butt (?) of the butterfly shape.

An absolutely devilish upper-right corner tanked my time until I relented and used a hint. FCC crossed with CARPS is brutal. Were I missing either the leading F or ending C of FCC, it'd be an obvious fill. But the middle? I don't know, my list of federal buildings begins and ends at FTC. Everything else is in competition for being the most esoteric. And don't get me started on the clue for CARPS.

If CARPS was unpleasant, LYRA clued as "actor who played young Princess Leia on 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'" is downright upsetting. Not because it was hard to fill or due to any particular disdain for the actress, but because it made me remember that chase scene in the show where Leia spends thirty minutes running around in circles as incompetent space-bandits fail to capture her. Why did this puzzle have to remind me of the existence of that show?

pH Balance

May 23 2024 - reviews

This is a strange puzzle. It's large enough that it feels full-sized during the solve (it's 12x12), yet only contains two midi-sized themers (of lengths 9 and 8). The result is a somewhat boring grid with nothing tying it together.

The apt pair itself is quite good, with both halves of the chosen words relating to one another satisfyingly (ACID-BASE, HOME-HOUSE). The themers are even stacked on top of one another in the grid, making a trickier construction. It's a great pair!

The problem is that both themers are camouflaged by the normal fill. They're not long enough to stand out from the crowd and it's too easy to pass them by without realizing they're part of the theme. It's a bummer because the constructor (a first-time constructor for Open Submission Week) clearly put a lot of effort into this puzzle.

Qualms with the theme aside, this puzzle definitely demonstrates the difficulty of its construction with the amount of crosswordese. ACME, AHI, ABE, and SSE are all iffy includes, though I'm sure there weren't many good alternatives.

DAENERYS is fun fill, difficult not because of its clue but because it's so dang hard to spell. I also chuckled at the use of French as an adjective for MILIEU: "Setting, but Frencher".

Anyway, this crossword gets minus points for including a reference to ALVIN and the Chipmunks.

Pick a Side

May 22 2024 - reviews

Easy and breezy. Not a ton to say about this crossword other than I enjoyed the flow. It's one of those puzzles where I filled probably 70% of the acrosses on my first pass, albeit some of them incorrectly. I had PLAIN for "easy to notice" and THE for "your order is on ___ way", the latter I assume to be an intended misdirection (though I'm interested in what most people think of first).

The theme isn't really noteworthy for this grid since most folks will solve past it without thinking about it, but it's an apt pair with LEFTOVERS and RIGHTAWAY. Left/right provides the two sides for the title: "Pick a side".

"Toe bean site" had me thinking that there was an entire website dedicated to looking at cat toes ("site" instead refers to the location of the toe bean anatomically). With some people's weird obsession with corgi butts I wouldn't be surprised. Honestly the term toe bean makes me a little uncomfortable, it's too close to toe jam and conjures up the wrong images. Unless we're talking about ToeJam and Earl, obviously.

Speaking of uncomfortable, how do people feel about the abbreviation MARG? That's ironic, right? I mean, I can call a sandwich a "sando" and that's cool, but a margarita a MARG? No thanks.

There's an interesting technique for solving an easy crossword like today's for those who want to spice things up: solve using only one of the clue directions, across or down. Generally downs-only is the better option because themers are traditionally acrosses (this puzzle is an exception), so solving downs-only creates a meta-puzzle of piecing together the themers without knowing how they're clued.

Puzzmo has no indication of difficulty for a given weekday (as far as I know), so it's hard to know when to apply downs-only. For NYT, give it a go on your next Monday solve.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

May 21 2024 - reviews, partner-solve

Today's puzzle was solved together with my partner which is definitely a boon to my time. The highlight of this puzzle was her shouting "OMG it's SOUSAPHONES!" with enthusiasm only a High School Band Kid could muster.

I went on a three-letter solving tear in this grid thanks to lots of recognizable downs. AQI is an abbreviation well-known to any Californian^[1], REM is a great band, SAP, LEI, ISH are all gimmes. My partner commented that "APT is an apt clue for a puzzle containing an apt pair". Well said.

The theme is nothing special, an apt pair of PUSHPRESENT and PULLREQUEST mirroring the pick/put verbs in the title. We ended up solving the puzzle without uncovering the theme because the down clues are so generous. All things considered, I'm most surprised at PUSHPRESENT being a thing that people say. As my partner puts it, "it gives me the ick".

The real delight of this puzzle are the four eleven-length acrosses spanning the length of the grid. I'm always surprised when Puzzmo grids contain non-theme fill that's the same length as the themers, but I'm very happy they're in this puzzle. It's a blast piecing them together and a fun challenge to land a plonk^[2]. Mad respect for the constructor, it's not an easy thing to achieve.

Crossword theme glossary

May 20 2024 - posts

Most published crosswords include an extra element that ties the puzzle together, often sprinkling in wordplay or suggesting the longer answers with alternative clues. This element makes up the puzzle's theme.

Themes aren't strictly required, but themeless puzzles are less common since they compensate their lack of a theme with tighter fill (that is, less crosswordese and more unique words). Themes are also a great starting point for constructors because they help constrain a blank puzzle canvas with a few initial words.

Constructors usually lay down a breadrumb trail to help solvers uncover the theme, since the theme is helpful for unlocking trickier clues. Keep an eye towards the puzzle's title, which often references the theme directly or hints at word manipulation that may be at play. Words in the grid that directly reference the theme (called themers) are usually the longest in the grid.

Kinds of themes

There are a few different flavors of theme that occur frequently in crossword puzzles. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does cover most of the common cases.

Categories

Each themer is neatly categorized into a list of items, exemplifying the theme. This is probably the most common kind of theme, especially so for full-sized (15x15) puzzles.

Example: ELDERSCROLL, SKYRIM, RESTORATION in Puzzmo#209, all categories of the video game Skyrim.

Word manipulation

Anagrams, reversals, homophones, and other word arrangement techniques are all fair game here. Often the title of the crossword will suggest the type of wordplay in use.

Example: S[ILKM]OTHS, [KIML]OOSISTERS, DREA[MLIK]E, in Puzzmo#210, titled "Milkshake". Each themer includes the word MILK scrambled, and "shake" indicates that the word manipulation at play is an anagram.

Apt pair

As the name suggests, two words that relate to one another. Very common in medium-sized puzzles (midis) since they often can't fit as many themers as a full-sized crossword.

Example: BIGBUSINESS and SHOPSMALL in Puzzmo#211. The apt pair is twofold: big/small and business/shop.

Tribute

Similar to categories, but rather than exhausting a list of options, the themers pay tribute to a single idea.

Example: FOOTPRINTS and ADAMSAPPLE, a song and album by Wayne Shorter (featured in Puzzmo#212).

String Theory

May 20 2024 - reviews

I definitely liked this crossword more than the last Open Submission Week entry, even if it's still rough around the edges.

This grid was packed with nerdy references: PC RIG, Dr. Who's TARDIS, "software team doing sprints" AGILE, my favorite killer robot HAL. All of which I enjoyed with the exception of TARDIS. No, you aren't going to convince me to watch Dr. Who. It'll never happen, please stop.

The themer is an OK apt pair. I filled WALKTHEDOG immediately upon seeing the clue; maybe I fit the perfect demographic of millennial who grew up envying cool yo-yo tricks on Youtube. CATSCRADLE slotted in nicely with help from the title: "looks like an apt pair so probably the opposite of dog, 'String Theory' implies something with a string, oh, CATSCRADLE!"

With the themers set the rest of the grid flowed into place, with the exception of the upper-right corner. I spent some six minutes on just that corner, staring at two missing letters and utterly incapable of filling them in.

I vaguely recall the skateboard brand Zoo York from my teenage days, but I am scratching my head at being able to guess Too Many ZOOZ. For 6D, I was thinking ISALOT for "someone who might be just a little too into it", caught into the trap of looking for slang to fit the clue's casual tone. But neither ZEALOT nor ZOOZ are my real problem. EDIE is absolutely insane. Apparently we're on the first name basis with an actress who played two roles I don't recognize, and we're cluing it as the names of those characters? Are you kidding?

EDIE isn't the first place where I had issues with the grid's cluing. "Cause of some bad trips?" with EGO is just weird. I mean, maybe selfishness causes a bad vacation but EGO is one step removed from that definition. Maybe I'm missing something?

Either way, I got two Greek myth references today so I'm happy.

Feline Musings

May 19 2024 - reviews

Love cats, love this puzzle. Albeit 1A started things off with a sour note (thou shalt not clue APPS with a random sample of apps from mine phone). The rest of the crossword was pleasant and fun to solve.

The difficulty curve of this puzzle is excellent. Just going by the acrosses, the puzzle feels a little on the difficult side. At least, that is until you reach the theme revealer at 33A (CAT). After MEOW, HISS, and PURR slot into place the rest of the puzzle flows smoothly.

Surprisingly, "Dating abbreviation" in the upper-right corner stumped me for a long time. I was so far in the internet meme headspace with ASL that when I eventually revealed BCE it didn't immediately register. "BCE, what is that, zoomer lingo?" The lower-left corner also took me a little longer than the others, though I appreciate the clue "'Wasn't me', essentially" as a pithy definition for SIC.

Can I talk about the grid shape for a minute? Something about the layout of this grid scratches an aesthetic itch in the back of my brain. Maybe it's because I'm a noob constructor and inevitably lean on the pinwheel design for my own crosswords, but I really appreciate how the black squares break up the middle section of this puzzle. The centered cross of LARGHISSMIMO and STEPSISTERS is good stuff.