TXW rules of crosswords

May 18 2024 - posts

These rules come out of the nit-picky pedantry created by solving a crossword every morning. They are:

1. Grids should not have clues that are fill-in-the-blank Taylor Swift lyrics.
2. APP should not be clued as a randomly-selected app from my phone.
3. Grids should have more noteworthy characteristics than their shape.

For the record, I think Puzzmo and their editing team does a tremendous job churning out crosswords on the daily. But I do think it's funny how many clues end up as Beyoncé or Taylor Swift lyrics. Just sayin'.

11/10, no notes

May 18 2024 - reviews

I was paged at 5AM this morning for something that ended up being nothing. What better time to start the crossword? Now I'm left wondering whether this crossword is actually hard or it's just my lack of early-morning cognitive abilities. Probably both. Actually, it's just hard.

One failed attempt to go back to sleep later, here I am writing this review. This crossword kicked my butt!

There's no way I could've solved this crossword without hints, it's absolutely brimming with pop culture esoterica. Here are a few of the proper nouns required in this puzzle:

• Viola Davis: apparently there's such a thing as an EGOT, which is winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Who knew?

• Anika NONI Rose: won a Tony for Caroline, or Change in 2004.

• LONI Anderson: WKRP in Cincinnati is a sitcom from the late 70s.

• Tony Bennett: I'm assuming the clue references the album Love for Sale which is a collaborative album with Lady Gaga. How about that?

• Isaac Hayes: Black Moses is a 1971 American soul album.

Some of the clues in this puzzle feel like trivia night at my local brewery, where the venn diagram of "plays bingo for fun" and "knows the answers to these questions" is a complete circle. A little bit before my time, I'd say.

Despite my qualms with the trivia, most of the cluing in this puzzle is interesting and enjoyable. "Summer sign?" (SIGMA) is a personal favorite of mine. Who doesn't love some math wordplay? I also liked "It might be hair raising" (STATIC), "Loooong list" (LITANY), among others.

This puzzle reminds me that I loathe Puzzmo's anagram hints. It frustrates me to no end when I ask for help and get back a synonym and a word salad: "Padded envelope that anagrams to 'Elmira'". What the heck is an Elmira?

From Online

May 17 2024 - reviews

I think this is the first themeless puzzle I've seen from the Open Submission Week so I don't want to be too hard on it. With that out of the way, this crossword was very much not for me.

Let's start with what I liked. CREASE as "Origami verb" was fun to puzzle out in my head (hm, fold, no, flatten, aha!). AVATAR is luckily a reference to the awesome animated series and not the Pocahontas rip-off James Cameron movie. BAABAA is cute and easily guessed without knowing the actual rhyme.

The rest of the crossword is built around one of my least favorite puzzle motifs: List of Things the Constructor Likes. A ton of the clues in this grid are literally just a list of examples. BOARDGAMES: "Four of my favorites are 'Camel Up', 'Root', 'Azul', and 'Spirit Island'". Thanks, didn't ask?

Look, I respect puzzlemaking as an art form. It's inevitable that part of a constructor's identity will be exposed as the crossword takes shape. But please, don't forget to throw in a little something extra for the solver. I don't care about your partner's hobbies (CLAY).

Anyway, I'll get off my high horse. I dare someone to put OGRE in their grid and not reference Shrek.

Silver Lining

May 16 2024 - reviews

After two days of easy puzzles Puzzmo brings back the big guns with a toughy. I appreciate the effort that the constructor put into this puzzle, the cluing is well-paced and I enjoyed the solve. It's important to notice the amount of fill that could be clued as a gimme but is instead clued to mislead, e.g. "Go down" (HAPPEN) or "They're never free of charge" (IONS).

My main complaints for this puzzle come down to the theme. Don't get me wrong, the wordplay is clever: Silver Lining hints that the chemical symbol for silver, Ag, "lines" the themers by taking the first and last letter. But in practice, the theme only influences two letters per themer. They're just words that start with an A and end with a G. Kind of boring?

AJANAOMIKING is probably the most interesting of the themers, but I found it incredibly hard to piece together due to unfamiliarity with the show and actress. It also doesn't help that I have word-break hints turned off in my Puzzmo settings, which I imagine would be very useful for a three-part name. As for the other themers, ANTSONALOG is a bit of a snooze since it comes up in regular crosswords from time-to-time and APPLEPICKING feels a little awkward.

I do have to give some serious kudos to the constructor for not violating one of the TXW rules of crosswords, instead cluing APP as "Smartphone download". Genius. The clue for INKY is another standout: "'Pac-Man' ghost that sounds like it should be jet black (but is actually light blue)". Talk about a fun fact.

Last thing, I promise. WTF is a "Fracas" (ADO)? Is this a thing normal people say? I mean, EGADS is bad enough for old-timey words that aren't used by human beings but fracas is rubbing it in.

Rave Reviews

May 15 2024 - reviews

ILIKEDIT. A fun little themeless puzzle.

As someone who studied Latin for four years, seeing CARPE (diem) in the grid inspires an unhealthy amount of nausea. I'll take Regrettable Tattoos for 600, Alex. Fun fact, my old Latin teacher used to assign crossword puzzles as vocabulary homework. They were those classic computer-generated crosswords that were less puzzle and more Words That Happen to Intersect at One Letter.

Brooke highlighted the clue "Light offering cracked at a party?" (GLOWSTICK) in the puzzle description, I recommend giving that a read because it is an absolutely solid clue. I was also a fan of "Company formally registered as Hat World, Inc." because the answer LIDS is aptly hilarous.

Not a ton else to talk about with this puzzle since it flowed nicely and didn't stump me anywhere.

A Shorter Cut

May 14 2024 - reviews

It's disappointing that there's no wordplay in today's theme, but hey, it's my first sub 10 minute solve this week so I can't complain. This is the first time I remember seeing a Tribute Theme in a Puzzmo crossword and I can't say I'm a huge fan. I get the idea but crosswords already have so much trivia inside them that it doesn't feel like the theme needs to be involved. Then again, here I am listening to Wayne Shorter while I type up this post. Working as intended?

The fill in this puzzle is excellent, especially for a debut. Lots of interesting words and very little crosswordese. My only stumbling block was the top-right corner, where I had filled CLAM for "type of juice in a Michelada". I'm definitely showing my California bias here but I still can't believe that the go-to tomato juice brand for Micheladas is made with clam broth. How is that a thing?

MAUI clued as "Demigod in 'Moana'" makes me chuckle because I've reached the point where all of my Moana knowledge has been acquired from crosswords. Those vowel-packed Polynesian names are just too appetizing for constructors. I'll have to watch that movie at some point, at the very least to prepare myself for future puzzles.

In Good Company

May 13 2024 - reviews

Don't let my time fool you on this puzzle, it's a breezy Monday with solid fill. I was on track for a 5 minute solve until I hit the bottom-left corner, where I remained in second-guessing purgatory for the next 8 minutes. Did you know there are loads of 4-lettered words for potato preparation? Boil, skin, peel, mash, dice, all of which are not the magic word BAKE. Something was wrong with my brain last night and my partner pointed out to me that I could think of a million ways to prepare a potato, none of which were the most obvious.

Apart from my personal inability to solve one corner I think this crossword is great. Certainly a fantastic debut with some above-average fill (edit: just a Puzzmo debut, the constructor is an editor at AVCX). I especially enjoyed the callout to Pathfinder in TTRPG, the DnD alternative where my roleplaying hobby started. There's also quite a bit of clever wordplay in this puzzle, e.g. "Chemistry test?" as DATE and "Meeting meant to raise spirits?" as SEANCE.

The actual theme is a little lackluster, especially since I didn't notice it until after I had already solved the thing. I had assumed this crossword was themeless due to the lack of another 11-length word in the grid. In retrospect, "In Good Company" is a great title for an apt pair.

Milkshake

May 12 2024 - reviews

I think I need to stop solving crosswords before bed. My dreams have been haunted by roaming EMUS looking for AHI that giggle tee-HEE and sigh AHH, I mean AAH. What a nightmare!

I'm a bit embarrassed by my time on this puzzle; I don't think it's terribly difficult, even considering the amount of crosswordese. The theme is an interesting idea that comes off a bit milquetoast (sorry not sorry) with the world MILK scrambled within each of the themers, cryptic-style. I might've found it more impactful if I hadn't used a hint on 20A and spoiled it for myself, but I still think the words chosen as candidates are a little lackluster.

REIKI clued as "Energy-based wellness practice" seems a bit generous for something that is some alternative medicine pseudoscience. I'm linking straight to the Wikipedia entry because the Reiki homepage is too grotesque for my dear reader's eyes.

"Kind of dish you wouldn't want to lick" is a fun clue for PETRI, easily one of the highlights of this puzzle. I also thought TELLSTIME was clever. As a Californian, I'm not sure TSTORM is actually a thing, can someone verify that for me?

khajiit has wares, if you have coin

May 11 2024 - reviews

Came into this crossword with high expectations thanks to the title, unfortunately the crossword is a bit mid all-around. My main problem is the application of the theme: ELDERSCROLL and SKYRIM, great, but RESTORATION? Why that particular school of magic, and what does that have to do with Khajiits? I would've preferred to see something like LOCKPICKING or SKOOMA, personally, based on the title. It doesn't help that the theme-length, non-theme answer TAKESITEASY takes some of the wind out of the RESTORATION sails.

The corners were pretty tough for me in this puzzle, particularly the top-right and bottom-left. I spent a little too much time second-guessing my knowledge of dwarf planets because I had filled DEFER instead of DELAY in the top-right corner. Are there even any other dwarf planets? The astronomical number 134340 isn't giving me any hints. (It turns out that there is "general agreement" among astronomers that there are at least eight, thanks Wikipedia).

The bottom-left corner is victim to some bad fill: MYA crossed with MRT and adjacent to YEA, all of which are lacking in the clue department. No question that this corner was the last one I completed.

I enjoyed that there were some gaming-themed clues thrown in there, outside of the greater Skyrim topic. CHEATS, AGGRO, and ALPH all felt like they were good fits for this puzzle (although I regretfully have never played a Pikmin title). Some of the standout clues for me were "Roll with hole" (BAGEL) and "First name in bookstores?" (BARNES).