them's crossing words

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Stationflow

by Evannakita

A grid in the shape of a thing, where that thing is a map of an escalator in a transit center with an elevator for wheelchair accessibility. A unique setting for a crossword puzzle, no doubt.

In all honesty, I didn't know what the whole ELEVATOR-CORRIDOR thing was until my partner explained it to me. I suppose it makes sense, though in my defense living in a small city in CA there hardly exists a transit system, let alone one with escalators. Perhaps the map would've more elegant if the ELEVATOR and CORRIDOR sections were connected by more fillable squares. As-is there's a 3x3 block of black squares that split up the flow.

Anyway, more of a nit than anything else. It's a cool, unique theme that makes for a fun solve. The cluster of three-letter words in the ELEVATOR path was the first thing I completed, each one is very easy in comparison to the rest of the grid. With ELEVATOR out of the way and a couple of crosses filled on the right side, I was able to get ESCALATOR without much issue and start making some good progress on the rest of the puzzle. It was both fun and interesting how the shape of the crossword influenced my solving flow.

CORRIDOR was my last fill, since I lacked answers for some of the more esoteric trivia. "'Cyrano de Bergerac' has five" in retrospect is a classic "I know a play, by the way" kind of clue. "Kinshasa street" for RUE I had to Google around to figure out (and arrived at the word for "street" in Lingala). Deep cut. How about RMS for "Abbreviation in an apartment description"? I have no idea. Anyway, since I didn't understand that this grid was a map I just went with my gut and slotted CORRIDOR because the letters fit.

The Puzzmo editor always praises anecdotal clues and I can't help but feel the complete opposite. I really dislike every clue she called out, e.g. "I once unsuccessfully tried to catch fish with one designed for catching butterflies". Don't care, didn't ask. How about some wordplay instead, something that is totally missing from this grid?

There's a cuteness factor to the cluing that I can respect but can also say clashes with my preference. If you like it, you like it. I did appreciate the shout-out to KORRA in 3D, a great show even despite the awful love triangle injected into it by Nikelodeon execs.

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