them's crossing words

about - archive - rss

Strive to Survive

by Olivia Mitra

Pro tip: don't go anywhere near Fresno in a record-breaking heat wave. Driving through the city on my way to the Sierras, my car's thermometer was cycling between 115 and 120 degrees. The inside of the windshield was hot enough to burn my fingers. Yow.

Hope you enjoyed the last two non-Puzzmo puzzles, today we're bringing back the standard. Since I missed the last two crosswords my streak is broken at 90 consecutive days. At least it's a nice round number.

Today we have an incredibly vertical long boy (as you can probably tell since the crossword image is longer than the actual text content of this post). HIDDENIMMUNITYIDOL spans the entire vertical length (18!) and is hinted at by the left-hand pockets (EYE + DEE + OHH + ELL = IDOL, sound it out). Not my favorite theme, but it's totally worth it for the long grid. It's unfortunate that ELL is bordered by VEE, which distracts from the IDOL letters. It's conspicuously placed and unintentionally steals the show.

That said, HIDDENIMMUNITYIDOL is a great themer. Each component (HIDDEN, IMMUNITY, and IDOL) is perfectly hinted by surface-level knowledge of Survivor. I was able to puzzle it together because I knew the show is elimination-based and themed like a kitschy tiki bar.

The middle section was hardest for me, with DEE crossing DEEM, PENN, and ENDUPAT. The clue for PENN is some crosswordese-ass crosswordese with "Keystone State Ivy, familiarly", a combination of words that holds zero meaning. DEEM clued as "Regard" is also tough. I might've stumbled into it quicker if it had been "Regard (as)", but as written the D was the last letter I filled into the grid.

I also had to work hard for OHH, which is last on my list of three-letter sounds of epiphany. AHA! It's not AAH or AHH, it's OOH, wait, OHH! The double H always gets me.

Shout-out to GILA, one of the best singles off of the latest King Gizzard album. GILA! GILA! GILA!

Send your comments to [email protected].