Where are we?

by Carter Bush

• Play it ↗
• Difficulty: medium

An aptly-named followup to yesterday's, "Where is everyone?", today's "Where are we?" is a grid resembling a compass with the four cardinals slotted in each direction.

I caught onto the theme as soon as I slotted SOUTH, the easiest of the four themers. This puzzle reaffirms that its always a good idea to pay attention to the title (and the emoji, apparently) since it's a bit of a giveaway once you nail a direction. After SOUTH, the rest followed suit (NORTH, EAST, WEST) and I was well underway.

The cute grid shape does sacrifice a bit on fill quality, with a whopping 17 three-letter words peppering the grid. I didn't find it too distracting from the solve, most of the three-letter words are pretty easy and the constructor's cluing voice resonated with me. That said, I could definitely see folks struggling with this grid if they are hung up on some of the shorter words.

I love how much wordplay the constructor baked into this grid, a really impressive feat for an Open Submission Week crossword. "Metal band, perhaps?" for CIRCLET had me chuckling. "True follower" (NORTH) and "Introduction to science?" (OMNI) are a clever combo.^[1]

The long fills also have some great clues. DOORTODOOR and it's clue, "Like salespeople who may wear comfy shoes," is a definite grid highlight. "Opt into sleep deprivation, perhaps" (STAYUPLATE) and "Places for innermost thoughts, perhaps" (DIARIES) are also great.

I had fun with this one, even with its imperfections. One of the few grid-shaped-like-object puzzles that holds up.

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