My favorite subject in high school was chemistry. It's an unusual person who gets goose bumps reading about s and p orbitals, but as my wife knows oh too well, I'm an unusual fellow.
The idea for this one popped into my head during a long run where my mp3 player had run out of batteries and I was desperately casting about for something to occupy my brain. I loved the idea of having slightly tilted lines in the puzzle to represent the 104.5 degree bonding angle within the H-O-H molecule. The lines ended up straight for what I assume is layout purposes, but that's okay. In my head they're slightly bent. =]
Easier said than done, however. My first attempt I ended up using top-down symmetry. Will said he liked the concept but rightfully said the layout looked strange. So I redid the puzzle using regular symmetry and am much happier with this version. I wasn't sure if it was going to be possible given the fact that I really wanted at least nine instances of the H-O-H molecule (to reflect the EVERYWHERE statement) but as with most things, if you work long enough at it, you often break through the finish tape.
A final point of interest is the inclusion of TYCHO BRAHE. To me, he's such a fascinating man (he lost the tip of his nose in a duel and wore a metal prosthetic) that I wanted to include him when I realized he could fit at 29-down. I had a few other options, but nothing else came close in terms of personal interest. It forced some less than stellar fill in the SW region, but in the end, I felt SO I, SCH, and AMAH were reasonable prices to pay. Every constructor has his/her set of internal values and criteria, so I'm sure some would say they'd prefer a cleaner, less snazzy section. But this very variety is one of the best aspects of crosswords!
The print version of this puzzle has lines (representing chemical bonds) connecting the H-O-H squares instead of circles. See the PDF.
1 H | 2 A | 3 R | 4 P | 5 Y | 6 T | 7 H | 8 U | 9 S | 10 T | 11 H | 12 E | 13 M |
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14 O | H | A | R | A | 15 H | O | S | T | 16 H | O | B | O |
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17 W | A | T | E | R | 18 W | A | T | E | R | 19 E | M | A | J |
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20 S | A | Y | N | O | 21 B | R | A | 22 Y | O | Y | O |
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23 S | O | 24 S | A | 25 P | 26 E | R | P | |||||||
27 A | 28 R | 29 T | 30 S | 31 L | I | T | 32 H | 33 N | E | H | 34 R | 35 U |
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36 M | A | Y | O | 37 E | X | H | O | 38 R | T | 39 O | H | S |
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40 A | N | C | I | 41 E | N | T | 42 M | A | R | 43 I | N | E | R |
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44 S | C | H | 45 A | S | H | 46 C | A | N | 47 R | E | T | D |
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48 S | H | O | 49 P | S | 50 S | A | G | A | 51 E | S | T | A |
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52 B | A | T | 53 S | 54 L | E | W | 55 D | |||||||
56 P | 57 E | R | T | 58 E | 59 A | T | 60 A | R | 61 U | 62 B | 63 A | |||
64 A | M | A | H | 65 E | V | E | 66 R | Y | W | H | E | R | 67 E |
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68 I | M | H | O | 69 M | E | C | H | 70 H | U | R | O | N |
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71 D | Y | E | S | 72 E | C | H | O | 73 O | H | G | O | D |
Answer summary:
2 unique to this puzzle.
Found bugs or have suggestions?
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