Alice Liang author page
1 puzzle by Alice Liang
with Jeff Chen comments
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ROOF, TOOTH, TONGUE, and GUM, neatly (tongue-)tied together by WORD OF MOUTH. We've had dozens of body part puzzles over the years, but I can't remember something so focused on the mouth. The crossworld's resident dentist got scooped!
BLUETOOTH does a nice job disguising TOOTH, especially since Bluetooth is tech related more to the ear, not the mouth. It is said that King Harald Bluetooth got his nickname from a bad tooth, so crossword constructors are lucky that Jim Kardach had an odd fascination with the king's runestone instead of going with "RadioWire."
Although the mouth parts are consistent in their singular forms, it's odd to talk about a mouth with only a single GUM. Since BUBBLE GUMS is a strange plural, something like GUMS UP THE WORKS might have been fun. That would cause other issues, though, like having to put all the mouth parts at the start of themers, and TOOTHSOME isn't the most toothsome entry. Extract that idea!
It never feels great to break up a theme answer into two chunks since you have to use an awkward [With 37-Across …] cross-reference, but check out that beautiful plus sign in the middle of the grid! Such a great way to help solvers subconsciously add the two halves together.
Solid gridwork, Alice working in two colorful long Downs in the usual spots, POT ROAST and GO FIGURE. Go figure why many experienced constructors have difficulty producing such a smooth product. I prefer more long bonuses, even in an early-week puzzle, but cleanliness is so much more important, and working with five themers can get tricky.
I jaw on with too much lip service. Fun debut.