August Lee-Kovach author page
3 puzzles by August Lee-Kovach
with Jeff Chen comments
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| G | R | O | C | E | R | Y | U | N | H | I | P | C | O | N | G | E | A | L | ||
| E | U | R | O | V | A | N | I | T | E | M | S | H | E | C | T | A | R | E | ||
| S | E | T | E | C | C | E | I | O | S | G | E | R | I | R | E | X | ||||
| I | S | N | T | R | A | M | P | A | G | E | S | E | N | D | ||||||
| A | L | L | O | W | L | I | M | E | S | T | O | N | E | N | O | R | M | A | ||
| S | Y | L | L | O | G | I | S | M | R | E | N | T | T | O | O | W | N | |||
| T | R | A | I | N | E | R | O | F | T | H | E | D | O | W | N | P | A | T | ||
| O | A | S | D | R | A | W | A | B | E | T | O | G | O | S | H | E | ||||
| T | E | R | S | E | N | A | Y | A | W | A | R | D | ||||||||
| S | T | O | R | Y | E | N | C | R | Y | P | T | S | L | E | E | P | ||||
| K | E | E | P | S | E | B | A | Y | A | A | A | S | D | F | L | A | T | |||
| I | N | E | S | L | I | P | M | M | A | T | E | S | H | |||||||
| N | O | B | C | A | S | T | S | A | P | I | N | C | H | C | T | R | ||||
| G | R | A | N | O | L | A | S | P | R | A | Y | D | R | A | F | T | E | E | ||
| S | A | L | O | M | E | C | H | A | M | B | E | R | O | L | E | O | L | E | ||
| S | L | U | R | L | O | O | T | S | O | Y | A | F | I | R | S | |||||
| G | A | M | E | T | E | S | T | H | E | B | O | R | G | |||||||
| B | R | E | A | D | E | D | R | H | E | N | I | U | M | |||||||
| I | H | A | T | E | I | T | K | H | U | F | U | A | N | A | S | A | Z | I | ||
| T | O | T | S | R | O | M | O | D | N | I | A |
Today's PYRAMID scheme sucked me in almost as much the one back in 2015. Jill and I didn't get to enter the Great Pyramid back in 2010, but descending into the depths of a minor one was still memorable. Although the suffocating air was infused with centuries of decay, it was worth the claustrophobic sensation that we could be buried alive at any moment. You can't get much closer to reliving the SEVEN WONDERS / OF THE / ANCIENT WORLD.
Such meticulous gridwork, too, is worthy of the Egyptians and their precise building techniques. Diagonal theme entries take away flexibility and cause grid problems. It was smart thinking to separate the letters around PYRAMID with a pyramid of black squares.
The theme felt thin at first, but on second glance, I noted several shorter but also important entries: the KINGS / CHAMBER where CHEOPS / KHUFU is entombed, THREE chambers, LIMESTONE.
It was enough to make it feel worthy of the expanded Sunday palette and much more memorable than the average Sunday fare that doesn't always hold my attention. If there had been a more unusual mechanism to hint at the buried KHUFU letters or a way for the circled letters not to make the theme so obvious, this would have been my easy POW! pick.
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| T | H | A | N | U | C | L | A | F | R | E | T | ||
| H | I | G | L | I | D | A | Y | S | F | A | M | E | |
| E | N | G | H | E | R | E | T | O | G | E | T | ||
| R | O | Y | C | E | F | R | E | N | C | R | N | S | |
| L | A | O | E | R | A | T | O | ||||||
| T | A | R | M | A | C | S | I | C | O | N | |||
| J | U | S | T | A | D | D | W | A | T | E | R | ||
| B | A | R | S | R | E | S | I | S | T | S | |||
| A | N | N | I | E | T | H | E | ||||||
| B | E | A | C | U | S | E | S | O | R | A | L | B | |
| B | E | L | R | E | N | N | E | R | T | A | O | ||
| L | Y | O | N | E | L | E | V | E | N | T | U | R | |
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| S | E | S | H | A | I | L | S | A | C | H | E |
JUST ADD WATER, now that's my kind of cooking, especially when it's one of my nights to make dinner and at the eleventh hour I need a miracle. Simple.
Unlike how to solve this puzzle. I started by writing in an HHO rebus — this has been done before, so that felt right. Except it wasn't. HIG(H HOLIDAYS), yes! BA(HHO)GY pants, no. I eventually figured out that the Across themers needed the HHO, whereas the Downs didn't.
How to write that in, though? I eventually settled on (G/HHO), all jammed into the tiny square. The anticipation of all the questions I'm going to get about how to properly enter the answers to keep a solving streak alive … it's enough to make my eyes water.
Solving logistics aside, I enjoyed the evocative and entertaining theme answers. HIGH HOLIDAYS with blaring FRENCH HORNS at BEACH HOUSES at the ELEVENTH HOUR made for a fun image.
Solid bonuses, too. The gridding task isn't as challenging as the solving task since you can enter HIG(H HOLIDAYS) simply as HIHLIDAYS and fill normally. Still, such excellent color in the corners: DRAG RACES run by DEMENTORs wearing STETSONs would be fun entertainment during the HIGH HOLIDAYS.
| V | I | S | A | I | T | S | W | A | R | F | A | M | ||
| A | L | E | C | C | A | N | A | D | A | E | C | O | ||
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| C | E | D | R | I | C | B | E | S | E | A | T | E | D | |
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| N | A | T | S | S | P | L | I | T | T | E | R | S | ||
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| A | L | L | A | B | O | A | R | D | ||||||
| T | R | U | E | C | R | I | M | E | N | T | H | |||
| F | A | I | R | S | H | A | K | E | L | O | R | E | ||
| P | L | I | E | O | V | O | I | D | A | L | ||||
| L | O | L | L | I | P | O | P | E | M | E | R | I | L | |
| O | O | F | B | O | W | L | I | N | G | L | A | N | E | |
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| S | S | N | S | T | E | A | K | S | W | A | R | E |
Sticking to an established themeless genre is a sensible way for many themeless constructors to get started. I appreciate that August took the "stair stack" pattern two steps higher, going to five long answers in the middle, not just three. Fun for the baseball fans out there to get SPLITTERS atop STRIKE ONE, and ALL ABOARD, TRUE CRIME, and FAIR SHAKE all evoke vivid imagery. That's an impressive quintet anchoring the puzzle.
I also appreciate that August didn't stand pat but worked hard to thread ICE CASTLES and TEAM EVENTS through the stair stack. Such a beautiful way to connect to the puzzle's outskirts.
I found myself wanting more juice out of the corners. It's tough to fill a 7x4 swath like the NW, and when you have ICE CASTLES fencing it in and CLAUDE MONET running through it, there's not much flexibility left. All the entries work, but SEA DUTY isn't going to win any awards, and Ron ELY's days in the spotlight are long passed.
I studied the grid skeleton for a long time, wondering if there were some way to open up a few more long slots in the corners, perhaps by making the NW / SE corners narrower and thus easier to spice up. Not an easy task, but I think at least one more slot might be possible in the lower left corner.
Excellent job with the cluing; so many Saturday-hard clever clues. I counted about five, and they all sizzled. I couldn't decide which one I enjoyed most, from a LOLLIPOP being "stick-y" (referring to its stick), or [Scales up?] pointing at the LIBRA sign in the sky, or the innocent [More than discouraged]. I was so sure that was something along like the lines of DESPONDENT, but it meant the ILLEGAL sense.
Enjoyable debut. I like seeing new constructors with ambition.