Chris A. McGlothlin author page
7 puzzles by Chris A. McGlothlin
with Constructor comments
| R | O | Z | I | M | P | A | R | T | M | O | P | |||
| O | L | E | O | L | A | A | L | A | A | I | N | S | ||
| F | I | S | H | C | O | M | P | L | I | M | E | N | T | S |
| L | O | T | S | A | B | A | I | L | M | E | A | T | ||
| T | H | R | O | W | N | A | L | O | O | P | ||||
| A | C | T | O | N | E | T | A | J | ||||||
| Q | U | I | P | P | E | A | R | M | I | A | T | A | ||
| U | R | L | F | O | R | G | O | N | E | V | E | X | ||
| I | L | L | B | E | R | E | B | A | F | I | N | E | ||
| O | L | A | N | T | E | S | T | S | ||||||
| C | A | N | T | S | A | Y | S | U | R | E | ||||
| J | O | S | E | S | N | O | W | O | B | E | S | E | ||
| O | H | C | R | Y | I | N | G | O | U | T | L | O | U | D |
| S | A | O | U | S | U | A | L | S | E | N | I | D | ||
| T | N | T | M | I | S | S | E | S | S | T | Y |
My last puzzle in the NYT was in 2014. I quit constructing for a long time in order to complete a book on antique silver, Gorham Spoons: Sterling Souvenirs from a Bygone Era, a thirty-year project. (Anyone interested in such things can check it out at eBay or elsewhere.)
Now that I'm back, I find it more difficult than ever to make an acceptable puzzle. I suppose the number of constructors has increased so acceptance is more elusive. This one made its way through but not without a number of revisions. My second 15-letter entry, to correspond with FISH (for) COMPIMENTS, didn't meet with approval so I had to come up with a new one. OH (for) CRYING OUT LOUD seemed to be my only option but it appeared to be unclueable (is that a word?) until at last I thought of Sandra Oh. I'm pretty sure my clue for that entry is what put this puzzle over the top. The grid had been pangrammatic until Will and his crew replaced my ESKIMO with ASSISI at 48-Down and the K was lost. In this case, that doesn't matter at all.
But It reminded me of one puzzle I did for another paper with the theme "Long time no see" which removed the C from theme answers. The fill also included all the letters of the alphabet except C. The editor, possibly oblivious to that extra-nice little bit of construction work, edited a small spot and removed the only V in the grid. That one hurt.
I had been shooting for a Tuesday-ish puzzle with this one. Had I known it would appear on a Wednesday, I might have tried to open things up a tad to make room for some longer non-theme fill. But I still like it as it is and hope it's fun for the solvers.
| L | E | T | S | D | O | T | H | I | S | T | H | I | N | G |
| A | N | I | M | A | T | I | O | N | S | T | U | D | I | O |
| H | A | D | A | L | O | N | G | W | A | Y | T | O | G | O |
| A | M | I | C | I | S | T | A | L | U | N | G | S | ||
| B | E | E | K | B | E | I | N | G | S | O | L | E | ||
| A | L | S | V | A | L | E | T | E | D | T | E | D | ||
| N | E | U | T | E | R | D | O | T | E | S | ||||
| A | D | P | A | G | E | S | F | E | L | T | T | I | P | |
| X | A | X | I | S | V | O | Y | A | G | E | ||||
| A | M | A | S | A | M | I | S | E | N | C | O | T | ||
| R | A | N | D | M | U | L | A | N | N | O | T | E | ||
| A | R | A | I | L | L | E | U | G | A | B | O | R | ||
| B | A | N | D | E | D | A | N | T | E | A | T | E | R | S |
| I | C | A | N | N | O | T | T | E | L | L | A | L | I | E |
| C | A | S | T | O | N | E | S | S | P | E | L | L | O | N |
Obviously, LETS DO THIS THING was the seed for this themeless puzzle. For the best impact I felt it had to reside in the 1-Across position and, of course, if 1-Across is fifteen letters in length, a triple stack is required at the top and bottom (in a symmetrical grid).
Finding the appropriate block formation to allow those stacks and an interesting fill was the trick. I prefer grids that have eye-appeal, and this block arrangement provided that for me. It also allowed quite a bit of flexibility in the filling process.
I'm always intrigued by Will's changes to my clues and I continue to try to up my game in the cluing department. This is one of my better efforts with about 2/3 of my clues remaining unchanged. My favorite clue from Will is "Practice test?" for BAR EXAM, and of my own I particularly like "Marker's mark maker" for FELT TIP.
I hope all found the filling-in to be fun-filled and fulfilling.
| G | O | D | E | L | E | S | C | H | E | R | B | A | C | H |
| P | R | I | V | A | T | E | A | U | D | I | E | N | C | E |
| S | U | M | A | N | D | S | U | B | S | T | A | N | C | E |
| D | E | S | G | R | E | A | T | |||||||
| P | A | N | E | S | P | H | I | L | I | N | D | S | ||
| O | R | O | S | B | E | T | S | A | F | O | O | T | ||
| T | A | K | Z | O | R | A | C | R | I | N | G | E | ||
| S | P | O | K | E | O | F | F | T | H | E | C | U | F | F |
| D | A | M | A | S | K | E | R | O | S | S | O | A | ||
| A | H | I | N | T | Z | W | E | I | L | E | O | N | ||
| M | O | S | S | D | E | W | Y | P | A | R | D | O | ||
| A | T | A | R | I | A | I | M | |||||||
| O | N | E | S | E | C | O | N | D | P | L | E | A | S | E |
| P | U | T | S | T | H | E | K | I | B | O | S | H | O | N |
| S | T | A | T | E | A | S | S | I | S | T | A | N | C | E |
| S | O | B | E | R | E | D | U | P | M | O | D | E | L | |
| A | L | A | N | A | D | A | L | E | A | L | E | X | A | |
| P | E | N | I | N | S | U | L | A | J | I | L | T | S | |
| S | A | D | D | L | E | B | A | G | O | V | E | R | T | |
| A | L | E | R | A | R | E | G | A | S | |||||
| O | N | S | E | T | S | C | A | P | I | T | A | L | U | |
| P | O | E | M | E | K | E | V | I | N | T | A | P | ||
| E | S | A | U | G | R | E | E | N | G | O | R | P | ||
| N | Y | S | E | M | A | L | L | D | I | R | G | E | ||
| I | P | O | D | N | A | N | O | C | E | N | S | E | R | |
| N | A | N | E | T | T | E | M | I | X | |||||
| G | R | A | T | E | P | O | I | N | T | L | E | S | S | |
| A | K | B | A | R | O | R | D | E | R | A | R | M | S | |
| C | E | L | I | E | O | D | D | M | A | N | O | U | T | |
| T | R | E | N | D | L | O | Y | A | L | I | S | T | S |
| A | T | L | A | S | S | K | I | T | O | M | S | |||
| T | H | E | R | E | K | I | N | G | R | E | E | T | ||
| R | E | T | A | R | G | E | T | S | H | A | N | E | Y | |
| A | N | T | R | I | G | H | T | T | O | V | O | T | E | |
| F | A | N | H | U | E | |||||||||
| A | D | M | I | T | S | C | R | O | L | L | S | B | Y | |
| N | E | A | L | E | A | H | E | M | D | O | R | A | ||
| T | A | X | E | S | D | I | P | W | A | T | E | R | ||
| I | T | I | S | L | I | P | O | E | T | H | A | N | ||
| C | H | E | E | S | I | E | S | T | N | E | E | D | S | |
| R | H | O | M | T | S | |||||||||
| P | R | O | V | E | N | A | N | C | E | S | E | F | S | |
| A | O | L | E | R | R | E | E | D | O | R | G | A | N | |
| B | O | A | R | D | F | A | R | L | O | O | S | E | ||
| A | M | Y | S | S | R | A | O | E | S | T | E |
| E | P | I | T | A | P | H | J | E | W | E | L | E | R | |
| T | H | R | I | L | L | A | U | N | I | T | I | V | E | |
| H | I | A | L | E | A | H | S | T | R | O | B | E | S | |
| E | L | I | R | N | A | T | O | E | E | L | O | |||
| L | I | S | P | C | H | E | F | D | A | R | I | A | ||
| S | P | E | A | R | A | N | O | N | R | A | N | K | ||
| R | A | Y | G | R | A | C | K | L | E | S | ||||
| A | T | D | E | T | L | M | T | R | A | I | ||||
| E | G | G | S | H | E | L | L | L | E | S | ||||
| L | A | L | A | S | A | I | D | D | A | B | L | L | ||
| B | R | E | N | T | T | T | O | P | S | L | O | E | ||
| O | B | I | W | V | U | R | I | P | O | S | A | |||
| W | A | R | R | I | O | R | E | N | R | O | O | T | S | |
| E | G | O | I | S | T | E | M | O | O | N | P | I | E | |
| D | E | N | O | T | E | S | I | N | F | E | S | T | S |
| T | A | L | I | A | R | V | A | L | U | E | H | B | O | M | B | |||||
| O | R | I | N | G | A | I | L | I | N | G | I | M | P | A | I | R | S | |||
| T | I | L | D | E | S | B | R | A | N | D | O | N | O | S | T | R | I | L | ||
| E | S | T | R | E | E | T | B | A | N | D | A | T | V | D | D | A | Y | |||
| M | E | S | A | C | O | I | L | S | P | O | O | I | P | O | D | |||||
| G | M | A | N | B | U | R | N | E | L | W | O | O | D | |||||||
| N | U | S | E | N | S | A | M | A | S | S | E | S | A | N | G | L | E | |||
| S | H | O | T | A | T | M | D | A | S | H | S | K | Y | S | E | W | ||||
| Y | A | C | H | T | L | U | M | P | S | U | M | E | T | E | S | |||||
| N | U | K | E | S | A | S | I | S | P | A | Z | E | D | N | A | |||||
| C | L | E | M | V | S | I | X | R | A | I | L | A | R | F | S | |||||
| D | E | C | A | C | E | L | D | C | X | L | A | R | E | S | T | |||||
| D | A | I | S | S | E | Q | U | O | I | A | P | E | T | T | Y | |||||
| C | O | M | J | L | O | S | T | A | N | S | B | I | S | H | O | P | ||||
| D | R | A | N | O | S | W | A | H | I | L | I | A | R | A | A | P | E | |||
| C | A | R | O | L | S | T | T | O | P | R | E | N | A | |||||||
| I | D | E | E | W | O | W | A | S | P | C | A | S | P | I | T | |||||
| L | B | A | R | E | X | O | Y | C | H | R | O | M | O | S | O | M | E | |||
| B | E | N | A | Z | I | R | C | H | U | R | R | O | S | N | I | P | E | R | ||
| S | T | A | M | I | N | A | A | E | R | I | E | S | C | S | P | A | N | |||
| S | A | G | G | Y | P | D | I | D | D | Y | D | I | A | N | E |