Dan Ziring author page
2 puzzles by Dan Ziring
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 12 answer words debuted by Dan Ziring.
| G | G | G | G | B | E | A | U | T | F | F | F | F | ||
| R | A | U | L | A | M | I | N | O | A | R | T | Y | ||
| A | N | N | E | S | T | R | O | P | K | C | U | P | ||
| M | A | D | R | E | S | S | H | E | E | N | A | |||
| P | R | E | S | E | T | S | S | H | A | R | P | E | R | |
| S | Y | D | L | U | C | H | E | Y | S | S | T | |||
| B | A | S | I | L | ||||||||||
| S | N | O | W | B | A | L | L | E | F | F | E | C | T | S |
| A | T | B | A | Y | A | Y | S | O | M | A | H | A | ||
| C | H | A | T | T | E | R | T | R | A | P | P | E | D | |
| M | E | E | T | O | M | A | R | |||||||
| A | F | A | R | S | S | S | S | S | N | I | K | E | ||
| P | L | E | B | E | E | A | T | H | A | S | I | T | ||
| P | A | R | E | R | E | T | E | A | D | U | L | T | ||
| S | P | A | D | E | T | Y | R | W | A | N | N | A |
This puzzle grew on me.
Wait, stay before FORMing your opinion! You might think what I say is SWELL.
Is anyone else getting SWEaty?
Such an innovative rebus concept, one I've never quite seen before. SNOWBALL EFFECT is a perfect revealer to describe G GR GRO GROW, F FO FOR FORM, and S SW SWE SWEL SWELL. Note that GROW, FORM, and SWELL are synonyms for SNOWBALL — swell concept indeed!
Wise choice to separate the three rebus sequences as much as possible. The five-step SWELL is particularly challenging, so sectioning it so only the middle three rebus squares have to interact with each other is excellent construction strategy.
(There's even a TL;DR way to create a dummy grid to fill the south region totally on its own. I tested it to see if I could improve on ETE TYR and the SWEATY / SWELTER similarity, but the best I could do was SWAZI / SWEDES / SWELTER with ADT ZEE ISR crossings.)
That sectioning made the solving process extremely difficult, though. Even after uncovering SNOWBALL EFFECT, I was stuck in the NW and NE corners and even more so in the south region. My frustration eventually turned to awe, but I imagine the rebus-haters out there — and there are a lot — might create a snowball effect in our mailbox today.
While this was several standard deviations harder than an average Thursday, I love the incredible creativity.
| C | A | M | I | S | T | O | R | T | T | R | A | P | ||
| L | E | E | C | H | O | V | E | R | H | E | H | E | ||
| A | R | E | H | A | R | A | D | I | O | E | D | I | S | |
| S | A | C | H | U | E | D | O | L | E | O | U | T | ||
| S | T | U | S | T | R | E | W | D | U | N | N | E | ||
| I | O | T | A | T | O | R | A | H | S | E | A | R | ||
| C | R | E | C | H | E | A | R | E | A | S | ||||
| S | H | O | R | T | F | I | L | M | S | |||||
| E | L | L | E | N | S | T | O | O | P | S | ||||
| K | G | B | L | Y | R | I | S | T | G | U | R | U | ||
| I | R | A | T | E | M | A | L | E | K | L | O | G | ||
| S | O | R | O | R | A | L | I | D | A | M | T | A | ||
| S | U | E | R | S | T | O | R | M | P | C | U | E | R | |
| M | O | L | T | M | A | I | L | P | A | I | G | E | ||
| E | N | Y | A | E | N | B | Y | A | R | C | E | D |
SHORT FILM (title)S indeed! I've seen ET and UP, and I know of IT. A decade ago, Jill attempted to break me of my horror movie horror, but IT resulted in a fetal position I've never recovered from.
I hadn't heard of 2019's US. Not surprising, given that I've been housebound for approximately ninety years. I wanted to learn more because I like Jordan Peele, but I quickly stopped after "… when their doppelgängers appear and begin to terrorize them."
Although, my identical twin and I do tend to terrorize innocent bystanders. Like when one of his babysitters saw Jill and me out on a date and was horrified that Alex was clowning around.
It could have been the clown suit I was wearing.
I wondered what other two-letter film titles could have worked. AI sort of fits, but only in the ET way. Also, it was terrible.
Other oddballs: EL, IN, MA, ME, PI, SO, YO. Given their obscurity, those would probably all be NO GOs.
Maybe not Oscar-worthy gridwork, but a People's Choice award might be in sight. Rebus squares ought to be incorporated into long, colorful phrases, and MEETCUTES, RADIO EDITS, SUPERSTORM, SOUL MUSIC play their roles extremely well. Great to get above-average crossers, too; AHI TUNA is an excellent way to use a shorter slot.
I'd have loved an additional layer, given how much flexibility there is, working with easy letter combos like ET and IT. Perhaps the long phrases could be related to their movie? Maybe incorporate DOUBLE FEATURE to help rationalize rebusization?
As is, though, it's a solid debut, with the four rebus squares incorporated into snazzy phrases.