David Litman author page
1 puzzle by David Litman
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 3 answer words debuted by David Litman.
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| L | U | K | E | L | A | V | A | G | H | O | S | T | ||
| A | B | I | T | O | M | A | R | O | I | N | K | S | ||
| V | E | N | U | S | W | I | L | L | I | A | M | S | ||
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| K | I | N | G | C | H | A | R | L | E | S | I | I | I | |
| T | A | C | S | A | U | L | D | I | D | N | T | |||
| W | H | E | E | R | E | I | N | S | N | A | T | E | ||
| A | L | I | V | E | S | E | E | M | H | E | M | |||
| S | O | N | I | A | S | O | T | O | M | A | Y | O | R | |
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| S | E | E | Y | O | U | I | N | C | O | U | R | T | ||
| V | I | N | Y | L | O | S | H | A | M | R | I | S | ||
| C | R | I | E | S | L | E | A | R | E | G | G | O | ||
| R | A | P | S | E | D | D | Y | N | E | S | S |
★ Such fun connections, three people we might SEE in three different walks of COURT life — wide range of meanings, from a tennis court to a royal court to a legal court. I appreciated that this wasn't an ordinary "what connects these seemingly disparate elements" theme, taking it one step further by employing specific celebrities to further obfuscate the concept.
If only the revealer had been COURT DISASTER, and the names had been JOHN MCENROE, KING LEOPOLD II, and SAMUEL ALITO! Ha ha, I cannot be serious!
For two of the three, at least.
Order in the court, settle down, Jeff!
Themers of 13 and 14 letters are such a pain to work with. Those bulbous Utah blocks are one way to build around the 13s ... it might have been possible to do without them, removing all three black squares after OLDE and blocking out the E of OLDE. That is a much harder arrangement, though, with fewer choices for the long Down in that corner.
Delightful long Downs in CLOWN CAR and EVIL EYES — such fun injected into a Monday solve. CHIMES IN isn't as strong, but it's more a complete phrase than some other "add-a-preposition" entries.
Well done to finish with only one noticeable ding in I HAD. An extra black square could have helped smooth it out down there, but 44 black squares is already well above average, nearly pushing the grid past a block party.
It's awkward to think of seeing a tennis player in court, not on the court, but the next-level concept courted me in the end. POW!