Isaac Mizrahi author page
1 puzzle by Isaac Mizrahi
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 7 answer words debuted by Isaac Mizrahi.
| J | O | T | T | I | M | I | D | S | N | A | P | I | H | E | A | R | D | |||
| A | N | A | O | P | I | N | E | H | U | L | A | S | O | P | H | I | A | |||
| M | A | X | W | O | R | K | T | H | E | N | I | G | H | T | S | H | I | F | T | |
| E | D | I | T | S | S | A | U | D | E | O | E | E | L | L | E | |||||
| S | A | T | E | O | N | P | I | N | S | A | N | D | N | E | E | D | L | E | S | |
| I | R | O | N | L | I | O | N | S | B | R | A | V | A | R | ||||||
| V | E | T | S | E | A | T | S | B | O | A | P | A | R | A | G | O | N | |||
| H | I | H | O | S | I | M | C | A | R | D | O | R | E | |||||||
| C | R | E | D | O | F | I | T | T | O | B | E | T | I | E | D | E | D | T | ||
| H | A | R | E | M | A | C | R | E | E | N | D | E | S | E | Z | |||||
| E | T | U | D | E | J | E | E | P | H | E | A | T | C | H | O | R | E | |||
| W | I | N | E | R | I | C | E | L | S | A | R | O | V | E | R | |||||
| S | O | W | C | U | T | A | N | D | D | R | I | E | D | E | N | E | R | O | ||
| U | N | A | L | A | P | O | R | T | E | P | E | E | R | |||||||
| P | S | Y | C | H | E | S | T | E | S | P | I | L | E | S | T | A | R | |||
| O | A | R | C | S | A | T | I | M | E | R | T | H | R | U | ||||||
| S | H | O | O | T | S | F | R | O | M | T | H | E | H | I | P | L | E | S | S | |
| R | E | A | L | R | E | G | A | E | R | O | K | Y | L | E | S | |||||
| T | A | K | E | U | P | A | C | O | L | L | E | C | T | I | O | N | I | N | E | |
| A | V | E | R | S | E | H | O | O | K | E | E | R | I | E | N | A | T | |||
| S | E | N | S | E | D | E | D | G | Y | S | P | A | D | E | E | L | S |
★ I'm loving this celebrity series — having a puzzle oriented around that person's profession is so much fun.
Today we get Isaac Mizrahi, with theme phrases reinterpreted in kooky, design-related ways. There's something so fun about SHOOTS FROM THE HIP as a paparazzo sneaking a pic from his/her pocket. TAKE UP A COLLECTION worked great as well, the phrase defined as shortening (taking up, in tailoring lingo) a designer's clothing collection. ON PINS AND NEEDLES I could actually see as a punny title for a seamstress's tell-all.
Not all of them hit for me — WORK THE NIGHT SHIFT felt iffy, "shift" not quite design-specific enough for my taste — but so many of them gave me a smile. It's a rare Sunday puzzle of this type that accomplishes that, so huge kudos.
A couple of nice bonuses, too, ALIEN RACE, TEN SIDED evoking images of a (warning, D&D dork alert!) 10-sided die, IMHOTEP a colorful character from ancient Egypt, SIM CARD, and even PARAGON. HONESTLY!, a good amount of bonus material for those solvers not so interested in fashion design.
There were a few blips here and there, but nothing that made me cringe. I don't like an OLEO of A HILL, VAR, ENDE (so tough to keep him and ONDE straight), ENERO, AERO, ORDERER (notice all those constructor-friendly Os, Es, and Rs?), etc. But overall, David and Isaac kept the level right around my threshold … slightly over, but not so far as to bog down my solve.
I'd be curious if moving ON PINS AND NEEDLES down one row would have helped to smooth out some sections. It's so tough when just a single row separates two long themers, as with WORK THE NIGHT SHIFT and ON PINS AND NEEDLES (see results: OLEO, EOE, A HILL).
Overall, a great sense of fun and joy in this puzzle. David and Isaac wore it well.