John Lithgow author page
1 puzzle by John Lithgow
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 3 answer words debuted by John Lithgow.
| D | R | A | M | A | A | M | I | D | C | O | P | |||
| I | O | T | A | S | N | O | N | O | S | A | A | R | ||
| C | U | R | T | A | I | N | C | A | L | L | S | H | O | |
| E | T | A | G | M | O | S | P | E | N | T | U | P | ||
| D | E | S | T | R | O | Y | A | H | E | A | P | |||
| O | A | K | S | P | I | T | T | A | K | E | ||||
| T | A | S | T | Y | C | O | R | N | Y | R | A | G | ||
| S | I | T | E | P | O | L | O | S | S | T | L | O | ||
| A | D | A | M | I | X | I | N | K | E | Y | E | S | ||
| R | E | G | A | I | N | E | D | P | A | L | ||||
| E | R | N | E | S | C | A | T | F | I | S | H | |||
| W | A | L | K | O | N | T | H | A | I | D | E | I | ||
| O | L | E | S | U | M | M | E | R | S | T | O | C | K | |
| O | F | F | O | T | O | E | S | H | E | N | C | E | ||
| F | A | T | S | I | N | S | A | C | T | O | R |
Celeb puzzle! I've been a huge fan of Lithgow since his "3rd Rock from the Sun" days. Fun to get a puzzle that plays on his profession — acting terms redefined in kooky ways. CURTAIN CALL as a drapes-buying decision, CAST PARTY using the "person" definition of "party," etc. And so much acting-related filler material!
I wasn't familiar with SUMMER STOCK. Apparently it's a generic term for any theater production that only happens in the summer? We have a local company that does "Shakespeare improv" in a nearby park — I keep meaning to check it out.
I enjoyed some of the fill in the grid, particularly the long bonuses of SPITTAKE (I seem to remember a lot of SPITTAKEs on "3rd Rock"!), CATFISH, PINE NUTS, even the DOLPHINS with their perfect season, including a Superbowl victory. (Take that, 2007-2008 Patriots!)
I did feel like the grid contained a lot of crossword glue, though. Starting with some ATRAS, ETA, AAR wasn't bad. Toss in some STLO, SECCO, I DON'T, and the crosswordy ERNES, though, and it felt like A HEAP of stuff. (Not sure why A TAD feels fine to me but A HEAP doesn't …)
And then there was the KEYES / KATISHA crossing. Yikes! Perhaps educated solvers should be expected to know Daniel KEYES ... I buy that. And I appreciate that a reference to "The Mikado" fits right in with this celeb collab. But wow, is that a tough name for us laypeople. Rough crossing, tough to get correct.
As with most crosswords, it's a game of trade-offs. Four themers are easy to work with, but it's not at all simple to work a bunch of great bonuses into the fill. Then when you strive to put in more quasi-thematic material (references to theater in this case), it strains the grid mightily. Overall, I would have preferred a smoother end product with fewer bonuses, but I can understand the trade-off here, given the nature of this celeb puzzle.
I like these types of "redefinitional" puzzles. The Isaac Mizrahi one worked better for me, since some of today's themers didn't quite jibe — hard to imagine anyone describing a stage departing by saying the stilted "STAGE LEFT." And a fly fisherman might be a CASTing party, but not really a CAST PARTY.
But overall, so much fun to see one of my favorite actors make his crossword debut, with a profession-specific concept. Love BEQ's description of John tackling this project ... if "method cruciverbalism" isn't a thing, it really should be!