Julian Kwan author page
1 puzzle by Julian Kwan
with Jeff Chen comments
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| S | L | E | E | P | I | N | T | H | E | B | U | F | F | E | T | D | E | U | S | |
| O | V | E | R | O | K | I | E | R | B | I | R | A | S | S | L | E | ||||
| M | A | D | C | O | W | T | R | A | I | L | E | R | P | A | R | Q | U | E | T | |
| U | A | E | L | E | E | R | A | T | M | U | S | T | ||||||||
| N | B | A | T | Y | P | E | A | B | S | A | L | S | A | |||||||
| C | O | L | D | H | A | R | D | C | A | C | H | E | T | A | D | D | L | E | D | |
| I | D | L | E | S | O | I | L | R | O | S | A | N | N | E | I | V | Y | |||
| S | E | E | M | A | F | T | A | B | A | I | C | A | N | S | E | E | ||||
| Y | O | U | V | E | H | A | D | Y | O | U | R | F | I | L | E | T | ||||
| S | P | O | N | G | E | S | B | R | O | E | T | A | W | I | N | K | ||||
| O | H | O | L | E | S | B | I | A | N | W | I | I | E | M | C | E | E | |||
| P | I | P | P | I | N | L | E | T | S | M | A | K | E | A | D | E | L | A | Y | |
| E | N | O | K | I | O | S | I | R | I | S | E | L | S | |||||||
| M | O | R | E | O | N | B | A | S | E | R | E | F | ||||||||
| B | A | C | K | S | T | A | G | E | P | A | S | S | E | B | L | A | R | E | D | |
| L | A | T | I | S | H | C | P | R | W | A | Z | E | M | O | J | O | ||||
| A | L | O | E | U | N | S | O | L | I | C | I | T | E | D | B | I | D | E | T | |
| M | O | P | S | G | R | I | M | E | O | N | E | S | O | N | I | C | E | |||
| E | X | I | T | S | A | T | E | S | B | E | N | T | G | E | N | T | S |
The title, MORES, doesn't make sense if you're a boor who's always pronounced the word with one syllable. Can't imagine who'd be so uncultured as to do something like that, just because the word looks like it should rhyme with "smores." Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go buy marshmallows and graham crackers.
Some fun spelling changes, PARK to PARQUET and CASH to CACHE much more interesting than the straightforward addition of ET, like BUFF to BUFFET and BID to BIDET. Sound addition puzzles are so common that a feature like kooky spelling changes is so welcome.
There's something so amusing about an UNSOLICITED BIDET showing up at one's door. I'm curious what Mark Rober would have that package spray ...
I did wonder about the DEAL to DELAY sound change. Pronunciation differs across the country, so perhaps DELAY is more "deel-ay" to others. It sure jarred my ear, though.
Debuting with a Sunday is so difficult, and Julian's gridwork is amazing. Not a dab of short crossword glue anywhere, hardly an entry even the pickiest of editors could flag. It's not rocket science, but it is a matter of testing and iteration, which is incredibly time-consuming if done properly. It's clear that Julian put in the work to polish, polish, polish; changing patterns, adding cheater squares (like the black square at the end of MUST) when necessary, to achieve maximum smoothness.
Sunday puzzles are so big that it's so important to inject humor, liveliness, spiciness into the clues throughout the grid. It only takes half a dozen or so, but Sunday puzzles often fall down in this regard. Julian did not. I ticked off six amazing clues as I went:
- SCOT playing off of "first person"
- REF clued with a funny heckle
- ALLEY OOP as a literal "pass up"
- AFT riffing on "Back in the USSR"
- ONES testing your keyboard knowledge of where the exclamation point lies
- APPLES not related to Bob Hope, but to the hopes you have when you bob for APPLES!
Top-notch execution, so impressive on a Sunday debut.