Kurt Mueller author page
7 puzzles by Kurt Mueller
with Jeff Chen comments
| G | R | I | D | I | N | C | A | S | C | R | U | X | ||
| A | U | D | I | T | O | A | L | L | H | O | S | E | ||
| I | S | L | E | A | T | R | I | A | E | Y | E | D | ||
| T | H | E | H | O | L | Y | B | I | B | L | E | |||
| A | L | I | E | D | R | E | S | S | ||||||
| D | I | R | E | C | T | S | U | N | L | I | G | H | T | |
| B | O | N | D | S | T | A | U | O | G | R | E | |||
| R | O | W | H | E | A | R | T | S | I | P | ||||
| A | D | A | B | I | R | K | B | E | A | N | S | |||
| G | A | R | L | I | C | N | E | C | K | L | A | C | E | |
| A | D | D | O | N | A | G | E | R | ||||||
| S | I | L | V | E | R | B | U | L | L | E | T | |||
| B | A | G | S | E | A | R | L | S | Y | O | G | A | ||
| A | L | P | O | S | N | O | O | P | O | D | O | R | ||
| T | E | A | M | T | E | S | T | Y | N | E | S | T |
A STAKE running through the vampire's HEART in the center — what a clever idea! Fun to see the collection of things that vampires hate. I wasn't aware that a SILVER BULLET was appropriate for more than werewolves, but some Googling shows that apparently SILVER BULLETs are good for all sorts of monsters. Off to invest in silver!
Such a fun concept for the run-up to Halloween. It'd be great to have it on Halloween, but given the simplicity, it really does belong as an early-week puzzle. I sure would have liked some type of CROSS incorporated — WOODEN CROSS perhaps? — as that's much more iconic to me than either SILVER BULLET or HOLY BIBLE, but I'm not a monster movie aficionado. (I get scared by Harry Potter.)
With four long themers and the STAKE through the HEART, this is a tough layout. I usually don't care much about themers interlocking, but I found the STAKE intersecting DIRECT SUNLIGHT and GARLIC NECKLACE pretty cool. It also helps with the spacing, very necessary today given that none of the themers can go in rows 3 and 13 like usual — if you move THE HOLY BIBLE up one row, you create a nightmare of black squares in the upper right. So the interlock here is not just nice today, but almost essential.
Given such constraints, Kurt does pretty well to keep his gluey bits down to a minimum. It's unfortunate that A LIE, TO ALL, and A DAB all fall in the "partials" category though, making them stand out for me. A cheater (extra black square) up in the north, perhaps where the S of INCAS is, might have allowed Kurt to eliminate TO ALL. But that would have forced him to change the south for symmetry reasons, and that might force him to lose the very nice KGB SPY and/or CAR LOT. Always with the trade-offs.
Nice idea with a great finish in the STAKE through the HEART. I find the theme to be POW! material, but I'd need to have a tighter set of themers and maybe a slightly less gluey solve in order for it to make the cut.
| O | A | F | S | R | E | C | A | P | S | S | O | T | ||
| T | R | O | U | A | T | O | N | A | L | C | H | A | ||
| H | E | R | E | S | J | O | H | N | N | Y | O | W | N | |
| E | N | T | R | E | O | U | I | M | O | O | G | |||
| R | A | Y | A | O | N | E | A | N | D | A | T | W | O | |
| L | A | R | V | A | L | I | R | R | ||||||
| A | M | O | R | E | N | O | A | R | L | E | S | |||
| L | I | V | E | F | R | O | M | N | E | W | Y | O | R | K |
| S | T | E | A | L | S | U | M | M | O | N | Y | |||
| M | A | M | A | D | A | L | E | S | ||||||
| A | N | D | A | W | A | Y | W | E | G | O | E | D | T | |
| P | O | O | P | N | E | A | E | E | L | E | R | |||
| A | M | T | I | T | S | S | H | O | W | T | I | M | E | |
| R | A | T | C | R | I | T | I | C | U | P | O | N | ||
| T | R | Y | H | A | R | E | M | S | I | S | N | T |
A puzzle based around show-biz catchphrases! Kurt does a nice job of selecting themers which are easily recognizable to the general American population. The four represent a wide range of time periods, providing something for everyone. Kind of analogous to the NYT daily crossword, eh? Enough variety and there will be something most everyone will like.
HERE'S JOHNNY is fantastic, not only because it brings back memories of watching the Tonight Show with my dad when I really wasn't supposed to, plus its repurposing for "The Shining" makes it even more memorable. LIVE FROM NEW YORK brings back similar good feelings , and although I've never seen Lawrence Welk or The Honeymooners, both lines came easily to me. All snazzy, fun entries.
I would have almost preferred to not have a revealer though, as IT'S SHOWTIME doesn't feel like it stitches everything together. I see what Kurt is doing here, cluing the four lines as "(Famous person's) intro words" and IT'S SHOWTIME opening the show. But while Ed McMahon and the SNL (not specifically Chevy Chase) opening lines actually kick off the shows (more or less), it's not the same with the others. It would have been perfect if that's the way Lawrence Welk and Jackie Gleason kicked off their respective shows.
Some rough spots in the fill today, COHOE being a NYT debut but being an awfully funny-looking one. Here in Seattle COHO salmon is plentiful, but I've never seen it listed as COHOE. It's an unfortunate product of 1.) theme density and 2.) the 6x3 northern area. Those 6x3 blocks are much harder to cleanly fill than the usual 5x3 blocks, but since the themers are so close together, Kurt doesn't have much of a choice there, because he needs a block separating RAJ and OVER. Hard constraint, producing an unfortunate entry.
Also, FORTY LOVE feels a bit arbitrary as it's not really an important score but more like the ONE ONE or ONE NIL [low soccer score] type of entry. I did really like LOOSE LIPS and MARRY ME though. Not quite sure if it was the price of seeing our old crossword friend ETUI show up, along with the EDT EELER, though. Five themers can be difficult to work with.
Anyway, some great memories brought back by a selection of iconic lines from TV.
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| X | E | R | A | M | M | A | N | O | P | E | R | A | ||
| U | B | I | C | O | A | S | T | C | I | T | E | D | ||
| R | U | B | B | E | R | C | H | I | C | K | E | N | ||
| B | L | O | O | D | T | A | S | A | L | A | ||||
| A | A | R | P | B | A | B | Y | B | O | O | M | E | R | |
| N | E | O | S | I | N | O | L | O | E | W | E | |||
| B | U | G | G | Y | W | H | I | P | ||||||
| C | H | E | A | P | E | Y | E | D | B | U | T | |||
| B | U | M | P | E | R | C | R | O | P | S | O | P | H | |
| S | N | O | R | A | H | W | R | O | T | E | ||||
| T | O | N | G | U | E | T | W | I | S | T | E | R | ||
| A | M | I | N | O | B | R | U | I | N | I | M | O | ||
| L | E | O | I | V | B | I | B | L | E | E | P | A | ||
| F | A | N | T | A | Y | E | A | T | S | S | O | D |
| B | E | L | A | S | H | A | Z | E | R | A | H | A | R | I | ||||||
| A | M | A | O | P | T | I | C | C | L | O | N | E | S | A | P | O | P | |||
| D | E | L | I | V | E | R | T | H | E | G | O | O | D | B | S | L | P | G | A | |
| C | R | A | V | E | T | I | D | I | E | S | T | A | I | S | L | E | S | |||
| O | I | L | E | R | P | E | R | I | O | L | D | S | T | E | R | S | ||||
| P | L | A | Y | B | F | O | R | A | F | O | O | L | E | S | T | O | P | |||
| S | E | I | S | C | Y | M | B | A | L | S | S | N | I | T | S | |||||
| C | A | M | D | E | T | B | O | N | A | M | I | E | Y | E | ||||||
| O | G | E | E | F | A | C | E | B | R | E | A | L | I | T | Y | O | P | E | ||
| Q | U | E | L | L | L | A | V | I | E | A | Z | O | V | R | E | N | ||||
| I | T | S | O | N | T | E | N | L | E | K | R | E | A | D | S | |||||
| J | L | O | G | A | M | E | M | E | L | E | E | S | T | E | I | N | ||||
| E | E | N | B | M | A | R | K | M | Y | W | O | R | D | S | O | R | Z | O | ||
| A | R | E | U | N | T | I | E | S | E | T | O | B | E | R | ||||||
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| S | A | M | E | N | E | S | S | E | L | E | A | A | B | U | S | E | ||||
| A | B | A | S | E | D | O | U | T | S | E | L | L | D | A | C | H | A | |||
| K | O | K | O | F | U | L | L | M | E | T | A | L | B | J | A | C | K | E | T | |
| I | D | E | M | I | N | A | N | E | R | S | T | U | D | Y | U | L | A | |||
| S | E | R | E | R | E | R | A | N | O | P | S | S | F | C |
| A | N | A | I | S | G | A | B | A | N | N | E | S | ||
| B | A | L | T | I | M | O | R | E | O | R | I | O | L | E |
| O | N | F | A | M | I | L | I | A | R | T | E | R | M | S |
| W | A | R | L | O | R | D | T | B | O | L | T | |||
| E | I | N | C | H | E | O | S | H | E | A | ||||
| A | C | D | C | F | A | I | N | T | E | V | E | N | ||
| N | O | H | A | I | R | S | E | L | N | I | N | O | ||
| G | R | I | L | L | E | D | R | A | M | S | E | S | I | |
| E | N | T | A | I | L | C | O | R | N | T | I | N | ||
| L | E | C | T | D | E | L | A | Y | C | N | E | T | ||
| A | T | H | O | L | X | E | D | S | L | A | ||||
| C | R | E | P | E | S | A | L | A | M | I | S | |||
| A | N | O | T | H | E | R | F | I | N | E | M | E | S | S |
| S | E | C | U | R | I | T | Y | D | E | P | O | S | I | T |
| P | O | K | E | S | S | I | E | T | R | E | S | S |
| P | A | L | E | A | S | A | G | I | N | B | I | G | ||
| E | A | T | I | N | G | O | U | T | W | H | E | N | I | |
| A | D | A | P | T | E | D | T | O | O | L | A | F | V | |
| U | S | D | A | W | A | N | N | A | E | |||||
| R | U | R | T | N | T | S | I | T | U | |||||
| G | W | R | I | T | E | R | S | F | R | E | E | U | P | |
| O | O | O | A | D | E | U | X | A | T | B | A | T | ||
| F | O | G | H | A | U | N | T | E | D | A | T | H | ||
| A | D | E | L | A | P | A | R | E | D | B | E | E | ||
| C | Y | R | A | N | O | M | A | R | L | E | Y | S | G | |
| H | A | E | C | A | H | I | Y | E | T | |||||
| A | L | B | U | F | O | R | A | U | L | |||||
| N | L | E | R | S | L | H | A | S | A | A | P | S | O | |
| C | E | R | T | S | Y | E | S | I | N | D | E | E | D | |
| E | N | T | E | R | G | B | U | S | T | E | R | S |
| A | C | E | A | S | C | A | P | C | O | R | A | L | N | O | A | H | S | |||
| M | R | X | S | M | A | R | T | A | R | E | T | E | O | P | R | A | H | |||
| B | O | X | S | C | O | R | E | S | N | I | S | E | I | T | E | T | R | A | ||
| L | O | O | P | H | O | L | E | R | A | S | C | A | L | O | N | E | A | L | ||
| E | N | N | E | C | A | L | L | E | D | O | U | T | A | T | F | I | R | S | T | |
| W | A | H | I | N | A | N | E | A | T | T | Y | S | ||||||||
| S | T | E | P | C | A | P | E | R | O | P | E | |||||||||
| F | A | I | R | B | A | L | L | W | A | L | K | E | D | I | N | A | R | U | N | |
| E | L | M | S | M | A | O | S | L | E | N | D | E | R | L | U | K | E | |||
| Z | E | E | P | I | N | O | N | I | C | E | C | O | B | R | A | |||||
| S | W | I | N | G | F | O | R | T | H | E | F | E | N | C | E | S | ||||
| S | P | L | A | T | S | E | T | L | I | L | A | C | I | N | K | |||||
| O | D | O | R | E | N | F | I | E | L | D | E | I | N | S | T | A | G | |||
| B | A | T | T | I | N | G | O | R | D | E | R | F | O | U | L | T | I | P | S | |
| D | O | O | R | Y | E | S | T | I | O | N | A | |||||||||
| N | O | S | E | R | A | S | T | O | R | C | E | O | ||||||||
| B | O | T | T | O | M | O | F | T | H | E | F | I | F | T | H | P | L | E | A | |
| R | E | O | R | G | B | E | L | I | E | F | R | E | A | L | T | O | R | S | ||
| A | V | O | I | R | A | D | A | R | N | F | U | L | L | C | O | U | N | T | ||
| G | I | L | D | A | M | I | S | T | S | A | I | L | E | D | T | I | E | |||
| G | L | E | E | M | A | N | T | S | Y | S | T | A | T | S | S | E | R |