Michael Wiesenberg author page

Neat bit of trivia: the Shortz era began with a great tribute to ROY G. BIV, the colors of the rainbow, in order. This theme concept has been revisited many a time — such great crossword fodder.

It is, however, difficult to fit in all seven colors into a 15x15 grid. (The average number of themers is about five these days.) Michael and Acme accomplish it today, and also stick in RAINBOW as a revealer. Impressive to work in eight themers, fairly smoothly.

Excellent use of interlock, INDIGO GIRLS crossing BLUEBIRDS, and YELLOW LIGHT crossing VIOLET RAY. In some cases, constructors use this sort of interlock to show off, more for themselves than for the solver. But here, it's almost necessary, to squeeze everything in. I highlighted the themers below, to demonstrate how tight a fit it is.

Oh, if it hadn't been for VIOLET RAY — all the other themers are so colorful (ha ha). What a curious grid entry. (I usually see SHRINKING VIOLET for this theme type.) It was interesting to learn about this antique piece of medical equipment, but electrotherapy seems so barbaric.

It's tough for a science nerd like me to see all the colors spread out willy-nilly, instead of in proper ROY G. BIV order. I'm not entirely sure it could have been done without more compromises (LIII, ITI, ACS — I ASEA you), but here's one case where I would have been okay with a higher price to pay in order to get proper color order.

THINGS NEED TO BE PROPER, SHOUTED THE OCD DORK!

My poor kids.

Hear me out. Put RED TAPE in row 3, all the way to the left. ORANGE PEEL all the way to the right, in row 4 or 5. Keep alternating until you reach RAINBOW, down in row 13. Or take out RAINBOW if you need to.

Heck, even if you needed to go asymmetrical, I'd accept that. ANYTHING TO ACHIEVE ORDER! THE WILLY-NILLINESS IS SO DISTRACTING!

I should probably find them a therapist sooner rather than later.

But overall, still an impressive feat to fit eight themers in. If in a disorderly fashion.

Interesting "stairstack" in the middle of the grid, TRAVEL CHANNEL and SILVER BULLETS = fantastic answers. I was so, so, so stuck on LE???RPEA??ON — I felt like that idiot on "Wheel of Fortune" who can't figure out _OE V WADE. (Luckily, that one came easily.) Then I felt like more of an idiot for not knowing one of the more important Prime Ministers of our neighbor to the north, Alaska. Er, Canadia. Canada! Sigh. I'm very glad the clue enticed me to read up on this important Nobel Peace Prize winner — what a role he played in the Suez Crisis.

These stairstack grids live and die by the quality of the stacks in each of the corners. I liked TELEPORTS / SPYWARE the best (LIE AHEAD more neutral than an asset), and that corner was even more impressive because those answers run right into the middle stairstack.

I wasn't quite as impressed with the other corners, as MINICAR felt like it wasn't in common usage (although it is technically "a very small automobile," according to Merriam Webster). FELL OPEN felt like it had untapped potential to be something snazzier, and that corner needed ELOI and the cringeworthy CARERS to hold it together. Oof — not just a made-up sounding -ER ending, but pluralized too.

I did like the SE, with ROE V WADE and STEW OVER and ANSWERS with a delightful clue, [Things in keys] misdirecting me to think about islands. But DYERS unfortunately echoed the unfortunate CARERS.

Finally, I really liked the answer PENCIL PUSHERS — but it's too bad that PENCIL PUSHER was just used last week. There's bound to be repetition of colorful answers in themelesses, but both of them in featured spots, so close together in date ... For us regular solvers, it takes away some of the impact from Michael's grid today.

Some fine, snappy answers, mixed in with some that felt a bit off, like MINICAR and ONE CELL (one-celled more common).

I don't have a lot of construction-specific analysis for today's puzzle, since it fits squarely in the 70-word themeless mold, so I thought I'd go off the beaten path and delve into depth with some clues. And since INTERROBANG is a great example of a lively one-word answer, I'll employ its components as I go, giving EXCLAMATIONS! and question marks?

! [Not beyond one] had to mean zero, a negative number, or some fraction like one-half, right? Crosswords tend to use "one's" much more than "your" in phrases, i.e. ANTS IN ONES PANTS instead of ANTS IN YOUR PANTS. So to play on "one" here is brilliant. [Not beyond you] is much too straightforward for a themeless puzzle, [Not beyond one] is elegant and clever.

! [Take the edge off] is a great repurposing of a common phrase. A FILE indeed takes the edge off.

? A TALL ONE also takes the edge off. Missed opportunity here for a nice clue echo (a similar clue used twice for completely different meanings).

? [Where many arrests take place, for short] had me thinking about police arrests. Even when I uncovered ERS, I didn't understand the clue. Sure, there are police arrests when criminals in shootouts get taken to the ER, but that didn't totally feel right. Then I thought of "cardiac arrests." And then wished I hadn't. Generally crossword editors stay away from death and disease, as they're not something solvers like to see in their diversions. I do appreciate the wordplay, but I personally didn't feel it was worth it.

! [It may be found in preserves] has nothing to do with jellies or jams. Me and my stupid jelly-loving ways! Nice misdirection, away from "nature preserves."

Overall, a good mix of long entries (!) + an average amount of gluey filler (?) = ?!. Strong and appropriate 1-Across.

[Out of gear?] is one of my favorite clues in quite a while, repurposing a familiar phrase to a completely different use. NAKED = out of "gear" indeed!

Michael uses a standard-ish layout today, focusing on four triple-stacks in the four corners. I appreciate how wide-open it is, each region flowing smoothly into the next, with few choke points. It's also admirable that he connected the regions with some long words. Check out the NE region for example. Using YTTRIA, GO FIRST, BE NICE TO / CRAYONED, KEPT FIT to join those regions is pretty neat. I'm not entirely convinced that CRAYONED is in regular usage, but in any case, that quintet of long answers is an elegant way to connect up two subsections.

Those triple-stacks of 11-letter entries are so hard. There are usually going to be a few hiccups due to all the constraints, and it's best if those glue bits can be spread out across different categories. I love the triple of STADIUM ROCK / IM OUTTA HERE / TAKES THE RAP — all just beautiful entries — but I'm less a fan of a triplet of esoteric names in the same region. AOKI and MAHRE are perhaps famous-enough people, but I wouldn't expect the general public to have as much familiarity with them as WOODS and MAIER, say. And as much as I loved Michael CERA in Arrested Development and Juno, having him round out the triplet of AOKI / MAHRE / CERA is perhaps less than ideal.

Clean work on the opposite corner, with just RWE sticking out. Even DVD / VCRS turned from neutral to a plus in my book with the elegant crossing. The long answers aren't as nice as in the NW though, with INTERSPERSE being slightly above neutral to me, and DRIVE TO WORK feeling arbitrary. DRIVE TO WORK is a fine clue for COMMUTE, but as an answer it opens up DRIVE A CAR or WALK TO WORK or DRIVE TO THE PARK as equally arbitrary answers.

A lot of strong long fill today, HOW ON EARTH and ITS COOL being exemplary. Even short stuff like EUROPOP and KEPT FIT added to the overall effect. Some glue required to hold everything together (MTS/EHS DIR/ADM, nice try hiding in those corners!) but it made for a flowing Friday solve. Themelesses like this, with few choke points, often make for great Fridays, as they give the solver so many opportunities to break into each region.