Scott Yut author page
1 puzzle by Scott Yut
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 4 answer words debuted by Scott Yut.
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Debut! I had the hardest time figuring out what was going on, but it was ultimately a fun discovery. SHOW SOME LEG hinted at three leg parts hidden in themers: ANKLE, CALF, THIGH. I've highlighted them below so they stand out better.
SHOW SOME LEG … it's spot-on as a revealer, no doubt. It did have an odd vibe, or at least a fusty feel to it, though. For me, it evoked an image of construction workers hooting at passing women to SHOW SOME LEG; not a very appealing visual. I was glad to read Scott's explanation — gentlemen displaying their stockings as part of a historical greeting is a lot of fun. I wish the clue could have had referred to that, but it wouldn't have quite worked since that was "show a leg," not SHOW SOME LEG.
That aside, I did enjoy the themer choices. Fast Times at RIDGEMONT HIGH always brings a smile to my face, and TROPICAL FRUIT is fun too.
I also liked how Scott worked hard to incorporate some good long fill, entries like UMA THURMAN, BEATS ME, FINAGLE, helping to build his STREET CRED as a newbie constructor.
There's a smattering of crossword glue holding the puzzle together, not unexpected out of a debut. I don't mind a little ENERO or ERNE here or there, but they get more noticeable for me when they're crossing. And if you have an ERNE, I'd much rather not call attention to it with a cross-reference (to EAGLE).
Reasonably smooth overall though, Scott wisely using some cheater squares to make his life easier in the middle section, between TROPICAL FRUIT and RIDGEMONT HIGH. ITS SO isn't great as a five-letter partial (the clue tries to hide this — it's not fooling anyone), but what would typically be a tough section to fill comes out well.
I would have loved the puzzle if 1) the leg parts were in visually correct order, i.e. THIGH to CALF to ANKLE, and 2) there was a revealer that didn't make me feel a little uncomfortable. Fun idea, though.