Parker Lewis author page
4 puzzles by Parker Lewis
with Constructor comments
See the 23 answer words debuted by Parker Lewis.
| J | O | E | L | I | D | R | I | S | M | B | A | S | ||
| A | L | T | O | N | A | A | C | P | E | L | L | A | ||
| R | E | C | O | N | S | I | D | E | R | A | T | I | O | N |
| K | O | O | L | S | A | L | I | N | E | |||||
| S | W | I | R | L | Y | H | Y | P | E | D | ||||
| S | U | E | T | E | P | C | O | T | R | A | T | E | ||
| A | R | T | U | R | L | A | N | A | I | L | A | G | ||
| T | E | M | P | E | R | A | M | E | N | T | A | L | L | Y |
| I | D | A | M | O | N | E | Y | S | L | E | E | P | ||
| N | O | R | M | S | E | L | M | A | M | Y | S | T | ||
| T | I | G | H | T | O | N | B | A | S | E | ||||
| P | I | N | T | A | L | O | V | I | N | |||||
| N | O | N | C | O | M | M | U | N | I | C | A | B | L | E |
| O | K | I | E | B | A | G | E | L | C | O | I | N | ||
| M | E | S | S | O | P | E | D | S | S | P | E | D |
I'd had TEMPE/RAMEN/TALLY kicking around my brain for a while but hadn't come across any other similarly patterned wordplay. Jeff and I both live in Seattle and every so often meet up for coffee and to talk crossword shop. I mentioned it to him one day and he suggested we use the power of programming to generate some other potential examples. We each took a crack at finding 15-letter words that could be split into 5/5/5 or 4/5/6 or 4/4/7 etc. After sifting through a bunch of junk, we settled on these three.
Here are a few alternates that didn't quite make the cut:
- HYPER/CRITIC/ALLY
- INTER/MEDIA/TING
- TOUGH/MINDED/NESS
- LIEU/TENANTS/HIPS
- APP/RENT/ICES/HIPS
- STAND/OF/FISH/NESS
The first version we submitted included the revealer THE SPLITS clued as [Show of flexibility ... and what 16−, 25−, and 40−Across each do]. It was deemed to be not such a great addition to the main theme so we decided to rework the puzzle. With only three theme entries, we tried to construct a wide-open grid with as much fresh fill as possible. Hope you all enjoy the result!
And, as many others have said, it's a great pleasure to work with Jeff!
| T | A | R | P | M | I | D | D | A | Y | A | P | P | |||
| O | D | I | E | N | I | C | E | O | N | E | L | I | L | ||
| F | I | F | T | H | E | L | E | M | E | N | T | O | V | A | |
| U | N | F | A | I | R | C | O | T | S | H | O | T | |||
| F | O | U | R | T | H | E | S | T | A | T | E | ||||
| M | A | S | A | I | G | E | E | S | P | A | S | ||||
| A | C | T | I | A | L | A | S | E | S | T | E | T | |||
| T | H | I | R | D | T | I | M | E | S | A | C | H | A | R | M |
| H | E | L | L | O | S | D | I | Y | E | T | N | A | |||
| L | I | R | E | F | I | G | O | D | E | O | N | ||||
| H | A | L | F | M | A | R | A | T | H | O | N | ||||
| O | M | I | T | I | B | M | O | C | U | L | U | S | |||
| G | I | F | W | H | O | L | E | S | H | E | B | A | N | G | |
| A | G | E | P | A | T | E | N | T | S | E | M | I | T | ||
| N | O | S | M | I | S | S | U | S | R | A | T | S |
This puzzle was a long time in the making! I submitted the first version back in early 2014. It was rejected because my central theme answer, THIRD CULTURE KID, was deemed too obscure. I did a bit more brainstorming for alternatives and landed on THIRD TIMES A CHARM — a much better entry, but one that requires a 16x15 grid.
After producing several possible grids, I resubmitted the puzzle in late 2014. I heard back from Will with a tentative yes, provided I could clean up a few iffy entries. At that time, I was using the entry FOURTH OF JULY and no matter how creative I was with my block placements, the J was proving to be quite a problem. Changing that entry to FOURTH ESTATE helped alleviate some constraints and I was able to come up with a much cleaner fill. I resubmitted again this February and it was finally accepted!
I'd say that THIRD TIMES A CHARM is an apt description of this creation process but looking through my records, I found about 15 drafts of a completed grid! In one version, there were no blocks between 12/36-Down and between 28/49-Down, but unfortunately the fill had too many compromises. I'm pleased that I was able to pack in five theme entries although it certainly complicates the construction process.
Will changed a number of my clues, mostly skewing easier, since I wrote the initial clues expecting this to be a Tuesday or Wednesday puzzle. Did you catch the tie-in from the clue for 27-Down?
| L | A | V | A | A | B | O | D | E | S | M | O | G | ||
| A | L | E | G | S | A | V | O | R | Q | E | I | I | ||
| S | I | R | E | C | L | A | R | A | U | R | N | S | ||
| H | A | Y | N | E | E | D | L | E | S | T | A | C | K | |
| D | O | N | M | E | A | T | ||||||||
| C | A | N | D | Y | K | I | D | S | T | O | R | E | ||
| I | C | E | S | E | E | N | K | E | N | Y | A | |||
| M | A | L | L | D | W | E | E | B | R | E | A | R | ||
| A | S | L | O | W | L | E | E | S | U | N | S | |||
| C | H | I | N | A | B | U | L | L | S | H | O | P | ||
| G | R | A | S | T | E | N | ||||||||
| H | A | N | D | H | E | L | L | B | A | S | K | E | T | |
| J | O | K | E | A | D | I | E | U | A | N | T | E | ||
| E | P | I | C | M | U | T | E | D | L | E | N | A | ||
| M | I | N | K | A | P | E | R | S | E | X | A | M |
| R | O | S | E | Z | E | L | D | A | E | M | T | S | ||
| O | R | E | M | E | M | A | I | L | P | E | S | T | ||
| X | S | Q | U | A | R | E | D | P | L | U | S | T | W | O |
| Y | O | U | B | O | N | E | S | N | O | R | A | D | ||
| E | M | B | E | D | L | I | N | I | N | G | ||||
| A | N | N | O | Y | S | G | U | A | C | C | A | Y | ||
| L | O | C | O | F | I | S | H | E | R | |||||
| T | W | E | N | T | Y | O | V | E | R | F | I | V | E | X |
| S | H | O | R | E | S | G | A | T | E | |||||
| C | A | M | E | D | E | N | J | E | E | R | E | D | ||
| A | R | A | B | I | A | M | I | L | L | I | ||||
| T | R | I | E | S | S | T | O | N | E | A | K | A | ||
| N | I | N | E | M | I | N | U | S | X | C | U | B | E | D |
| I | V | E | S | R | I | N | S | E | S | L | E | D | ||
| P | E | R | T | S | P | A | Y | S | B | E | N | S |