I have a love/hate relationship with ultra-low word count themelesses. On one hand, you're bound to get a bunch of made-up sounding ...
read moreI have a love/hate relationship with ultra-low word count themelesses. On one hand, you're bound to get a bunch of made-up sounding (and actually made-up) words. On the other, I've picked up some solving tricks, making them doable. They used to seem impossible — now I feel like a genius!

Pro tip: keep prefixes and suffixes in the forefront of your mind, particularly the ones using "Wheel of Fortune" free letters (RSTLNE). So often, RE- UN- E-(as in electronic) or -ER -EST -S will be your best friend. "Most" in a clue should point you to -EST, for example. Similarly, "remove" ought to get you thinking there's an UN- in front.
It could be that I have very low expectations for these puzzles, but wow, did I enjoy this one. Let's tick off the usual traits of ultra-low-word-counters, and how Kevin bucked the trends:
- Groany words. Huge surprise to see not many made-uppies, REALER and ROADER the only ughs. And ROADER could have been salvaged by something like [Off-___ (sport vehicle)].
- Surfeit of common letters. It's so rare to get rare letters — these low-word-counters are usually jam-packed with RSTLNEs. But four Vs in one corner? All neatly lined up in a diagonal? Two more Vs, a K, and a Z? Color me impressed.
- Mostly neutral fill. DECREE, SENT OVER, PEELED, YELLER — these aren't going to win awards. But MEGASTORE. DOG TIRED. ON PAROLE. BOYS CLUB. Fantastic stuff.
Add in some great wordplay clues:
- How could [One after another?] possibly mean ELEVEN? Think of it as 11 … one 1 after another 1. Brilliant!
- [Top stories], so innocent. No question mark to give away the deceit, misguiding away from ATTICS. Literally, top stories.
- Same for [Make sparkling, say]. It had to be USE DESCRIPTIVE WORDS, said this writer. Nope, bubbles in AERATED sparkly water.
I would have loved something to connect the four segmented mini-puzzles — even something as thin as the compass points: N in the square marked 8, W at 29, etc. But overall, this gem wildly exceeded my expectations. And after all, isn't life all about management of expectations?