I've been an admirer of I.M. Pei's work ever since he designed the original Newhouse School building at Syracuse University, my alma mater. And when in Paris two years ago, my granddaughter and I got a kick out of seeing the Louvre Pyramid up close. Even so, I'm not sure I would have written this puzzle unless it included the nice theme crossings.
RIP IM PEI, passed away May 16, 2019. A life worth lauding. He designed so many buildings that it's hard to know which would be most appropriate to include within a tribute puzzle. I'd bet that his glass pyramid in front of the Louvre is the first one that comes to most people's minds, so it's appropriate to put that in a featured location.
STARCHITECT is a fun portmanteau. I wondered if it's in common usage? The real question is, what similar portmanteau can we constructors create to self-describe? I hereby declare myself a BEACONSTRUCTOR. Get it, BEACON + CONSTRUCTOR = BEACONSTRUCTOR? A shining guide in the sea of crossed words?
What, you say that it sounds like B-constructor? As in a second-rate hack?
WELL, WHO ASKED YOU?!
I'm not sure why a lot of constructors are so enamored with themer interlock. I did enjoy LOUVRE PYRAMID crossing IM PEI, that's neat. But ROCK AND ROLL (with HALL OF FAME elsewhere) and STARCHITECT crossing, too? Inelegant to have that partial in a featured position, plus it creates gridwork problems. It's akin to IM PEI's firm designing the Hancock Tower, only to find that the reality of physics made that implementation a disaster. ISOLE, AFOR, ASL, IRAE, SKUA, now those are some plywood cover-ups.
I applaud the decision to celebrate one of the best minds in the world of architecture, a person whose work has influenced millions of lives all around the world. I'd have loved something more architectural, though, like a masterpiece dedicated to the Guggenheim … or one to PEI himself!
David couldn't have straight-up copied Liz's brilliant concept, but it'd have been fun to brainstorm other visual implementations of other PEI buildings.
1 B | 2 I | 3 G | 4 D | 5 A | 6 Y | 7 J | 8 A | 9 B | 10 H | 11 U | 12 M |
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13 O | R | I | O | L | E | 14 L | O | S | E | 15 F | A | C | E |
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16 D | A | L | L | A | S | 17 O | I | L | W | E | L | L | S |
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18 Y | E | A | T | S | 19 B | U | N | 20 A | L | L | A | H |
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21 K | 22 I | E | V | 23 S | I | L | O | |||||||
24 R | 25 O | 26 C | 27 K | A | N | D | R | 28 O | L | L | 29 F | 30 I | 31 B |
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32 I | N | H | A | N | D | 33 E | W | E | 34 A | F | O | R |
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35 F | A | I | L | 36 I | 37 M | P | E | I | 38 L | A | N | E |
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39 L | I | N | E | 40 C | A | Y | 41 G | 42 R | O | M | I | T |
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43 E | R | A | 44 S | T | A | R | 45 C | H | I | T | E | C | T |
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46 T | 47 O | W | S | 48 A | U | T | O | |||||||
49 I | 50 S | O | L | E | 51 A | M | P | 52 T | 53 O | 54 S | 55 C | 56 A |
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57 N | E | W | D | E | 58 L | H | I | 59 B | A | N | K | O | F |
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60 T | R | E | E | T | O | A | D | 61 O | C | C | U | L | T |
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62 O | A | R | 63 S | U | B | 64 S | T | E | A | D | S |
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Answer summary: 5 unique to this puzzle, 1 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?