Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
---|---|---|---|
51 | 12/11/2011 | 11/28/2019 | 2 |
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 0 | 2 |
Scrabble | Rebus | Circle | Pangram |
---|---|---|---|
1.62 | 6 | 14 | 0 |
I love me some Thursday trickery, forcing me to work for my a-ha moment. Tim does just that with INVISIBLE INK making the -INK letters disappear in clues, leaving only single letters. [P] baffles, but when you add in the (invisible) INK, PINK indeed hints at MEDIUM RARE.
I like that Tim chose NOT to use all possible "?INK" words — MINK and RINK are missing — getting a complete set would have been tempting, but would have likely forced many rough spots to fill. Seven themers is a huge task as it is.
I wouldn't expect much colorful fill given the difficulty of packing in seven themers, but I love Tim's arrangement, leaving the upper right and lower left corners ripe for good material. I didn't know DR. MARIO but it's fun. Along with REAR END and I HEAR YA, that's a lot of bonus material in just the two corners.
Tim also did well in selecting themers colorful enough that I'd expect to see them in themelesses. SPLIT SECOND, MEDIUM RARE, and STOOL PIGEON are all beautiful. FOUNDER and CONNECT didn't do a lot for me, but FOUNDER gave me a real head-scratching moment as GO UNDER felt much more fitting to the [S(INK)] clue.
Are we SURE there wasn't a President with initials = GDR?
No doubt, there are compromises. Between STOOL PIGEON and INVISIBLE INK is one obvious place I'd expect some glue, as there are so many answers that need to cross both themers. I never like seeing the odd ENROL, as I only see it as ENROLL outside crosswords. ORISON crossing IVES will likely cause some trouble too.
And in the symmetrical position, DARE ME sounds a bit made up. YOU DARE ME? sure. DARE ME, not so much. Generally though, I think Tim did a good job of navigating the trade-offs, using a whole lot of themers and keeping the gluey bits to a reasonable number considering the constraints.
Most of all, I appreciated the innovation and clever thinking behind the trick today. Hooray for tricksy Thursdays!
1 C | 2 H | 3 A | 4 O | 5 S | 6 D | 7 I | 8 M | 9 P | 10 L | 11 E | 12 F | 13 D | 14 R |
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15 L | I | A | N | A | 16 A | R | A | R | A | T | 17 O | R | E |
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18 E | C | C | E | N | 19 T | R | I | C | I | T | Y | 20 U | M | A |
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21 A | C | E | 22 D | E | E | D | 23 S | E | M | 24 I | N | A | R |
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25 N | U | L | 26 L | 27 A | M | I | 28 N | O | 29 A | N | D | R | E |
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30 S | P | L | I | 31 T | S | E | C | O | N | 32 D | 33 N | E | I | N |
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34 E | S | S | A | Y | 35 R | E | N | 36 T | 37 R | O | D |
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38 M | E | 39 D | 40 I | 41 U | M | R | A | R | 42 E | ||||||
43 M | 44 I | 45 C | 46 S | E | N | D | 47 O | R | 48 A | 49 L | 50 S |
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51 U | H | O | 52 H | 53 S | T | O | 54 O | 55 L | 56 P | I | G | E | O | N |
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57 G | E | N | U | 58 S | 59 E | N | R | O | L | 60 O | O | Z | E |
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61 G | A | N | G | W | 62 A | R | 63 I | V | E | 64 S | 65 L | E | A |
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66 I | R | E | 67 I | N | V | 68 I | S | I | B | L | 69 E | I | N | K |
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70 N | Y | C | 71 S | N | A | P | O | N | 72 I | M | A | G | E |
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73 G | A | T | 74 S | O | L | O | N | G | 75 T | U | N | E | R |
Answer summary: 3 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?