A. Tariq author page
1 puzzle by A. Tariq
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 1 answer word debuted by A. Tariq.
| S | T | O | M | P | S | W | A | P | D | V | D | S | ||
| O | W | N | E | R | M | O | N | A | R | E | A | P | ||
| H | O | U | S | E | P | A | R | T | Y | A | G | H | A | |
| O | S | S | F | A | R | M | B | A | G | E | L | S | ||
| Z | E | S | T | S | A | B | U | T | ||||||
| T | S | H | I | R | T | I | C | E | P | A | C | K | ||
| R | I | O | T | A | L | A | S | K | A | B | Y | E | ||
| I | N | D | I | E | O | I | L | M | I | L | A | N | ||
| E | G | G | S | H | O | R | E | S | G | E | N | Y | ||
| D | E | E | P | S | E | T | O | D | E | S | S | A | ||
| P | L | E | A | L | I | N | E | R | ||||||
| A | R | O | U | N | D | I | W | I | N | S | A | T | ||
| R | O | D | S | S | E | M | I | C | I | R | C | L | E | |
| G | O | G | H | U | M | P | S | A | B | A | T | E | ||
| O | K | E | Y | P | U | S | H | L | I | M | O | S |
Debut! Some fun theme phrases, HOUSE PARTY reinterpreted as a group of representatives. Not so much a party atmosphere in American politics these days, but at least our House hasn't broken out into fistfights and offal chucking, as is sadly common in Taiwan.
ICE PACK, I appreciated the change of meaning from frozen water to the slang for diamonds. And DEEP SET got my biggest smile, evoking an image of Mensans sitting around, Rodin style.SEMICIRCLE as a group of big rigs worked, too. The definition of SEMI shifted from "half" to "hauler," and it was fun to think about semis circling themselves, wagon-style. Perhaps defending themselves from Decepticons.
It's a shame that the self-described "tough old broad" didn't write this puzzle. I bet her BROADBAND is the epitome of badassery.
The gridwork had some shaky points, especially unfortunate for a Monday. Kicking off a puzzle with OSS (dissolved in 1945) in the starting corner is not ideal. Crossing OSS with SOHO makes it even tougher for non-New Yorkers.
Thankfully, there was a reasonable amount of bonus material to offset the dabs of crossword glue. VEGETABLES reminds me of Vegimals (how deep in kidland am I?), and HODGEPODGE is a colorful word. HEADS UP and PAYBACK add a lot of pizzazz, too. A few more rounds of revision, massaging out the dribs and drabs of IGER MES OKEY, and this could have been rock solid.
Given how many synonyms for "group" there are — band, body, club, bunch, crew, league, lot, etc. — it would have been great to elevate the puzzle by relating the four themers somehow. I don't know exactly how, but there are also a ton of options for each synonym word — dozens of words that precede PARTY, for example — I think there are possibilities.