Anne Rowley author page
1 puzzle by Anne Rowley
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 1 answer word debuted by Anne Rowley.
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| O | M | A | H | A | A | M | I | E | C | U | R | E | ||
| R | O | Y | A | L | R | E | S | P | E | C | T | E | D | |
| S | T | I | T | C | H | I | N | T | I | M | E | |||
| T | E | N | Y | E | A | T | U | S | H | I | E | |||
| H | O | E | S | E | A | S | E | N | T | |||||
| H | E | M | A | N | D | H | A | W | L | A | H | |||
| A | L | A | S | S | O | L | E | S | U | G | L | Y | ||
| R | I | D | D | A | R | N | I | T | A | L | L | |||
| S | T | A | R | W | A | D | O | D | E | |||||
| H | E | T | E | R | O | A | R | T | P | H | I | |||
| C | O | M | M | O | N | T | H | R | E | A | D | |||
| T | H | R | O | B | B | I | N | G | E | E | R | I | E | |
| H | O | U | R | A | L | E | S | F | L | O | R | A | ||
| O | P | E | D | T | E | S | T | T | O | N | Y | S |
Figuring out "Name that Theme" in one phrase can be deflating. After uncovering STITCH IN TIME, I was 75% sure this would be a sewing theme. HEM AND HAW ironically took away my remaining hemming and hawing.
However, I love being surprised by a great revealer. Even though I knew (roughly) what to expect, COMMON THREAD gave me a big smile: perfect phrase to tie together (sorry) STITCH, HEM, DARN.
I wondered if DARN was inconsistent with the other nouns, but my ignorance in this area is apparent given my kids think socks with just a single (foot)hole are weird. DARN IT ALL? More like darn nothing.
Tough vocab for a Monday puzzle. I've had several newer solvers wonder about entries like EWER, such a constructor-friendly yet newb-confusing word. I'm a big fan of PEPITAs, but cross it with AMIE and then off-the-air DARIA, and that could give an inexperienced solver reasons to do something else.
I often don't like long Across bonuses since they muddy what is theme and what is not, but given the overtness of today's concept, I respected that RESPECTED and THROBBING obfuscated things a bit.
Such a treat to get an accessible wordplay clue on a Monday! I loved thinking about a SALAD getting dressed for lunch. That telltale question mark would sadly give away the game on a Friday puzzle, but for a Monday, it's a perfect alert.
I enjoyed COMMON THREAD, an amusing and spot-on revealer for a sewing theme. Along with a bit of extras in HALCYON and ID THEFT, a fun debut.