Ashleigh Silveira author page
1 puzzle by Ashleigh Silveira
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 4 answer words debuted by Ashleigh Silveira.
| D | I | S | C | R | A | S | P | M | A | P | S | |||
| O | R | E | O | A | N | T | E | P | U | R | S | E | ||
| L | O | E | B | C | A | E | N | I | D | E | A | S | ||
| A | N | S | Y | E | L | P | R | E | H | A | S | H | ||
| P | O | P | T | A | B | S | A | U | C | E | ||||
| S | N | O | B | B | Y | U | N | T | E | N | D | E | D | |
| T | A | B | I | P | O | S | E | L | Y | |||||
| T | E | R | R | A | N | O | D | A | P | P | L | E | ||
| I | C | U | R | U | N | E | F | O | O | |||||
| S | O | N | I | C | A | R | E | O | O | P | S | I | E | |
| C | R | I | E | S | W | O | O | I | N | G | ||||
| S | P | I | K | E | D | G | E | N | T | T | A | R | ||
| E | L | S | I | E | L | A | O | S | V | I | B | E | ||
| A | I | L | E | D | O | M | N | I | M | O | O | T | ||
| R | E | A | R | T | E | S | T | I | N | X | S |
The games people play! STEPS UP ONE'S GAME is a solid rationale for diagonally-oriented classic games.
Diagonal entries are notoriously difficult to grid around because they strip away so much flexibility. With each letter "triple-checked" (having to work with an Across, Down, and diagonal entry), there's so much gloop needed to hold everything together, that Will Shortz is down on this genre.
Today's result is much more solid than average, with only some minor ANS ELL PSAS. That's a fantastic result, given that two of the four games are long, spanning so much grid real estate.
More restricted grid flow is a trade-off — the NW and SE corners are separated from the middle swath, only connected by two entries apiece. If you can't figure out the long revealer or SONICARE, woe be unto early-week solvers who get stuck in one of the three regions, unable to cross into the others.
Counterintuitively, one way to help the problem is to add black squares. Blacken out the A of TERRA + shift the black square below TBAR up one space + shift the black squares before TAB up one row = solving chi freely flows.
Fun, fresh cluing touch on SPIKED. Linking volleyball and hair demonstrates creativity.
This is a solid-enough early-week theme, although playing on classic games is a well-worn concept. (I helped a friend build an "Endgame" puzzle, with reservations that were echoed when Will said playing on classic games was much too familiar.) I did like the snazzy revealer, though, helping to step up today's game.