Carl Worth author page
1 puzzle by Carl Worth
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 1 answer word debuted by Carl Worth.
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| C | O | O | T | O | S | T | E | R | A | T | T | N |
Debut! And what a neat concept in KEY WEST = KEYboard keys to the west (left side) of theme answers … and they're all KEYs that reside on the WEST side of the KEYboard! SHIFT, CONTROL, ESCAPE –
(sound of record scratching)
ENTER?
Darn it! It was going to be such an elegant theme. Why not use ALT COUNTRY or (shudder) ALT RIGHT?
Oh. ALT and TAB are already in the grid?
Huh.
I can see the allure of "bonus answers," drawing in constructors with their siren song. I didn't personally notice them as a solver though. And I wonder if they detracted from the theme.
Or detracted from the fill. Hard to say for sure without testing, but fixing ALT and TAB into place seems like it'd create problems — problems like the TARO / JURE crossing. Both words could be rough on newer solvers, and crossing them accentuates the issue.
I was impressed with the smooth gridwork, especially from a debut constructor. Granted, it is an 80-word puzzle, two over the usual limit. That's a reason why there wasn't much strong bonus fill besides JAKARTA and AZALEAS. But if Carl had just used his REFUELS and ETHANOL slots a little better, I wouldn't have even noticed the dearth of bonuses, and thus wouldn't have gone searching for a reason why.
If I were Will, I'd allow all newer constructors the freedom to go above 78 words — just as long as they work in enough snazzy bonuses.
I wanted so badly to give this the POW!, as the theme seemed so clever on multiple levels. Bah, ENTER, a pox on you!
Okay, ENTER SANDMAN is a pretty awesome song …