Carter Cobb author page
2 puzzles by Carter Cobb
with Jeff Chen comments
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CAROLINA REAPERS / ACTION ADVENTURE / THE NERVE / CRUSADE — reminds me of the "Hot Ones" episode where Pedro Pascal cries from his head!
It's been over a year since we've had two full triple-stacks. There used to be nearly one per month back in Martin Ashwood-Smith's heyday, but they oversaturated the market. These days, I enjoy solving one every now and again, especially when they're anchored by exciting entries like SOPHOMORE SLUMPS and CAROLINA REAPERS. Great clue for the latter, too, the "scythelike" reference helping people unfamiliar with the devilishly hot cultivars.
Full-grid triple-stacks often suffer in their crossings, some truth or dab required to hold everything together. Carter took such care with all of his crossers; so smooth. Maybe soccer and electronics-haters will point to MLS (Major League Soccer) or OHMAGE, but both are reasonable entries. We should all pay ohmage to the top-notch quality.
I wasn't wowed by the modest A MODEST PROPOSAL from almost 300 years ago, or the outdated REEL TO REEL TAPES, reely? The latter also has a high concentration of constructor-friendly letters that make it feel cheap.
Solid work overall, though, a quality example of the well-established genre.
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Many moons ago, Rich Norris at the LAT told me that GO COMMANDO was too risqué for their solvership. Will Shortz has always been more open to being the head of butt jokes, with the entry previously clued as [Not be underdressed?] and [Not cover one's butt?]. Today's clue rebutts them all with [Join a boxer rebellion?]. I'm all for this race to the bottom! (Sorry.)
Fantastic example of how to do a 70-worder right. The competition is ultra-fierce in this space, so you have to make near-perfect use of your long slots while leaving your short fill flawless. Great color, from JUMP SCARES to BEAUTY REST to PARASAILED to DRAG MOTHER.
Corner stacks aren't difficult, but running long answers through them amps up the difficulty. Doing that for not just two corners but all four makes life interesting. Smart grid layout, deploying so many black squares in the middle to facilitate the melding.
Those long answers intersecting in the middle aren't as colorful as the marquee entries. As Carter mentioned, ENDANGERED is more muted, like EARTH TONES. That's a natural consequence of working with so many constraints, and a fine trade-off to make. Even better is that Carter elevated these entries with clever cluing. [Browns, e.g.] made me think the hapless Johnny Football. And while BLUE WHALES isn't a mind-blowing entry, [Ones calling across the ocean?] employs fun wordplay.
Perfectly fine to have a bit of film marring a beautiful corner, though acknowledging a poor entry like ALGA is better than trying to get cute with the clue. [Bit of film] points longtime solvers toward CEL, and eventually landing on the odd singular wasn't great.
Solid debut, with clearly a ton of work put into both grid and clues.