Chase Dittrich author page
9 puzzles by Chase Dittrich
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 38 answer words debuted by Chase Dittrich.
| J | E | S | T | U | T | E | S | P | A | G | E | S | ||
| A | C | E | R | S | O | B | E | E | R | I | C | A | ||
| M | O | M | A | N | D | P | O | P | A | M | N | O | T | |
| I | M | O | I | O | T | A | O | S | L | O | ||||
| A | T | F | R | A | C | K | A | N | D | R | U | I | N | |
| O | R | I | S | I | T | T | I | E | ||||||
| K | A | N | T | T | E | A | S | O | D | D | S | |||
| P | A | R | T | A | N | D | P | A | R | C | E | L | ||
| P | L | E | A | T | E | A | T | A | S | A | P | |||
| S | R | I | T | E | R | E | S | A | ||||||
| P | R | O | S | A | N | D | C | O | N | S | R | H | O | |
| L | A | M | B | N | O | O | N | P | A | T | ||||
| I | B | E | A | M | C | U | T | A | N | D | R | U | N | |
| E | A | G | L | E | K | N | O | T | D | A | M | E | ||
| S | T | A | L | L | S | T | E | M | S | T | A | T |
| C | A | R | D | B | U | R | N | S | P | C | A | |||
| A | L | A | N | A | R | I | A | L | A | H | E | M | ||
| N | O | N | A | P | O | L | O | G | Y | L | O | N | E | |
| S | H | I | B | A | T | A | R | E | T | A | S | |||
| A | N | A | L | O | G | N | E | A | T | O | ||||
| N | O | T | T | O | O | S | H | A | B | B | Y | |||
| E | R | I | K | T | O | N | A | G | O | R | A | |||
| G | E | M | N | O | S | E | J | O | B | M | I | R | ||
| A | P | P | L | E | N | A | V | A | B | E | D | |||
| N | O | R | S | E | G | O | D | D | E | S | S | |||
| E | D | D | A | S | A | R | T | F | U | L | ||||
| F | I | S | T | I | M | O | E | A | T | A | T | |||
| U | S | S | R | N | O | B | E | L | P | R | I | Z | E | |
| S | E | M | I | S | N | O | O | T | A | L | E | C | ||
| S | E | E | P | D | E | N | S | S | E | S | H |
| L | A | M | B | A | C | L | I | M | B | I | B | E | ||
| A | L | O | U | L | E | O | M | A | I | S | E | L | ||
| G | O | A | T | M | I | L | K | E | D | G | E | R | S | |
| S | E | T | T | O | L | I | S | A | M | E | T | A | ||
| D | O | J | O | E | N | Y | A | |||||||
| F | A | J | I | T | A | F | A | C | E | C | A | R | D | |
| A | S | E | A | W | A | L | T | O | N | W | H | O | ||
| R | I | L | L | D | R | E | A | M | U | F | O | S | ||
| C | A | L | G | R | E | E | C | E | N | U | D | E | ||
| E | M | O | T | I | O | N | S | O | O | D | L | E | S | |
| A | L | P | O | I | N | R | E | |||||||
| A | J | A | X | P | T | S | D | G | R | A | P | E | ||
| R | O | T | I | N | I | P | L | A | Y | O | F | F | S | |
| L | E | A | N | I | N | R | E | I | O | R | C | S | ||
| O | L | D | G | A | G | Y | S | L | S | O | S | O |
Why do so many constructors say I MEAN, COME ON to me? Because I'm wrong a lot! As with yesterday's puzzle, Chase and I had been batting around ideas, and he championed this one. I finally faced lactose intolerance a few years ago, so I've experimented with GOAT MILK, OAT MILK, the poorly named pea milk, etc., so that dual answer was interesting. EMOTIONS / MOTIONS have been played upon many times in crosswords, but linking them together with [Things that may be raised in court] was cool.
Cool enough, though? PLAYOFFS and LAYOFFS both eliminate teams, but that one was a stretch. As with Schrödingers, the best examples are highly specific and describe both options perfectly well. If we ever had a regular crossword hint at PLAYOFFS with [They eliminate teams], I'd wonder what sort of Thursday trickery was in play.
And ACE CARD ... not an ace of an entry.
Overall, I wasn't excited enough. I thought Will Shortz would give it a reasonable look, but realistically, would it sneak past the 4% acceptance rate? I pretended to not be surprised when Chase told me of the acceptance. Of course this wasn't JAW DROPPING news!
Overall, I'm still not wowed by the theme, but it's grown on me. If they had all been as solid as GOAT MILK and OAT MILK, I'd have asked for a full glass. I'll still settle for pea milk, though I can't help wishing for a rich and creamy glass of the real stuff.
| F | U | T | Z | B | L | U | R | S | P | L | A | Y | ||
| I | N | R | E | E | A | T | I | N | L | O | V | E | ||
| S | T | A | N | A | S | A | D | A | I | S | I | T | ||
| K | I | C | K | I | N | T | H | E | P | A | N | T | S | |
| L | E | O | N | I | C | U | T | S | ||||||
| A | C | E | I | N | T | H | E | H | O | L | E | |||
| A | M | A | N | A | N | O | E | A | R | U | S | C | ||
| S | I | N | S | T | U | R | N | T | B | L | A | H | ||
| A | C | T | W | A | I | T | S | P | E | S | T | O | ||
| P | A | I | N | I | N | T | H | E | A | S | S | |||
| D | E | L | L | E | S | T | E | E | ||||||
| H | O | L | D | I | N | C | O | N | T | E | M | P | T | |
| B | E | T | S | N | O | O | N | E | V | I | S | E | ||
| O | R | E | O | E | R | I | C | A | E | L | O | N | ||
| A | S | S | N | S | A | L | E | S | R | E | N | T |
How could we resist building a puzzle around a KICK IN THE PANTS resulting in a PAIN IN THE ASS?
Yes, Chase and I are a pair of LOST SOULS. And that's the way we like it.
Searching for themers was not an easy process. Chase had originally discovered KICK IN THE PANTS = _ N _ _ _ E R S, which I loved, but we agreed that the others he'd found were just so-so. Some had loose synonyms, like UP IN ARMS = [EQ _ I _ MENT]. ARMS can be a kind of EQUIPMENT, but that smelled like we'd receive a kick in the pants from many solvers. Others felt too easy and/or the phrases weren't colorful enough to be featured as themers. LIE IN WAIT = _ _NG _ R … meh.
Surely some coding could help narrow the search space? Not so much. Maybe if there were a database of linked synonyms, but even then, it would take a lot of detailed code, and I'm sure you'd have a ton of false positives to sift through. There's probably some elegant way to refine this problem, but I had no ace in the hole—
Hey, ACE IN THE HOLE!
HOLD IN CONTEMPT does break the X IN THE Y pattern, but we figured that it could serve as a curveball for those getting too complacent. Heck, when I test solved, I put in AENEAS and PSST and immediately wrote in INTHE in the surrounding squares.
Did I enjoy getting duped? I probably would have if I hadn't convinced myself that [Some time ago] could believably be INCE.
Talk about HOLD IN CONTEMPT.
| G | A | L | G | L | A | R | E | S | G | A | S | H | ||
| H | B | O | R | A | D | I | S | H | A | B | L | E | ||
| O | H | O | E | C | H | O | C | H | A | M | B | E | R | |
| S | O | F | A | T | O | T | W | E | E | D | S | |||
| T | R | A | F | F | I | C | A | R | T | E | R | Y | ||
| R | E | C | C | O | R | D | R | Y | E | |||||
| S | P | L | I | T | T | O | O | G | O | U | T | |||
| P | I | E | C | E | O | F | M | Y | H | E | A | R | T | |
| A | L | T | A | H | A | L | I | N | D | I | A | |||
| Y | E | S | S | O | D | A | I | R | E | |||||
| I | N | T | H | E | S | A | M | E | V | E | I | N | ||
| A | R | T | I | E | C | F | O | A | D | D | S | |||
| S | A | F | E | T | Y | V | A | L | V | E | D | I | Y | |
| H | I | L | L | E | C | L | A | I | R | I | O | N | ||
| E | D | Y | S | T | R | A | C | E | R | E | T | C |
Chase and I bounce a ton of ideas off each other — landing on solid crossword themes is a game of numbers. Few concepts bubble all the way up without getting popped at some point, but this simple PIECE OF MY HEART notion felt like it could be a reasonable early-week puzzle.
When Chase mocked up some grid art (squint, and you can see those hearty-clovery triplets of black squares in the center), it felt like we should do it. (Squint harder, dammit!) With a limited set of possible HEART components to work with, it felt tight, and most of those components lent themselves to being somewhat disguised at the ends of phrases.
Given how smoothly all that went, the grid ought to be easy!
Roughly 145.3 hours and two nearly-broken hearts later …
A 15-letter central revealer would have been so much easier than a split 7 / 7. That one central block takes away so much flexibility, especially considering our four other themers are longish. I'm giving Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns a piece of my mind for not titling it "A Piece of My Heart."
| A | M | E | N | R | E | G | R | O | W | J | O | B | ||
| M | A | G | I | O | M | E | A | R | A | A | D | O | ||
| P | H | O | N | E | N | U | M | B | E | R | W | E | D | |
| M | I | S | T | E | D | E | M | B | A | S | S | Y | ||
| E | L | O | P | E | I | D | O | |||||||
| S | T | N | S | A | N | D | C | R | A | F | T | S | ||
| C | H | A | D | R | E | G | A | R | D | L | E | A | ||
| A | E | R | O | S | O | L | N | E | S | T | I | N | G | |
| P | L | O | T | A | L | E | S | E | E | F | T | S | ||
| O | F | T | H | E | D | A | R | K | B | E | E | S | ||
| C | I | A | R | O | L | E | S | |||||||
| M | I | A | S | M | I | C | A | S | H | L | E | E | ||
| O | R | R | C | O | L | L | E | C | T | I | O | N | S | |
| M | I | D | A | T | A | S | T | E | R | B | I | S | ||
| A | S | S | R | A | N | D | O | S | T | O | D | O |
| C | B | S | A | S | L | E | E | P | U | P | S | E | T | G | M | C | ||||
| L | A | I | D | N | E | U | R | A | L | N | O | O | N | E | O | A | R | |||
| A | L | L | A | N | E | V | E | R | E | N | D | I | N | G | S | T | O | R | Y | |
| U | S | E | D | C | A | R | U | A | E | L | O | N | E | |||||||
| S | A | N | S | A | B | E | A | R | S | R | E | P | E | A | T | I | N | G | ||
| E | M | T | M | A | R | I | M | B | A | D | R | A | G | S | E | G | A | |||
| P | E | R | P | E | T | U | A | L | M | O | T | I | O | N | S | O | Y | |||
| K | A | N | Y | E | W | E | S | T | A | G | E | N | T | S | ||||||
| F | A | R | M | S | E | O | S | A | S | P | C | A | ||||||||
| E | T | T | A | N | A | N | A | P | O | P | A | R | T | I | S | A | Y | |||
| T | A | N | S | A | D | I | N | F | I | N | I | T | U | M | K | E | R | R | ||
| I | N | E | S | G | O | L | D | E | N | G | E | E | Z | H | U | M | E | |||
| D | A | R | E | I | W | E | D | T | I | D | E | S | ||||||||
| S | H | A | R | P | E | I | M | P | O | S | E | S | O | N | ||||||
| N | B | C | R | E | C | U | R | R | I | N | G | D | R | E | A | M | S | |||
| O | R | A | L | R | A | F | E | N | A | M | A | S | T | E | C | I | T | |||
| N | O | N | S | T | O | P | F | L | I | G | H | T | S | G | U | I | D | O | ||
| C | I | A | O | A | C | R | A | L | G | R | E | E | N | |||||||
| C | O | N | T | I | N | U | I | T | Y | O | F | C | A | R | E | S | N | A | G | |
| O | D | E | L | E | T | M | E | U | R | C | H | I | N | A | C | L | U | |||
| Y | E | S | S | T | E | P | S | P | O | S | I | E | S | E | S | E |
Appropriate that Chase and I spent an eternity filling this one.
I hope you noticed the infinity grid art in the center of the puzzle. If not, we've highlighted it in green below.
Why green, you ask? Well, duh! Because green represents the Time Stone from Marvel's Avengers movies — the stone that has the ability to rewind events while simultaneously splitting the multiverse's timelines into particulate tachyon matter that both exists and does not exist within the minds of millions — and also the minds of none.
(It's because green is shiny. I like shiny.)
I didn't add one word to Chase's commentary.
Okay, it was more like seventeen.
| W | A | S | P | A | M | S | T | E | L | C | A | P | ||
| E | D | N | A | L | U | P | I | N | O | A | R | E | ||
| D | O | E | R | T | R | E | E | S | P | I | R | I | T | |
| A | S | P | A | N | D | I | P | E | A | T | ||||
| T | A | K | E | G | O | L | D | G | L | A | D | L | Y | |
| R | A | S | C | A | L | E | N | O | S | |||||
| A | M | O | S | D | R | A | T | A | S | K | O | F | ||
| I | C | U | T | E | E | D | O | F | F | O | R | A | ||
| L | O | T | T | O | D | A | N | A | H | A | I | L | ||
| I | L | L | S | R | E | A | L | E | S | |||||
| I | S | O | L | D | E | T | I | R | E | S | A | L | E | |
| N | U | K | E | S | C | A | N | L | A | B | ||||
| T | E | A | R | G | L | A | N | D | S | T | E | E | S | |
| E | D | Y | B | I | G | G | I | E | I | A | M | S | ||
| R | E | S | S | E | E | S | A | W | T | R | U | E |
Chase! He recently moved up to Seattle, not too far away from me. I've enjoyed working with him on several puzzles, including a NYT Sunday coming out soon.
Today's plays on TRUE and FALSE, with T or F changing different pairs of answers. TREE SPIRIT to FREE spirit was the highlight, both perfectly reasonable crossword fill. TEED OFF / FEED OFF are fine answers, too, if not as sparkly as FREE SPIRIT.
FIRE SALE is fantastic. TIRE SALE is … not.
Are there such things as FEAR GLANDS? My doctor wife's TEAR GLANDS activated when I asked her that.
Gridding around five pairs of threaded answers is a bear. Chase did a great job laying things out so only two theme answers had to cross: (T/F)EAR GLANDS and (T/F)ANGS. He did have to go up to 80 words to do this, but I don't mind that at all. David Steinberg over at Universal has relaxed his maximum word count standards, which makes sense since few solvers care.
Solvers do care about quality of fill, though. I loved Chase's PARSECS inclusion (and clue), and that "Family Guy" video is hilarious! KOALA BEAR is squee-worthy.
ORIEL and REALES … are not. Knowing Chase's current skill level, I bet he'd try a cheater square at the F of ASK OF and revise.
I like my Thursdays trickier, plus it felt too easy to come up with pairs of entries where T or F would work. An interesting middle ground, though, sort of a baby steps introduction to the magical world of Schrödingers.
| B | A | S | S | I | N | E | P | T | D | R | A | G | ||
| L | O | C | I | T | O | N | E | R | R | O | L | O | ||
| I | R | A | N | S | L | Y | L | Y | Y | O | L | O | ||
| S | T | R | E | S | S | E | A | T | I | N | G | |||
| S | A | F | A | R | I | S | T | O | O | P | T | O | ||
| D | A | M | N | S | L | O | R | E | N | |||||
| R | O | E | S | P | A | C | E | C | A | D | E | T | S | |
| O | P | A | L | L | L | O | S | A | S | O | R | E | ||
| S | T | R | I | K | E | A | P | O | S | E | P | A | T | |
| S | E | L | M | A | E | S | T | A | B | |||||
| I | D | S | A | Y | S | O | D | R | O | I | D | S | ||
| B | O | L | D | P | R | O | P | O | S | A | L | |||
| F | E | T | E | A | E | I | O | U | T | A | R | E | ||
| I | K | E | A | V | O | C | A | B | H | A | L | E | ||
| T | E | E | N | S | N | O | R | T | S | C | A | T |
I've had the pleasure of working with Chase on a few crosswords, so it's great to see his NYT debut. I enjoyed the play on various typographies. At first, they seemed inconsistent, since STRESS in STRESS EATING serves as a verb (the clue kookily ordering you to stress "eating"), while BOLD in BOLD PROPOSAL acts an adjective (the clue wackily describing the "proposal" as bold), but I realized that BOLD can also function as a verb. It's not perfect, but it works.
I did wonder about the A in STRIKE A POSE, since it was the only themer containing an A. Why not STRIKE THREE, STRIKE FORCE, or STRIKE ZONES? Ultimately though, few solvers will care about this sort of minor detail. Darn kids, not caring about minutia!
I rarely notice 3x3 chunks of fill, but that ROLO YOLO made me laugh. Why hasn't Nestle used this as an ad slogan yet?
TARE HALE had a similar letter pattern duplication, but that wasn't nearly as fun. Let's tare the hale patient on the scale, doc!
Okay, maybe that is kind of fun.
I agree with Chase on LIMA BEAN and DRY GOODS, neither that exciting. This particular layout doesn't provide much flexibility for those slots, since they have to run through two themers apiece, though adding black squares at O of ONSET and I of ROSSI likely would have helped. Chase has developed tremendously over the past year; it'd be interesting to see what he could do with the execution today.
This one reminded me of a typography puzzle that I loved — I enjoyed that one's focus. Italics, bold, and strikethrough go together, but spacing felt like a "which of these things is not like the other." Maybe ALLCAPS would have been better? Still, a playful debut.