Chloe Revery author page
3 puzzles by Chloe Revery
with Jeff Chen comments
| Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 11/28/2022 | 1/10/2024 | 2 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Circle | Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.54 | 11 | 18% |
See the 11 answer words debuted by Chloe Revery.
| M | I | C | S | R | A | G | U | O | H | S | A | Y | ||
| I | M | A | C | U | R | A | L | N | O | T | D | O | ||
| T | A | M | I | N | G | O | F | T | H | E | C | R | E | W |
| T | Y | P | E | O | A | F | R | O | S | I | L | L | ||
| N | O | G | R | E | A | T | C | A | K | E | S | |||
| S | I | C | K | O | S | O | M | E | ||||||
| T | U | N | E | B | O | N | E | O | P | T | E | D | ||
| W | I | T | G | I | F | T | C | O | P | H | A | I | ||
| O | T | H | E | R | T | H | O | R | C | A | R | P | ||
| A | L | A | I | C | U | L | T | S | ||||||
| G | E | T | S | I | N | T | O | C | A | P | E | |||
| E | T | C | N | O | O | N | E | S | A | M | O | A | ||
| S | H | A | R | I | N | G | I | S | C | A | R | I | N | G |
| T | A | S | T | E | A | C | A | I | E | L | L | E | ||
| S | N | E | E | R | S | E | R | A | D | A | Y | S |
| O | N | T | A | P | M | O | M | A | A | S | I | A | ||
| M | E | R | C | I | E | R | I | C | T | A | N | S | ||
| N | O | O | N | E | M | A | S | C | O | I | N | K | ||
| I | N | T | E | R | N | E | T | T | R | O | L | L | ||
| R | O | S | E | U | P | L | O | A | D | |||||
| P | O | I | S | E | D | B | E | E | R | N | A | |||
| A | C | M | E | S | P | E | E | D | D | E | M | O | N | |
| S | C | A | L | P | A | Y | E | S | T | O | I | C | ||
| S | U | G | A | R | F | I | E | N | D | T | O | N | E | |
| E | P | I | I | L | L | A | G | E | N | T | S | |||
| D | Y | N | A | M | O | B | O | D | Y | |||||
| E | N | E | R | G | Y | V | A | M | P | I | R | E | ||
| J | P | E | G | E | Y | R | E | R | A | D | A | R | ||
| A | I | R | S | T | R | O | N | A | R | E | N | A | ||
| W | E | S | T | S | O | N | S | T | E | S | T | S |
Such a devilishly clever theme: four monstrous phrases that describe real-life bad actors. The main reason Jim Horne and I don't allow comments on XWord Info is INTERNET TROLLs. ENERGY VAMPIRE is new to me, but it makes complete sense. Reminds me of the descriptive engineering term vampire power.
SPEED DEMON isn't as fresh as the others, but it's still in use. Not applied to me, of course, as I drive exactly at the speed limit or below. Much to my wife's impatient howls of chagrin.
Speaking of chagrin, our two SUGAR FIEND kids. Some new-agey nutritionists strongly urge putting dessert on the dinner plate to remove the aura of sweets. We experimented with this long ago, and after a week of Tess eating the sugar cookie and nothing else …
ANGST is right.
Not as many bonuses in the fill as I want, given the gridding flexibility, but IMAGINEERS is fun, SAILOR MOON is at least two recognizable words if you haven't read it (give it a try, it's entertaining!), and GYM RAT crossing BODY amused me. ACCRUED will accrue more interest among finance types, but FLORETS and OCCUPY Wall Street are more evocative.
I appreciate smooth Monday solves, and to require only MASC and ETTE is solid work. However, with four themers — two of them ten letters, a manageable length to work with — I want a spotless grid. Maybe there's a personal reason for putting in MASC (or loving MEMES as fill?), but that north region could have been squeaky clean (perhaps using an extra black square at the A of ACCRUED).
I enjoyed the beastly collection, and I appreciated learning ENERGY VAMPIRE today. Congrats to Alissa on her debut!
| S | O | M | E | A | M | F | A | R | B | A | L | D | ||
| I | C | O | N | T | A | B | L | E | O | D | O | R | ||
| G | H | O | S | T | C | H | I | L | I | V | I | D | I | |
| E | O | N | H | A | I | F | A | S | I | E | G | E | ||
| P | A | R | F | U | M | I | N | G | E | N | U | E | S | |
| O | L | D | P | A | L | O | N | E | ||||||
| L | A | V | A | R | E | A | R | S | W | H | O | |||
| S | H | E | B | A | N | G | R | Y | E | S | E | E | D | |
| D | A | R | L | O | O | S | E | K | L | E | E | |||
| D | I | G | T | A | S | S | E | L | ||||||
| A | U | R | E | V | O | I | R | A | T | E | A | S | E | |
| T | R | U | C | E | F | I | O | N | A | I | N | N | ||
| A | G | R | A | H | O | P | P | I | N | G | M | A | D | |
| R | E | A | D | B | L | E | A | T | R | E | P | O | ||
| I | D | L | E | O | D | D | L | Y | E | D | E | N |
Jim Horne often advises me to abridge my posts because people get blogorrhea tedium. Hopefully, no one gets HOPPING MAD today because this debut is an excellent "broken words" puzzle.
I appreciated that Chloe incorporated a lot of vivid, LIVID words into her themers. GHOST CHILI is undeniably spicy!
Seven-letter entries are often dull, but not SHEBANG. Given that I've been shifting to a plant-based diet, I even enjoyed RYE SEED. Not as indulgent as RYE BEER, sadly.
Chloe also disguised the theme words well. FUM could have used FEE FI FO FUM, but that would have made FUM stand out. It's so neatly tucked into PARFUM. ING in INGENUES is even better in that it changes the sound of ING between FUMING and INGENUES.
"Broken words" themes often stand out on the strength of
- long theme words, or
- strings of difficult letters.
FUM/ING is more impressive than IR/ATE on both counts — not only are there tons of entries ending in IR, but you can split it at IRA/TE, too. (SHAKIRA sings La Tortura to protest her exclusion.)
Another aspect that can elevate this type of theme is if it feels impossible to come up with any other possibilities. The only other I turned up (after a solid hour!) was SAYS YOU / TRAGEDY. (Shakira protests me this time, singing HEY YOU.)
A couple of tough entries right off the bat in AMFAR, REI, HAIFA. All are fair game, but AMFAR crossing REI isn't ideal. It'd be a different story if AMFAR or REI were figure-out-able by etymology, like OXFAM (Oxford + famine).
Solid example of the "broken words" genre. The trick didn't feel as much "hop" as "skip," but I did jump at the WELL-AIMED MOON ROVER bonuses.