Dan Bischof author page
1 puzzle by Dan Bischof
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 2 answer words debuted by Dan Bischof.
| A | R | F | S | A | R | E | A | S | O | A | M | I | ||
| F | U | L | L | M | E | A | N | U | N | L | I | T | ||
| A | S | E | A | M | A | S | T | N | E | O | N | S | ||
| R | H | A | P | S | O | D | Y | I | N | B | L | U | E | |
| C | S | U | M | O | A | B | ||||||||
| T | M | I | V | I | B | R | A | N | T | U | M | P | ||
| E | A | R | L | L | O | O | T | H | O | N | E | S | ||
| S | O | C | I | A | L | B | U | T | T | E | R | F | L | Y |
| T | R | U | E | R | S | T | E | W | B | O | B | O | ||
| S | I | S | M | O | L | E | R | A | T | R | A | P | ||
| A | C | R | E | H | O | G | ||||||||
| U | P | W | A | R | D | L | Y | M | O | B | I | L | E | |
| A | L | I | G | N | D | I | E | U | A | V | O | N | ||
| P | A | C | E | D | E | E | L | S | M | E | R | V | ||
| O | N | K | E | Y | R | U | L | E | A | N | D | Y |
I pondered the question of single words (GRANDILOQUENTLY) vs. multi-word phrases (SOCIAL BUTTERFLY) for a long time. On one hand, it's sort of neat to see such long words with exactly one instance of each of the vowels (AND Y of course). On the other, I'm not super fond of single-word themers as a solver.
There's something so cool about multi-word entries. Not only do they help distinguish "good crosswords" from "bad crosswords" — or worse yet, from computer-generated ones — but there's so much potential for snazzy phrases. It took a while to come up with all-vowel-plus-Y ones such as THE DYNAMIC DUO and THING OF BEAUTY, but Dan and I agreed that these types of answers would make for a more fun experience. We were glad that Will agreed.
Dan and I also discussed packing in five themers, one for each of the five vowels, but that proved to be too restrictive, if we wanted an orderly presentation of the five circled letters. I didn't totally balk at the original layouts Dan sent over with random circle placements, but I always appreciate layers of elegance in a puzzle if they're possible. We tossed around putting the five vowels on a diagonal leading to the final Y, but this layout resulted in smoother fill.
This type of grid skeleton, featuring six long downs, is something I use all the time. Spacing out these long guys and separating them with adequate black squares often makes for a surprisingly easy filling process. I'm not a fan of APO, but to get ARM CANDY and AW GEE — along with locating the O in the proper spot — felt worth it. I encourage constructors to try out similar skeletons, shifting black squares liberally.
Dan is patient, hard-working, and he took constructive criticism extremely well, always thinking about what would make the best experience for solvers. A pleasure to work with.