Dory Mintz author page

I got worried when uncovered GO FOR BAROQUE first, since the broke to BAROQUE transformation is an old standby in crosswords, a staple of sound change themes. Pleasantly surprised to get a laugh out of some other themers, GRAVY TERRAIN my favorite. Near-perfect description of a "Close Encounters" scene.

GRAVY TERRAIN also near-perfectly demonstrates a principle that Will Shortz adheres to when it comes to "kooky themer" concepts. My acceptance rate in this category is low, partially because my sense of humor often doesn't mesh with Will's, but also because it's taken me a long time to understand this critical principle:

You shouldn't have to write a clue that involves both words of the resulting phrase.

What does that even mean? Let's look at DERIDE APRICOTS as a counter-example. Can you think of a clue that doesn't involve both a synonym of "make fun of" and "fruit"? Not really, because the two words have no natural relationship.

GRAVY TERRAIN, on the other hand, screams for a descriptive clue about mashed potatoes. You don't have to clue it as [Mountains and valleys for which a brown substance can run?]. There's an elegance in being able to say only "mashed potatoes," and that's why it's part of Will's criteria.

I appreciated the handful of excellent wordplay clues. Repurposing an actor's "speaking part" to describe LARYNX is something to speak highly of. Similarly, imagining an ESCALATOR as a "non-stop flight" is non-stop entertaining.

A different variety of clever cluing is the "tricky riddle." What is rectangular but has more than four sides? That's the kind of joke I wish my kids would tell me — a MENU often lists many more than four side dishes — instead of their knock knock interrupting cow MOO! (Repeat.)

These go a long way to elevating the solving experience, so important when the theme is tried-and-true.

This fanatical fantasy basketball guy enjoyed FANTASY SUPPORTS — excellent use of rhyming in "beams" and "dreams" — and is enjoying the schadenfreude of last year's THUNDER COLLAPSE. It's going to be another decade before I forgive Oklahoma City for stealing away our beloved Sonics …

Debut! Great to see yet another new constructor this year.

Homophones are in the top five theme types new constructors ask me about, and puns on nationalities are in the top ten. We've seen a ton of these over the years — searching for an obvious one like CZECH in our Finder (type in *CZECH*) uncovered half a dozen instances of this one alone, including ones from 2001, 2002, 2017, 2019.

It's a well-worn idea, but as with other tried-and-true approaches, there's usually room for another, if you add in something new.

I like Dory's goal here, aiming for multiple layers of consistency, of 1.) always using a city homophone, 2.) making those cities start a solid phrase, and 3.) having the homophone be a direct substitution, i.e. no loosey-goosey wordplay.

He did great on the first two criteria, but I had to think about the third. Some Americans pronounce CANNES as in "can of beans," but I've always heard it like "The Wrath of Khan." Some French friends confirmed that it was most definitely the latter, though they took umbrage at my comparing Cannes to Khan Noonien Singh.

Something got lost in translation.

Fantastic bonuses. A new constructor treating us to FANFIC, TELETHONS, EVIL WOMAN, KUMQUAT, DOG SITS, LOCAL NEWS?

I CANT EVEN!

All the wealth did come at a price, though. Adjacent long downs like TELETHONS / EVIL WOMAN often require trade-offs — GTE UNA, plus EPEE CAEN WEI in the opposite corner isn't great. I'd have asked Dory to dial back the snazz factor, aiming for more smoothness. Perhaps splitting TELETHONS, or doing something else to reduce the size of those SW / NE corners?

It's also more elegant in a theme like this, to avoid other cities in the fill: AGRA, GENEVA, SOCHI, CAEN. Not a must, but eliminating these Cannes make the themers pop.

Overall, a puzzle type I've seen too often to be memorable, but I did appreciate Dory's efforts to elevate through consistency and sparkly bonuses.