Doug Burnikel author page
1 puzzle by Doug Burnikel
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 6 answer words debuted by Doug Burnikel.
| O | W | L | S | T | R | I | P | T | O | S | S | ||||
| T | H | A | I | G | U | I | A | N | A | A | C | T | I | ||
| S | U | B | W | A | Y | S | A | N | D | W | I | C | H | E | S |
| P | S | A | L | M | S | I | N | D | O | O | R | S | |||
| S | O | N | S | W | E | E | T | A | N | Y | |||||
| M | E | T | R | O | A | R | E | A | D | A | D | ||||
| Y | U | R | I | S | O | L | I | D | G | O | T | T | A | ||
| T | R | I | G | T | O | E | T | A | P | G | A | R | Y | ||
| H | O | O | H | A | S | C | O | U | R | G | L | E | E | ||
| T | U | B | T | U | B | E | S | O | C | K | S | ||||
| A | S | A | G | U | E | S | T | L | E | N | |||||
| M | A | N | D | E | L | A | E | U | R | E | K | A | |||
| U | N | D | E | R | G | R | O | U | N | D | F | I | L | M | S |
| S | T | E | W | E | T | R | A | D | E | T | U | M | S | ||
| E | A | S | Y | S | H | O | E | S | M | O | E |
C.C. and her husband Boomer have unEARTHed a fun theme, synonyms or nicknames for UNDERGROUND transit systems. What a shame that EARTH wasn't at 4-Across, so the four themers would have literally been beneath it!
Begging for recognition of my genius isn't beneath me.
But that clue for EARTH truly is genius; our planet a literal "habitat for humanity."
We've had many a synonyms for hoagie sandwiches theme — this one felt unique. A search for *SUBWAY* did turn up a puzzle from 2007, but I appreciated that Boomer and C.C. incorporated the only possible addition to elevate theirs. It wouldn't have occurred to me to use the London TUBE along with SUBWAY, METRO, and UNDERGROUND. Scanning through Wikipedia's list of metro systems didn't help either.
How many Monday solvers will miss the theme completely, because there's no overt revealer that explains everything at a second-grade level? Something like SUBTERRANEAN would have done that, but it's not at all playful.
Perhaps using EARTH, with a clue like [The starts of W-, X-, Y-, and Z-Across move below this]?
Awwww-kward!
DOWN BELOW? Nah.
LOWER LEVEL? Bah.
Maybe no revealer is best, after all.
Solid debut puzzle for Boomer. Here's hoping for more from the crossword couple — it's so neat to see two people working together on something they love.