Eric Warren author page
1 puzzle by Eric Warren
with Jeff Chen comments
| R | I | B | T | I | C | K | L | E | R | C | F | O | S | |
| O | C | E | A | N | O | L | O | G | Y | L | I | N | E | |
| B | E | E | R | F | R | I | D | G | E | O | R | C | A | |
| E | S | P | R | E | N | E | W | S | W | E | A | T | ||
| T | O | R | E | H | I | P | N | E | S | S | ||||
| C | A | P | O | N | S | C | I | N | E | M | A | S | ||
| O | D | I | S | T | B | A | T | H | W | A | T | E | R | |
| B | I | A | S | C | E | D | E | D | K | E | T | O | ||
| B | O | N | E | H | E | A | D | S | C | E | R | T | S | |
| S | O | S | O | R | R | Y | C | A | U | S | E | S | ||
| K | A | T | A | N | A | S | C | A | R | P | ||||
| A | M | U | S | E | P | L | A | N | A | B | A | L | ||
| M | I | N | I | B | R | A | I | N | C | E | L | L | S | |
| A | G | E | D | C | A | R | N | E | A | S | A | D | A | |
| L | O | R | E | C | Y | B | E | R | S | Q | U | A | T |
Love the CLOWN MAKEUP / FIRE EATERS pairing. It's hard enough to fill all your long slots with main-stage material, and to achieve such a delightful duo is memorable.
On average, themelesses feature about 14 long slots. The lower you go with that number, the more critical it becomes to convert a higher percentage into gold-star entries. With 16 long slots, Eric gave himself some leeway to accept a few neutral entries — impressive that only ON CASSETTE stood out as a shoulder-shrugger. Perhaps younger folks won't mesh with RIB TICKLER, but the older generations might be tickled by it.
It's hard enough for experienced constructors to tackle a 68-worder, so it's impressive to see Eric debut with one. Even more impressive was that there was only one trouble spot: the lower right, with BAL crossing BLAU. Eric could have made his life much easier by going to a 70-worder — for example, breaking up BEAR SPRAY at the P. That would have given him all the flexibility he needed to polish those last edges.
But would it have been worth it? BEAR SPRAY and EGG WHITES are both strong entries. BLAU isn't nearly as common as BLEU here, but I like the decision. Especially given today's landscape of ultra-competitive themeless submissions, go big or go home can be smart.
I would have loved more wordplay cluing, like a PIANO TUNER as a "professional at pulling strings," as so many clues were too straightforward. Great grid, though, and I bet the cluing in Eric's next offering will rise to his gridding skills.