Erica Hsiung Wojcik author page
5 puzzles by Erica Hsiung Wojcik
with Jim Horne comments
See the 38 answer words debuted by Erica Hsiung Wojcik.
| L | O | L | C | A | T | V | I | L | E | S | T | |||
| O | N | L | Y | N | O | W | A | V | E | N | U | E | ||
| B | E | A | R | D | O | I | L | L | E | A | D | E | N | |
| B | O | N | U | S | L | O | D | E | S | P | B | S | ||
| E | N | O | S | G | L | O | A | T | F | O | I | E | ||
| D | E | S | F | E | A | S | T | L | A | I | R | S | ||
| D | A | N | C | E | A | R | O | U | N | D | ||||
| M | E | M | E | A | C | C | O | U | N | T | ||||
| S | Y | N | E | S | T | H | E | S | I | A | ||||
| T | E | P | I | D | H | A | N | E | S | C | A | R | ||
| H | A | R | M | G | E | N | T | S | C | U | T | E | ||
| A | G | E | F | O | R | G | E | B | A | R | R | E | ||
| N | O | T | H | I | N | E | R | N | U | R | S | E | S | |
| K | A | T | A | N | A | S | O | C | L | O | S | E | ||
| S | T | Y | L | E | D | S | K | O | R | T | S |
| N | C | A | A | O | C | E | A | N | S | P | R | A | Y | |
| Y | U | C | K | C | A | R | N | E | A | S | A | D | A | |
| S | T | A | B | T | R | A | N | S | L | A | T | O | R | |
| E | S | P | A | N | O | L | A | T | E | I | B | N | ||
| A | P | R | O | P | O | S | M | O | O | S | ||||
| A | D | E | D | I | S | P | E | R | S | E | ||||
| B | E | L | A | I | G | U | E | S | S | S | O | |||
| C | A | L | C | U | L | A | T | O | R | W | A | T | C | H |
| S | L | A | M | P | O | E | T | S | A | R | I | |||
| E | S | P | R | E | S | S | O | T | I | O | ||||
| H | I | T | S | D | A | T | E | D | U | P | ||||
| A | D | A | I | L | K | F | O | R | E | S | T | S | ||
| D | A | T | A | C | E | N | T | E | R | A | Q | U | I | |
| I | H | A | V | E | T | O | A | S | K | T | U | R | N | |
| T | O | R | E | T | O | B | I | T | S | H | O | E | S |
| I | T | S | J | U | S | T | M | E | W | I | L | C | O | |
| N | A | T | A | T | O | R | I | A | A | C | O | R | N | |
| F | U | R | B | A | B | I | E | S | L | E | V | E | E | |
| O | P | U | S | K | N | E | E | D | E | E | P | |||
| R | E | M | L | T | E | P | O | S | S | E | S | |||
| Y | O | U | A | V | I | C | P | A | ||||||
| C | O | U | R | T | S | I | D | E | S | E | A | T | ||
| J | U | D | I | T | H | H | E | U | M | A | N | N | ||
| T | R | E | A | S | U | R | E | T | R | O | V | E | ||
| O | P | S | R | U | N | A | R | E | ||||||
| Y | A | H | E | A | R | S | L | Y | C | B | S | |||
| C | E | L | L | O | B | O | W | M | O | A | N | |||
| S | M | E | L | L | R | I | O | G | R | A | N | D | E | |
| R | A | T | I | O | I | L | L | M | A | N | A | G | E | |
| I | N | S | E | T | E | Y | E | O | P | E | N | E | R |
| M | T | V | D | E | E | P | M | D | S | ||||
| Y | E | A | H | A | T | T | I | P | O | I | L | ||
| M | A | S | T | E | R | C | A | R | D | L | O | G | O |
| A | S | S | O | R | T | E | F | I | L | E | S | ||
| N | E | A | T | O | P | A | L | N | A | S | H | ||
| T | R | A | F | F | I | C | L | I | G | H | T | ||
| L | E | F | T | S | I | D | E | ||||||
| W | O | R | S | E | O | R | D | E | R | ||||
| R | N | A | S | P | R | A | W | L | E | R | A | ||
| Y | E | W | A | U | R | A | A | R | M | ||||
| T | W | I | S | T | E | R | M | A | T | ||||
| H | A | H | A | S | D | R | W | H | O | ||||
| O | L | Y | M | P | I | C | R | I | N | G | S | ||
| T | H | E | Y | O | K | R | A | U | R | A | L | ||
| R | U | N | E | R | E | A | M | T | I | K | I | ||
| E | M | T | S | T | A | M | A | S | P | A | T |
Jim here, sitting in for Jeff Chen, who is busy playing TWISTER.
Look at this lovely progression. A new color is added at each step:
🔴🟡 are the circles in the MASTERCARD LOGO
🔴🟡🟢 in a TRAFFIC LIGHT
🔴🟡🟢🔵 on a TWISTER MAT
🔴🟡🟢🔵⚫ in the OLYMPIC RINGS
Finding this set amazes me, and presenting them in increasing order impresses me. I love it.
Which brings me to one of the great debates among the crossword cognizanti. I've been chastised for my view that a delightful theme can overcome other weaknesses in the grid, particularly flaws that result from thematic constraints. This Joe Krozel puzzle is one of my favorites, but since it suffers from "bad fill," not everyone agrees that it's brilliant.
Today's grid fails the typical analysis. There are 44 black squares — way too many! There are 24 3-letter words — not only a sin in itself, but ERA, ONE, ARE, ETA, and ERR are way too common. Each has appeared over 1,000 times! Clearly, this puzzle is crap.
But I look at that colored circle progression and think, I would have never thought such a theme was possible. Wow.
NYT can't do color in daily crosswords yet. Would you have enjoyed the puzzle more if the clues were just those colored circles instead of the color names? You can decide for yourself. Our goal is always usually to match the NYT print version as closely as possible, but today we changed the clues below the grid. Don't tell Will Shortz!
For the record, the official italicized theme clues in print are:
- Red and yellow circles
- Red, yellow and green circles
- Red, yellow, green and blue circles
- Red, yellow, green, blue and black circles
| W | A | S | H | T | E | E | M | S | E | T | N | A | ||
| A | L | P | O | R | A | M | O | S | T | H | O | R | ||
| F | L | I | R | T | A | T | I | O | N | H | E | S | S | |
| T | E | E | N | A | G | E | R | S | S | I | R | E | ||
| S | N | L | B | I | N | U | L | C | E | R | S | |||
| L | U | C | M | E | S | A | M | I | A | |||||
| S | O | L | O | P | A | R | E | N | T | I | N | G | ||
| W | H | O | A | M | I | K | I | D | D | I | N | G | ||
| P | A | I | N | R | E | L | I | E | V | E | R | S | ||
| E | R | R | A | D | E | N | E | R | E | |||||
| I | M | E | A | S | Y | O | H | O | T | B | A | |||
| E | L | L | A | G | E | N | I | U | S | B | A | R | ||
| I | D | L | E | M | U | S | I | C | S | T | A | N | D | |
| S | T | E | P | G | A | S | O | L | A | L | T | O | ||
| M | O | S | H | S | C | O | N | E | B | L | U | R |
Yes, I own two THEREMINS. Why do you ask?