Guilherme Gilioli author page
3 puzzles by Guilherme Gilioli
with Jeff Chen comments
Guilherme Gilioli, from Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, is a full-time cruciverbalist; the first NYT constructor known to be from Brazil. He started solving English crosswords in 2016 to improve his English vocabulary.
He also constructs crosswords in Portuguese for Brazilian magazines, and for his website.
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I'm with Guilherme — curious choice to place this on a Thursday. Some nice finds, though, along with a fun way to execute on the "parsing" genre:
EPIC + ENTER = EPICENTER (CORE)
LIME + RICK = LIMERICK (VERSE)
DISCO + VERY = DISCOVERY (FIND)
CONS + TRAIN = CONSTRAIN (BIND)
Parsing themes — ones involving a space addition, deletion, or shift — are so common that IT'S A NO is often the answer. In the past year alone, we've already had one Sunday then another, less than two months afterward. I'm glad that Guilherme went with a different angle, chunking up his DISCO VERYs in a way that features the FINDs so well.
Fantastic UPC CODE clue. It's an amusing entry in the first place, since "Universal Product Code code" is weird (this concept was featured in a variety puzzle), and I was so confused by [Bars for checking people out]. Although I've seen takes on lines at a store and even checkout lines, this one misdirects so wickedly.
Solid gridwork. Four cut-up themers turns out to be harder that four unbroken grid-spanners, since each themer forces two black square placements apiece. Guilherme wisely made sure that each of his triplets spanned from the left edge to the right, avoiding any other forced black square placements along the sides.
Guilherme made top-notch use of his mid-length slots, packing them with LACTASE, CANASTA, SET FREE, GERMANY, BRAILLE. Tons of added color.
Given how many parsing puzzles we've seen recently — here's yet another — it's tough to get excited about the genre. However, I appreciated Guilherme's fresh presentation that would have made for a killer Wednesday or even Tuesday puzzle.
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SPOON BENDING! As a kid, I was obsessed by the Amazing Randi and his quest to debunk paranormal claims. I even bent some spoons — much to the chagrin of my mother. It's apt that OOPS is hidden backward at the start of SPOON.
Neat to see the range of bent SPOON shapes. After the second one, though, it was too easy to fill in the rest — Will Shortz often cites this problem with repeating circled letters. The rest of the puzzle felt like an afterthought, filling in squares for the sake of completion. It'd have been great to add more meat to the theme, perhaps by including the AMAZING RANDI or PARANORMAL.
Better yet, wordplay phrases, perhaps playing on WARP or CURL. How about FLEX TIME as the name of the Amazing Randi's TV show?
Dare I suggest spoonerisms?
STOPS DEAD is right.
It's not simple to grid around turning entries, even with the flexibility (sorry) to use virtually any shape you want. Guilherme's grid-building experience showed through; such care in filling around CROON and STOPS DEAD. Five SPOONs and only minor NEER STA (RTS = right tackles might be tougher) is a great result.
Neat to hear about a Brazilian constructor — the NYT's first one, to my knowledge! I can't imagine switching to a different language — and more importantly, to new slang phrases like "in the MEANTIME", which are important in elevating a crossword.
And what a cool pic, with that giant Rubik's cube! Looking forward to seeing what other mind-bending tricks Guilherme has up his sleeve.