Jennifer Lee author page
3 puzzles by Jennifer Lee
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 16 answer words debuted by Jennifer Lee.
| P | A | P | A | I | T | E | M | P | L | E | A | |||
| A | M | E | N | K | A | L | E | L | A | N | D | S | ||
| C | I | A | O | B | E | L | L | A | A | S | C | O | T | |
| B | R | E | A | K | I | N | G | S | T | O | R | Y | ||
| C | A | R | A | T | S | T | E | M | R | E | X | |||
| L | E | A | K | E | D | F | O | O | T | A | G | E | ||
| U | R | I | R | A | N | A | T | E | ||||||
| B | O | N | O | B | O | S | E | T | V | O | I | L | A | |
| P | I | N | I | P | A | R | O | B | ||||||
| S | T | R | E | A | M | I | N | G | L | I | V | E | ||
| A | D | E | D | O | R | M | E | A | S | E | L | |||
| C | U | R | R | E | N | T | E | V | E | N | T | S | ||
| D | E | B | U | G | P | R | A | C | T | I | C | A | L | |
| C | L | I | N | G | O | S | L | O | N | A | N | A | ||
| S | A | G | S | P | E | E | N | O | N | Y | X |
Hilarious image of a reporter unfamiliar with wordplay, haplessly recounting events around a cruise ship, with viewers wincing the entire time. BREAKING STORY, cruise ship cracks! LEAKED FOOTAGE shows water seeping in! The crack widens — we're STREAMING LIVE details to you! But wait, an act of God saves them, waves pushing them to safety … stay turned for more CURRENT EVENTS!
Even better if the reporter is Drax the Destroyer.
I don't love 72-word grids in early-week puzzles because they tend to make a solve so much more challenging than the theme. When you're in mid-week territory, though, amping up the grid's difficulty to match that of the theme makes so much sense.
This is the kind of 72-word themed grid I can appreciate. Make your life easier by breaking up CIAOBELLA at the B? Or PLASMA TV at the M? Screw PRACTICAL! If you're going to go big or go home, you have to achieve a ton of go big bonuses with not much go home short fill, and this grid is a success. Along with the aforementioned, BIRD EGGS, IRIS SCAN, Ralph ELLISON, IMMERSE? ET VOILA is right (and PEABRAIN is not)!
More mid-week constructors should try this when working with only four themers — although only if they can keep glue to some minor dabs of AERO FAS URI.
It took me a while to appreciate the cringe-worthy humor, but I appreciated how Jennifer and Victor found a common thread among these common news phrases and turned it into a literalist's nightmare.
| P | A | R | S | E | F | I | E | N | D | N | B | A | ||
| E | M | O | T | E | A | N | W | A | R | E | L | M | ||
| T | O | T | E | L | L | U | S | W | H | Y | W | I | I | |
| S | K | I | P | O | N | E | E | A | R | N | S | |||
| O | R | I | S | T | H | E | Y | L | E | G | S | |||
| C | A | N | N | E | S | I | D | E | A | L | ||||
| A | V | O | I | D | A | I | R | E | D | E | A | R | ||
| N | E | W | T | O | G | D | E | N | M | A | N | E | ||
| E | R | S | A | U | R | A | S | P | O | S | T | S | ||
| E | D | U | C | E | F | A | C | E | I | T | ||||
| T | H | E | O | T | H | E | R | M | I | L | K | |||
| Y | A | H | O | O | H | E | R | T | U | B | E | |||
| P | I | E | B | E | C | O | M | E | S | A | C | A | T | |
| E | R | R | O | L | I | N | E | P | I | L | L | S | ||
| A | Y | E | T | I | D | E | S | F | L | A | K | Y |
★ I'm only vaguely familiar with OGDEN Nash's poetry — most through crosswords — but what a treat, these kooky animal rhymes. I have huge admiration for works that I couldn't imagine creating, and even with eight million limbs, there's no way I'd compose "Tell me, O Octopus, I begs, / Is those things arms," OR IS THEY LEGS? Bravo!
Nash is prolific, so how could you possibly pick only four of his best lines? Jenny and Victor did a fantastic job, narrowing it down to animals. I also appreciated that they stayed away from the popularized ones: Candy is dandy, but LIQUOR IS QUICKER, for example. I'd only heard the kitten/CAT line before, so I was treated to experiencing the rest for the first time.
My solve was much longer than usual, partially because of the thematic novelty, but the fill felt harder than a typical Tuesday. Starting with tough vocab in PARSE — crossed by ROTI — I stumbled out of the gate. EDUCE is another SAT prep word, and if you don't follow the Transformers (the AUTOBOTs vs. the Decepticons), that crossing could be deceptive. Given that the theme was on the difficult side, it'd have been nice to ease up the short fill. Perhaps blander but putting up less of a fight.
Great bonuses, the four long downs placed perfectly for smart spacing, and used to full potential: NOW SEE HERE, STEP ON IT, MOCKTAIL, NEW RELEASE all excellent.
It's neat that an older poet (born in 1902) gave me such amusement. I bet Nash fans might find this one too easy, but they might also appreciate one of their favorites being featured.
| M | A | L | L | D | A | W | G | C | A | G | Y | |||
| A | L | O | E | B | E | L | I | E | O | B | O | E | ||
| R | E | V | I | T | A | L | I | Z | E | R | O | N | A | |
| E | X | E | R | O | V | E | U | N | D | E | R | |||
| S | H | Y | E | N | G | I | N | E | E | R | S | |||
| I | P | H | O | T | O | R | A | F | T | |||||
| N | E | A | L | O | N | M | O | M | A | F | D | A | ||
| F | A | C | E | R | E | C | O | G | N | I | T | I | O | N |
| O | R | K | E | R | O | S | O | T | E | L | L | O | ||
| S | L | U | M | T | H | R | E | E | S | |||||
| V | O | L | C | A | N | O | E | S | F | A | T | |||
| I | C | E | A | X | B | A | D | U | Y | I | N | |||
| S | E | A | L | A | P | O | C | A | L | Y | P | S | E | |
| T | A | P | E | L | A | N | K | Y | E | E | N | Y | ||
| A | N | T | S | E | D | Y | S | A | S | T | O |
★ I enjoy when people smash my expectations for what makes a standout early-week puzzle. For any theme, I've learned over the years that most editors look for:
- Long, multi-word phrases
- Strong revealer at the end of the puzzle
- Clever a-ha moment that jumps out at solvers
Upon first glance, today's puzzle didn't excel in any of those criteria. Single-worders REVITALIZE and ENGINEERS didn't do much, even for this engineer!
A revealer in the middle of the puzzle gives away the game too early.
And I was confused by the revealer — I couldn't make any sense of it, much less find an aha.
And then it all came together. And how! IZE = eyes, EERS = ears, NOES = nose, and saving the best for last, LYPSE = lips. FACE RECOGNITION — with the bonus of face parts listed in anatomical order(ish)!
It took me a hot minute to figure out the concept, and I'm so glad I spent the extra time with it. Delayed aha moments can deliver such a powerful impact.
I wouldn't have made the same choices — I'd have gone with colorful multi-worders like NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, SEASON PREMIERS, ACTIVE VOLCANOES, SNOWPOCALYPSE, with the revealer at the end. However, I don't think that would have provided as strong an impact. The simplistic nature of those single-word themers means that they can stay out of the way as solvers figure out the concept.
Thinking about it more, I even like the revealer in the middle more than at the end, where it typically "should be." It doesn't give away the game completely, more hints at it. This way, solvers get more time to think it through as they complete the second half of the puzzle.
Along with solid gridwork — LOVE SHACK, TRY TO RELAX, UNFAITHFUL, FILE TYPES are solid to great — it's a memorable debut. I appreciate Jennifer and Victor smacking me out of my routine to enjoy a puzzle with fresh ize. One amazing positive from the pandemic is the huge influx of new constructors, bringing in ideas that break the mold. REVITALIZE, indeed!