John-Clark Levin author page
5 puzzles by John-Clark Levin
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 18 answer words debuted by John-Clark Levin.
| M | A | I | N | S | A | L | D | A | C | L | A | D | ||
| A | L | L | I | E | N | A | A | N | H | A | T | E | ||
| G | L | E | N | N | I | O | T | A | ||||||
| N | E | E | R | E | A | C | T | O | P | T | E | D | ||
| E | R | G | O | L | E | W | I | S | ||||||
| T | I | A | R | A | I | N | N | A | T | E | ||||
| S | A | L | A | D | A | D | D | S | N | S | A | |||
| L | O | N | G | J | O | H | N | S | ||||||
| A | H | A | C | O | S | T | F | L | A | G | S | |||
| D | E | N | A | D | A | L | A | I | L | A | ||||
| A | D | A | M | S | P | R | O | M | ||||||
| S | T | R | O | P | Y | A | P | A | T | B | R | O | ||
| T | H | O | R | E | L | W | A | Y | ||||||
| R | E | I | N | A | Y | L | A | I | L | L | B | E | ||
| A | N | D | S | T | E | S | T | T | I | L | E | D | ||
| M | A | T | C | H | E | S | M | O | S | A | I | C | S | |
| T | H | E | H | E | L | P | O | N | A | N | D | O | N | |
| V | A | N | I | L | L | A | S | C | R | E | A | M | O | |
| V | O | I | C | E | T | E | A | C | H | E | R | |||
| O | B | S | E | S | S | E | D | D | O | T | E | |||
| B | I | N | C | O | S | T | C | O | ||||||
| A | D | A | S | T | R | A | C | H | A | T | G | P | T | |
| M | E | R | M | A | I | D | R | E | F | E | R | E | E | |
| A | T | L | A | R | G | E | E | Y | E | S | O | R | E | |
| L | O | A | T | H | E | W | I | N | ||||||
| O | R | A | L | I | N | S | T | A | L | L | S | |||
| P | O | R | T | A | P | O | T | T | I | E | S | |||
| R | U | B | I | C | O | N | E | N | R | A | G | E | D | |
| A | T | O | M | A | N | T | S | A | S | H | I | M | I | |
| H | E | R | E | I | G | O | T | I | E | I | T | U | P |
| O | K | G | O | O | G | L | E | A | L | T | P | O | P | |
| C | A | R | S | A | L | E | S | P | A | R | O | L | E | |
| T | H | E | S | K | Y | S | T | H | E | L | I | M | I | T |
| A | L | E | S | P | I | R | O | A | B | O | V | E | ||
| N | U | T | S | H | O | E | S | W | A | D | E | R | ||
| E | A | S | E | D | N | E | T | S | L | O | O | P | ||
| R | A | P | T | E | A | S | R | I | A | |||||
| C | O | B | B | L | E | R | L | I | N | C | O | L | N | |
| D | R | E | I | C | E | D | D | U | O | |||||
| P | E | A | K | S | P | A | S | B | O | R | I | S | ||
| L | O | R | N | A | A | Y | E | S | S | A | G | A | ||
| A | C | H | E | S | S | T | R | I | P | G | N | U | ||
| Y | O | U | W | O | N | T | R | E | G | R | E | T | I | T |
| E | N | G | I | N | E | I | N | N | O | V | A | T | E | |
| R | E | S | T | E | D | P | A | S | S | A | G | E | S |
Excellent pairing in THE SKYS THE LIMIT and YOU WON'T REGRET IT. Such optimism and positivity!
John-Clark's discussion of segmenting is on point. Once you put in the two long marquee entries, you can quickly experiment with the COBBLER and LINCOLN slots, testing to see what you can do with the two big corners. Once you lock those entries into place, you can work on each of the three grid chunks independently of each other. That's a huge constructing advantage.
Solid results in those corners. OREO CONE and BEAR HUGS make a great duo, and although CD PLAYER is outdated, that clue helps bring it back into style. The "hidden capital" trick is used to perfection here, [Turner once big in the music industry] hinting strongly at Tina or Ike.
POMODORO is a nice debut, though as a one-worder that I've never made before, it didn't hit me strongly. OLIVE OIL and PETER PAN are crossword stalwarts, but ALT POP helped bring more freshness into that corner.
In this grid layout, the upper left and lower right corners are challenging because the two long marquee entries create inflexibility, making it difficult to work in more great long entries. INNOVATE and PASSAGES aren't anything innovative, though OK GOOGLE is more interesting for Android-based solvers.
I remember an ACPT about a decade ago, where David Plotkin was stuck in the finals, unable to break into a corner like today's upper-right. Unable to crack either of the two entries leading in, he ended up not finishing. Hopefully, no solvers have a similar fate today — excellent idea to give both THE SKYS THE LIMIT and YOU WON'T REGRET THIS overly-explanatory clues.
| B | U | S | P | A | S | S | A | R | C | H | E | R | S | T | A | M | E | |||
| I | F | O | R | G | E | T | R | O | S | E | T | E | A | S | U | G | A | R | ||
| G | O | T | O | A | R | E | S | T | A | U | R | A | N | T | A | R | E | N | A | |
| P | R | E | P | A | I | D | I | T | S | V | E | N | T | S | ||||||
| E | O | S | N | U | K | E | C | O | L | A | B | E | E | T | L | E | ||||
| D | U | C | T | T | A | P | E | P | O | R | E | C | L | E | A | N | S | E | R | |
| A | T | A | R | I | A | S | T | E | R | O | I | D | S | |||||||
| M | O | R | E | L | L | E | I | A | P | B | S | A | H | A | B | |||||
| F | E | N | D | O | U | R | R | A | D | E | M | O | T | E | ||||||
| T | O | D | D | Y | A | R | D | S | A | L | E | S | B | R | A | W | L | S | ||
| W | R | Y | B | E | F | O | R | E | P | I | C | T | U | R | E | D | O | E | ||
| I | D | C | A | R | D | S | O | L | I | T | A | I | R | E | R | A | N | T | ||
| N | E | A | T | O | P | A | D | D | E | N | T | E | R | G | ||||||
| E | R | T | E | M | A | E | M | E | S | S | A | C | E | L | A | |||||
| M | O | R | T | G | A | G | E | S | M | A | Y | A | N | |||||||
| B | A | K | E | I | N | T | H | E | S | U | N | L | A | M | P | P | O | S | T | |
| E | V | E | N | S | O | E | T | S | Y | S | A | R | A | U | T | E | ||||
| S | E | R | G | E | I | R | S | C | O | W | E | R | E | D | ||||||
| I | N | N | E | R | M | E | A | T | S | U | B | S | T | I | T | U | T | E | S | |
| D | U | E | L | S | P | A | N | C | A | K | E | H | A | N | S | O | L | O | ||
| E | E | L | S | S | L | A | M | M | E | R | A | N | A | T | O | M | Y |
One thing that Jill appreciates about me is that I love her food. When it's her turn to cook, whatever she puts in front of me, I eat with gusto.
With one exception.
Years ago, Jill had assembled a sausage and greens scramble, which looked delicious. I could barely wait to take that first bite … which almost came back out onto the plate. I tactfully asked if the sausage hadn't been cooked all the way through?
Turns out it wasn't pork, but Porque.
Por que?!
I've learned to tolerate and even seek out MEAT SUBSTITUTES, thanks to Dr. Michael Greger shredding away the last vestiges of pleasure I used to have over animal products. I've become that guy. You know, the one who checks chiq'N over chicken. Hold the bacon, but add the bay leaf + quinoa = bayquin.
Even after vaguely remembering that John-Clark and I discussed this years a while back, I was pleasantly baffled by the shaded squares. POREC was particularly obfuscating — the anagrammer in me tried to make sense of REC OP as a Spec Op that's just for fun. Neat find in PORE CLEANSER to mimic(ish) the sound of pork.
Jill is giving me all sorts of side-eye for mumbling "porek-lenser" over and over.
Great gridwork, something I've come to expect from John-Clark. He took full advantage of a lowish theme density, filling the sides with meaty (sorry) OUT OF ORDER / SCAREDY CAT / HOW DARE YOU / AT LONG LAST. All of that with just a bit of ERGing is outstanding.
MEAT SUBSTITUTES often lack depth of flavor and can be one-note — today's theme came across similarly. I still appreciated the silken tofu solving experience, though.
| A | G | R | E | E | R | A | G | C | L | A | R | O | ||
| F | R | O | T | H | E | C | O | P | O | P | I | N | ||
| F | I | S | T | S | D | E | S | R | O | L | F | S | ||
| A | F | T | A | E | F | R | E | M | T | A | F | T | ||
| B | F | A | A | M | I | B | E | A | T | T | I | A | ||
| L | I | N | E | M | A | N | K | N | I | F | I | N | G | |
| E | N | D | P | I | N | A | V | E | N | G | E | |||
| H | E | A | D | T | O | T | O | E | ||||||
| C | H | A | R | T | O | R | T | E | B | L | O | C | ||
| L | O | G | O | E | L | I | T | E | L | O | L | A | ||
| E | L | E | N | A | M | O | E | T | E | N | D | S | ||
| F | D | R | T | S | A | R | A | H | G | S | T | |||
| S | A | S | H | A | M | E | N | L | O | |||||
| M | O | N | K | E | Y | S | S | I | N | U | O | U | S | |
| D | U | G | I | N | T | O | A | S | S | I | S | T | S | |
| S | T | E | T | S | O | N | W | H | A | T | T | H | E |
It felt fitting to end this theme with THE NSA. They're everywhere — especially in (A)THENSA!
John-Clark and I brainstorm upon tons of ideas. For this one, the (H)OLDS OUT to OLD SOUT(H) pair stood out, but there weren't many other long ones. We tried combining pairs into longer phrases for kooky results, but EMANATE MANATEE! wouldn't exactly wow anyone.
Not only that, but would solvers even notice what was going on? Would they groan, thinking it's yet another anagrams puzzle? And would it even be possible to create a grid with enough pairs to be interesting?
After some consideration, I sadly moved it into my "not worthy of a full crossword" graveyard.
But John-Clark is persistent. He thought it would make for an engaging solve, and picked out a few pairs as an example set. I was doubtful that it was possible, given that it would need to feature HEAD TO TOE somewhere, and also integrate at least three pairs of themers. Seven themers in a mirror symmetry arrangement? Impossible!
Well, not impossible. Improbable. Improbable, in terms of making a high quality grid, that is.
Long story short, Will Shortz liked the idea, but not the cramped grid I laid out. High-quality, it was not.
Improbable, indeed. Back to the graveyard, evil undead!
But one night, as I wondered if expanding to a 16x15 grid would help, the zombie rose. Fast forward past several sleepness nights, and I sent John-Clark a new grid skeleton that passed my testing.
See? Making a crossword is yeas! Er, easy.