José Chardiet author page
3 puzzles by José Chardiet
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 9 answer words debuted by José Chardiet.
| C | B | C | D | O | G | O | O | D | S | T | P | |||
| T | O | A | E | G | O | T | R | I | P | P | O | O | ||
| R | O | B | E | R | O | S | I | V | E | I | R | T | ||
| B | O | R | D | E | N | S | A | G | E | T | E | A | ||
| T | O | O | T | S | T | R | I | S | B | A | R | T | ||
| R | O | S | E | F | O | O | T | M | E | T | O | O | ||
| U | S | E | C | L | U | B | S | O | R | |||||
| S | Q | U | A | R | E | R | O | O | T | S | ||||
| U | S | B | R | O | A | R | E | P | A | |||||
| S | N | O | O | P | S | T | O | P | A | T | O | R | ||
| T | O | R | T | D | E | A | F | P | I | L | O | T | ||
| R | O | P | E | D | I | N | T | R | E | M | O | R | ||
| U | G | H | P | E | T | D | O | O | R | O | T | T | ||
| C | I | A | S | T | R | O | P | H | E | S | A | N | ||
| K | E | N | S | A | S | S | E | S | E | X | T |
Ambitious effort, packing in a whopping 14 instances of SQUARE ROOTS, i.e. the letters R O O T arranged into squares. Each one of these appearances constrains the grid by reducing one's flexibility in the intersecting across and down answers. So to have 14 — some of them right next to each other! — is audacious indeed.
Just to get a grid like this filled is pretty impressive (from a constructor's standpoint), so I really appreciated José's incorporation of some nice entries. CABOOSES is already a pretty colorful word, and the clue is genius. [Ones back on track?] refers to that fact that CABOOSES are the last cars on trains. And PET DOOR is a beauty of an answer, especially considering 7-letter entries often come out neutral or blah. Loved the funny [What a dog might raise a flap about?] clue.
I found the visual impact of the circles (on the Across Lite version) overwhelming, a bit like staring at a flashing neon sign in Vegas or staring into the sun. The shaded squares as seen in print (and below) are so much nicer — all those spots before my eyes felt jarring; making it difficult to simply enter letters.
It would have been great to have a rationale for 14 instances. I think I would have been more pleased if it had been nine instances, sort of spaced out in a 3x3 array. Although the number nine isn't special (in that every integer is the square root of something), a 3x3 grid feels more like it fits the theme concept.
Having fewer instances would have also allowed for cleaner fill. I really like the creativity of … OR IS IT? but the combination of so many three-letter words and quite a bit of gluey entries made for a choppy solve.
All in all though, it's hard to argue with a crossword involving a GOON TOUR.
| J | A | N | E | T | S | L | A | B | R | A | T | |||
| I | N | A | H | E | A | P | F | E | B | R | E | Z | E | |
| M | A | R | S | A | L | A | A | P | R | O | P | O | S | |
| S | T | P | K | E | A | |||||||||
| P | S | S | T | S | A | B | E | R | M | G | M | T | ||
| A | H | Y | E | S | D | A | D | M | A | Y | E | R | ||
| J | U | N | C | T | I | O | N | S | I | E | R | R | A | |
| A | T | E | J | A | C | K | S | O | N | A | I | G | ||
| M | O | R | M | O | N | J | U | L | I | E | T | T | E | |
| A | U | G | I | E | J | O | N | S | T | E | E | D | ||
| S | T | Y | X | C | O | B | R | A | E | D | D | Y | ||
| N | O | N | O | R | E | |||||||||
| S | E | P | H | O | R | A | O | C | T | O | M | O | M | |
| N | O | V | O | T | E | S | F | E | R | T | I | L | E | |
| L | E | C | T | E | R | D | E | C | L | A | W |
| A | L | T | O | S | T | A | R | D | E | C | O | R | ||
| D | O | H | S | O | H | S | O | E | X | L | A | X | ||
| Z | W | E | I | L | I | A | M | M | E | E | T | S | ||
| B | E | R | N | I | E | M | A | C | C | A | M | |||
| O | L | D | I | E | F | I | N | E | T | U | N | E | S | |
| L | O | G | S | O | N | E | A | T | S | A | T | |||
| E | W | E | S | H | A | Q | R | E | E | L | S | |||
| E | S | C | A | P | E | P | O | D | ||||||
| P | O | S | S | E | J | U | D | D | D | A | M | |||
| T | O | P | T | E | N | Q | U | A | R | T | O | |||
| S | H | O | E | P | H | O | N | E | G | L | E | E | M | |
| L | I | E | L | A | U | N | C | H | P | A | D | |||
| P | A | L | M | S | T | E | T | E | A | M | I | E | ||
| S | L | E | E | K | E | V | E | N | C | O | R | Y | ||
| T | A | R | D | Y | S | O | R | T | A | N | T | E |