Kiran Pandey author page
3 puzzles by Kiran Pandey
with Jeff Chen comments
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| G | R | E | A | S | E | F | I | R | E | P | I | N | E | |
| A | H | A | T | A | I | N | T | S | P | A | D | E | ||
| T | O | M | Y | U | M | U | P | T | I | G | H | T | ||
| O | R | S | O | Y | O | M | O | R | E | O | O | S | ||
| N | O | U | N | P | A | U | L | O | ||||||
| F | R | O | Z | E | N | S | O | L | I | D | ||||
| B | I | N | G | E | L | O | O | K | ||||||
| D | V | D | S | E | T | A | S | P | W | O | W | S | ||
| M | O | O | N | L | I | T | A | R | A | R | A | T | ||
| A | L | O | E | S | A | T | A | R | I | D | N | A | ||
| J | U | D | E | D | R | I | V | E | C | R | A | Z | Y | |
| O | M | A | R | M | O | R | O | N | E | S | A | U | ||
| R | E | D | S | S | T | E | N | T | C | H | A | P |
| B | O | M | B | G | Y | M | K | A | N | S | A | S | ||
| Z | H | A | O | L | E | A | A | R | E | O | L | A | ||
| Z | I | L | L | I | O | N | S | H | I | T | M | A | N | |
| T | O | L | E | D | O | O | I | L | E | N | D | |||
| R | O | M | A | N | N | U | M | E | R | A | L | |||
| S | T | O | L | I | D | T | A | I | L | S | ||||
| W | A | H | E | M | I | R | F | L | A | P | S | |||
| E | L | E | C | T | R | I | C | A | L | F | A | U | L | T |
| B | E | L | O | W | T | U | N | A | L | I | U | |||
| O | D | I | S | T | E | S | T | A | T | E | ||||
| S | E | V | E | N | L | E | T | T | E | R | S | |||
| T | A | E | A | D | O | R | O | C | K | E | T | |||
| U | P | B | E | A | T | A | N | C | I | E | N | T | S | |
| D | O | U | G | I | E | S | O | U | N | E | N | A | ||
| Y | E | G | O | D | S | T | N | T | D | E | A | R |
I, for one, remember some fun [I, for one] clues.
A few weeks ago, I was stumped by a Matt Gaffney Weekly Crossword Contest, week 1 of 4. Week 1! As the former owner of a streak of 150+ successful MGWCC solves, I thought Matt must be pulling a fast one on us. I almost needed the 411 from my MGWCC solving buddy, but the clever for one = 4/1 didn't April Fool me in the end.
Figuring out today's theme involved much consternation, yelling at my computer that LENGTH is not SEVEN LETTERS!
Ah, but "example" is.
Well, then, an ELECTRICAL FAULT is not a scientific definition! It's an engineering term, not a …
Oh, a short is an ELECTRICAL FAULT.
Who does it shame if you fool me seven times?
I enjoy seeing the NYT not dance around AREOLA but use clever wordplay. "Nipple ring," indeed.
Lots of clues to explain:
- MALL is a "chain letter" in that it lets, or leases, its space to chain stores.
- I haven't stepped into a bank in months, much less a sandal. Er, SANDL. What's the difference between a bank and an S&L? I'm still unsure, but I bet the answer is D&Y.
- "Tickets" is a tough way to clue SLATES. Think about political party slates / tickets.
I prefer clever cluing that dodos like me can snap up immediately. "Opposite of a heads up?" cluing TAILS is just that.
I hadn't realized how many ", for ___" conventions there are in crosswords. Once I figured out what was going on, it wasn't quite an a-ha moment, but I appreciated the creativity in coming up with an engaging, Thursday-worthy theme.
| C | H | A | O | S | P | A | N | S | T | R | A | P | ||
| H | I | N | D | U | S | L | O | W | H | O | M | E | ||
| A | L | I | E | N | V | S | P | R | E | D | A | T | O | R |
| I | L | L | D | I | T | A | U | T | I | S | M | |||
| E | R | A | F | E | R | N | S | |||||||
| G | O | D | Z | I | L | L | A | V | S | K | O | N | G | |
| A | Z | U | R | E | U | N | I | T | G | R | R | |||
| P | A | R | A | D | O | X | C | O | T | E | R | I | E | |
| E | R | E | P | U | T | T | O | B | A | M | A | |||
| K | R | A | M | E | R | V | S | K | R | A | M | E | R | |
| V | A | N | Y | A | A | N | Y | |||||||
| A | F | F | I | R | M | S | T | D | S | O | B | |||
| B | R | E | A | K | I | T | U | P | Y | O | U | T | W | O |
| E | A | S | T | N | O | S | E | W | I | E | L | D | ||
| L | U | T | E | D | M | E | D | N | E | W | S | Y |
BREAK IT UP YOU TWO … Kiran knows my children, apparently. Which is GOZILLA and which is KONG? Depends on the day of the week.
That's my life, MAN VS. WILD.
Curious trio, ALIEN + GODZILLA + … KRAMER? Michael Richards did have his horrible rant, I suppose. (I was going to link to it, but it truly is a monstrosity.) I would have loved a third fantasy fight, like PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES. The punchline would have landed more strongly if I hadn't been thrown by the sudden downshift from high fantasy to a low-down courtroom battle.
Some beautiful bonuses in the fill, Kiran going above and beyond to work in an unusual pair of mid-length bonuses in the center row. Editors tend to prize multi-worders for their greater color potential over single-worders, but this pair of PARADOX and COTERIE are so evocative.
It is challenging to work in Across bonus fill, and the four long Down bonuses suffer a bit. SWEARS TO is an "add-a-preposition" that most constructors wouldn't swear to, and I'm not as down with TORN DOWN as I am with OPEN MIND.
I try to keep an open mind about entries like STD and TVA. The former is a bit more palatable, since it connects to "standard" in a standardish way, but as Will Shortz often points out, what happens if you don't know the Tennessee Valley Authority — from almost a century ago? It rarely feels good to write in what seem to be three random letters.
Although the puzzle's joke didn't make me laugh, I enjoyed the creative setup. Great to get something a little different from an early-week debut.