Mike Hobin author page
1 puzzle by Mike Hobin
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 7 answer words debuted by Mike Hobin.
| S | P | A | M | S | A | S | O | F | B | O | A | R | L | A | P | S | E | |||
| A | L | L | A | H | D | E | C | O | L | O | R | E | I | N | L | A | Y | |||
| P | U | L | S | E | A | W | A | R | D | O | F | T | H | E | S | T | A | T | E | |
| S | M | O | K | E | E | L | T | O | N | S | A | L | T | I | N | E | S | |||
| B | R | U | S | H | E | D | A | S | I | D | E | B | L | E | H | |||||
| P | H | O | T | O | T | S | P | S | A | N | E | M | I | C | ||||||
| W | O | K | S | A | N | T | A | O | I | L | T | R | I | P | E | |||||
| E | M | A | N | U | E | L | A | B | R | I | D | G | E | T | O | O | F | A | R | |
| L | A | B | E | L | S | O | B | E | D | I | E | N | C | E | F | D | A | |||
| C | H | U | R | N | B | A | L | S | A | S | T | E | S | S | ||||||
| H | A | L | F | A | W | A | K | E | A | T | O | N | E | P | O | E | M | |||
| S | E | E | K | H | O | T | F | O | R | X | A | N | D | O | ||||||
| S | A | T | P | E | R | F | O | R | A | T | E | L | E | T | T | E | R | |||
| A | C | U | T | E | T | R | I | A | N | G | L | E | W | I | S | E | O | N | E | |
| S | T | R | U | M | S | T | U | C | R | E | A | M | P | S | Y | |||||
| S | I | N | G | E | R | A | N | T | S | G | I | B | E | S | ||||||
| O | R | A | L | A | H | E | A | D | O | F | S | T | E | A | M | |||||
| S | A | D | F | A | C | E | D | A | G | L | E | T | H | A | S | A | T | |||
| S | L | O | W | L | Y | G | R | E | W | A | P | A | R | T | I | C | O | N | S | |
| N | O | M | A | D | A | N | T | E | E | R | I | E | C | O | N | G | A | |||
| S | U | E | R | S | L | O | A | D | N | Y | P | D | S | W | E | A | R |
Perfect puzzle for the Fonz. If only he were Canadian. Ayyyyy, eh?
The game is AFOOT today … or is that ABREAST, given that the themers are divided left/right? I appreciated that both an A separation and an A addition were in play, making it more difficult to predict what would happen next. BRUSHED A-SIDE vs. A+WARD OF THE STATE. There are pluses and minuses to each.
Okay, that's no A+ or even A- joke, but it had to be made.
(No, it didn't.)
I hitched toward the bottom of the puzzle, wondering why the pattern broke down. I'd built up A HEAD OF STEAM, crisscrossing between the left and right sides, then I hit AHEAD OF STEAM. True, it does fit with the "add an A to form a different word" pattern, but unlike ATONE POEM, I would happily use A HEAD OF STEAM in a themeless. In the end, it does work, but given how many possible A+ additions exist, I'd have preferred a play on a base phrase that didn't confuse the issue.
I like Mike's use of long Downs in the upper right and lower left corners. Although these regions have to play nice with two themers, the letter combinations are friendly. Even the W in SLOWLY GREW APART doesn't put up much resistance since the T????W?? pattern has many solutions. TUG OF WAR next to EMERALDS is a glittering result.
There's some unfortunate ALLOR SUERS XANDO glue — I tend to notice the longer 5-length bits than the minor TSPS stuff — but it's a solid result for an eight-themer Sunday, especially for a debut.