Nancy Byron author page
6 puzzles by Nancy Byron
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 14 answer words debuted by Nancy Byron.
| D | E | C | C | A | R | H | O | S | S | H | E | A | ||
| I | M | O | U | T | E | A | V | E | H | O | D | S | ||
| F | U | L | L | N | E | L | S | O | N | E | V | I | L | |
| D | O | R | I | A | A | R | E | N | A | |||||
| A | D | U | E | A | C | T | I | O | N | P | L | A | N | |
| K | A | N | S | A | S | S | A | D | A | |||||
| I | N | L | A | W | D | O | N | H | O | T | S | A | ||
| S | T | I | C | K | T | O | Y | O | U | R | G | U | N | S |
| S | E | T | W | R | E | S | T | R | A | T | E | S | ||
| F | A | I | R | P | A | M | E | L | A | |||||
| G | O | F | O | R | B | R | O | K | E | E | E | L | Y | |
| A | W | A | R | D | B | A | T | H | S | |||||
| B | L | U | E | F | I | G | U | R | E | H | E | A | D | |
| L | E | N | S | E | N | Y | A | F | O | R | C | E | ||
| E | T | A | T | R | A | N | I | T | W | E | E | N |
A "words that can follow" theme is a rare sighting these days. Will (among other editors) has said he won't be taking many (any?) of these in the future, as they've run their course — I imagine this one must have been sitting in the queue for a while.
If you're going to do a "words that can follow" puzzle, it's so important to execute perfectly. FIGURE HEAD does make for a very nice revealer, i.e. a description of FULL (FIGURE), ACTION (FIGURE), etc. And I do like the themers, all colorful entries. GO FOR BROKE is great, plus "go figure" is such a nice phrase as well.
There's some nice bonus fill in CUL DE SAC, GAME SHOW, SHERPA, and AWKWARD. Even DON HO helps spice up the puzzle. These help so much, especially when I realized the puzzle was employing a theme type that's fallen by the wayside.
The grid unfortunately feels stressed in many places, with AT NO, DORIA (only one real way to clue it), OVO (prefix), etc. strewn about. The toughest one to stomach is the HODS / EDINA crossing. I do like SHERPA a lot, as it adds nice color to the puzzle, and the V in EVIL/HOVEL makes for a nice rare(-ish) letter, but I bet that crossing will be a killer for some. I think it will set up some solvers to fail, and that's no good. The last thing I want to do is give friends an early-week puzzle and have them get turned off by something like this.
This is one of the issues we're trying to address with our new XWord Info Word List. I spent about a hundred hours scoring all the short entries, so it's much easier to avoid the gluey bits. It doesn't do all the work for you of course, but I think it's a great start for people looking to make cleaner, snazzier puzzles.
So, a good revealer and a nice choice of themers, with some rough patches in execution.
| S | T | E | M | S | A | C | S | E | N | C | L | S | ||
| T | A | M | A | O | S | H | A | K | O | R | E | A | ||
| R | I | C | O | T | H | E | B | I | G | S | E | E | P | |
| A | C | E | R | B | R | I | N | S | E | S | ||||
| T | H | E | I | O | N | K | I | N | G | S | O | L | ||
| A | I | D | Y | E | N | E | A | T | D | I | R | T | ||
| S | C | R | I | M | H | O | D | A | D | |||||
| C | A | S | H | O | F | T | H | E | T | I | T | A | N | S |
| A | S | Y | E | T | O | N | E | N | O | |||||
| T | I | N | S | T | A | R | U | R | I | D | S | O | ||
| S | A | O | P | U | P | F | I | C | T | I | O | N | ||
| N | I | C | E | N | E | E | E | N | I | E | ||||
| W | A | Y | N | E | S | W | O | R | D | N | E | R | I | |
| A | R | M | E | D | A | N | T | E | O | R | E | L | ||
| H | E | S | S | E | Y | S | E | R | N | O | E | L |
| P | S | H | A | W | R | I | C | H | A | T | U | B | ||
| I | R | A | Q | I | E | R | M | A | L | O | N | E | ||
| M | I | N | U | T | E | M | A | I | D | T | U | B | A | |
| D | A | C | C | A | J | A | I | L | E | R | ||||
| A | B | M | H | O | P | E | D | I | A | M | O | N | D | |
| D | U | A | L | S | R | O | R | A | N | T | S | |||
| O | L | D | S | O | D | N | O | L | O | |||||
| B | E | D | S | I | D | E | M | A | N | N | E | R | ||
| A | X | E | S | G | S | E | V | E | N | |||||
| N | O | M | S | G | E | T | A | W | E | P | T | |||
| A | D | I | M | E | A | D | O | Z | E | N | N | O | H | |
| P | O | L | I | S | H | T | N | O | T | E | ||||
| L | U | L | L | M | I | X | E | D | M | E | D | I | A | |
| E | L | E | E | E | L | E | C | A | R | U | B | A | ||
| S | S | T | S | D | A | D | S | R | I | P | E | R |
| W | A | V | E | R | J | A | M | S | B | A | S | H | ||
| E | C | O | L | I | E | M | I | R | O | M | O | O | ||
| B | R | I | D | G | E | T | O | N | O | W | H | E | R | E |
| B | E | D | E | D | L | I | I | H | E | X | E | D | ||
| R | H | E | A | S | T | E | M | |||||||
| F | I | L | L | I | N | G | S | T | A | T | I | O | N | |
| O | B | E | Y | S | W | E | D | A | T | O | N | |||
| G | M | C | S | A | H | A | R | A | N | T | R | E | ||
| S | P | A | N | N | A | M | A | T | O | M | S | |||
| C | R | O | W | N | V | I | C | T | O | R | I | A | S | |
| T | H | E | E | O | A | H | U | |||||||
| A | G | G | I | E | A | P | E | X | M | B | A | S | ||
| B | R | A | C | E | S | F | O | R | I | M | P | A | C | T |
| B | A | L | E | W | I | S | C | A | E | T | N | A | ||
| A | B | E | D | E | T | T | E | E | T | H | E | R |
| T | A | C | O | S | M | A | R | T | A | B | R | A | ||
| A | L | A | N | P | U | S | H | Y | B | E | E | P | ||
| T | I | N | K | E | R | S | H | O | R | T | S | T | O | P |
| A | T | A | P | R | I | C | E | R | O | A | S | T | ||
| A | T | L | L | I | A | R | ||||||||
| E | V | E | R | S | S | E | C | O | N | D | B | A | S | E |
| N | E | R | V | E | H | O | N | E | S | P | A | |||
| I | T | I | S | T | R | I | M | S | S | P | I | T | ||
| A | C | C | O | R | E | L | S | I | C | E | M | |||
| C | H | A | N | C | E | F | I | R | S | T | B | A | S | E |
| U | T | E | S | E | T | O | ||||||||
| O | B | A | M | A | B | R | A | I | N | I | A | C | ||
| D | O | U | B | L | E | P | L | A | Y | C | O | M | B | O |
| D | A | R | E | G | O | T | T | I | M | A | L | T | ||
| S | T | A | R | O | L | S | E | N | E | X | E | S |
| A | D | O | S | B | A | L | S | A | N | E | S | T | ||
| R | O | T | H | O | C | E | A | N | I | T | C | H | ||
| A | L | T | O | S | T | A | L | K | T | H | O | U | ||
| B | L | O | W | I | N | I | N | T | H | E | W | I | N | D |
| C | O | I | N | S | D | I | C | E | S | |||||
| A | R | C | A | N | A | B | A | I | T | |||||
| C | E | O | S | S | L | A | N | T | A | C | E | |||
| H | E | R | E | C | O | M | E | S | T | H | E | S | U | N |
| E | L | K | A | V | O | W | S | G | I | R | D | |||
| S | T | A | G | S | T | O | A | T | S | |||||
| A | S | P | I | C | A | S | C | O | T | |||||
| R | H | Y | T | H | M | O | F | T | H | E | R | A | I | N |
| S | A | R | I | A | R | I | E | L | I | S | L | A | ||
| O | M | E | N | C | A | R | R | E | P | E | L | T | ||
| N | E | S | S | S | L | E | E | P | S | A | S | S |