Owen Travis author page
2 puzzles by Owen Travis
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 10 answer words debuted by Owen Travis.
| C | H | A | P | M | I | M | E | S | H | A | D | E | ||
| R | O | S | H | A | C | I | D | O | A | S | I | S | ||
| A | U | T | O | K | A | N | E | F | L | I | R | T | ||
| W | R | I | T | T | E | N | I | N | S | T | O | N | E | |
| O | U | S | T | O | T | S | ||||||||
| C | U | R | B | E | D | V | I | S | A | R | P | S | ||
| O | H | I | O | O | P | E | R | A | C | L | O | A | K | |
| M | A | G | M | A | A | G | O | O | O | M | P | A | ||
| B | U | B | B | L | E | W | A | N | D | S | E | A | T | |
| S | L | Y | L | A | S | S | O | L | E | O | L | E | ||
| E | S | C | A | N | O | S | ||||||||
| D | E | A | T | H | L | Y | H | A | L | L | O | W | S | |
| D | E | L | T | A | I | M | E | T | E | V | I | L | ||
| E | E | L | E | R | A | C | M | E | E | A | S | E | ||
| S | P | A | N | S | M | A | S | S | P | L | E | D |
Twenty years ago (!), my brother insisted that I read this book that he loved, all about wizards and magic items and giants. I was hesitant, since it seemed like a pap rehash of fantasy tropes. "Just read the first chapter …" he said so innocently.
Now, after reading all the books at least four times each, listening to Jim Dale's audio books, consuming fan fic (and even spurring me to write books of my own), attending midnight release parties dressed as an elven Hagrid, drawing a lightning bolt on my son's head at his birth, having the Slytherin nurse taken so aback that she hit me with a Stupefy spell right between the eyes …
My reality might best be described as "fluid."
While I do think J.K. Rowling could have used heavy editing (me too, apparently) for "The Deathly Hallows," that trio of magical items — the Resurrection STONE, the Invisibility CLOAK, and Elder WAND — made for a compelling plot device. I enjoy how Owen's puzzle made me relive that last book, my mixed senses of elation and grief during the last scene.
A bone to pick: the trio of items should have been presented in proper order of "The Tale of the Three Brothers." Potterheads know that the story starts with the first brother asking for the Elder WAND, the second the Resurrection STONE, and the third and most clever brother the Invisibility CLOAK to hide from Death! I pottermorely demand —
Hey, stop expelliarmus-ing the keyboard out of my hand!
Long story short, as a die-hard HP fan, I loved this crossword (even though it would have been much timelier ten years ago). I have a feeling it'll be tough for Muggles to appreciate. Thankfully, Owen (interning for Will Shortz right now, what a cool job!) wove in those excellent bonuses, PHOTOBOMB, ALL STARS, SOFT TACO, LOSE SLEEP spaced apart perfectly.
And who knows, maybe this puzzle will spur some folks on to pick up one of the books.
Just read the first chapter …
| C | R | I | C | K | R | B | I | S | B | B | C | |||
| N | I | T | R | O | M | O | O | L | A | O | E | R | ||
| N | O | S | I | R | A | T | O | L | L | I | M | O | ||
| S | E | T | T | H | E | B | A | R | L | O | W | |||
| B | I | T | P | A | R | T | R | E | D | H | E | A | D | |
| O | B | O | E | A | H | A | S | F | E | R | N | S | ||
| B | E | N | D | O | V | E | R | S | O | A | P | |||
| A | T | E | N | E | W | U | S | E | R | L | E | E | ||
| D | E | A | L | B | A | C | K | W | A | R | D | |||
| G | R | I | D | S | R | A | G | U | A | T | O | I | ||
| L | E | T | I | T | B | E | G | R | A | V | E | S | T | |
| U | N | D | E | R | A | C | H | I | E | V | E | |||
| T | O | O | E | S | T | E | E | A | D | M | A | N | ||
| E | W | W | A | R | O | A | R | I | H | O | P | E | ||
| I | N | N | K | A | R | T | L | I | M | B | O |
SET THE BAR LOW? UNDERACHIEVE? Wow, this sounded like a terrible, or at least terribly pessimistic, puzzle. Glad that I didn't skim over Owen's email. The concept tickled me, Owen coming up with in-the-language phrases that perfectly described the LIMBO steps.
He proposed STAND TALL as a final themer, but that's not how you do the LIMBO. The correct answer is FALL FLAT. At least, the way I do it. Followed by CALL THE DOCTOR.
It would have been great to make a LIMBO stick out of black squares toward the bottom of the puzzle, with a person LIMBOing underneath, but it was not to be. I did enjoy working with Owen to weave in some subconscious LIMBOesque fill, like TONED IT DOWN and SAGGIER. And of course, BEMOAN the fact that attempting to do the LIMBO makes this old chap's GLUTEI AROAR.
Why does the proximity of GLUTEI and RECTOR make me laugh?
Talk about setting the bar low.
P.S. I worked in MATTHEW and RHEA intentionally. Now, I expect their firstborn ... unless they can guess my name! Bwa ha ha! What, they guessed it's Jeff? Darn it.