Rob Baker author page
1 puzzle by Rob Baker
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 3 answer words debuted by Rob Baker.
| P | A | L | S | I | N | C | A | S | A | L | A | D | ||
| E | L | A | N | T | E | A | S | A | R | O | M | A | ||
| N | O | M | A | T | T | E | R | H | O | W | M | U | C | H |
| S | T | A | I | R | P | E | N | H | ||||||
| L | A | P | S | E | C | O | O | L | T | O | ||||
| R | F | K | Y | O | U | F | E | R | R | I | E | D | ||
| E | R | I | C | O | R | C | A | S | A | T | E | D | ||
| P | U | S | H | T | H | E | E | N | V | E | L | O | P | E |
| A | T | S | E | A | D | O | N | E | S | U | E | S | ||
| S | T | I | C | K | T | O | I | T | S | T | E | T | ||
| T | I | N | K | E | R | P | E | S | O | S | ||||
| F | I | S | H | H | A | T | C | H | ||||||
| S | T | I | L | L | S | T | A | T | I | O | N | A | R | Y |
| I | N | D | I | A | A | S | I | A | T | R | I | P | ||
| S | T | O | C | K | T | E | E | N | A | S | T | O |
Quip puzzles are some of the most divisive crosswords, judging by the sheer quantity of hate mail I see around them. They're not my favorite, since everything rides on a single quote — either it sticks the landing for a perfect ten, or it falls on its butt. Today's elicited a rare chuckle for me, but more importantly, that E/A square helped elevate it. It's unusual to have a single oddball square, and today's was both easy enough to figure out and served as a great punchline.
It can be tricky to split out quips into symmetrical lengths, and the 15 / 3 / 15 / 3 / 15 does work. It's not ideal, though, since those tiny 3-letter words make it feel fragmented. Since this isn't an exact quote that must be duplicated letter by letter, perhaps a different wording could have worked.
The best I could come up with — after an hour's worth of banging my head! — involved much different wording:
- NO MATTER HOW HARD 15
- YOU PUSH 7
- THE ENVELOPE 11
- IT STILL 7
- STAYS STATIONARY 15
That's worse than Rob's solution, but you get the idea of where brainstorming might head.
It's important for quote puzzles to have smooth fill since solvers can essentially only use Down clues. Rob did solid work there, with no oddballs making the puzzle intractable. Bonuses like SAWHORSE and TAKE FLAK also added color while remaining accessible.
It wasn't great to have so many add-a-preposition entries in COOL TO, STICK TO, AS TO, LIT OUT, but I sure appreciate mid-length bonuses like SURE DO.
Quips have to be amazingly zingy and/or contain an element that helps make them memorable. While today's didn't quite elevate into the ranks of the quote puzzle Hall of Fame, it will surely stick in my memory.