Robert Ryan author page
3 puzzles by Robert Ryan
with Jeff Chen comments
Robert Ryan, of London, is an economist for the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority. He grew up in Ireland, where he used to sit on his father's knee and "help" him solve the cryptic crossword in the back of a television guide.
| M | G | S | I | G | U | A | N | A | S | S | P | E | C | S | V | I | E | |||
| A | R | P | D | O | G | R | A | C | E | H | A | D | A | T | I | M | P | |||
| D | O | E | S | N | T | G | I | V | E | A | F | I | G | U | R | E | N | A | H | |
| C | U | C | K | O | O | S | T | H | I | N | E | D | E | A | R | M | E | |||
| A | C | T | I | A | L | O | O | F | V | I | P | R | O | O | M | |||||
| P | H | O | W | A | S | H | I | N | G | T | O | N | P | O | S | T | U | R | E | |
| S | O | R | D | I | D | T | A | L | E | E | N | O | S | I | G | O | R | |||
| A | I | D | Y | D | E | E | D | S | H | E | E | N | A | |||||||
| P | A | S | T | U | R | E | C | A | R | I | N | G | F | E | E | S | ||||
| O | B | O | E | R | E | A | D | G | O | A | L | T | E | N | D | |||||
| T | E | L | A | L | L | U | R | E | T | O | O | W | E | L | L | C | E | O | ||
| S | T | O | O | L | I | E | S | I | N | R | E | E | R | A | T | |||||
| F | E | E | D | N | O | M | E | A | N | F | E | A | T | U | R | E | ||||
| S | C | L | A | S | S | T | U | B | E | O | L | G | A | |||||||
| B | O | O | N | F | A | D | S | C | O | U | R | S | E | L | O | A | D | |||
| A | D | V | E | N | T | U | R | E | C | A | L | E | N | D | A | R | R | E | A | |
| L | E | E | R | I | E | R | E | R | O | D | E | M | I | R | Y | |||||
| O | B | L | A | T | E | D | U | N | N | O | C | E | S | S | N | A | S | |||
| A | L | I | E | N | D | U | R | E | O | N | A | H | I | G | H | N | O | T | E | |
| N | U | N | R | I | S | E | N | L | E | T | I | T | G | O | C | O | N | |||
| S | E | E | S | E | L | L | S | D | Y | E | T | E | S | T | O | R | D |
| Y | E | S | A | N | D | N | O | N | A | S | A | L | A | C | T | I | V | |||
| I | D | I | T | A | R | O | D | I | T | P | R | O | T | H | A | M | E | S | ||
| P | A | R | T | N | E | R | I | N | C | R | I | M | E | L | A | L | A | L | A | |
| M | E | R | N | O | H | I | T | B | L | A | N | K | C | D | S | |||||
| A | I | D | E | T | E | S | S | A | R | T | I | S | T | S | ||||||
| C | H | E | C | K | I | N | D | E | S | K | D | R | Y | G | I | N | ||||
| F | O | S | T | E | R | D | A | D | H | U | E | E | N | C | A | M | P | |||
| L | O | T | A | T | O | N | A | S | S | E | T | S | G | I | J | O | E | |||
| A | C | E | R | W | A | I | T | I | N | L | I | N | E | R | A | M | S | |||
| T | H | R | E | A | T | S | O | U | L | E | U | R | O | C | R | A | T | |||
| S | H | O | E | S | L | E | E | P | G | A | U | L | ||||||||
| R | E | D | P | A | N | D | A | N | Y | E | T | S | I | E | S | T | A | |||
| O | R | E | O | E | N | D | I | N | T | E | A | R | S | S | K | I | S | |||
| A | M | E | N | S | A | F | R | O | E | D | U | C | L | A | O | A | K | |||
| R | A | P | D | U | O | E | A | T | S | T | R | I | K | E | O | N | E | |||
| I | N | N | I | E | S | M | O | T | H | E | R | I | N | L | A | W | ||||
| S | P | E | N | D | E | R | N | O | P | E | W | A | N | T | ||||||
| T | O | N | K | A | T | S | U | A | C | C | R | A | E | R | E | |||||
| E | L | N | I | N | O | B | A | C | K | I | N | B | U | S | I | N | E | S | S | |
| P | O | U | N | C | E | E | G | R | E | T | I | N | A | S | T | A | T | E | ||
| S | I | D | E | D | R | E | E | D | S | T | O | T | H | E | M | A | X |
I wouldn't have imagined that there were so many creative ways to play on IN to IN' phrases. Although most of the first words don't change meaning much, it's so apt to describe speech bubbles as TALKIN' CIRCLES, a copy editor's station as a CHECKIN' DESK, and bigamy as a PARTNERIN' CRIME.
Neat change of pace to include RESPONDIN' KIND, which changes the last part of the phrase much more than the others. Shifting from RESPOND IN KIND to someone likely to answer your questions is a creative leap.
I gained appreciation as I studied these results. We've had so many elision puzzles over the years that I was tempted to stop solving after completing PARTNERIN' CRIME. Glad I didn't, as there were no ENDIN' TEARS for me. Such a surprising level of novelty based on a genre that turns out to be only mostly dead.
Impressive gridwork for a relative newcomer. Robert's first grid was already much cleaner than that of most experienced Sunday constructors, and this one takes things up a notch more. I appreciated the TO THE MAX approach, entries like YES AND NO, IDITAROD, BLANK CDS, FOSTER DAD adding sparkle. I'm not wild about the plural DANAS, or the minor ESTA, LIRA, or MER, but capping your glue to just these shows so much care in craftsmanship.
It's not the most impressive or memorable theme, but it shows that a well-worn genre can still prove fruitful if given the right spin.
| L | A | R | E | D | O | A | D | S | P | A | C | E | S | O | C | C | E | R | ||
| S | C | A | R | A | B | F | E | E | D | L | O | T | A | G | L | A | R | E | ||
| D | E | P | A | R | T | M | E | N | T | A | L | L | Y | G | L | A | S | E | R | |
| S | C | R | E | W | Y | S | O | M | E | E | S | P | N | U | ||||||
| T | A | B | Y | U | T | Z | I | N | T | R | O | V | E | R | S | I | O | N | ||
| O | M | A | N | D | A | S | M | E | A | S | L | E | S | M | A | W | S | |||
| S | P | R | I | T | E | T | H | O | R | O | R | P | H | A | N | |||||
| S | U | P | P | O | S | I | T | I | O | N | M | G | S | I | T | S | M | E | ||
| E | L | I | A | S | Z | E | N | K | A | Y | F | R | E | E | L | Y | ||||
| S | E | N | T | H | O | M | E | U | P | O | N | H | O | T | S | A | K | E | ||
| K | I | N | E | S | T | H | E | T | I | C | ||||||||||
| M | O | B | S | T | E | R | R | E | A | L | I | D | I | O | T | T | A | X | ||
| P | U | R | E | E | D | I | R | S | O | D | E | N | O | R | M | A | ||||
| G | R | O | P | E | B | F | S | M | A | L | E | F | A | C | T | I | O | N | ||
| K | I | D | N | E | Y | B | A | R | E | L | E | A | P | E | D | |||||
| P | L | E | A | I | N | O | R | O | U | T | G | O | B | L | U | B | E | |||
| C | O | N | T | E | X | T | U | A | L | L | Y | O | V | U | M | P | A | R | ||
| C | O | N | O | R | O | L | D | S | B | L | A | M | E | D | ||||||
| A | S | O | N | I | A | I | N | T | E | R | R | E | L | A | T | I | O | N | S | |
| R | E | S | E | E | N | K | E | E | P | M | U | M | R | O | O | M | B | A | ||
| D | R | E | S | S | Y | E | R | R | A | N | T | S | T | O | N | G | A | N |
Years ago, Parker Lewis and I tried our hand at single-word parsing. I'd randomly observed that TEMPERAMENTALLY (can you tell I'm a parent of young children?) interestingly breaks into an Arizona noodle census. How hard could it be to find others that broke out like this?
Dozens of lines of code and months of sifting through hundreds of false positives later …
Parker and I were focused solely on breaks into three, so I enjoyed seeing today's with fresh eyes. KIN ESTHETIC reminds me how glad I am that our kids inherited Jill's looks instead of mine, and a DEPARTMENTALLY to DEPART MENTALLY is a joke that writes itself.
Such solid gridwork! Most experienced constructors let about ten gluey dribs and drabs slide. To finish with only BFS and RMN (maybe AGLARE is aglaring to some) is such a smooth result.
Arriving at a Sunday 140-word puzzle with this level of cleanliness means forcing yourself to work at a high minimum word score, rarely letting yourself dip into "look the other way" mode. It's not a difficult process — the difficulty comes in exercising the patience needed to continually backtrack and go down a different branch of the decision tree when you're forced into something unsavory.
I wasn't wowed by enough of the finds, but bonuses like the colloquial IDIOT TAX and ALBUM ART helped keep me going. And as much as I admired Robert's wordplay in his ETYMOLOGY clue, the new one, [Word has it!], is playful as well. Touches like that, plus the awesome [House floor manager?] to describe a ROOMBA, encouraged me to reach the finish line.