Rose Conlon author page
1 puzzle by Rose Conlon
with Jeff Chen comments
| B | I | B | L | E | D | A | M | E | U | C | L | A | ||
| I | D | I | O | T | E | C | I | G | R | H | O | S | ||
| G | U | T | F | E | E | L | I | N | G | B | E | N | T | |
| K | N | I | T | K | I | D | D | F | A | R | G | O | ||
| I | N | N | H | E | N | S | A | Y | N | O | ||||
| D | O | G | M | A | T | H | E | K | I | C | K | E | R | |
| A | L | L | A | Y | E | A | E | R | O | |||||
| S | I | G | N | F | O | R | D | E | L | I | V | E | R | Y |
| O | N | U | S | R | O | I | A | P | E | |||||
| B | U | M | P | Y | R | I | D | E | O | R | A | T | E | |
| L | L | O | Y | D | M | O | D | M | A | V | ||||
| A | S | I | A | N | R | I | C | A | F | O | M | O | ||
| M | I | N | I | W | A | T | E | R | B | R | E | A | K | |
| E | D | E | N | O | G | R | E | S | A | B | R | E | ||
| N | E | S | S | K | E | Y | S | S | T | A | I | D |
★ I haven't (happily) required this much gestation time to figure out a theme in ages. I hit SIGN FOR DELIVERY halfway through and figured the concept must refer to different kinds of deliveries. GUT FEELING might refer to ... how a method actor delivers lines? THE KICKER had to get at some football term … when the long snapper delivers the ball?
I can hear everyone out there shaking their heads at me. Don't worry, I'm smh at myself. Even with a couple of recent childbirth puzzles, including a fun one from a few months ago, I still got fooled.
After finally figuring things out, I wasn't sure if the phrases were too strained. WATER BREAK is so different from MY WATER BROKE, and even SIGN FOR DELIVERY is a weird way to describe signs of impending childbirth. Being forced to think a little (okay, a lot) about the connections is exactly what made the theme fun and even memorable.
The entertainment didn't end there! To get so much URBAN CAVER (I still haven't been on Seattle's underground tour, but it sounds amazing), MANSPLAINS, ROID RAGE, MIND'S EYE — amazing use of long Down slots! Smart layout, and such care taken to achieve smooth and snazzy results.
Even the mid-lengthers were fun — TAMARI made me smile, as my wife is testing out gluten sensitivity, so I've been experimenting with both TAMARI and liquid aminos. Definitely worth a bit of INU BSS (sorry, dog lovers!)
All this, in a debut? I can't wait to see what Rose will deliver next!