Saul Pink author page
1 puzzle by Saul Pink
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 1 answer word debuted by Saul Pink.
| D | I | S | K | A | M | P | E | R | E | F | T | C | ||
| O | C | H | O | H | O | O | R | A | H | O | W | L | ||
| G | E | O | R | G | E | B | U | R | N | S | M | I | A | |
| C | R | E | A | M | T | O | T | H | E | N | S | |||
| T | O | T | A | L | T | Y | R | A | B | A | N | K | S | |
| A | L | I | A | L | A | S | T | A | R | T | L | E | ||
| I | D | E | D | E | D | U | C | A | S | E | S | |||
| R | O | S | A | P | A | R | K | S | ||||||
| A | E | S | O | P | S | I | N | S | A | I | D | |||
| B | R | E | W | E | R | S | M | A | T | I | T | O | ||
| S | E | A | N | C | O | M | B | S | H | A | R | S | H | |
| C | A | L | S | S | A | L | N | A | C | H | O | |||
| O | D | E | J | E | R | E | M | Y | I | R | O | N | S | |
| N | E | G | A | T | T | A | I | N | E | L | M | O | ||
| D | R | S | M | O | S | T | L | Y | S | E | E | D |
Constructors have been improving by leaps and bounds over the years. I love experiencing a debut this smooth and well-crafted. I used to cringe when seeing a new byline, knowing that the person would have a long way to climb up that steep, steep learning curve. I'm more optimistic these days, seeing more new constructors emerge with strong gridwork right off the bat.
A middle 9-letter entry — ROSA PARKS — usually causes all sorts of problems for rookie constructors, because it forces four big corners. Not only that, each of those four big corners has to be filled with 7-letter answers, which can be a sneakily tough length to work with. It's so difficult to pick colorful 7-letter entries while keeping the shorter surrounding fill clean.
Well, it's not difficult as much as it's incredibly time-consuming. Most constructors aren't willing to iterate dozens of times until they find solutions as strong as ABSCOND / EREADER / SEA LEGS, with only minor bits like CALS and NEG holding it all together. That's an excellent result.
I've seen so many "celebs whose last names are X" themes that it's tough to get excited about today's. It is impressive, though, that Saul was so consistent, picking A-listers whose last names are all verbs ending in S. It's not as tight as I'd like — BRITNEY SPEARS, BEN FOLDS, WESLEY SNIPES, BROOKE SHIELDS, ROBIN QUIVERS, TOM WAITS, ED BURNS, JOHN WATERS, ALICIA KEYS, and on and on — but there's no rule that all themes must be tight.
Overall, not a memorable theme, but a memorably well-crafted debut.