Scott Graham author page
1 puzzle by Scott Graham
with Jeff Chen comments
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| H | O | W | T | A | T | E | S | T | A | T | ||||
| A | R | O | A | R | A | L | F | A | M | E | M | O | ||
| F | E | R | R | A | R | I | I | M | M | O | R | A | L | |
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| S | U | S | S | E | D | S | W | E | D | E | N |
TEE TIME today! Great first impression; the grid art jumping out at me. The unusual pattern of black squares Ts is mesmerizing. Escher-esque.
Jim Horne and I both missed various aspects of this puzzle, so note the three tiers of T-themage:
- All black squares are grouped into T shapes.
- Some long entries are two-worders, where both words begin with T.
- Every clue begins with a T.
The black Ts in the center reminded me of the famous Four Ts puzzle, a classic that helped hook me on mechanical puzzles. I enjoyed reminiscing about the first time I figured it out; such a rush.
Some excellent theme answers, TEASER TRAILER and TREASURE TROVE both colorful. I would have liked a few more marquee ones, though, as TEA TREE and TAKE TEN escaped my first look. Long entries like HOT COFFEE naturally jump out more.
(Mirror symmetry would have allowed for more long T* T* theme answers, plus you could have more of the Ts appear without rotation.)
I appreciated that Scott went out of his way to focus on grid smoothness. Grid art puzzles can be tricky to fill, especially with so many long non-theme slots. Impressive to escape with only ATRA and ENTR as minor dings.
Plenty of puzzles use initialism themes, others riff on letters shaped out of black squares, yet others employ the "every clue begins with ___" trick. I don't remember seeing one that combined all of these elements. I don't know that today's successfully TAG TEAMED these concepts together, but it's useful to titrate things in TEST TUBES once in a while.