Thomas van Geel author page
1 puzzle by Thomas van Geel
with Jeff Chen comments
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Debut! Thomas did so many things well. FREECYCLING, SIDE HUSTLE, DROP THE MIC, KICKSTARTER are four great phrases, all with a modern feel. I wasn't sure what FREECYCLING was, but it makes sense. My wife is a member of a "Buy Nothing" group that circulates stuff, so she'd heard the term.
Audacious gridwork for a debut and a lot of it is snazzy. It's so tough to fill big corners like the NW / SE with both color and cleanliness, but NARRATOR / KNEE BONE with just RABE (which might be perfectly fine to many) is a strong result.
The puzzle as a whole felt so carefully polished. It's rare that I encounter a Monday puzzle with just a bit of OCT USAF glue, and even more rare in a Monday debut. I love it when a puzzle feels like the constructor didn't stop at good enough, but aimed for perfection, unafraid to put in the work to get there.
A couple of tough entries, OLIVETTI, SHALOM, IN ESSE, gave the puzzle a challenging feel. I think it ended up fair, but I would have preferred a little more crossword glue in exchange for Monday-ifying these harder entries.
Ultimately, it's a "words that can precede X" theme, which makes it tough for me to get excited. But the above average execution and the fantastic theme phrases made my POW! spidey senses tingle.