Vaibhav Srikaran author page
1 puzzle by Vaibhav Srikaran
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 6 answer words debuted by Vaibhav Srikaran.
| O | K | E | D | B | E | E | R | S | G | A | M | E | ||
| N | O | R | M | A | R | G | O | N | E | D | E | N | ||
| T | O | E | S | B | I | G | D | O | M | A | D | D | ||
| A | K | C | A | Y | E | E | B | B | M | I | O | |||
| P | A | T | C | H | Y | B | O | W | S | A | W | |||
| B | O | O | H | O | O | T | I | B | I | A | S | |||
| E | U | R | O | D | I | V | A | S | I | P | A | S | ||
| D | R | S | C | A | L | I | P | H | S | P | V | C | ||
| G | R | E | T | A | S | E | E | H | A | L | V | A | ||
| E | A | T | E | R | Y | B | O | L | E | Y | N | |||
| N | O | E | L | M | E | W | L | |||||||
| D | O | U | B | L | E | R | A | I | N | B | O | W | ||
| F | O | M | O | E | V | E | N | T | E | R | A | S | ||
| L | U | A | U | N | I | N | O | S | E | C | R | U | ||
| U | R | N | S | A | S | T | R | O | F | A | M | E |
We've seen a lot of rainbow puzzles over the years, and this one is an excellent addition to the mix. DOUBLE RAINBOW perfectly describes what's going on; the colors in ROY G. BIV all doubled within vertical theme answers. Also, a couple of great phrases. BABY YODA is such a nice way to work in the double-Y.
Perfect use of mirror symmetry, too. Some editors are staunchly set on regular (180-degree rotational) symmetry, only allowing left-right when absolutely necessary. It's hard to imagine how to pull this one off using regular symmetry.
Seven sets of fixed placements is a daunting filling task, and Vaibhav and Matthew did well. There's something pleasing about the regularity of the doubled letters spaced out every other row. Excellent deployment of black squares to separate the themers, too.
Perhaps BOWSAW, HALVA, and YELENA are tough, that last one especially because it crosses NINOS. As a diehard Avengers fan, I recognized Black Widow's given name, but it didn't come easily. I love HALVAh with the final H, although it does look like several sources list it without. Taking a second look, it seems fine either way since it's a transliteration.
Regular readers will have already guessed that Jim Horne burst into cackling laughter when I wondered if the seven pairs of letters could have been more arc-like instead of a caret. Regular readers would also be surprised if I didn't delve in to see if that was possible. After two hours, I did find a way, but only by spreading out the seven pairs so RR and VV were in columns 1 and 15, which destroyed the every-other-column pattern. Arc shape or every-other-column pattern? I prefer the former but can see the merits of the latter.
Overall, a fantastic puzzle. This would have been an easy POW! pick if the rainbow (and my head) hadn't been so pointy.