Victor Fleming author page

Gramograms or "grammagrams" are a common crossword theme, with hundreds of pages dedicated to them. My first encounter with them filled me with FXN for them. Over the years, doing more and more of them has left me more MT, but a new twist can spur me on to write an SA with XPDNC.

I spent soooo much time analyzing today's made-up phrases. Did their gramogram letters spell words? Wow, that would be awesome! MEMC, KGNME … nope.

Were they alphabetically next to each other in the gramograms list?

Was one word an anagram of the other?

EASY ESSAY ... each word formed by the same letter bank?

Each theme word was crossed by its gramogram letters?

Maybe the themers were all related in subject matter?

Huh. If it's randomly-paired words, I'm looking at them with BDIs.

I did appreciate the RA of grid bonuses: ARMRESTS, CHIA PETS, YOGA MATS, AMY ADAMS, SLAM DUNK. Even though the theme didn't wow me, all these extras meant the puzzle didn't LAY AN EGG. Doing all that while keeping the entire grid to a single dab of ACEY gluey is impressive.

Gramograms are tough to make stand out. Simon and Judge Vic were heading the right direction with their clue-initials-matching-gramograms angle, and I would have loved to see that brainstorming process pushed farther.

I'm digging this celeb series. I particularly like when the celeb puzzle reflects something about the person — very cool to get "It's the ECONOMY, stupid!" I vividly remember that phrase (or something like it) from the Bush Sr. / Clinton race — what power those four words had.

I was surprised that DON'T STOP didn't get clued in relation to the Fleetwood Mac song, one I associate strongly with Clinton. Maybe that would have made it too easy?

Fun to see GI BILL too. Made me think of a President Clinton action figure, in a box set along with Duke, Snake Eyes, and Sgt. Slaughter.

Did I miss any Clinton references? It was enjoyable to scour the grid and clues, searching for any Easter eggs like DON'T STOP.

A couple of good feature entries too, like MISHMASH crossing MADMAN. Along with MAIN MENU, I wondered if there was an M* M* mini-theme somewhere in there?

There was more crossword glue than I like holding the grid together, though. It's common to get some ALEG, TSO, ARA, AER, COS — these are fairly minor. DRAWEE … it is in the dictionary, but I'd guess that a large majority of constructors (and solvers) would prefer not to get entries like this. And ILOILO is a common constructing crutch, given its favorable alternation of consonant / vowels.

All in all, too much iffy short fill and not enough great long fill for my taste — I have very high expectations for themelesses these days. But it sure was fun to search for those Clinton-specific references. It would have been great to get a few more entries like BUBBA (perhaps clued as [___ Gump Shrimp Company] to hide the reference to Clinton's nickname), TENOR SAX, FOLKSY, etc.

ADDED NOTE: Judge Vic clued me into the mini-theme (highlighted below). How neatly those split up into crossword symmetry! I wish those had been hinted at though, or shaded — apparently all four of Judge Vic's test-solvers missed the connection, too. I fear that the five of us won't be the only ones.

Homonyms paired to make kooky phrases. It reminded me of one I worked on with a friend a few years back, but I like how Acme and Judge Vic picked out examples that are very accessible to novice solvers for this Monday puzzle. It was also nice to see consistency, each themer using the same verb tense for the first word + a plural noun for the second.

This "windmill" layout of themers is usually easier to work with than a more traditional layout of every themer going horizontally — the windmill pattern allows for more space between themers. It tends to make adding in bonus fill harder though, so I appreciate the effort to work in ONE PIECE, a colorful entry. IRISH SEA ain't bad, either.

I don't mind a bit of minor glue like ASSN (pretty common) and RRs (who hasn't tried to collect all the RRs in a game of Monopoly?). And SGT is used everywhere … but not S SGT. This one irks me more, since it feels like a constructor's crutch, as that first letter can be M, S, or T. It's similar to ?STAR, where that question mark can be so many things. Feels inelegant.

LOCI doesn't bother me even in a Monday puzzle, as long as all the crosses are fair. Granted, I did take a lot of math in college, but it is a real word that NYT readers ought to know.

ENO, ERTE, ESAI are all real people; ones I have no problem with since they've all achieved adequate fame in their careers. To have three of them in one puzzle feels like too much to me though — I can imagine a newer solver struggling with any one of them, much less all three. (MAUD Adams might be a fourth.)

Easy-breezy Monday theme, although since there are so many possible homonym pairs that can work like this (AIRS HEIRS, SCENTS CENTS, DYES DIES, WRITES RIGHTS, etc.), it would have been nice to get some extra element to tighten up the theme. Not sure what that might be — all long ones? All ones with huge spelling changes? — but it's fun to think about.

Synonyms of TIES: CABLE, WIRE, LINE, STRING, CHAIN, and ROPE. Impressive theme density, with not just six themers but a revealer in the last across slot.

With six themers, I usually expect a few of them to fall flat, since it's tough to pack so much in without a few compromises. I was pleasantly surprised that five of them were solid gold. ROPE A DOPE is such a great phrase, WIRE FRAUD cues colorful images, and CHAIN MAIL gets me smiling (there are a surprising number of secret Medieval cosplay fights in Seattle parks). I wasn't hot on CABLE OUTLET, which is a real and fine answer — to me, it pales in comparison to the others, though. Nice job of packing, Bruce!

The high density does come with a couple of compromises — check out where LINE DANCE and STRING BEANS overlap. The never-seen-in-real-life TER (I've only used TID in pharma dev; my doctor wife confirms this) is a big price to pay. I'm not sure why constructors/editors allow it.

The symmetrical spot exhibits similar strain. Having to resort to an old-timey SST is reasonable, but next to the arbitrary ONE MEG, it's harder for me to look past. Those two sections are tough to get perfectly smooth and clean as I like a Monday to be — so many black squares had to be deployed elsewhere around all the themers, that the north and south end up being relatively big, tough-to-cleanly-fill chunks of white space.

Overall, it would have been nice for the theme to be tighter, as there are all sorts of things that can TIE: twine, cord, ribbon, belt, etc. It'd be one thing if it were limited to direct synonyms for "string," but once you throw in CHAIN, it gets pretty loosey-goosey. This might have been a case for "less is more" for me.

★ Jim and I often discuss what makes a great crossword, and I find my criteria shifting ever so slightly. I used to be much more concerned with squeaky-clean fill, but now I'm relenting; more willing to let a handful of gluey bits slip by if that means a puzzle delights me. What's more important that being delighted, after all? Today's crossword generated a big smile across my face.

First, it was nice to see Judge Vic not start with the traditional four sets of triple-stacks. That's a tried and true strategy, proven to allow at least 12 long slots. But it's nice to get the variety, the experimentation in the grid design. I like how Vic incorporates a pair of 12-letter entries — 12s, 13s, and 14s are usually avoided due to the difficulty in integrating them into a themeless. And it was nice to see the goodness spread out, getting an OUT OF THE BLUE out of the blue for example, rather than having all the long stuff concentrated in the corners like usual.

Although I really liked entries like TARBOOSH, PACE CARS, YULE LOGS, DARK AGES, the clues are what made the puzzle sing for me. I'm usually quite happy with three or four clever clues, but it felt like they didn't stop today:

• [One cast in a Harry Potter film] wasn't a person but a SPELL.
• [Star role of old films?] hinted at a SHERIFF wearing a tin star.
• [Strain to make?] had nothing to do with really trying hard, but PUREEing.
• APSES can be a minor gluey bit, but [Quartet in a cathedral, maybe] got me thinking about when I played in a brass quintet at various churches back in the Bay Area. Great misdirection.
• [Addition to the mix] refers to a sound mix; REVERB often added in during production.
• Finally, nice job with [Compulsory courses], making me think the answer would end in S. CORE education, drat!

So even though I'd rather have near zero gluey bits in my themeless crosswords, I'll take some OST, ESA, RAG sort of stuff any day if it means I get so much delight.

Oktoberfest! Hard to argue with drinking ale while getting dressed up in neon-green lederhosen and frolicking like a Vegas leprechaun protecting his/her gold. What, you don't do that? Um. Me neither.

Seven festive themers today packing the grid chock full. How jovial is it to TOAST six themes in a single puzzle? Some beautiful entries, DOWN THE HATCH and BOTTOMS UP so bubbly. To me, TO YOUR HEALTH doesn't feel quite as juicy, but that might be a generational or a cultural thing? I've actually used all of the TOASTs except this one. To my ear it sounds stilted; a rare case for me where a foreign translation — A VOTRE SANTE! sounds so much better.

I did wonder why people were using these non-German toasting phrases (especially L'CHAIM!) during Oktoberfest, but sometimes I find it's best to drink, be merry, and put on glow-in-the-dark lederhosen.

People have to scratch their heads when constructors talk about the difficulty of certain arrangements. "OMG, they attempted a 5/12/6/9/6/12/5?" probably sounds not only like gibberish but also probably elicits a "why make such a big deal about entry lengths?" Today, two factors around this are huge. First of all, the central 9 splits the puzzle in half. Ratchet up difficulty level once. Then, the 12's are in rows 4 and 12, where they create not just six, but 12 little three-letter words (in the NE and SW).

"And this matters… why?" you ask. Generally, it's best to keep the three-letter word count to around 20, because they can chop up a solver's flow and feel inelegant. I had a bit of a hitch in my solve, and seeing that there were 28 three-letter words made me understand why. Plus, if you have so many of them, the ones which usually get glossed over become noticeable. AAR, AGT, DER, ESA, INA, NCO, REO, STA, TEL, UNE are all fine on their own, but when lumped together create an inelegance.

All in all, a fun theme with some cheery entries, with some compromises due to a very tricky theme arrangement.

Nice way to incorporate six themers into a puzzle. Typically that feat can be a rough go, but Vic wisely takes advantage of the simple theme by crossing two pairs of MP phrases at the P. Not sure that MISS PIGGY is going to appreciate being crossed by MOOT POINT (and SINNER) though. Vic's a braver man than me.

With a basic theme type, it's so important to choose strong themers. M___ P___ phrases are plentiful, so Vic had a big range to choose from. At first I thought MILK PUNCH fell flat, but after reading about the New Orleans treat, I reconsidered. I got a little tipsy just reading that recipe.

Vic and I exchanged emails on the use of cheaters. Notice the pair today at the end of EELERS and the beginning of SHEETS? I would personally use those ten out of ten times if they improved the fill even marginally. Sometimes cheater squares can look inelegant (especially if there are a lot of them), but in this case I think they almost add to the visual appeal. I thought the fill was well done today aside from a bit of AFRESH and ATNO, so I'm glad Vic went the extra step.

Vic does well to fill through those difficult NW and SE corners, both of which are constrained, big sections. Those short two-word entries like GO DRY are so important, as they help smooth out these tough to fill areas, and do it in a way that adds a little pizzazz. Sometimes people ask me why GO DRY (or IN ALL) isn't a partial, but A DARK is. There is the "lexical chunk" rule: can the phrase stand by itself? Generally, if it can't be clued without a fill-in-the-blank, it's a partial.

I like A DARK and stormy night though. Not only is it part of Madeleine L'Engle's famous "A Wrinkle in Time," but it spawned a contest for bad first lines. If you're going to use a five-letter partial, that's the way to do it.

Fun to see another one from a strong pair, wizened Judge Vic and the young Skywalker padawan. Er, Ezersky. If history tells us anything Vic, you might want to check Sam's dark-side pockets for light sabers. Seriously though, I enjoy seeing collaborations, and an established one that has this much fun working together gives me a great big smile.

A lot of strong material today, anchored by the nice central grid-spanners, ANAKIN SKYWALKER and FACEBOOK FRIENDS. They go big with the grid design, not just satisfied with four additional sets of triple-stacked corners. It would have been easy for them to section off the SW and NE corners to make them easier to fill (similar to how the NW and SE corners dead-end), but they chose to go for 1.) more puzzle flow and 2.) two additional long answers in JOE CAMEL and KING SIZE. I like how open those two corners are, giving the solver multiple ways in.

That decision did cost them a little, in various entries such as ARNE (not the most famous of cabinet members) and ONE AM (an arbitrary time) and JER (as much as I love Seinfeld, this answer looks so odd to me). Still, the overall effect is well worth the trade-off.

Speaking of the dark side, finding an ENERGY BAR in a SEWER LINE (and eating it George Constanza style) TASTES BAD all right. Not an image I can get out of my head unfortunately now. (Someone pass me a light saber for an emergency lobotomy.) It won't bother everyone, but if it grossed me out, I bet others will feel similarly. TASTES BAD also seems a bit arbitrary to me, opening up the door to TASTES GOOD, TASTES SALTY, TASTES FISHY, TASTES LIKE AN ENERGY BAR I FOUND IN THE SEWER LINE. All in all, it's a reasonable answer, just not one I would consider stellar at the big-impression 1-Across location.

Normally, I don't care for cross-referenced clues, which make you jump all over the grid. I ignore them most of the time, unless the two entries are close in proximity. But today I appreciated the SITS / BANC cross-ref, since it helped me finish the tough NW corner (in which I was stuck). It helped improve the quality of my solve, and that's really the most important factor to any puzzle.

I loved seeing PO-PO in the grid! I only heard the term a few years ago, but it stuck in my head. I like getting a bit of slang worked in. Too much goes away from what makes this the NYT puzzle, but every once in a while a piece of good (and up-to-date) slang does wonders. To my delight, WHAT'S UP G? has been used (although I've only heard the "more correct" WHAT UP G?). The first time one of the kids I work with said YO WHAT UP G? to me I was baffled. Gave him the silent head nod, and that seemed to be acceptable.

Finally, some beautiful clues. Some of my favorites were actually DERIDE and ONUS, with two seemingly innocent clues. [Knock sharply] threw me off track, thinking about RAP AT THE DOOR, and [Large charge] felt like it should be AMEX BILL or MEGACOULOMBS. But my top choice today was [Outerwear for moguls?], which misdirected to ITALIAN SUITS or something. Great a-ha when I figured out that the moguls were referring to ski slope moguls.

I can't help it — I love it when people break rules. These days so many things have been done before that it's pretty difficult to find a completely new way of breaking a crossword rule. But Judge Vic does it today, integrating his own name into the puzzle, while hiding his identity in the byline. Neat idea.

I hadn't heard of the other Victor Fleming or some of the movies referenced today, so this puzzle played hard for me. I can totally see how many will find this puzzle a "classic" though, especially considering how prolific Victor Fleming (the movie director) was — jaw-dropping to read up on him and see how many great movies the man directed.

I really like it when we see a constructor's personality come through in a puzzle. Really neat to have two Supreme Court appointees at the top of the puzzle (ROBERTS and ALITO), clearly a nod to Judge Vic's profession. (Judge Vic is a judge, if that wasn't clear.)

Some nice fill today, what I would expect from an experienced constructor. Not a lot of ugly short stuff, plus some beautiful entries like STUDENT ID and SHEEPDOG, not to mention CAR STEREO and SOLIPSIST worked in the across direction. The layout was a bit unusual, having nine-letter fill worked in like this. Hmm, to that point...

I did like learning facts today, but I would have preferred a layout that made the theme answers stand out a little better. Granted, it's hard to do that when some of the themers are short, like RED DUST. Perhaps grouping the themers in single rows would have helped? RED DUST and A GUY NAMED JOE could have been in a single row, for instance. Even just switching the two down-oriented theme answers into the across direction might have helped. It is sort of neat that RED DUST intersects BOMBSHELL (and LORD JIM crosses JOAN OF ARC) but I felt like the confusion wasn't worth the neatness factor.

Fifty years from now, another JEFF CHEN better write a puzzle about me (listing all of JEFF CHEN's Nobel Prizes, including in three categories devised just for him, including the Nobel Prize in Mediocrity). Young constructors, get cracking!

What a nice construction today. This type of grid arrangement, with an 11-letter entry in the middle, can be difficult to fill because that central entry (sort of) divides the puzzle in two, creating big corners of white space to fill. But Sam and Vic do an admirable job in their fill.

Aside from the main theme answers (which lead to SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS), there is SO much goodness all throughout the grid. Any big corner like the SW or NE is bound to have drab and or unpleasant fill, but look what's packed in the SW: NEW ISSUE (I have an MBA* so this totally appeals to me), IRKSOME, NOSE BAG all in parallel, with ORWELL crossing it. There are a few compromises, but ESSA and ASSN are pretty minor offenders.

In the NE, RAN OUT ON and SIGN FOR are very good. And call me crazy, but I don't agree when people gripe about ETAIL (or ETAILER). It's a legitimate term, seen frequently in business. Aside from that can of worms, everything is relatively smooth and clean. Nice work.

I wasn't a huge fan of the theme itself, as we've seen SPONGEBOB a few times recently in the NYT xw, giving him a bit of an overused feel. I am glad they changed FANCY PANTS to BOSSYPANTS, since theme consistency is preserved (THINGAMABOB and BOSSYPANTS are both one word, while BATH SPONGE and TIMES SQUARE are two).

All in all, not a standout theme, but a very nice job of making a snazzy and enjoyable puzzle.

*Mostly worthless but two very fun years of debauchery

Nice example of the "both halves of the theme entries can follow a certain word" theme type. Judge Vic and Bonnie are seasoned constructors and pull off this ambitious grid. Not only do they utilize six long theme answers but they intersect them. And then to top it off, they leave wide-open corners in the NW and SE when they could have broken them up (going from 76 words to 78 words). Bravo!

This is a difficult genre in which to construct, because it's often tough to find snappy two-word theme answers where both halves fit the "word that can follow X word" criteria. HOT WATER (hotline, water line) is fantastic, as is HARD TIME and AIR SUPPLY — three beautiful entries I would gladly put in one of my own puzzles. DATE BREAD and BOTTOM LAND seem to be "things", all right (at least according to the Google), but neither feels like a great answer to me. BUS SERVICE is certainly familiar, but not nearly as snazzy as the first three.

I appreciate how the theme entries stand out just due to puzzle layout, especially relevant because I felt yesterday's puzzle suffered a bit from this issue. I've highlighted the theme entries as a point of reference but note how it's not really necessary, as there are no answers longer than the themers.

Nice clean construction with very few ugly entries; the mark of pros at work. I had to search to find answers that I didn't like, which is always a great sign. RECOOK feels like a "roll-your-own" and TABOOED...at first I groaned a little, but after verifying that it actually can be used as a verb, I think I like it. Maybe if enough of us use it, we can make it "a thing", like eating a candy bar with a knife and fork. Or has that been tabooed?