Victor Sloan author page
1 puzzle by Victor Sloan
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 2 answer words debuted by Victor Sloan.
| A | L | P | I | N | I | S | M | A | F | T | R | A | ||
| P | E | A | R | T | R | E | E | T | H | R | O | A | T | |
| A | I | R | S | H | O | W | S | A | I | O | L | I | S | |
| T | A | T | B | O | A | S | T | G | E | N | E | |||
| R | A | Y | O | N | U | A | R | T | S | A | ||||
| S | P | I | T | A | T | S | I | M | O | N | ||||
| M | A | D | L | Y | I | N | S | I | D | E | M | A | N | |
| O | L | G | A | G | R | A | S | S | W | I | N | Y | ||
| G | O | E | S | B | R | O | K | E | P | A | N | T | S | |
| T | R | A | N | E | C | E | R | I | S | E | ||||
| S | H | E | O | B | I | G | A | W | K | S | ||||
| W | I | C | K | S | C | I | O | N | K | O | R | |||
| A | M | O | E | B | A | C | O | A | L | M | I | N | E | |
| B | O | N | N | E | T | E | U | R | O | A | R | E | A | |
| S | M | O | T | E | S | T | Y | L | E | T | I | P |
We've seen plenty of literally IN themes and X through Y, but this is something a little different. PARTRIDGE (in a) PEAR TREE, FROG (in one's) THROAT, etc. It's cool that all pairs intersect through a common letter, and the image of a FROG lodged in one's esophagus is exactly what that figure of speech evokes.
I had initial qualms about this crossing approach for X IN Y phrases. It's strange that only the R of PARTRIDGE is literally in the PEAR TREE, so if you're going to go with a literalisms puzzle, the linear approach feels more solid.
However, I like that there are no nonsensical entries anywhere in the grid. It's also neat that most of the entries play off of vertical items. I can imagine the PARTRIDGE hiding out in a vertical PEAR TREE, for instance.
BEE in one's BONNET, not so much, but what can you do.
Themes requiring heavy cross-referencing can chop up solving flow. This is one area in which digital approaches have so much potential to outclass print media. Instead of slogging through "where TF is 44-Down?!" angst, a well-tuned app could highlight both entries together. Curious to see how the NYT's app handles it today.
Pairs of crossing themers are notorious for causing fill problems, so to escape with one dab for each of five pairs — A PAT in one corner, odd plural AIOLIS in another, etc. — is a reasonable result. Smart layout, pseudo-isolating each of the five themer pairs.
Not the strongest a-ha, but solid enough for a Wednesday. I appreciate the effort to do something a little different.