Clive Probert author page
5 puzzles by Clive Probert
with Jeff Chen comments
| E | M | M | A | F | I | R | M | M | A | I | D | |||
| M | A | N | N | O | C | C | A | M | A | C | M | E | ||
| M | P | E | G | R | A | M | B | O | D | A | M | E | ||
| E | L | M | S | U | M | P | D | I | A | D | E | M | ||
| T | E | E | T | I | M | E | H | U | M | M | E | D | ||
| R | M | S | M | O | L | E | M | I | A | |||||
| S | A | M | O | S | M | A | M | E | T | I | A | M | ||
| E | L | E | M | M | A | N | E | S | M | E | T | E | ||
| A | M | T | M | E | N | D | S | M | O | S | E | S | ||
| M | A | R | E | D | O | M | S | U | M | |||||
| M | O | H | A | I | R | L | I | M | E | A | D | E | ||
| M | A | N | I | L | A | D | I | M | N | M | E | X | ||
| A | T | O | M | N | A | O | M | I | T | A | M | A | ||
| N | E | M | O | S | I | M | B | A | U | N | U | M | ||
| O | R | E | M | M | O | O | N | M | A | R | S |
Stunt puzzle, every entry containing the letter M. We've seen plenty of these before, some with better raisons d'être than others. M AND M was meant to hint at the idea? I got confused. There's just one M in most entries, right? Why is M AND M apt?
Aha, every clue starts with the letter M too. Perhaps that's our second M? It's a mark of smoothness in the cluing that I didn't notice this right away — often, it's too easy to tell when clues are stunted up because many of them sound stilted. There was only one that gave me pause: I remember thinking that MODULES and [Mathematical sets] didn't quite match. Why not just clue it as [Sets]? Ah, right. The telltale M!
As with most stunt puzzles of this nature, there's a good amount of crossword glue — stuff that editors tell you to avoid, like abbreviations, partials, deep esoterica, etc. — to wade through. I stopped counting after I hit 10. For reference, I stop thinking a grid is elegantly crafted after I hit about 3.
That doesn't mean it's a bad puzzle or a bad grid. It's just the price you pay as a constructor for being able to achieve the feat. So much of construction is about trade-offs, what you're willing to put solvers through in order to pull off your idea.
I did like some of the long entries, ALMA MATER, METRONOME, ANGSTROM, and MOMENTUM in particular. But overall, it wasn't quite enough for me to feel like all the trade-offs were worth it.
I did enjoy the moment of clarity when I realized why M AND M was a good(ish) themer though, and there was a lot of solid work in cluing, making all the M-starts sound innocently natural.
| P | A | C | T | H | A | N | G | S | T | A | N | |||
| A | M | A | I | N | A | M | O | R | L | E | T | O | ||
| C | A | R | P | E | L | O | V | E | B | O | A | T | S | |
| A | L | L | O | A | L | L | O | T | A | B | L | E | ||
| F | I | F | T | E | E | N | M | E | N | E | N | D | ||
| I | N | F | E | R | A | L | A | M | O | D | E | |||
| S | O | C | H | I | A | N | O | N | ||||||
| T | H | I | R | T | Y | S | O | M | E | T | H | I | N | G |
| H | E | R | O | T | E | S | L | A | ||||||
| A | R | I | Z | O | N | A | E | X | I | S | T | |||
| W | I | S | F | O | R | T | Y | N | I | N | E | R | ||
| T | H | R | U | M | E | P | I | C | U | R | E | S | ||
| G | A | M | E | S | O | V | E | R | A | R | E | N | A | |
| A | G | E | D | R | E | N | E | B | E | N | C | H | ||
| L | E | N | S | E | T | A | S | D | A | H | L |
| B | I | A | S | C | I | V | I | C | H | A | A | S | T | W | A | S | ||||
| O | R | G | Y | O | N | E | A | L | I | L | S | A | C | H | I | L | L | |||
| H | A | U | L | K | A | N | G | A | G | O | T | O | H | A | N | O | I | |||
| R | E | A | L | M | E | N | D | O | N | T | H | E | A | T | Q | U | I | C | H | E |
| A | I | D | E | G | A | L | S | O | U | R | E | A | R | |||||||
| L | E | T | B | E | E | C | O | L | I | M | A | C | H | |||||||
| I | T | H | I | N | K | T | H | E | R | E | F | O | R | E | I | H | A | M | ||
| N | A | E | N | A | S | A | E | O | E | D | Y | N | A | S | T | |||||
| G | L | E | A | S | O | N | S | A | S | O | W | L | D | R | E | A | ||||
| R | E | B | D | E | L | T | A | H | A | I | R | L | I | N | E | S | ||||
| A | D | O | R | A | B | L | E | P | A | C | S | P | O | U | T | E | R | S | ||
| S | E | V | E | N | Y | E | A | R | H | I | T | C | H | P | V | T | ||||
| A | M | E | S | O | R | E | D | E | N | R | E | S | O | R | T | S | ||||
| P | O | R | T | A | L | M | D | S | O | N | E | I | I | O | U | |||||
| S | E | T | O | N | E | S | T | E | E | T | H | O | N | H | E | D | G | E | ||
| R | E | G | O | P | A | N | E | L | U | V | E | A | S | |||||||
| S | T | U | L | O | U | S | E | C | T | E | T | N | A | |||||||
| H | E | R | R | I | N | G | O | N | T | H | E | R | I | G | H | T | S | I | D | E |
| A | R | G | U | E | A | L | E | E | B | O | N | G | O | I | M | A | X | |||
| F | R | E | E | R | T | E | A | R | B | A | T | E | S | O | H | M | E | |||
| T | E | S | S | S | O | D | S | E | R | O | D | E | N | O | E | S |
| B | A | B | A | B | A | N | C | S | C | A | B | |||
| A | B | O | M | B | E | L | B | A | P | A | B | A | ||
| G | U | M | B | O | A | B | C | S | A | B | B | R | ||
| S | T | A | L | B | A | N | S | B | Y | R | O | A | D | |
| E | B | B | S | A | B | E | T | S | ||||||
| B | A | R | R | I | O | A | B | H | O | R | ||||
| A | B | E | N | U | B | B | Y | R | I | G | B | Y | ||
| N | I | B | S | T | A | B | O | R | B | O | L | O | ||
| S | T | A | U | B | R | E | B | E | C | B | U | B | ||
| B | O | S | S | Y | B | A | B | I | E | S | ||||
| B | R | U | S | H | B | E | B | E | ||||||
| B | E | A | R | E | R | B | E | L | L | L | A | B | S | |
| L | A | M | B | U | B | E | R | E | L | B | O | W | ||
| A | L | B | A | B | I | E | N | D | E | B | R | A | ||
| B | E | O | N | S | O | B | E | S | A | A | B |
| E | G | G | S | E | T | S | G | R | O | U | N | D | ||
| E | A | S | Y | L | E | I | L | O | N | D | O | N | ||
| G | R | A | B | Y | A | K | O | T | T | A | W | A | ||
| A | D | S | H | A | W | A | L | A | ||||||
| D | E | C | R | I | E | D | D | E | E | P | L | Y | ||
| U | P | R | I | V | E | R | H | D | L | |||||
| C | O | A | T | I | O | N | E | E | R | E | C | T | ||
| A | C | T | E | D | P | A | R | C | O | P | R | A | ||
| T | H | E | S | E | O | N | E | T | A | C | I | T | ||
| U | R | U | N | O | I | S | O | M | E | |||||
| S | N | A | P | A | T | T | R | O | T | T | E | R | ||
| P | A | T | T | S | K | S | N | L | ||||||
| P | I | U | S | I | I | U | Z | I | A | M | I | E | ||
| A | R | R | E | S | T | R | O | N | M | I | N | D | ||
| Y | O | U | A | R | E | T | O | O | B | O | D | Y |