Joe Rodini author page
2 puzzles by Joe Rodini
with Jeff Chen comments
| Total | Debut | Latest |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 10/24/2022 | 5/13/2025 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scrab | Debut | Flow | Fresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.58 | 3 | 23.3 | 18% |
See the 3 answer words debuted by Joe Rodini.
| A | M | C | S | C | A | P | E | R | C | C | S | |||
| F | A | R | R | A | B | A | T | E | E | R | I | C | ||
| F | R | U | I | T | P | U | N | C | H | L | A | M | A | |
| A | I | M | A | N | T | I | I | G | E | T | I | T | ||
| I | N | B | O | X | C | O | R | N | B | E | L | T | ||
| R | A | L | L | I | E | D | P | E | A | R | E | O | ||
| S | E | A | M | I | S | T | S | I | S | S | Y | |||
| F | O | O | D | F | I | G | H | T | ||||||
| B | E | G | I | N | T | O | O | N | A | R | C | |||
| A | L | A | I | P | O | N | U | C | L | E | A | R | ||
| L | A | M | B | C | H | O | P | H | Y | D | R | A | ||
| S | T | E | R | E | O | A | C | A | I | C | O | N | ||
| A | I | D | E | B | A | N | A | N | A | S | L | U | G | |
| M | O | A | T | I | N | E | R | T | E | A | S | E | ||
| N | Y | T | A | D | D | L | E | E | Y | E | S |
| S | A | N | S | C | L | E | F | T | A | C | T | I | ||
| E | M | I | T | H | E | L | L | O | R | U | E | D | ||
| R | O | P | E | O | D | E | O | N | M | B | A | S | ||
| F | R | A | N | C | I | S | C | O | G | O | Y | A | ||
| S | E | T | T | O | D | A | M | N | ||||||
| S | E | L | M | A | N | A | S | A | L | |||||
| A | D | D | D | I | E | G | O | R | I | V | E | R | A | |
| P | R | O | P | S | T | A | R | E | Y | A | N | K | ||
| P | E | D | R | O | P | A | S | C | A | L | T | O | E | |
| S | W | O | O | N | P | A | L | A | U | |||||
| P | U | M | A | I | N | C | U | R | ||||||
| J | O | S | E | F | E | L | I | C | I | A | N | O | ||
| P | S | I | S | C | R | A | I | G | T | R | I | O | ||
| D | I | V | A | C | O | S | M | O | A | T | O | M | ||
| A | X | E | L | A | S | T | E | R | S | A | N | S |
I was a subpar French student in high school, so my teacher's "répétez après moi" was on constant repeat. Perhaps all that rote work did something because I understood SANS right off the bat!
Understanding what SANS / SANS meant was a different story altogether.
I thought about it for a day, then asked Jim Horne if he'd care to explain it to me so he could prove that he's smart as I am. Alas, Jim is far smarter and called my bluff. Between the two of us, we think that SANS / SANS implies "without the SANs, SAN FRANCISCO is FRANCISO."
Let's say it has a touch of "je ne sais quoi."
It's a neat set, names that become cities after SAN. Growing up in San Jose — an hour south of San Francisco — I recognized the theme immediately. The CALIFORNIA puzzle from two years ago helped, too.
I didn't immediately recognize PEDRO PASCAL, even after slogging through most of "The Mandalorian." Perhaps only seeing his face once in two seasons had something to do with it. I hear his acting shines in "Narcos," so I'll add that to my queue.
Fun clues in TONGA and PROPOSAL. I love wordplay, having used TONGA to TANGO in one of my own puzzles. And PROPOSAL as a question that might have a ring to it? I'll scream "Yes!" to that!
Some solvers hate name-focused themes, calling them trivia games instead of crosswords (emphasis on the word "words"), but I enjoyed the focus on these four Hispanic names.
Using the French alongside made for a strange juxtaposition, but there's no doubt that the SANS / SANS repetition makes you think.