New York Times, Thursday, February 15, 2018

I was listening to a podcast on which the name CLARICE STARLING was mentioned. My ears pricked up. That's a name that ends in a bird, and it's 15 letters. I wondered how many other celebrities had bird last names. Before I got too far, I thought I should check to see if the theme had been done before. It had, many times.

In CrosSynergy on 1/1/01, Frank Longo had TONY HAWK, TOM KITE, PAMELA SUE MARTIN, CHRISTOPHER WREN, JOHN JAY, and RITA DOVE.

In the Los Angeles Times on 10/23/02, Denise M. Neuendorf had SHERYL CROW, TOM KITE, JONATHAN SWIFT, JOHN JAY, and PETER FINCH.

In the New York Times on 3/15/05, Gail Grabowski had HART CRANE, SHERYL CROW, EDDY RAVEN, JOHN JAY, and PETER FINCH.

In the New York Times on 8/23/06, Kevan Choset had CLARICE STARLING, PETER FINCH, SHERYL CROW, CHRISTOPHER WREN, and the explainer entry LARRY BIRD.

And in the New York Times on 5/10/16, David Kwong had EARL WEAVER, JOHN JAY, TONY HAWK, HART CRANE, TOM SWIFT, PETER FINCH, and the explainer entry BIRDMAN.

I needed something to make it different. I thought that maybe I could limit myself to fictional characters. In addition to the ones I used, I had Ichabod Crane, Frasier Crane, Atticus Finch and Jem Finch, Hudson Hawk, Bella Swan, Christopher Robin, and the "cuckoo" Pigeon sisters from "The Odd Couple": Gwendolyn and Cecily Pigeon. I noticed a lot of these were movie characters and then noticed that many were nominated for Oscars. So I went through all lists of Oscar-nominated roles to see if that would work, and I had success. I got lucky with how they were able to cross each other.

Like Peter mentioned, a theme done many times. Definitely important to add something extra. It is fortuitous that all five of these roles were Oscar-nominated … but that wasn't enough for me to distinguish it from all the rest of the instances Peter cited. It's unrelated to the theme, so even though it does create extra tightness in the theme set, it didn't feel relevant.

If only OSCARS ARE FOR THE BIRDS were a phrase in usage ...

I did enjoy the bonuses Peter added. TRIAMINIC, MASERATIS, BOND PAPER, even LABRADOR with its beautiful "chocolate-coated" clue. Even ARM CURL, TOM KITE, EXURBIA = fun for me to uncover.

Speaking of that "chocolate-coated" LABRADOR, awesome tie-in with the ENAMEL clue. Different kind of "canine" (tooth) coating!

A third fantastic clue in BAMBI, the symbol of gentle innocence. The movie is surprisingly heartbreaking (Try explaining what happens to BAMBI's MOM to your three-year old, though.)

My wife stopped doing Peter's Fireball puzzles, because they tend to contain so many esoteric proper names, sometimes making her feel like the grids were unsolvable. I wouldn't go that far — I still enjoy them, although I do encounter some grids I just can't finish.

I think educated solvers ought to know MASERATIS, but TRIAMINIC might be a toughie. ABIDJAN, too. And ELOI … huh. I felt like all crossings were ultimately solvable, but it did give the puzzle an esoteric feel.

Along with ERN, ALENE, ONE A, AGIN, it wasn't my favorite of Peter's grid executions.

(People say RIDIC now? Is that a thing? Sigh. That's just ridic.)

As a constructor, I can understand the allure of the interlock — so fortuitous when that happens! — but I think a much smoother grid might have been possible with a more traditional 10 / 11 / 15 / 11 / 10 (all-across) layout.