Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
---|---|---|---|
55 | 12/11/2011 | 1/9/2022 | 2 |
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 24 | 0 | 2 |
Rebus | Circle | Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 16 | 1.62 | 263 | 58% |
Tracy Gray's clever "Infractions" puzzle was my creative inspiration here. I loved Tracy's concept of representing a third word by stacking two unrelated words, so I tried to find a new twist on that type of thematic expression.
In general, the fill in most areas of this heavily constrained grid is decent. The SE, NE and SW corners are all pretty nice. Maybe changing LODI to LOKI and re-filling the SW would be a slight upgrade. But it's hard to imagine a way to improve the SE corner, given its triple-stacked, unmovable theme answers. Nor was there anything to be done to eliminate NIC and CMI beneath DISTANCE / TIME.
I did make two indisputable mistakes:
In the NW I messed up by using SAURON at 23a, which produced the entries OBS (ungood) and ACTA (doubleplusungood). Having struggled for so long to finish the trickiness of the rest of the grid, I was slipshod in filling that section and never considered alternatives to the Dark Lord after I saw he'd fit. It evidently didn't take much for me to fall under his evil sway. I would be a terrible Ring-bearer.
The mistake at the grid's bottom (DE TROP instead of BETTOR at 64a) can be chalked up to inexperience. The reason for NOR I instead of NOT I, CDS instead of CBS and MPS instead of MRS was that I was endeavoring not to duplicate the I in DARE I / SAY. These days I wouldn't blink twice at such a repeat. DE TROP is legitimate, but BETTOR would have been a substantial improvement. The kicker to all of this, of course, was that Will ended up cluing NOR I as [Me neither] instead of [Seaweed wrapped around sushi] — creating the very duplication I had contorted the fill to avoid in the first place.
That physics-related ERG hanging out at the center of the grid? Pure happenstance. Some people liked its inclusion there as an easter egg, and others found it inelegant. Tough to say.
PRESSURE=FORCE/AREA, SPEED=DISTANCE/TIME, DENSITY=MASS/VOLUME
1 O | 2 B | 3 S | 4 A | 5 F | 6 I | 7 R | 8 S | 9 T | 10 T | 11 W | 12 I | 13 G |
||
14 R | A | T | 15 S | L | O | O | P | S | 16 H | O | N | E |
||
17 C | R | A | 18 C | K | U | N | D | E | R | 19 F | O | R | C | E |
20 A | C | T | A | 21 E | S | S | A | 22 A | R | E | A | |||
23 S | A | U | R | 24 O | N | 25 K | 26 O | S | ||||||
27 R | E | D | U | C | 28 E | 29 D | I | S | T | 30 A | 31 N | 32 C | 33 E |
|
34 T | Y | R | A | N | T | 35 T | I | M | E |
|||||
36 H | 37 A | 38 Z | 39 E | S | 40 E | R | G | 41 C | E | C | I | L |
||
42 E | G | A | D | 43 I | C | E | T | 44 E | A | |||||
45 P | O | P | U | 46 L | A | T | I | O | N | M | 47 A | 48 S | 49 S | |
50 O | N | O | 51 V | O | L | U | M | 52 E |
||||||
53 T | 54 H | 55 U | D | 56 R | 57 A | 58 N | I | 59 O | L | E | S |
|||
60 P | H | Y | S | I | 61 C | S | F | O | R | 62 M | U | L | A | S |
63 C | O | M | E | 64 D | E | T | R | O | P | 65 E | R | E |
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66 P | U | N | S | 67 S | T | A | I | N | S | 68 N | Y | X |
Answer summary:
4 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Modern Era but used previously.
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