New York Times, Thursday, June 4, 2015

I had been collecting companion entries, e.g. MOIL and TOIL, for making the Schrodinger category of puzzle for what seemed like ages. Much of that search was facilitated by Matt Ginsberg's clue database which displays alternate entries with the same clue. (For instance, if I were to look up SIT, one of the clues [Meet] would also apply to FIT ... which differs by a single letter). Short-entry pairs like that were easy to come by, so I scratched my head to find something longer and stumbled upon 10-D and 25-D ... which differ by two letters. Good enough, I said.

Oddly enough, the placement of those long Schrodinger entries into a thematic presentation came only gradually; I initially thought the puzzle would be themeless. Even so, it quickly made sense to place a single entry vertically because of the orientation of these CAVERN growths in nature. From there it took a long while before I decided to depict them as two distinct entries. First, it seemed redundant, but the other mental block was having two, long, nearly-the-same, single-word entries in a puzzle: very taboo. Eventually the theme notion struck me, and it carried the day.

Now, having said all that, I should point out that the puzzle isn't the sort of Schrodinger puzzle where either theme entries is correct in either location: they make the best sense with one particular arrangement ... and I'm so naughty for this sly prank: Someone should look up what percentage of the population doesn't know which is which.

Here's one where I appreciated the puzzle much more after corresponding with the author. I like how Joe always pushes the envelope, virtually none of his puzzles using a standard crossword theme. After I solved this one, I didn't get the point of having STALAGMITE and STALACTITE being Schrodingers — there's only one correct answer, right?

Bingo! This puzzle is Joe's way of tripping up those solvers, making them see a Schrodinger when there really isn't one. An optical illusion, if you will. I like the concept.

The choices on Schrodinger entries … I really enjoyed CUT/GUT for [Undermine, as a government program] and GAPS / CAPS for [Features of some front teeth]. Those work so well, because either entry perfectly answers the clue. And GAPS is the obvious answer ... or so you think!

MOIL/TOIL isn't as good to me. They both fit the [Work hard] definition perfectly, but TOIL is so much more commonly used that MOIL didn't even occur to me. I plunked in TOIL and didn't look back — the trickery was totally lost on me, and I have a feeling I won't be the only one.

And while ISTS/ISMS both work as a [Plural suffix with organ], it's a shame that a feature entry of the puzzle would depend on it being defined as a suffix. I'd much rather a different Schrodinger pair be used; two normal words as with GAPS / CAPS. It would probably call for the lower left corner to be redone more simply, with shorter words, but I'd prefer that trade-off. Sorry, TORI AMOS!

A lot of strong entries like PAPER THIN, DIRT STAINS, ADMIT ONE — appreciated in a theme-light puzzle. But again, I would have liked a less wide-open puzzle, one where the puzzle didn't kick off with the type of ADELES, MISSAY and MCCI entries. That upper left corner tends to set impressions that are hard to overcome. It is pretty neat that Joe managed to execute this in a very low word count (70), but that often causes trade-offs involving gluey fill.