Alina Abidi author page
4 puzzles by Alina Abidi
with Jeff Chen comments
| Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 8/18/2021 | 11/15/2024 | 1 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
|---|---|---|
| 1.61 | 20 | 45% |
See the 20 answer words debuted by Alina Abidi.
Alina Abidi grew up in California, and currently lives in Pittsburgh, where she works as a software engineer at Duolingo. She enjoys making pasta, climbing (easy, indoor) rocks, practicing the same one song on guitar ("Operator" by Jim Croce) and wearing socks with sandals.
| B | L | I | N | I | Y | E | S | W | I | L | D | |||
| R | A | R | I | N | G | T | O | G | O | A | V | I | A | |
| I | C | A | N | S | E | E | Y | O | U | S | E | N | T | |
| M | E | N | I | N | T | O | P | R | A | G | U | E | ||
| O | G | R | E | I | C | E | B | O | X | |||||
| E | V | E | R | H | E | A | R | D | O | F | I | T | ||
| R | E | A | C | T | T | E | E | N | S | T | I | P | ||
| M | A | R | A | G | E | R | M | S | C | A | M | I | ||
| A | L | L | L | E | T | U | P | S | A | G | A | N | ||
| Y | O | U | R | E | N | O | T | W | R | O | N | G | ||
| E | V | I | C | T | S | T | A | I | L | |||||
| C | L | O | S | E | R | H | E | R | S | B | L | T | ||
| L | U | T | E | U | P | I | N | T | H | E | A | I | R | |
| I | D | E | A | D | O | N | T | T | E | L | L | M | E | |
| P | E | R | U | E | X | T | R | I | D | E | S |
| R | A | P | D | U | O | C | T | R | L | Z | E | B | R | A | F | I | S | H | ||
| E | L | O | I | S | E | A | R | E | A | A | D | A | P | T | E | D | T | O | ||
| G | I | N | G | E | R | B | R | E | A | D | B | I | N | G | E | R | E | A | D | |
| A | N | D | E | S | O | R | A | L | B | A | B | E | S | R | A | N | G | |||
| L | E | S | S | I | P | A | D | P | U | R | L | S | H | E | S | S | E | |||
| T | O | N | I | C | P | E | R | S | E | B | O | T | ||||||||
| S | E | N | A | T | E | S | E | A | T | A | S | S | E | N | T | |||||
| S | P | A | D | E | R | E | A | R | J | D | A | T | E | M | O | E | ||||
| A | R | I | O | M | E | L | E | T | W | A | R | D | S | O | P | T | S | |||
| M | I | D | F | O | C | U | S | D | A | L | A | I | P | R | A | T | T | |||
| C | U | T | F | R | O | M | T | H | E | S | A | M | E | C | L | O | T | H | ||
| D | E | N | I | S | T | P | A | I | N | P | A | U | L | A | H | E | N | |||
| E | C | C | E | H | A | I | R | S | M | E | S | S | E | S | I | R | A | |||
| C | A | L | T | E | X | A | S | B | A | N | A | M | A | Z | E | S | ||||
| O | P | E | N | E | R | E | R | R | O | R | P | R | O | N | E | |||||
| I | N | S | G | E | N | I | E | A | R | E | N | T | ||||||||
| L | A | C | E | D | P | R | U | D | E | S | T | I | R | I | D | O | L | |||
| E | T | A | L | B | L | O | C | S | A | P | T | S | C | H | I | L | E | |||
| A | R | M | S | R | E | A | C | H | C | R | E | A | M | C | H | E | E | S | E | |
| F | I | R | E | E | A | T | E | R | U | G | L | I | V | E | R | G | E | D | ||
| S | A | Y | N | O | M | O | R | E | P | O | L | L | S | W | O | O | N | S |
| F | O | G | S | I | G | M | A | L | A | W | ||||
| O | A | R | R | A | T | R | A | C | E | A | L | E | ||
| L | S | U | U | N | S | E | A | L | S | T | O | E | ||
| K | I | N | G | M | E | U | P | W | I | N | D | |||
| S | T | A | B | M | O | O | N | I | N | E | ||||
| S | A | L | M | O | N | R | U | N | ||||||
| G | I | R | L | Y | A | H | O | O | D | J | E | D | ||
| A | V | O | I | D | S | N | O | O | D | L | E | |||
| F | O | X | T | R | O | T | C | A | T | W | A | L | K | |
| F | R | I | S | L | O | G | A | N | S | T | E | E | ||
| E | Y | E | D | U | M | P | S | E | N | D | ||||
| B | E | A | R | C | R | A | W | L | ||||||
| S | O | H | A | V | E | I | E | M | A | I | L | M | E | |
| G | R | O | C | E | R | S | S | A | N | D | A | R | T | |
| T | O | P | K | N | O | T | E | N | D | E | M | I | C |
★ Five fun (animal) + (pace) themers — a fast and furry-ious WITT (Wish I'd Thought of That) moment!
It's also a tight set. Can you think of any other possibilities? I've done a Thanksgiving Day TURKEY TROT 5K, but that duplicates FOX TROT. I spent a dog day wracking my brain for a single other phrase that would fit the pattern, but after mumbling "monkey jog, pig shuffle, puppy scamper," my wife was not a happy camper.
AND all the themers are arranged in order, from fastest pace to slowest?
When people ask me what I mean by "extra layer" — as in the competition is so fierce these days that you need something extra to stand out — look no further. Such smart use of mirror symmetry to achieve this feat.
For the sake of balanced analysis, I'll point out that some SGT ORO AERO AMAN could have been massaged out by adding cheater squares at the second T of TOURIST and the first E of ENDEMIC, but there's a case to be made that these are worthwhile costs for the benefits of TOURIST, SAND ART, CAPRESE. And that Jeff's nitpicking is endemic.
At first, I wanted some revealer to tie it all together neatly. The best I could come up with, though, was ANIMAL STYLE. Not only does that not fit neatly, but animal style fries are the opposite of neat.
Ultimately, the theme stands on its own with no revealer, and with such elegant execution, it's such a standout.
| P | A | R | M | E | G | A | D | O | B | O | E | |||
| O | R | E | O | S | A | R | G | E | F | L | U | S | ||
| P | I | N | T | H | E | T | A | I | L | F | A | T | S | |
| H | O | E | P | L | U | M | N | S | A | |||||
| F | E | B | O | N | T | H | E | D | O | N | K | E | Y | |
| W | H | A | T | F | O | R | E | R | E | C | T | S | ||
| D | O | D | O | T | E | E | P | G | A | |||||
| W | H | I | T | E | E | L | E | P | H | A | N | T | ||
| A | L | A | F | D | A | T | V | A | D | |||||
| O | R | I | E | N | T | A | P | P | E | A | S | E | ||
| P | A | R | T | Y | A | N | I | M | A | L | S | K | I | |
| I | T | D | A | T | O | N | Y | U | K | |||||
| N | E | A | T | T | H | O | M | A | S | N | A | S | T | |
| E | D | Y | S | L | O | N | G | S | O | H | N | O | ||
| D | E | S | K | E | W | E | S | T | A | L | E |
★ It's rare that we get treated to two layers of revealers. I hit PARTY ANIMALS and was underwhelmed by the thinness of the theme — why not toss in a couple more animal-related party games, like duck duck goose or dogpile? (Combining the two is not recommended; it sadly happens every night at my house.)
Then I hit THOMAS NAST. How is he a PARTY ANIMAL … then my brain exploded.
It's not just that PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY and WHITE ELEPHANT are party games with animals. They're the only two party games that use the Democratic and Republican animals!
Absolutely brilliant.
That delayed set of mental fireworks would have been enough to win a POW! But the puzzle didn't stop there. Top-notch gridwork, with excellent bonuses in BLANK CANVAS, BAD HAIR DAYS, along with WHAT FOR? and PAPAYAS. Such meticulous gridding, too, with no short entries that would trigger universal editorial frowns.
(Maybe FLUS in the plural is slightly odd.)
Hilarious clue for EHOW. I'm no mayo fan, but I couldn't stop reading the article about its multitude of uses. Great cluing angle on HOOF, too, eschewing the boring horse or cow route, going with centaur.
All of this — in a debut. Puzzles like this make me even more optimistic about the future of crosswords, in excellent hands with up-and-comers like Alina.