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Carolyn W. Stewart author page

21 puzzles by Carolyn W. Stewart
with Jeff Chen comments

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2112/26/20068/10/20151
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Carolyn W. Stewart
View these same grids with comments from:
Constructor (2)Jeff Chen (2)Jim Horne (1)Hide comments

See the 89 answer words debuted by Carolyn W. Stewart.

Collaborator: J. K. Hummel
Alternate names for this constructor:
C. W. Stewart, C.W. Stewart
Mon 8/10/2015
ACMEPHEWCHEAP
PEENLEGOLOOSE
SANDWEDGEOWNUP
ESTHAGSDTS
SEASIDENOHOPE
LPSPATEALB
RUBIKSCUBEODIE
ISLEERROLADZE
CEOSMARBLESLAB
ARCDIBSPIE
SKIRTSWHOSWHO
TEECROCHOP
FACESSAYCHEESE
EXAMSTREKPEER
NEWSYPARSALDA

Shapes of cheese today, a WEDGE, CUBE, BLOCK, WHEEL, and … SLAB? What, no Kraft American "cheese" SLICEs? As a somewhat lactose-intolerant fella who indulges in cheese (much to my wife's chagrin), it was neat to see some cheese-specific shapes. A WHEEL of cheese is so iconic, the big red disk of Edam. And who hasn't had a WEDGE of brie in their fridge?

Ever wonder if a Rubik's Cube is made of green cheese? No? Oh. Me neither.

I did some searching for "slab of cheese" but didn't turn up much. Why not include the much more common SLICE instead, I wondered. CW uses interlock (theme answers highlighted below), but this does create inflexibility:

  • Once you place SAY CHEESE — great revealer, BTW — some sort of cheese shape must cross that answer at the second E.
  • WHEEL works great for that purpose.
  • There aren't that many ?????? WHEEL options, and some other cheese shape must cross the fifth letter of that themer. Tough!

Looking at all the constraints, it's pretty cool that CW got the SAND WEDGE / RUBIKS CUBE / MENTAL BLOCK intersections to work out. I might have favored a non-interlocking layout in exchange for upgrading SLAB, but that's personal taste.

Given all the crossing themers, CW does a great job with the fill. Those areas in the middle of three themers — SEASIDE / WHISK / LPS and WHOS WHO / OASIS / PIE — are treacherously constrained. Neat to see very few gluey entries throughout the entire grid. DTS and NEWSY feel a little old-fashioned to me, but that's about it that I noticed.

CW's diagonal lines of black squares sort of segments the grid into three pieces — the NW corner, a diagonal swath from the SW to the NE, and the SE corner — which makes it easier to fill, as you can tackle one chunk at a time. That's not ideal for solvers though, potentially requiring them to jump around the grid instead of flowing through it like water. But considering how devoid the grid is of ugly entries, I think it's a fine trade-off.

Mon 2/10/2014
DUSKDASHASSES
UNTOITTYZOOMS
SCORECARDAUNTS
TALENTORALS
SPEARSPARECASH
NASHKAHUNA
AFLPOOLSETAS
CREATURECOMFORT
HANDTERRYSKY
ENDORAEARL
SCARECROWTEASE
ALEUTALASKA
YABBARECCENTER
EARLYARONTEEN
SHOESLINEORTS

Nice way to start out a week, an easy-breezy theme: phrases with REC smack dab in the middle. C.W. chose some nice themers, SPARE CASH and CREATURE COMFORT being my favorites. I always like hearing constructors' stories of how they came up with the idea, and C.W. doesn't disappoint. I imagine her listening to her sister until REC CENTER gets mentioned, followed by a lot of "uh huh" and "you don't say" while madly thinking of theme entries. And if you're wondering, no, I NEVER ignore people when I have a crossword theme idea... huh? Oh, sorry. I was listening to you. Really.

Good consistency, as each REC always breaks RE/C. I suppose it would be hard to find R/EC breaks anyway. A quick search over at onelook.com gives a heck of a lot of options for the RE/C split, many more than the R/EC. And when you add the constraint that REC be right in the middle of the phrase, the only entry I could find was BARTER ECONOMY. Being a finance and econ junkie, I love that phrase, but I can see how other (read: normal) people would start swearing up a blue streak.

One small issue did give me a slight pause. One was that I was expecting some sort of S* C* initials puzzle because of SCORECARD and SPARE CASH, and then SCARECROW only reinforced the idea (I mentally added an S to make it SCREATURE COMFORT — my brain does weird things). So it would have been nice to have one of those swapped out for a phrase not starting with an S. Maybe work in PRESSURE CHAMBER and/or VIGENERE CIPHERS? What, you don't like VIGENERE CIPHERS? I am a dork, ao euh av!

Now who's sorry they don't know their Vigenere ciphers. (insert smug look here)

Lovely NE corner up there, C.W. working in SOUS CHEF, KAHUNA, AZALEA, and HYDRA all in one region. Totally makes the SSS worth it for me.

A final note on our crossword friend, ORTS. I remember the first time I ran into ORTS in a puzzle. I said "I gotta know what an ORT is to do a crossword?" and didn't do another one for a while. So I try to keep that in mind with every construction I do, often scrapping an entire grid if I'm forced to use an ORT or ADIT or ANOA. Opinions will vary of course, some people enjoying learning esoterica for its own sake, some reflecting fondly on the Maleska days. To each their own, but I'd so much rather have a couple of five-letter partials and plurals than a single ORT.

Anyway, an enjoyable diversion.

Mon 4/29/2013
GABBYCOBRAWWW
AGILEAREASAHA
SHEENSBEANSGIG
PARSPICKEROSE
SWANKSFRANKS
SLIMEATIT
LAKESCAKESDRAB
OVITAPINTOANO
PADSPITTSGRITS
YORELANES
MOORESSMORES
ABUTSAARECATS
IONHAWNSPRAWNS
NEOINIGOALEUT
ESTPINONPSSTS
Mon 9/3/2012
BALEADDSPERMS
ELULNOWSAVAIL
BOXSCORESRIFLE
OHORIALSALTED
PARKINGLOTS
ISTGOOTAE
FSTOPWORKLOADS
UTESTEPEETRIP
JUNKHEAPSPHONY
INSINVRUE
BEERBARRELS
DEFEATORTSLEE
ISAACQUITEAFEW
BATCHETALLICE
SUSHIDENYINHD
Mon 7/9/2012
TOPAZHANGAGEE
OKAPIALOEDUNG
LAWSTUDENTDENY
DYNEROCSETSUP
BANKDEPOSIT
DOTELLOVA
APOLOSAMETARP
NEWSCOMMENTATOR
ANNEUEYSAROMA
STLFLOPPY
RECORDLABEL
AVATARHUTCROP
VENTICEMACHINE
ERTENEAPOATER
STIRKEDSBREAK
Tue 10/25/2011
SIPSHUSHINFER
COALOHIONEIGH
ANNANOLOFARGO
MIDNIGHTHOUR
SCATSATTSHA
MATTHOUSTON
MAMAROOROAST
APARTMENTHOUSES
MINCETAESHAY
BASSETHOUND
ONESHEOUTDO
WHEREARTTHOU
CAPRIBLUEURNS
SWEARASKSROUT
INAPTLESTNETS
Sun 6/12/2011 PULLET
BEATARCHTSARSPOTON
ATLEISURERARAHADAGO
SALTWATERTAFFYOPINED
APNEAGENEVASYRINGES
LEINEEDNERFITS
GONERRELIEFPITCHER
ISHTARCOTNAPELANE
BATHPROOLDIERASTA
EMEERRIMINIREPENTED
TERRAEMINENTEDGERS
PUPPETSTRINGS
SHARPSRELEASEEAGER
CAREENEDRELINEABUSE
ATOLLDOINGPOTANNA
REMILINTSSTHITTER
PRACTICALJOKETONER
OTTLORIFOOLIFS
SOURPUSSTALLERANGLE
IMPAIRLITTLEREDWAGON
BITINGULEEMARESNEST
STODGYREDDSLOWURSA
Tue 3/1/2011
MEWSPLANSCADS
AMAHTOMEHAREM
NASAACUTEANGLE
TITHEASSAMOIL
ALEVOTEAGAINST
ADELELEND
LOWENDPERESPY
AVASTQTSCAPER
MAYIBUSPUTONS
RHEAEGRET
LATEARRIVALOBI
ICIVERSESAFES
RABBITEARSITLL
ALIENLASEMETE
SLANGSCOWSASS
Mon 12/27/2010
BATMANRPMSEE
AROUSEAEROTAX
BENCHWARMERATA
SASHSCALALIL
CASHPAYMENT
STOPUPTSE
MILLERLITERARE
UNDIDEREUMIAK
TEENRIVERSEDGE
TOETENSES
NASHRAMBLER
IZECREEPWOKE
PUTHERESJOHNNY
PROINITEDITOR
YENDDTDEMOTE
Tue 1/5/2010
SCOFFTBARSLOW
AUDIORITAKEPI
STOREDETECTIVES
HEREAVEIODINE
DRNOSEE
SNAREDRUMSDUMA
WARILYBUTASIN
EVILSFOGBRINK
DEALPEACLENCH
ELLSOUTEREDGES
REDLODE
AFLOATPICVISA
TEACHEREDITIONS
ITCHSOREALLAH
TEESSTUDOSAGE
Thu 9/3/2009
PATMOREONEARTH
AREOLESBEANERY
CONNIVESHUNNED
KOSOVOPEINEE
CACTUSISU
FEELTOSSSIGHT
LACEAIMTERROR
ASIHELOISEAWE
MERGESTOAVETS
ELBOWSTLOEROS
YONHOARDS
AWNDABPOSING
BANGKOKAMNESIA
EVASIVEDUELING
DEFAMESDRESSES
Mon 7/13/2009
ADLERGARTHDAT
CRUDEALOHAROO
MANUALLABORARK
EGGMIAMIDANTE
PERSONALLOAN
ARMADAWIG
POURSPOOFEBB
SPIRITUALLEADER
EERGEESENITA
ENEZANTAC
DIAGONALLINE
ROTORLEONAAPO
AWEALLTUCKEDIN
MASNAOMIIRENE
ANTTOTESNESTS
Wed 3/4/2009
ICOMEILAWASKI
LOPEZSARADAIS
ELENITWIGABLE
TALONENDOWMENT
REAPNRA
ICLASSBASINETS
LEAHABELSTARE
ALBINOROUTTEN
SLAYSSTERMEAT
TONELESSSTANDI
SENBAAL
SANDSTONESALSA
ISEEAREATBILL
TORAIMETEASEL
IFORLEDIDRAWI
Tue 12/9/2008
ARYANSDATEMAP
PEORIAINONALE
PLUMPUDDINGITT
PTASRAZES
SCARLETTANAGER
LADIESNAVE
ATOMSWHITESALE
NEBERASEWON
GREENMILEBEARD
ROMEERMINE
MUSTARDPLASTER
CONTEALEC
LOBPEACOCKBLUE
USAARCHTERESA
EERDATASTREET
Wed 5/28/2008
BUMFOALPROMS
ICEATLISOVIET
BLACKTIESPENCE
BATHEBUTTERCUP
HARITOSTERE
AVERSEOBIDEE
REALBLATANT
CEDEBALLSESPY
STEPPERLORE
BADIDSALLFOR
EMOTEERGEST
GUMERASERCOSTS
ELIXIRHIGHNOON
TENANTAPSEARI
TONGSBEARPEP
Mon 3/17/2008
ESAUSODATLAST
BANSCRYROADIE
BYGEORGETENURE
SALYEARGLEN
HEAVENSTOBETSY
BENOLE
SATBYGOODGOLLY
ATIEIRATENEMO
OHMYSTARSGETNO
IAMHIT
WELLBLOWMEDOWN
AXELHARDHUE
REVAMPOHMYWORD
TREMORLEAHOSE
STEADYERNOPEN
Mon 3/3/2008
MARIEADDSACT
AMANDANUDERHO
TONSILGETAGRIP
ENGTEALEONS
GETOUTOFTHEWAY
ERTEREA
URSAHEADGEAR
GETTHISSTRAIGHT
HOUSESATROSE
LAGMAST
GETALOADOFTHAT
ANONYOURFUN
GETALIFESONATA
OREOVERENACTS
NODBYESGETIT
Tue 1/29/2008
FANGSCLASSFLO
ADEALYAHOOLIZ
BOWLINGBALLALA
AMINOOSKAR
TAPTURTLENECK
ELAPSESAIDA
NOVAEEPAROMA
THEYCANBEROLLED
SASHMOBWEDGE
IDOLSUNDIAL
QUAKEROATSENE
UNDERDEMOS
ATAMOVIECAMERA
RIGARIELFUMES
TEELOCUSSTUDS
Tue 8/14/2007
ICONTAPEBRAN
NANUIMAXAURAS
STEMNINCOMPOOP
SOYSEREMMA
LOCKEBIRDBRAIN
AMOURREPEAT
PILLPOSTALDJS
STELLALEDOUT
ESSARETESUNDO
ELOPERSMEAR
DINGALINGOBESE
AGOGETDALB
NOODLEHEADESPY
SONYSERMALOGO
NEEDTSARLUAU
Mon 1/22/2007
ROTMARCOAMOR
EVELDWELLLAMA
LANECLOSEDEDEN
ELENALEASEEGG
ESTATEWRONGWAY
ELFDONO
NOPARKINGARMS
BRADSBIOISSET
CANISTOPAHEAD
TEASNAG
NOOUTLETDRYADS
ELMMIREDEATIT
SLIMDONOTENTER
TIMEESSESGIGA
SEENREESECOP
Tue 12/26/2006
FRAGSALAEDGE
RENOIRBAREBEAR
ALGOREOPENBARS
MOOSEMOUSSERET
EAREDNNESAD
DDAYLADDSREBA
POIESTEEM
GOBORRPIEREA
ERODEDANT
MEADSACRECPAS
RESDOESLAIN
ORBHOARSEHORSE
COOLIDGERESALE
HAREHAIRNEEDER
OMENYOSPRESS
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