R | O | Z | I | M | P | A | R | T | M | O | P | |||
O | L | E | O | L | A | A | L | A | A | I | N | S | ||
F | I | S | H | C | O | M | P | L | I | M | E | N | T | S |
L | O | T | S | A | B | A | I | L | M | E | A | T | ||
T | H | R | O | W | N | A | L | O | O | P | ||||
A | C | T | O | N | E | T | A | J | ||||||
Q | U | I | P | P | E | A | R | M | I | A | T | A | ||
U | R | L | F | O | R | G | O | N | E | V | E | X | ||
I | L | L | B | E | R | E | B | A | F | I | N | E | ||
O | L | A | N | T | E | S | T | S | ||||||
C | A | N | T | S | A | Y | S | U | R | E | ||||
J | O | S | E | S | N | O | W | O | B | E | S | E | ||
O | H | C | R | Y | I | N | G | O | U | T | L | O | U | D |
S | A | O | U | S | U | A | L | S | E | N | I | D | ||
T | N | T | M | I | S | S | E | S | S | T | Y |
Several weeks ago, Chris contacted me, wanting advice on getting through a dry spell. I tried to help, combing through some of his rejections, assessing the situation.
The rejections were merited; problems with themes or grid work, or both. However, one concept had an interesting seed, so I suggested a complete overhaul, using a different approach.
Several weeks, dozens of emails, and a lot of revisions later, we stumbled across the finish line with a solid product I'm reasonably sure someone will take. Chris learned some things, and so did I. Hopefully his acceptance rate will go up from here. A few general takeaways that might help other constructors achieve more acceptances, too:
Editors have limited time, so make sure they see you as a person whose products won't require much revision, if any at all.
The theme is reasonable — FORGONE meaning "phrases removing FOR for kooky results" — and I got a big laugh out of FISH COMPLIMENTS. I did wish that the other themers had been as strong, and since there are dozens of other FOR phrases out there, other winners felt within reach. If there wasn't a matching 15, FISH COMPLIMENTS could have gone in the middle row, with FORGONE at the end. That also would have delayed the a-ha, which would have been nice.
L | E | T | S | D | O | T | H | I | S | T | H | I | N | G |
A | N | I | M | A | T | I | O | N | S | T | U | D | I | O |
H | A | D | A | L | O | N | G | W | A | Y | T | O | G | O |
A | M | I | C | I | S | T | A | L | U | N | G | S | ||
B | E | E | K | B | E | I | N | G | S | O | L | E | ||
A | L | S | V | A | L | E | T | E | D | T | E | D | ||
N | E | U | T | E | R | D | O | T | E | S | ||||
A | D | P | A | G | E | S | F | E | L | T | T | I | P | |
X | A | X | I | S | V | O | Y | A | G | E | ||||
A | M | A | S | A | M | I | S | E | N | C | O | T | ||
R | A | N | D | M | U | L | A | N | N | O | T | E | ||
A | R | A | I | L | L | E | U | G | A | B | O | R | ||
B | A | N | D | E | D | A | N | T | E | A | T | E | R | S |
I | C | A | N | N | O | T | T | E | L | L | A | L | I | E |
C | A | S | T | O | N | E | S | S | P | E | L | L | O | N |
Beautiful set of triple-stacks today. Typically I groan a little when I see 'em because of the tortured crossings that usually occur, but I really enjoyed today's. If it hadn't been for a small handful of questionable entries, I would have given it the POW. Extremely difficult to execute a perfect set of triple stacks, but this comes close.
Making it even more difficult, Chris's grid only uses 64 words. Typically puzzles with triple-stacks have more like 68 or 70 words, which makes the crossings easier to produce (typically, shorter words = more options available). But look at what Chris uses for crosses: long stuff like HOG TIED, IN WANT OF, TIDIES UP. Wow! The top stack is particularly nice, with the glaring exception of LA HABANA, which felt a bit like a "glue" entry to hold the stack together. Perhaps not to native Cubans?
Entries like LA HABANA which alternate consonant-vowel-repeat are very helpful in long constructions (because so many words and phrases exhibit this pattern). The use of all those As felt a little unsightly though, given that so many glue-y entries used them: LA HABANA, ANANAS, NATAL, A RAIL. A couple of lesser entries are fine to hold a nice construction together, but having them all be of the same pattern felt conspicuous. Sort of like if a single puzzle was stellar except for it had SSW, SST, SSS, and SSA — you'd notice that and think it a bit unsightly, yeah?
Beautiful cluing today. I was convinced "Marker's mark maker" had a typo until I realized that FELT TIP fit in perfectly (and that I might be drinking too much bourbon). "Bottom line?" was a fantastic wordplay-type clue for X-AXIS, and "Practice test?" for BAR EXAM also tickled me. But my favorite was the unassuming-looking "Square things", which misdirected "square" as an adjective, not a verb. Brilliant! It's this type of cluing that often makes a puzzle stand out for me, sometimes even more than the entries themselves.
While the top stack totally impressed me, the bottom gave me a slight hitch. I CANNOT TELL A LIE is fantastic, no doubt, especially with its fantastic clue. And CAST A SPELL ON is a great entry, but CAST ONES SPELL ON feels... rickety. Having the extra common letters of ONES (in alternating vowel-consonant pattern!) definitely helps in stacked constructions, but many times those phrases involving ONES feel a bit made-for-crosswords. And I would like BANDED ANTEATER if it were less a definitional entry (one that's difficult to clue without using the dictionary), but that plus its generally alternating v-c-v-c- pattern made it conspicuous to my eye. Ah well, you can't have it all.
Overall, an extremely impressive construction, the top half in particular, and a ton of great cluing.
G | O | D | E | L | E | S | C | H | E | R | B | A | C | H |
P | R | I | V | A | T | E | A | U | D | I | E | N | C | E |
S | U | M | A | N | D | S | U | B | S | T | A | N | C | E |
D | E | S | G | R | E | A | T | |||||||
P | A | N | E | S | P | H | I | L | I | N | D | S | ||
O | R | O | S | B | E | T | S | A | F | O | O | T | ||
T | A | K | Z | O | R | A | C | R | I | N | G | E | ||
S | P | O | K | E | O | F | F | T | H | E | C | U | F | F |
D | A | M | A | S | K | E | R | O | S | S | O | A | ||
A | H | I | N | T | Z | W | E | I | L | E | O | N | ||
M | O | S | S | D | E | W | Y | P | A | R | D | O | ||
A | T | A | R | I | A | I | M | |||||||
O | N | E | S | E | C | O | N | D | P | L | E | A | S | E |
P | U | T | S | T | H | E | K | I | B | O | S | H | O | N |
S | T | A | T | E | A | S | S | I | S | T | A | N | C | E |
S | O | B | E | R | E | D | U | P | M | O | D | E | L | |
A | L | A | N | A | D | A | L | E | A | L | E | X | A | |
P | E | N | I | N | S | U | L | A | J | I | L | T | S | |
S | A | D | D | L | E | B | A | G | O | V | E | R | T | |
A | L | E | R | A | R | E | G | A | S | |||||
O | N | S | E | T | S | C | A | P | I | T | A | L | U | |
P | O | E | M | E | K | E | V | I | N | T | A | P | ||
E | S | A | U | G | R | E | E | N | G | O | R | P | ||
N | Y | S | E | M | A | L | L | D | I | R | G | E | ||
I | P | O | D | N | A | N | O | C | E | N | S | E | R | |
N | A | N | E | T | T | E | M | I | X | |||||
G | R | A | T | E | P | O | I | N | T | L | E | S | S | |
A | K | B | A | R | O | R | D | E | R | A | R | M | S | |
C | E | L | I | E | O | D | D | M | A | N | O | U | T | |
T | R | E | N | D | L | O | Y | A | L | I | S | T | S |
A | T | L | A | S | S | K | I | T | O | M | S | |||
T | H | E | R | E | K | I | N | G | R | E | E | T | ||
R | E | T | A | R | G | E | T | S | H | A | N | E | Y | |
A | N | T | R | I | G | H | T | T | O | V | O | T | E | |
F | A | N | H | U | E | |||||||||
A | D | M | I | T | S | C | R | O | L | L | S | B | Y | |
N | E | A | L | E | A | H | E | M | D | O | R | A | ||
T | A | X | E | S | D | I | P | W | A | T | E | R | ||
I | T | I | S | L | I | P | O | E | T | H | A | N | ||
C | H | E | E | S | I | E | S | T | N | E | E | D | S | |
R | H | O | M | T | S | |||||||||
P | R | O | V | E | N | A | N | C | E | S | E | F | S | |
A | O | L | E | R | R | E | E | D | O | R | G | A | N | |
B | O | A | R | D | F | A | R | L | O | O | S | E | ||
A | M | Y | S | S | R | A | O | E | S | T | E |
E | P | I | T | A | P | H | J | E | W | E | L | E | R | |
T | H | R | I | L | L | A | U | N | I | T | I | V | E | |
H | I | A | L | E | A | H | S | T | R | O | B | E | S | |
E | L | I | R | N | A | T | O | E | E | L | O | |||
L | I | S | P | C | H | E | F | D | A | R | I | A | ||
S | P | E | A | R | A | N | O | N | R | A | N | K | ||
R | A | Y | G | R | A | C | K | L | E | S | ||||
A | T | D | E | T | L | M | T | R | A | I | ||||
E | G | G | S | H | E | L | L | L | E | S | ||||
L | A | L | A | S | A | I | D | D | A | B | L | L | ||
B | R | E | N | T | T | T | O | P | S | L | O | E | ||
O | B | I | W | V | U | R | I | P | O | S | A | |||
W | A | R | R | I | O | R | E | N | R | O | O | T | S | |
E | G | O | I | S | T | E | M | O | O | N | P | I | E | |
D | E | N | O | T | E | S | I | N | F | E | S | T | S |
T | A | L | I | A | R | V | A | L | U | E | H | B | O | M | B | |||||
O | R | I | N | G | A | I | L | I | N | G | I | M | P | A | I | R | S | |||
T | I | L | D | E | S | B | R | A | N | D | O | N | O | S | T | R | I | L | ||
E | S | T | R | E | E | T | B | A | N | D | A | T | V | D | D | A | Y | |||
M | E | S | A | C | O | I | L | S | P | O | O | I | P | O | D | |||||
G | M | A | N | B | U | R | N | E | L | W | O | O | D | |||||||
N | U | S | E | N | S | A | M | A | S | S | E | S | A | N | G | L | E | |||
S | H | O | T | A | T | M | D | A | S | H | S | K | Y | S | E | W | ||||
Y | A | C | H | T | L | U | M | P | S | U | M | E | T | E | S | |||||
N | U | K | E | S | A | S | I | S | P | A | Z | E | D | N | A | |||||
C | L | E | M | V | S | I | X | R | A | I | L | A | R | F | S | |||||
D | E | C | A | C | E | L | D | C | X | L | A | R | E | S | T | |||||
D | A | I | S | S | E | Q | U | O | I | A | P | E | T | T | Y | |||||
C | O | M | J | L | O | S | T | A | N | S | B | I | S | H | O | P | ||||
D | R | A | N | O | S | W | A | H | I | L | I | A | R | A | A | P | E | |||
C | A | R | O | L | S | T | T | O | P | R | E | N | A | |||||||
I | D | E | E | W | O | W | A | S | P | C | A | S | P | I | T | |||||
L | B | A | R | E | X | O | Y | C | H | R | O | M | O | S | O | M | E | |||
B | E | N | A | Z | I | R | C | H | U | R | R | O | S | N | I | P | E | R | ||
S | T | A | M | I | N | A | A | E | R | I | E | S | C | S | P | A | N | |||
S | A | G | G | Y | P | D | I | D | D | Y | D | I | A | N | E |