E | M | M | A | F | I | R | M | M | A | I | D | |||
M | A | N | N | O | C | C | A | M | A | C | M | E | ||
M | P | E | G | R | A | M | B | O | D | A | M | E | ||
E | L | M | S | U | M | P | D | I | A | D | E | M | ||
T | E | E | T | I | M | E | H | U | M | M | E | D | ||
R | M | S | M | O | L | E | M | I | A | |||||
S | A | M | O | S | M | A | M | E | T | I | A | M | ||
E | L | E | M | M | A | N | E | S | M | E | T | E | ||
A | M | T | M | E | N | D | S | M | O | S | E | S | ||
M | A | R | E | D | O | M | S | U | M | |||||
M | O | H | A | I | R | L | I | M | E | A | D | E | ||
M | A | N | I | L | A | D | I | M | N | M | E | X | ||
A | T | O | M | N | A | O | M | I | T | A | M | A | ||
N | E | M | O | S | I | M | B | A | U | N | U | M | ||
O | R | E | M | M | O | O | N | M | A | R | S |
Stunt puzzle, every entry containing the letter M. We've seen plenty of these before, some with better raisons d'être than others. M AND M was meant to hint at the idea? I got confused. There's just one M in most entries, right? Why is M AND M apt?
Aha, every clue starts with the letter M too. Perhaps that's our second M? It's a mark of smoothness in the cluing that I didn't notice this right away — often, it's too easy to tell when clues are stunted up because many of them sound stilted. There was only one that gave me pause: I remember thinking that MODULES and [Mathematical sets] didn't quite match. Why not just clue it as [Sets]? Ah, right. The telltale M!
As with most stunt puzzles of this nature, there's a good amount of crossword glue — stuff that editors tell you to avoid, like abbreviations, partials, deep esoterica, etc. — to wade through. I stopped counting after I hit 10. For reference, I stop thinking a grid is elegantly crafted after I hit about 3.
That doesn't mean it's a bad puzzle or a bad grid. It's just the price you pay as a constructor for being able to achieve the feat. So much of construction is about trade-offs, what you're willing to put solvers through in order to pull off your idea.
I did like some of the long entries, ALMA MATER, METRONOME, ANGSTROM, and MOMENTUM in particular. But overall, it wasn't quite enough for me to feel like all the trade-offs were worth it.
I did enjoy the moment of clarity when I realized why M AND M was a good(ish) themer though, and there was a lot of solid work in cluing, making all the M-starts sound innocently natural.
P | A | C | T | H | A | N | G | S | T | A | N | |||
A | M | A | I | N | A | M | O | R | L | E | T | O | ||
C | A | R | P | E | L | O | V | E | B | O | A | T | S | |
A | L | L | O | A | L | L | O | T | A | B | L | E | ||
F | I | F | T | E | E | N | M | E | N | E | N | D | ||
I | N | F | E | R | A | L | A | M | O | D | E | |||
S | O | C | H | I | A | N | O | N | ||||||
T | H | I | R | T | Y | S | O | M | E | T | H | I | N | G |
H | E | R | O | T | E | S | L | A | ||||||
A | R | I | Z | O | N | A | E | X | I | S | T | |||
W | I | S | F | O | R | T | Y | N | I | N | E | R | ||
T | H | R | U | M | E | P | I | C | U | R | E | S | ||
G | A | M | E | S | O | V | E | R | A | R | E | N | A | |
A | G | E | D | R | E | N | E | B | E | N | C | H | ||
L | E | N | S | E | T | A | S | D | A | H | L |
B | I | A | S | C | I | V | I | C | H | A | A | S | T | W | A | S | ||||
O | R | G | Y | O | N | E | A | L | I | L | S | A | C | H | I | L | L | |||
H | A | U | L | K | A | N | G | A | G | O | T | O | H | A | N | O | I | |||
R | E | A | L | M | E | N | D | O | N | T | H | E | A | T | Q | U | I | C | H | E |
A | I | D | E | G | A | L | S | O | U | R | E | A | R | |||||||
L | E | T | B | E | E | C | O | L | I | M | A | C | H | |||||||
I | T | H | I | N | K | T | H | E | R | E | F | O | R | E | I | H | A | M | ||
N | A | E | N | A | S | A | E | O | E | D | Y | N | A | S | T | |||||
G | L | E | A | S | O | N | S | A | S | O | W | L | D | R | E | A | ||||
R | E | B | D | E | L | T | A | H | A | I | R | L | I | N | E | S | ||||
A | D | O | R | A | B | L | E | P | A | C | S | P | O | U | T | E | R | S | ||
S | E | V | E | N | Y | E | A | R | H | I | T | C | H | P | V | T | ||||
A | M | E | S | O | R | E | D | E | N | R | E | S | O | R | T | S | ||||
P | O | R | T | A | L | M | D | S | O | N | E | I | I | O | U | |||||
S | E | T | O | N | E | S | T | E | E | T | H | O | N | H | E | D | G | E | ||
R | E | G | O | P | A | N | E | L | U | V | E | A | S | |||||||
S | T | U | L | O | U | S | E | C | T | E | T | N | A | |||||||
H | E | R | R | I | N | G | O | N | T | H | E | R | I | G | H | T | S | I | D | E |
A | R | G | U | E | A | L | E | E | B | O | N | G | O | I | M | A | X | |||
F | R | E | E | R | T | E | A | R | B | A | T | E | S | O | H | M | E | |||
T | E | S | S | S | O | D | S | E | R | O | D | E | N | O | E | S |
B | A | B | A | B | A | N | C | S | C | A | B | |||
A | B | O | M | B | E | L | B | A | P | A | B | A | ||
G | U | M | B | O | A | B | C | S | A | B | B | R | ||
S | T | A | L | B | A | N | S | B | Y | R | O | A | D | |
E | B | B | S | A | B | E | T | S | ||||||
B | A | R | R | I | O | A | B | H | O | R | ||||
A | B | E | N | U | B | B | Y | R | I | G | B | Y | ||
N | I | B | S | T | A | B | O | R | B | O | L | O | ||
S | T | A | U | B | R | E | B | E | C | B | U | B | ||
B | O | S | S | Y | B | A | B | I | E | S | ||||
B | R | U | S | H | B | E | B | E | ||||||
B | E | A | R | E | R | B | E | L | L | L | A | B | S | |
L | A | M | B | U | B | E | R | E | L | B | O | W | ||
A | L | B | A | B | I | E | N | D | E | B | R | A | ||
B | E | O | N | S | O | B | E | S | A | A | B |
E | G | G | S | E | T | S | G | R | O | U | N | D | ||
E | A | S | Y | L | E | I | L | O | N | D | O | N | ||
G | R | A | B | Y | A | K | O | T | T | A | W | A | ||
A | D | S | H | A | W | A | L | A | ||||||
D | E | C | R | I | E | D | D | E | E | P | L | Y | ||
U | P | R | I | V | E | R | H | D | L | |||||
C | O | A | T | I | O | N | E | E | R | E | C | T | ||
A | C | T | E | D | P | A | R | C | O | P | R | A | ||
T | H | E | S | E | O | N | E | T | A | C | I | T | ||
U | R | U | N | O | I | S | O | M | E | |||||
S | N | A | P | A | T | T | R | O | T | T | E | R | ||
P | A | T | T | S | K | S | N | L | ||||||
P | I | U | S | I | I | U | Z | I | A | M | I | E | ||
A | R | R | E | S | T | R | O | N | M | I | N | D | ||
Y | O | U | A | R | E | T | O | O | B | O | D | Y |