Matthew Trout author page
1 puzzle by Matthew Trout
with Jeff Chen comments
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| A | L | O | E | R | I | M | E | U | N | T | I | E | ||
| W | A | R | R | I | O | R | P | R | I | N | C | E | S | S |
| S | N | L | C | U | S | S | E | D | H | A | L | T | ||
| D | I | E | S | I | M | I | L | E | S | |||||
| K | O | M | O | D | O | D | R | A | G | O | N | |||
| O | M | A | N | W | O | O | O | G | L | E | S | |||
| L | I | P | C | N | T | O | W | E | R | O | A | T | ||
| A | T | S | E | A | M | E | L | O | N | C | E | |||
| G | L | A | D | Y | S | K | N | I | G | H | T | |||
| I | N | V | O | I | C | E | A | L | E | |||||
| N | Y | E | T | C | R | A | N | I | A | V | I | A | ||
| F | A | I | R | Y | T | A | L | E | E | N | D | I | N | G |
| E | L | L | I | E | I | P | A | D | O | T | O | E | ||
| R | A | S | P | S | L | O | P | S | S | Y | N | E |
PRINCESS, DRAGON, KNIGHT at the ends of phrases, perfectly described by FAIRYTALE ENDING? I can almost hear my six-year-old daughter squealing with delight!
Oh, right, that is her — I'm stuck in our spare bedroom while she's doing online school downstairs, and that's her squealing straight through the ceiling. Not exactly a fairytale ending.
Ah! I didn't notice TOWER at first, since CN TOWER is such a shortie that it doesn't pop. So there's a story developing … the PRINCESS sees the DRAGON trapped in the TOWER by the evil KNIGHT? Now that's a FAIRY TALE I could get into.
I appreciate when a debut constructor shows care, both in selecting great long bonuses (WORLD MAPS!) while minimizing gloopy short stuff. ACCT and DER are so minor that it's ticky-tacky to mention them. Pretend I didn't.
The only spot that could use polishing: the southeast, with STET OTOE SYNE crossing AGEE — that's rough for a newer solver. More experienced ones rattle off AGEE easily, but man, that little corner is fraught with peril. Testing out different options where LONGEVITY sits could have helped, since the V creates grid inflexibility.
Okay, I might have said NYET to NYALA, too. That's a harder fix, since EGO TRIP doesn't have as many replacement options, but a black square at the I of INFER could have facilitated better options.
Overall, a fun theme, which is by far the most important aspect of a crossword. At first, I wanted reordering, to have the PRINCESS in the TOWER, confronted by the DRAGON and then saved by the KNIGHT, but non-traditional themes help earn POW! consideration.