Miranda Kany author page
2 puzzles by Miranda Kany
with Jeff Chen comments
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We've had a few recipe puzzles over the years, but a recipe for one of my favorite sides — from a professional caterer? Yes, please! I'm intrigued by the addition of CUMIN. Skeptical, but again, the word of an experienced professional means a lot.
I lost track of all the ingredients, so I highlighted them below to make them stand out. Bam, look how neatly symmetric they are! I hadn't noticed this during my solve, and I appreciate the elegance.
I also enjoyed that SALT and CILANTRO intersect in a matching way to JALAPENO and LIME. That adds to the feeling of mixing up all the ingredients — much more so than when I tried my uneducated hand at it. Whoo, did I get a lot of puzzled looks from friends on that one.
It would have been great for the themers to stand out more. Shading them would have made the grid look too busy, but at least it would have made the fresh ingredients pop. It's rare for me to consider sacrificing themer symmetry, but if all the ingredients could have intersected in a criss-cross style — as if they were actively being mixed — that could have been a chaotically neat effect.
I enjoyed having some of the GUACAMOLE letters inside ingredients. It's a shame to not have all of them, though. Trying to achieve both themer symmetry AND all letters embedded into the ingredients feels impossible ... perhaps placing the GUACAMOLE letters in a perfectly round shape — no letters in any ingredients — would have been neater?
I'm not one to follow recipes, but I might just try adding CUMIN. Thanks for the advice, Miranda!