Quiara Vasquez author page
2 puzzles by Quiara Vasquez
with Jeff Chen comments
See the 14 answer words debuted by Quiara Vasquez.
The photo here of Ms. Vasquez is a self-portrait.
| W | O | Z | B | B | Q | P | O | R | K | B | U | N | ||
| A | L | E | S | Y | O | U | A | R | E | H | E | R | E | |
| V | I | N | E | P | R | I | D | E | F | L | A | G | S | |
| Y | O | G | A | P | A | N | T | S | L | O | R | E | ||
| A | B | U | S | E | D | B | E | E | ||||||
| D | R | O | S | S | A | J | A | X | F | L | U | |||
| J | U | D | A | S | C | Y | A | N | W | R | I | T | ||
| E | V | E | R | Y | B | O | D | Y | G | O | H | O | M | E |
| T | E | N | D | E | R | R | S | B | A | S | E | S | ||
| E | T | S | S | A | K | E | B | A | T | T | Y | |||
| C | H | U | A | P | E | M | A | N | ||||||
| T | A | L | E | I | M | O | N | A | D | I | E | T | ||
| B | O | R | E | I | N | M | I | N | D | A | X | L | E | |
| B | R | E | A | K | D | A | N | C | E | Y | O | B | A | |
| C | O | A | T | H | A | N | G | E | R | N | A | M |
My stranded-on-a-desert-island food would be BBQ PORK BUNs. Their pillowy softness, the rich aroma when you gently break it open, the redness so artificial that it looks like the Joker kissed it … I'd die of scurvy, but I'd die a happy (and chunky) man.
QUIT DAYDREAMING crossing EVERYBODY GO HOME as the puzzle's backbones? Talk about sucking the life out of the party! BORE in mind is right. Colorful, evocative answers, though, no doubt.
Several years ago, I helped a guy make a themeless around CRAPEHANGER, which tickled him (but which Will and Rich thought was too weird). Too bad I couldn't convince him to change it to something more like COATHANGER, which got a childlike riddle for a clue today: what has a hook and sometimes two claws?
I'm not the target since I exclusively wear 20-year-old t-shirts, but I'm sure COATHANGER connoisseurs laughed. (Claws apparently are notch-like features toward the ends?)
The cluing was spot-on today; Saturday-hard but written at a level that delivered great a-has. [Sports stud] … whoever will finally bring back my Sonics to Seattle? The Moneyball analyst behind the 2002 Oakland A's surge? Ah, the CLEAT!
BBC as [English Channel] has been used a few times. A spelling BEE needing a "spell checker" was brilliant, though!
And the best for last, PRIDE FLAGS are waving at those on their way out (of the closet). Playing on both "out" and "wave" makes for a fantastic twofer.
Although some long entries were downers — screw you, I'M ON A DIET, I'm gonna eat a dozen bao! — there was so much to enjoy elsewhere.
| G | G | G | G | B | E | A | U | T | F | F | F | F | ||
| R | A | U | L | A | M | I | N | O | A | R | T | Y | ||
| A | N | N | E | S | T | R | O | P | K | C | U | P | ||
| M | A | D | R | E | S | S | H | E | E | N | A | |||
| P | R | E | S | E | T | S | S | H | A | R | P | E | R | |
| S | Y | D | L | U | C | H | E | Y | S | S | T | |||
| B | A | S | I | L | ||||||||||
| S | N | O | W | B | A | L | L | E | F | F | E | C | T | S |
| A | T | B | A | Y | A | Y | S | O | M | A | H | A | ||
| C | H | A | T | T | E | R | T | R | A | P | P | E | D | |
| M | E | E | T | O | M | A | R | |||||||
| A | F | A | R | S | S | S | S | S | N | I | K | E | ||
| P | L | E | B | E | E | A | T | H | A | S | I | T | ||
| P | A | R | E | R | E | T | E | A | D | U | L | T | ||
| S | P | A | D | E | T | Y | R | W | A | N | N | A |
This puzzle grew on me.
Wait, stay before FORMing your opinion! You might think what I say is SWELL.
Is anyone else getting SWEaty?
Such an innovative rebus concept, one I've never quite seen before. SNOWBALL EFFECT is a perfect revealer to describe G GR GRO GROW, F FO FOR FORM, and S SW SWE SWEL SWELL. Note that GROW, FORM, and SWELL are synonyms for SNOWBALL — swell concept indeed!
Wise choice to separate the three rebus sequences as much as possible. The five-step SWELL is particularly challenging, so sectioning it so only the middle three rebus squares have to interact with each other is excellent construction strategy.
(There's even a TL;DR way to create a dummy grid to fill the south region totally on its own. I tested it to see if I could improve on ETE TYR and the SWEATY / SWELTER similarity, but the best I could do was SWAZI / SWEDES / SWELTER with ADT ZEE ISR crossings.)
That sectioning made the solving process extremely difficult, though. Even after uncovering SNOWBALL EFFECT, I was stuck in the NW and NE corners and even more so in the south region. My frustration eventually turned to awe, but I imagine the rebus-haters out there — and there are a lot — might create a snowball effect in our mailbox today.
While this was several standard deviations harder than an average Thursday, I love the incredible creativity.