Robert Cirillo author page
5 puzzles by Robert Cirillo
with Constructor comments
| S | I | C | K | T | H | O | S | Y | E | A | R | |||
| O | R | E | O | S | S | I | L | K | E | L | L | A | ||
| N | O | N | P | C | E | R | I | E | S | I | L | T | ||
| A | N | T | O | U | T | T | O | W | I | N | ||||
| T | O | R | O | N | S | D | O | D | G | E | ||||
| A | N | A | P | P | L | E | A | D | A | Y | O | R | A | |
| L | E | S | E | Z | I | P | L | I | N | E | S | |||
| A | B | B | A | A | M | T | O | O | A | T | W | T | ||
| C | O | A | L | E | S | C | E | G | U | N | G | |||
| I | N | N | C | H | I | C | K | E | N | S | O | U | P | |
| D | A | K | A | R | A | E | R | T | S | O | ||||
| S | U | B | M | E | R | S | E | H | M | S | ||||
| W | I | L | T | M | O | R | A | A | T | E | A | T | ||
| A | C | E | R | W | E | L | T | D | O | R | I | A | ||
| X | E | N | O | S | T | E | S | W | E | L | L |
I had the idea for this puzzle when my daughter was recovering from a cold, just as I was coming down with it. She was going one way on the word ladder while I was going the other. Puzzles come from the oddest places.
I thought the theme material needed to be a bit denser, so I added the additional food phrases to pull it together. I really wanted to keep USMAIL next to POSTAL, but paid for it with some blah fill, TSO and HMS.
I was glad to see my clues for DODGE and TOW survived editing. I hope everyone enjoys solving.
| M | I | D | I | H | I | K | E | S | B | O | T | |||
| I | M | I | N | D | O | R | I | T | O | A | P | R | ||
| M | A | S | Q | U | E | R | A | D | E | P | A | R | T | Y |
| E | X | H | U | S | B | A | N | D | R | B | I | S | ||
| E | D | U | C | D | E | C | A | N | T | |||||
| M | A | S | S | A | G | E | P | A | R | L | O | R | ||
| P | I | T | T | I | D | O | S | E | L | K | ||||
| A | D | O | M | A | A | N | D | P | A | L | E | I | ||
| A | E | R | A | F | R | O | A | L | A | N | ||||
| M | A | C | A | R | T | H | U | R | P | A | R | K | ||
| J | A | S | P | E | R | A | N | A | P | |||||
| A | D | U | E | U | R | S | A | M | A | J | O | R | ||
| M | A | R | D | I | G | R | A | S | P | A | R | A | D | E |
| E | G | G | M | O | D | E | L | T | E | V | E | N | ||
| S | E | E | S | O | U | S | E | L | A | S | T |
I first thought about this theme when I overheard someone on a TV show say "Ma and Pa." I don't even know what show it was because I was just passing through the room. (Anyone who has constructed a crossword will probably tell you that the curse that comes along with it is that anytime you hear a phrase, you immediately begin to think of theme possibilities.) Anyway, I thought of MASQUERADE PARTY and MASSAGE PARLOR immediately. I decided to research whether it had ever been done before. There was a NY Times puzzle in 2001 that used MA AND PA as the revealer, but it used MA__ MA__ and PA__ PA__ phrases. So, the MA__ PA__ pattern hadn't been done. A little more thinking and research led to MARDI GRAS PARADE (which I thought was cheating a bit because it's three words, but it was such a good phrase I decided to go with it) and MACARTHUR PARK (I have to admit I don't like the song).
When I submitted the original, Will returned it and asked me to get rid of some junk (EDO, GAR, E MAG, LBOs, and the partials A PLEA and I AM A). I had to rearrange the grid shape slightly to make this work to my satisfaction. In doing so, I learned first-hand that the crossword gods giveth and they taketh away. Reworking the grid allowed me to find EX HUSBAND and URSA MAJOR, better than the original PROUD MARY and CINEMATIC. However, my one regret about this puzzle was that in reworking it, I lost the words GYRATE and REAR which had been right next to each other (yes, deep down I'm still 13 years old). But overall the fill turned out much better I thought.
I wasn't very happy with UNAPT crossing A NAP. But I was willing to make that sacrifice for URSA MAJOR.
Hope you enjoy it!
| A | S | T | R | A | E | I | D | E | R | C | A | B | ||
| L | I | R | A | S | L | D | O | P | A | O | V | I | ||
| A | G | A | S | P | F | I | R | E | P | O | W | E | R | |
| W | H | I | T | E | S | M | O | K | E | P | E | R | T | |
| S | T | A | R | E | A | T | B | E | R | T | H | |||
| S | T | N | O | D | I | N | ||||||||
| S | P | I | C | E | S | B | I | R | D | B | A | T | H | |
| E | A | C | H | H | O | U | S | E | A | L | S | O | ||
| C | L | E | A | N | O | U | T | A | I | R | B | A | G | |
| N | O | T | I | P | M | S | ||||||||
| A | C | I | N | G | T | R | O | O | P | E | R | |||
| W | A | N | E | G | R | E | E | N | L | I | G | H | T | |
| F | U | L | L | C | O | U | R | T | A | E | R | I | E | |
| U | S | A | A | G | E | N | T | T | R | E | N | D | ||
| L | E | W | M | O | S | S | Y | E | S | T | E | S |
I enjoyed this type of theme when I was a newbie solver and always wanted to construct one. I know Will recently stated on this site that these types of themes are a bit old, but I think it's fun to see these kind of connections between words. Particularly, when there are so many "in the language" phrases that can be tied together by a common word.
I actually had two more themers that I squeezed into an earlier iteration of the puzzle, GUARD DOG and ROAD WORK, but the fill became too strained. Even with the current 6 theme answers and the revealer, it was a bit strained in places, most obviously at the crossing of ELFMAN and LDOPA. Hopefully, since the answers are from different disciplines, everyone will know at least one of them.
I liked the intersecting BIRTH and BERTH and IDIOT and DORK next to each other-reminds me of the movie Dumb and Dumber. I also liked FIRE and SMOKE next to each other. I think ASPERSE is a great word that you normally only hear in its noun form.
Mostly, I'd like to say I hope everyone has some fun solving it. That's what it's all about.
| P | L | A | Z | A | S | P | U | R | E | R | O | S | ||
| R | E | D | I | D | U | O | M | O | L | O | O | K | ||
| O | V | A | T | E | P | U | P | U | L | A | Z | Y | ||
| B | E | G | I | N | N | E | R | S | G | U | I | D | E | |
| E | R | E | A | A | R | H | M | O | S | |||||
| D | U | M | B | Q | U | E | S | T | I | O | N | |||
| S | O | I | R | E | E | U | K | R | G | T | O | |||
| I | N | N | E | R | D | E | E | C | A | N | O | E | ||
| L | T | S | B | Y | E | T | A | S | S | E | L | |||
| T | O | U | G | H | A | S | N | A | I | L | S | |||
| R | O | A | R | S | N | L | A | C | T | |||||
| L | A | D | Y | N | A | N | C | Y | A | S | T | O | R | |
| C | U | B | E | O | H | I | O | C | U | R | V | Y | ||
| U | C | L | A | W | O | N | T | A | M | I | E | S | ||
| E | K | E | D | L | Y | E | S | B | O | A | S | T |
| P | S | A | T | C | A | V | A | U | P | S | E | T | ||
| H | E | M | I | O | D | E | S | P | L | A | Y | A | ||
| I | M | A | M | R | O | T | O | T | A | X | E | D | ||
| L | I | S | B | O | N | B | O | N | B | O | N | |||
| E | S | S | E | N | C | E | A | P | E | M | A | N | ||
| R | O | O | G | E | T | A | E | L | O | |||||
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| T | H | A | D | T | O | A | I | O | T | A | ||||
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| H | O | I | C | A | H | N | H | U | T | |||||
| L | Y | C | E | E | S | S | A | T | I | A | T | E | ||
| B | O | T | T | O | M | T | O | M | T | O | M | |||
| L | T | G | O | V | U | N | I | T | A | T | O | M | ||
| A | S | O | N | E | B | Y | T | E | T | A | L | E | ||
| S | A | T | Y | R | A | X | E | L | E | R | S | T |