Ryan Patrick Smith author page
4 puzzles by Ryan Patrick Smith
with Jeff Chen comments
| H | A | T | R | A | C | K | G | I | F | T | B | O | X | |
| O | H | H | E | L | L | O | O | N | L | E | A | V | E | |
| T | O | O | S | O | O | N | F | L | A | N | K | E | D | |
| E | R | R | I | N | G | M | E | A | N | D | E | R | ||
| L | A | N | G | E | B | U | R | Y | O | D | D | S | ||
| N | A | M | E | S | U | N | Z | I | P | |||||
| L | E | T | S | G | E | T | I | T | O | N | I | D | A | |
| E | S | A | A | A | A | C | A | R | D | T | I | C | ||
| A | C | T | I | N | S | I | N | C | E | R | I | T | Y | |
| C | O | T | A | N | A | T | A | R | I | |||||
| H | O | O | D | P | O | N | E | W | H | O | S | E | ||
| T | O | E | C | A | P | S | S | H | A | R | P | S | ||
| S | E | A | L | A | N | E | T | E | E | N | L | I | T | |
| A | R | R | I | V | A | L | B | A | R | N | O | N | E | |
| M | S | T | E | A | M | S | S | N | E | A | K | E | R |
| I | R | O | B | O | T | P | I | N | E | H | A | L | ||
| R | O | M | E | R | O | E | D | E | N | A | M | O | ||
| A | I | G | E | N | E | R | A | T | E | D | S | I | R | |
| F | E | D | O | R | A | S | B | A | S | E | ||||
| S | A | T | Y | R | A | L | G | O | R | I | T | H | M | |
| T | E | E | Y | T | D | N | A | G | ||||||
| E | S | T | A | A | H | O | K | G | O | T | Y | A | ||
| W | O | R | L | D | D | O | M | I | N | A | T | I | O | N |
| S | P | A | D | E | G | A | R | B | S | T | U | D | ||
| E | L | I | S | A | O | A | N | S | ||||||
| N | E | U | R | A | L | N | E | T | D | I | N | G | O | |
| I | M | P | S | D | E | L | E | T | E | D | ||||
| N | E | O | T | U | R | I | N | G | T | E | S | T | S | |
| J | E | N | O | C | T | O | I | T | A | L | I | A | ||
| A | T | E | V | E | S | T | F | E | L | O | N | Y |
| D | I | S | C | S | E | D | G | Y | S | M | O | G | ||
| A | S | A | H | I | L | O | L | A | P | A | U | L | ||
| I | N | V | E | R | Y | P | O | O | R | T | A | S | T | E |
| S | T | E | W | I | A | M | B | A | D | O | R | N | ||
| T | A | P | S | A | L | A | N | O | N | |||||
| I | N | C | O | N | S | O | L | A | B | L | Y | |||
| S | E | E | Y | A | I | L | L | S | A | S | S | |||
| I | N | N | L | A | T | E | F | E | E | W | O | E | ||
| S | E | A | R | V | A | T | C | H | O | U | X | |||
| U | N | I | R | O | N | I | C | A | L | L | Y | |||
| L | E | A | N | E | D | O | N | E | S | |||||
| M | A | G | I | C | T | W | O | D | A | I | D | E | ||
| F | R | A | N | K | L | Y | I | N | C | E | N | S | E | D |
| A | T | I | T | O | K | R | A | R | I | L | E | D | ||
| O | H | N | O | P | E | E | N | E | N | E | M | Y |
| A | V | C | L | U | B | P | R | O | G | T | M | I | ||
| M | A | R | I | N | E | S | U | L | U | H | A | N | ||
| O | L | I | V | I | A | W | I | L | D | E | E | M | S | |
| R | E | B | E | C | C | A | I | S | S | A | R | A | E | |
| M | O | O | N | N | A | S | C | E | N | T | ||||
| A | R | I | A | D | N | E | G | L | E | N | S | |||
| P | O | S | S | E | S | S | S | T | R | E | A | M | S | |
| E | A | R | M | O | E | |||||||||
| S | M | A | R | T | T | V | P | R | E | D | A | T | E | |
| E | E | R | I | E | R | E | D | E | Y | E | S | |||
| U | M | L | A | U | T | S | A | S | I | F | ||||
| B | U | I | L | D | U | P | T | O | T | E | B | A | G | |
| O | F | T | E | L | E | C | T | R | O | N | I | C | A | |
| A | T | E | A | A | R | P | T | U | S | K | E | D | ||
| T | I | S | U | R | S | A | S | T | E | E | R | S |
Debut! It's always impressive to see someone debut on a Friday or Saturday since the competition in themelesses is fierce. I always (kindly) suggest that budding constructors steer clear of them since the supply/demand imbalance is tremendous.
One aspect that can make one stand out is a unique grid that catches the eye. A gigantic plus sign in the middle of a grid can certainly do that! Also, most themelesses avoid this sort of "racetrack" approach, since connecting up the start and end can be a bear. Ryan helped himself by constricting two passageways — at the W of OLIVIA WILDE and T of ELECTRONICA — which allowed him to (more or less) work on the grid in two halves.
I enjoyed the right half, chock full of OLD SALT to NASCENT to RED EYES (so hard to parse as REDEYES) to DEFENSE to TOTE BAG to ELECTRONICA. And setting aside my personal politics, there's something audacious about featuring Britain's second female prime minister, THERESA MAY.
Heading into the left half, I was sensing perhaps a POW! coming Ryan's way, an even rarer feat than a themeless debut. VESPERS to UMLAUTS to SMART TV to ISRAELITES to ARIADNE (I love Greek myths!) — great material in a tough grid to fill.
Then I hit the NW. Then I stalled. Then I gnashed. Then I erased. Then I cheated. Then I pretended I hadn't.
I finally did (mostly) finish, but not knowing OLIVIA WILDE or LIVE MAS (Taco Bell's yuletide celebration of existence?) and the tricky AMOR did me in. It didn't help that even as a nerdbot of the nth degree, UNICODE didn't register as a computing standard. The only way the clue could have been less helpful is if it read [Word related to computers].
All in all, I appreciated the innovation; always great to see something novel in a themeless. However, it's critical to make sure that a huge swath of solvers can successfully finish, and I'm not sure that there was enough overlap in the Venn diagram created by the NW entries.