Soleil Saint-Cyr author page
1 puzzle by Soleil Saint-Cyr
with Jeff Chen comments
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Every daily crossword this week, made by an African-American constructor? Awesome! I hope we get to the point one day where the records lists will be filled with people of all different backgrounds. Not that there's anything wrong with white men! Taking up (at least) 18 of the top 25 slots, though? Really?
Featuring YouTube clips starring only white men? Really, Jeff?ESSENTIAL WORKER — that's the type of debut I love. Talk about today's heroes! Great way to kick off a bee crossword, WORKER, QUEEN, DRONE tied nicely together with HIVE MIND.
I found it odd, though, to tack on US to MILITARY DRONE. Feels arbitrary. Perhaps mirror symmetry would have been better — lengths of 15, 15, 13, 4/4 scream for a left-right layout.
I've seen this theme often, a quick search for *DRONE* quickly turning one up. There's room to redo themes, especially if you use a fresh phrase like ESSENTIAL WORKER, but I want something elevating it even more than including a revealer in HIVE MIND.
Perhaps a hexagon of black squares in the middle of the grid? Or a swarm of Bs clustered in the center of the puzzle?
IMMA is the kind of debut I'm not wild about. Although partials are inelegant, I'd much rather have A SIGN or A FUSS since these are easier for early-week solvers to figure out.
Some beautiful long bonuses! PEER GROUP stands out, and BEAR HUG / GOT RICH are fun, too. Usually, I'd classify GEORGIANS as more neutral, but I enjoyed the fresh clue about the recent election.
Not as friendly to newer solvers as a Monday puzzle should be — MARIANAS Trench and OCULI potentially off-putting — but I appreciated the drive to do something a little different with the grid.