Steve Mossberg author page
1 puzzle by Steve Mossberg
with Jeff Chen comments
| L | A | N | A | A | T | A | T | S | A | T | E | S | ||
| A | L | O | T | N | A | V | Y | A | L | O | N | E | ||
| T | O | S | H | D | R | O | P | I | G | I | V | E | ||
| T | H | E | L | A | S | T | W | O | R | D | I | L | Y | |
| E | A | S | E | O | U | T | A | Y | E | |||||
| T | L | C | A | A | V | E | R | A | G | E | ||||
| B | A | K | E | H | O | T | M | E | S | S | I | L | Y | |
| A | G | E | P | E | A | D | O | E | ||||||
| H | A | Y | L | O | F | T | I | L | Y | N | E | W | S | |
| A | R | S | O | N | I | S | T | O | R | E | ||||
| L | E | S | E | G | O | T | R | I | P | |||||
| A | L | L | T | H | A | T | J | A | Z | Z | I | L | Y | |
| E | I | E | I | O | T | E | E | M | E | V | E | R | ||
| T | W | A | N | G | O | R | C | A | R | E | N | E | ||
| C | A | R | G | O | M | A | T | T | O | N | E | S |
I'm not sure I can explain this theme. Do I even understand it? I'm not sure that I do. Or should I say, that I do-ily?
Now that that unsuccessful joke is out of the way, I think I like this theme. Maybe even a lot.
First, the explanation. Start with a regular phrase, add ILY to its last word, and use that final word to describe the rest of the phrase — ideally, changing the rest of the phrase's meaning. ALL THAT JAZZ works well since ALL THAT has a (sort of) different sense when taken by itself. Cluing "all that" in a jazzy way is amusing. Think of it as "ALL THAT, described JAZZILY."
THE LAST WORD becomes THE LAST, WORDILY, and its clue defines "the last" in a less-than-succinct way. This one doesn't work as well since THE LAST doesn't change meaning. Still, I enjoyed the long-winded clue, something that a normal writer would never set out to work toward, especially in a situation where brevity, or the lack of conciseness or extraneous detail, therefore, might cause readers to wander, in avoidance thereof—
Hey, get back here!
I mostly enjoyed the gridwork, aside from a killer AT-AT / TARTT crossing. I do think TARTT is crossworthy, but it's a tough one given that so many other first letters could seem reasonable, like DARTT, GARTT, MARTT, etc. And as much as I like "Star Wars," AT-AT as an entry is about as sturdy as their curiously skinny legs. What sort of mechanical engineer designs a walker that can be tripped by string? On Darth Vader's Twitter feed: SMH (shaking my helmet).
I would have liked a few more marquee long bonuses besides A AVERAGE, but mid-length ALGIERS, YOGA MAT, AND SUCH added a great deal to my solve. Most people won't remember RIVEN, but I have some fond memories of my deep immersion.
Not the most exemplary theme, especially given my preference for tricky, rule-breaking Thursdays, but I appreciated the novelty. It's neat to see what new constructors bring to the crossworld.