I’m not the only constructor who has recently found inspiration from the sun. I looked for a way to add a new wrinkle to this theme concept and, after finding the revealer, I was glad to have found a symmetrical pairing (SUNNI ISLAM) that hid SUN with a different pronunciation. The real inspiration for this puzzle was Lynn Lempel’s excellent 2019 puzzle. It’s often foggy here, though, and as dusk nears I’m usually occupied with my two young girls. Constructor Notesīecause I live in a beach town in the Bay Area, I wish I could say that witnessing a majestic Pacific Coast sunset compelled me to construct this puzzle. The SUN travels from the top of the eastern portion of the grid to the bottom in the west, just as our real sun sets. Schmenner placed his revealer - and thank goodness that there is one - at 31D, where the clue was “What glows in the west at day’s end … or a hint to this puzzle’s sequence of shaded squares.” The answer is SETTING SUN, and that’s exactly what’s happening in this puzzle. The solver’s job is to discover why those particular letters are highlighted. When you’ve filled in enough of them, you’ll note that each of the three-letter groups of shaded squares contain the same letters: S, U and N. Or maybe we should think of this path as right to left because that’s where we need to start. Schmenner’s grid are the shaded squares that run diagonally from left to right. “Animal ‘relative’ an astonished person may claim to be” is about as exact a description of MONKEY’S UNCLE as we’re going to get. The answer to “Sound at the start of ‘gentle’ and ‘giant’” is SOFT G.Ģ1D. This type of clue can be difficult because it requires solvers to know that they are being asked for the sound of the letter, as opposed to just the letter itself. Sometimes an unexpected element can be a good thing and gives new solvers a peek at the adventures of the week ahead. “When it works,” she said, “it’s delightful and tends to be popular with solvers.” An associate crossword editor, Tracy Bennett, said that submissions with a visual element - such as the one in today’s puzzle by Drew Schmenner - arrive about once a month and that not all of them are accepted for publication. “And a cool visual element usually meets that requirement.” But new solvers need not worry. “We love anything fresh and lively,” the crossword editor Will Shortz wrote in an email. But more adventurous types of theme elements can appear, even on a Monday. Some of these new solvers also rely on the early-week puzzles to be similar in style because anything different from what they’re used to - typically four or five theme entries in the long Across slots and unambiguous cluing - throws them off. Or spend a decade or two in medical school. The best way to quash that hesitance is to practice solving. I, for example, am inexperienced at neurosurgery, and being asked to perform it makes me feel apprehensive, to say the least. A newer solver is inexperienced, and everyone is inexperienced at something. No one is “lesser than” because a crossword is difficult. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially early in the week when the puzzles are more straightforward. They fear that the puzzle will somehow best them and make them feel “stupid.” MONDAY PUZZLE - Some newer solvers, I’ve been told, feel a bit apprehensive when they face a blank grid.
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