Note: 1-50 is poor outcome (4)

[rhu]

My cryptic grid has too many unches and three sets of them are consecutive. Major rework required. Major rework done. Hours invested. Then sudden realization hits: One common word, not thematic but critical to making the new grid fit together, is misspelled. Deadline in peril. Mood bleak.

Comments

[thedan.livejournal.com]

"Fie!" I clap defiantly. "'Poor outcome'." (8, 2 wds.)

Hope you manage to beat the grid into submission. If you need tweaking suggestions, I'd be willing to look, though I'd like to solve it at Con, so you'd be better off with somebody not attending.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I think I've gotten over the hump now.

[crs.livejournal.com]

Make "one word misspelled" the theme!

[fauxklore]

Should I then give up on solving the first version? (I didn't really get further after sending you comments yesterday.)

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Yeah, hold off for now. Between your comments and Tinhorn's I now perceive that the theme entries have too many unchecked squares and are unfair.

[jeffurrynpl.livejournal.com]

What's an unch?

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Unchecked letter. Barring variants, no more than half the letters in any word should be unches, and you shouldn't have 2 unches in a row.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Hot and Trazom had a thorough article in the June issue about all this stuff.

Don't you read the Enigma? :-)

[jeffurrynpl.livejournal.com]

You're right....there it is on the cover! Oops!

I didn't read it because I've never written a cryptic and have no immediate plans to do so...but ask me again in ten years...