Crossword themes

[rhu]

One of these days I hope to have enough of a good theme to submit a puzzle for publication. Right now I have a list of themes that are one entry too few.

So a question to the published constructors out there: at a rough guesstimate, what fraction of your theme ideas do you end up having to toss because there are only two good entries, or you can come up with a 13, a 14, and a 15 but you can't force any two of them to be the same length?

I guess what I'm asking is: how do you decide it's time to give up on a theme? If it's been a while and I haven't been able to complete the set, is it because 70% of theme ideas just don't work or is it because I'm inexperienced? Should I start with the now-mundane simple letter-substitution (or -addition or -deletion) themes and work my way up to original and clever?

Comments

[jangler-npl.livejournal.com]

I'm still a bit early in the game to be answering this sort of question, but as long as I've been themestorming, I always save my twofers. I have a few still lingering from my earliest days of thinking about this stuff...but every now and then (mostly then) I find a third for something, and it always makes me happy I kept 'em.

[tmcay.livejournal.com]

While I can't nail down a percentage, I would say that the discovery of a theme with an inadequate number of representative answers is a common occurrence. I keep a file with such themes and occasionally return to the file to see if I can make any progress. I can think of a recent theme that I wrangled over for months and finally came up with a set that satisfied an editor for publication. That puzzle is scheduled to appear in the fall.

Aside from simply putting aside incomplete themes with the hope that inspiration will bless your efforts in the long run, many puzzle fans, myself included, are willing to review themes in progress and offer possible closers.

If you're interested in trying a simple theme for the sake of experiencing the whole process, I don't see any harm in trying some very simple ideas to get your feet wet. Rich Norris at the Los Angeles Times tends to be receptive to basic themes, even ones based on rhymes in the theme answers -- SERVINGWENCH, MONKEYWRENCH, etc., that kind of thing. Such themes may not be stellar but they provide opportunities for the findamental skills of gridding and cluing puzzles -- and can net a quick sixty bucks. Will Shortz appreciates good, simple themes that are appropriate for early in the week.

Why not try something simple for a start, and stockpile more intricate themes for later challenges?