Gripe about Sunday's NYT puzzle

[rhu]

First off: I'm just a solver. I've never sold a puzzle to any publication, so I'm not entirely qualified to judge the work of others. And I usually enjoy ericberlinblog Eric's puzzles.

Having said that, yesterday's NYT puzzle didn't work for me.

Yes, the gimmick was cute and the addage pithy.

But having the blanks for the acrostic in the middle of the grid was unnecessary and hurt the puzzle. Had the acrostic squares been prtined along the top of the page, and 25 black squares been printed in the middle of the grid, the puzzle would have been the same. This central block compromised the rest of the grid and the fill, I think. It divided the grid into two triangles that touched in only two places, and resulted in a lot of short entries, a lack of interconnectedness, and a lot of "crosswordese" in the fill. It felt "joyless" to me.

And I think it was a mistake to publish this puzzle on the same day that the second puzzle was an acrostic. I know this isn't rational, but it pushed some psychological button in my brain and the page exceeded my tolerance for the pain-in-the-neck drudgery that solving acrostics on paper entails. Perhaps I'll get back to the Hex puzzle before next weekend.


(Edited to put behind an lj-cut)

Comments

[saxikath]

Having not done the puzzle yet, I can't really comment on it. But, having not done the puzzle yet, a request: when you discuss the details of a recent puzzle, could you put them behind an lj-cut so as not to spoil things for those of us who are a little behind? Thanks.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Sorry. Even though I didn't spill anything that wasn't explained at the top of the page, I can see in retrospect how my reaction to the puzzle might itself constitute a spoiler.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

On line it actually is as you describe - just a big black 5x5 black hole in the middle of the grid. I thought it was an OK puzzle, but not up to the level I associate with Eric. I think the construction put a lot of constraints on construction (which were probably very challenging & satisfying to meet), without really providing much of a payout for the solver. As an occasional (mediocre at best) constructor, I'm impressed that Eric was able to do this. As a solver, meh.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Is it online somewhere, so we who haven't seen it can add context and sympathize with you in more detail?