Answers and discussion of the 12.3 cryptic

[rhu]

elainetyger suggested that I post the answers to yesterday's cryptic, and have a discussion thread. To prevent the answers from being picked up by the RSS feed to Facebook, I'll post them as the first comment to this entry. (So if you're reading this on Facebook, please come to my LiveJournal blog at http://530nm330hz.livejournal.com/353588.html to see and comment.)

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

*HERBM
AALBEE
D*INEN
DMA*RI
EULERN
RNUNR*

Across: E+ST(H)E+R, ALBEE (contained in totAL BEEf), DES+TIN+E, MAE+STRI, E+ULER, UN(RES)T

Down: BLACKADDER (anagram), ELI (anagram), BEER (better - TT), ME+NIN+B (bone-one) + LACK, B(L)A+C+KM+UN, B(LACKE)N (lackey-Y)

Extra bigrams, in clue order: WI, LI, OR, ER, NT, NE; TS, NY, GH, ZO, TF, OU

Extra bigrams, in answer order: LIGHTS OUT FOR NY WINTER ZONE

Transformation: "BLACK" for "EST" -- that is, where you have EST on the across words, substitute "BLACK" for the down words.

Transition: Black for E.S.T. -- that is, it's the end of the run for this year's Eastern Standard Time

Translation: Black Forest -- that is, Schwartzwald

In other words, for Jeffurry's and Ucoaimhu's birthdays, I made a cake.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I'll mention that Jeffurry asked me afterwards if I knew when Albee's birthday is. I hadn't; that was just serendipity.

[jeffurrynpl.livejournal.com]

I couldn't believe you did this for us and I'm really grateful. When did you start working on it?

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

It was very last-minute.

On Wednesday morning, when Facebook's "birthday reminder" panel put your surnames adjacent to one another, the punchline suggested itself. I came up with the gimmick during my morning coffee break, worked out the grid and clues over lunch, sent it to T McAy for testsolving (and a few others who couldn't get back to me in time). Did a bunch of polishing on Thursday night based on T's great feedback.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I was thrilled when Uc wrote a delightful cryptic for my fortieth birthday last year, so it feels good to have been able to pay it back and forward.

[jeffurrynpl.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't know you'd gotten T and others involved. Awesome. :{)} I can't pay it backward, so I'll just smile and say thank you. :{)}

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

Thank you for explaining the clues. I couldn't parse 1A or the B in 4D, and I never got 11A. I still do not understand why the instructions say that "it may help to remember which of my friends lives across town from me, and which one lives in downtown Manhattan."

[canadianpuzzler.livejournal.com]

Est in the acrosses=Boston; Black in the Downs=Manhattan.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Or more specifically "for EST" = WALD = Uc = across town in Boston, and "Black" = SCHWARTZ = Jeffurry = downtown.

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

Ah! ok. Thank you!

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

The puzzler in me enjoyed it; the puzzle editor in me has comments. :-) Should I leave it at the former and let the latter lie?

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Please, I'd love to get constructive feedback. How else will I improve?

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

The one thing that I think struck me the most was that, if you've got a puzzle in which clues need to be transformed (words deleted, letters deleted, etc.), you want to ensure not just that the clue works with the transformation, but that it doesn't work without it. Otherwise, it may not be easy to see that a transformation's happening, or how it's happening, or the like. For instance, 5A is a good clue in this regard(*): without deleting the LI, the clue doesn't work. But there were a few clues where that wasn't the case: 3D, where removing letters from the middle of "tight" doesn't change the wordplay, which uses the end letters; and 1A, where removing the first two letters of "wife" doesn't change the wordplay, which uses the last letter. In both cases I got the answer and then looked at the clue a little blankly.

Actually, I never really understood 1A, even with the answer above. "fe ultimately" = E, "righteous woman" = STE, "right" = R, and..."heart of hearts" = H? (Looking now, I wonder whether "with heart of" is the container, and "hearts" = H, in which case it's...a little weird, maybe.) I wonder how many people understood why "totally depleted of [one]" = B; that one was a little strange as well.

I'll also admit that I wasn't able to piece together the theme. As it happens, "black forest" = "Schwartzwald" is really very clever; unfortunately, since I didn't know it was Jeffurry's birthday (and I wouldn't swear I'd've come up with his last name even if I did), I fear the cleverness was lost on me. Of course, I didn't quite get to "black for EST" either. I'd say in cases like this, it doesn't hurt to be more explicit--in a typical Ucaoimhu crossword (and yes, I know I just used "typical" before "Ucaoimhu crossword"), there are instructions that are wholly opaque when you start but which are more or less entirely clear once you've gotten the information you'll need to use.

Mind you, you don't see me writing crosswords during coffee breaks on a day's notice, so I should add that I'm impressed that it came together so well in the first place.

(*) Personal taste: I'm not a fan of "of" as a hidden word indicator. John de Cuevas uses it often, but I'm not sure how much I've seen it outside his puzzles, and it always strikes me as a little stilted. But that's, again, personal taste.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this great feedback!

"you want to ensure not just that the clue works with the transformation, but that it doesn't work without it"

That was actually a conscious decision on my part, because I wanted there to be at least a few clues that people could solve off the bat before knowing what the transformation is. I was afraid that if I didn't, it would be too hard to get that initial purchase into the grid. I would have done it differently if the transformation had only applied to some of the clues.

Do you think that, since I explicitly states the nature of the transformation, that that would have limited the possibilities enough that my caution here was overdone?

Actually, I never really understood 1A, even with the answer above.

Yes, the intent was "STE with heart of H". I'll accept "a little weird, maybe" since it clearly threw people, even though I think it's fair.

I wonder how many people understood why "totally depleted of [one]" = B; that one was a little strange as well.

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't gone this route. This was my third pass at making this clue work, and I was so thrilled to realize that "totally" was 11C-legal for "bone" that I didn't stop to say "Hey, wait a second, that's way too obscure." Earlier versions had references to specific bones in the body, and I should have stuck with one of them even if the surface was awkward.

there are instructions that are wholly opaque when you start but which are more or less entirely clear once you've gotten the information you'll need to use.

That's the part that I think I need the most practice on. Walking the tightrope between tipping one's hand too soon and failing to give the solver that sense of arrival is hard. That's why, for example, I didn't put in the line about "I baked you a cake" into the puzzle itself.

during coffee breaks on a day's notice

Well, there's a reason it was only 6x6. :-) But thanks for the kind words.