My Crossword Puzzles

[El Grillo]

Puzzle #6: Table Talk

   


  Table Talk v1-solution-protected.pdf (Size: 48.5 KB / Downloads: 0)


  Table Talk v1.zip (Size: 100.31 KB / Downloads: 0)

[ssynaasy]

Doing puzzles is much more fun than solving complicated words. I also realized this after a friend gave me a jigsaw puzzle mat. I thought puzzles were typical for children, but after I tried to do this one, I realized that it is pretty complicated and exciting. And I support you and can't wait to see the result of the puzzle you will do. I will try to solve it, and maybe in time, I will also try to do my own puzzle. So keep it up. And both you and your friend keep doing puzzles because that's cool.

[sunrise089]

I assume this is some sort of spam post above, but I don’t see the angle. Maybe an AI test to see whether the bot gets nuked or not?

[El Grillo]

Perhaps, it was kind of a pleasant surprise to get a PM notifying me of new activity in this thread . Making these puzzles was lots of fun during lockdown, but over time it became difficult to avoid re-using words and clues, and harder to come up with good theme words. I was thinking of trying to make another over the Thanksgiving long weekend, but I couldn't make enough zones that I was happy with.

EDIT: Actually, I do have another puzzle that I made last year but didn't post to this thread, since I didn't think it was worth necro-ing this thread, but while we're here:

https://crosshare.org/crosswords/BTqNwy7...he-part-v1

   

[T-hawk]

Heh, "47 Vuvuzela's output".... I have no idea what that's going for without solving adjacent clues, but I imagine it's "bwaah" or something like that

[chumchu]

What does the [ , ] mean?

[El Grillo]

It has to do with the theme of the puzzle “Act the Part”, but in hindsight it was not a well implemented idea.

[chumchu]

Ok. I did most of it but got stuck in the two lower corners without the long words. I appreciate the subtle civ references

[El Grillo]

Glad you enjoyed it Some incremental hints:

On the theme:

The theme clues combine a body part and an action verb that when combined, form a word that does not use the "body part" of the word in reference to the human body, thus merely "acting the part."

On the structure of the clue:

This is where the implementation could have been much better, the idea is that of the pair of words, one is an action that involves the body part, and the other is a noun that is another example of a subject of the intended verb. There are lots of issues with this clue syntax, the largest being that the two components should have been in an order consistent with the intended answer, and 1 of them is and 3 are not. In addition, there should have been an actual clue to the intended answer as well, since it helps confirm to the solver that it is indeed what the author had in mind. Theme clues are supposed to aid the solver by linking together zones with high confidence.

So in hindsight, the clues should have been written more like:

20-across: Like some sandwiches, or applying this puzzle's title to [DOOR, WASHED]
30-across: Orientation aid, or applying this puzzle's title to [SHAKE, HOTEL]
43-across: Cold War phenomenon, or applying this puzzle's title to [FLEXES, RUN]
51-across: Superscript references, or applying this puzzle's title to [PLANT, DETAILS]

20-across answer:

DOOR -> OPEN, WASHED -> FACED.

30-across answer:

HOTEL -> BOOK, SHAKE -> HAND, except the order in the clue is flipped.

43-across answer:

PULSE -> RACE, LIFT -> ARMS, except the order in the clue is flipped, and these connections are a bit of a stretch. Easily the weakest of the four.

51-across answer:

DETAILS -> NOTES, PLANT -> FOOT, except the order in the clue is flipped.