![]() I don't know that it's considered universally harmful and wrong, though - there are people with strong opinions on both sides.įantastic grid, amazing extras in IRISH PUBS / SPORTS BAR (although I wondered if there was a secondary theme in here), HOT TAKE, and fun mid-lengthers like OEUVRE and SVELTE. I appreciate that Will Nediger acknowledged this landmine. Once I solved SPARE THE ROD, I had that vague sense of unease that I would receive a flood of irate emails. JEFF: But in that case, it should be SPOIL ALERT. Thus, a SPOILER ALERT is perfect such devilish wordplay. JIM: No, the word SPOIL is what comes next in each saying. But aren't the TOO MANY COOKS the spoilers? So they've already been spoiled? JEFF: It's probably clever, a SPOILER ALERT. I tend to think of it as a quaint saying because it's now widely understood that corporal punishment is harmful and wrong, but of course, it's not entirely a thing of the past - I apologize to anyone whose solving experience was soured by its inclusion. In retrospect, though, I regret including "spare the rod." in a wordplay theme (my responsibility entirely, not Nancy's!). WILL: I'm really proud of the construction and the tightness of the theme here. From such serendipitous occurrences comes the untrammeled joy of the puzzle constructor :) My second "Eureka!" was when SPOILER ALERT turned out to have the same number of letters as TOO MANY COOKS. When I saw his solution - one I don't think I would have thought of on my own - I may have actually shouted "Eureka!" Provoking curiosity but giving absolutely nothing away. And then he found this incredibly elegant way of cluing them: brief, clear, simple, and completely fair. First, he whittled down my theme ideas to come up with the three that were the strongest and the most internally consistent. I think I remember that I had a lot of cross-referencing between the clue and the answer and that the clues tended to be overlong.Įnter Will Nediger. Nor did I have a really good method for how to clue them smoothly. NANCY: I initially had an idea for a puzzle about "spoilers" but my many theme answer ideas were all over the map.
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