Last week I was texting with my buddy Parker about some coding wizardry he’d put together to scrape and open crosswords from the web in his own solving interface. He’s been tweeting about it, so if there are any code monkeys out there in solving land, definitely give him a follow.
Anyway, at some point during the conversation, he mentioned that the script he’d written was actually pretty slick, if you “[61-Across].” And lo! A puzzle idea is born.
The moral of the story is that if you want to make crossword puzzles, step number one is surrounding yourself with people who know how to turn a phrase… then just keep your ears open! Couple more thoughts on “Cover Up” after the jump.
LOOK UNDER THE HOOD is a 16-letter revealer, requiring a) a 16×15 grid, and b) a 16-letter sister answer. You *could* stick it in the center row, but that would mean flanking it with 2 themers above and 2 below, and there weren’t enough distinct kinds of HOODs to accommodate that. So!
With four theme answers in an extra-wide grid, I knew I’d have some extra real estate to get some long down bonus fill. The long slots for WARREN MOON, PET CARRIERS, ORIGINAL SIN, and CONTESTING actually had quite a few options in the grid architecture you see here. I chose these four in large part because [Adam’s apple condition?] and [Voyage of the beagle conveyances?] came to mind as I was hammering out the center of the grid. Yee-haw!
Happy solving, friends!
-Ross