Kiran Pandey breaks the rules, and I am here for it.
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THURSDAY PUZZLE — A crossword constructor needs to adhere to a lot of rules in order to make a good puzzle. There’s the “no fewer than three-letter words” one, the “be fair to the solvers” one, the “don’t duplicate words” one and many more.
Kiran Pandey, the constructor’s of today’s crossword, has broken, or at least stretched, some of those rules, and I can honestly say that I am here for it. (For those unfamiliar with the phrase, that’s a good thing.) No one makes me smile more when it comes to crossword puzzles than a rule breaker.
This grid may be a bit tougher for newer solvers because there is no revealer or hint about the theme, but once you get it, you may laugh as much as I did. Mr. Pandey capped off this experience with his very funny constructor notes below.
Today’s Theme
Some of the entries in Mr. Pandey’s puzzle are duplicates, which, as we know, is a big no-no in crosswords. That is, unless there is a good reason for it: The second word in each pair is incomplete, and our job is to figure out what to add to it in order to make sense of the answer.
Side note: This is not a rebus puzzle. There is no need to try to squeeze anything into squares.
For example, the word BORN is an answer at 16A and 17A. That can’t be right, but let’s look at the clue for 17A: [Like one with renewed beliefs]. That would make 17A BORN (AGAIN), although it could also be (RE)BORN.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
