XWord Muggles Forum

A few comments lately have referred to puzzles as “gaffneyesque” or “shenkian”. Anyone want to get more specific?

I see some features that recur in Matt’s WSJ puzzles, but I have a hard time defining shenkian.

Shenkian (which I still tend to think of as classic Marie Kelly) to me includes getting one letter of the solution from each theme answer and having a little confirming nudge somewhere in the grid - especially top left, center, or bottom right. Not that all his puzzles are like that or that Matt's don't do that too at times.

Someone also once said that Mike's solutions are more likely to be found inside the grid and Matt's more outside the grid. This week is obviously an exception to that rule since the letters actually came from the nationalities, not the grid words.

I would say Matt likes symmetry and consistency. He also goes for simplicity......once you figure out the trick. He’s not big on anagrams, but has used them on occasion.

I don’t have a clear sense of Mike yet. I used to think his metas were pretty easy, but I’ve been stumped many, many times.

Meg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:10 pm I would say Matt likes symmetry and consistency. He also goes for simplicity......once you figure out the trick. He’s not big on anagrams, but has used them on occasion.

I don’t have a clear sense of Mike yet. I used to think his metas were pretty easy, but I’ve been stumped many, many times.

Totally agree...

Matt seems to be fond of sending you back to the grid again after you get the themers.