Geek in the Pink

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• Un Nefelibata costruttore · 2022-09-28T21:48:32.215Z

  I hope you found it enjoyable! congrats!

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• David T Marchand 12:15 · 2022-10-09T21:44:06.102Z

  (2 of 4)

  AIR BACKUP's length should probably be (3,6) instead of (9), but I can't find it on Google as a common expression. "Aerial backup" maybe? And again, anagraming "Maria" but only after figuiring out whay "Mother" is and subtracting it feels like too many wordplay layers to reasonably expect someone to solve before an anagram.

  For VIDEO, as in PROXIES's "Romans", I don't think "old Italian" makes things any clearer. Cryptic solvers already assume numbers are Roman numerals, this is a classic case of "no aclares que oscurece".

  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think GEM has any indication that Megan should lose AN. That's too big a leap to expect solvers to make without any wordplay justifying it. I was more inclined to think the clue had something to do with Megan Fox (or maybe Emma Stone?).

  I don't feel "I'll give you" adds a lot to LOVER, beyond the surface meaning of the clue. "Over" is a synonym for "above", but not "I'm above you", so that's a stretch as well that I don't think I would've gotten.

  For OVERSLEEP, I really like "Over Powered edges" (though it's debatable whether you should have "over" as part of the clue when it features so prominently in the solution and its etymology). I understand "poetry" is VERSE but am unsure about "in between". What is "in between"? It already says OP is around it, so I don't think you need to say VERSE is in between anything. I do see you put LE inside VERSE, but I really don't know what "natural phenomenon with no child, Nightmarish" is. Is it a reference to Nightmare On Elm Street? I would've never gotten it. Oh, and "an" should be "and".

  The LoTR reference in TOTEMIC is brilliant! I do think "almost academic" feels like it should be the beginning of the word, not the end. You could've used "half academic", which is very common for refering to the first or second half arbitrarily.

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• David T Marchand 12:15 · 2022-10-09T21:44:43.930Z

  (3 of 4)

  I do like ADVERSE, but it might also suffer from using too many different ingredients in an anagram. It's simple enough that I'd forgive it, if it crossed more words and I had gotten it.

  I don't think I get RAISING at all. Is "sounds" RING or SING or RINGS?

  For XBOXGAMECONSOLE, I feel "weird Gnome castle with no tower get zeroed" is way too convoluted letter subtraction and addition for an anagram. But of course, it's a 15-letter solution so difficulty is expected.

  SADRIB is also a little too complicated for me. "Read backwards by" is already a strange indicator (specifically because of the "by") so it's super hard to get that it applies to both the BIRD and the small butt (and that the small but goes first despite being last on the clue).

  For TRAGIC, again, I'd assume "almost magic" to be beginning of MAGIC, not the end. I don't fully understand why "with a trace of itself" is TR nor why it would be at the beginning of the word instead of at the end, as it features on the clue.

  And again, for LAPTOPCOMPUTERS, subtracting the S feels like too much for an already very long anagram. Also, the definition should not be in singular form when the solution is a plural, so it should be "devices".

  I do not understand the clue for REMAKE. I get that remaking something is doing it again, but I'm not sure why there are 3 separate DOs or what the general cryptic structure is.

  UMBRA is a little confusing on multiple accounds. I get that you shouldn't look directly into some eclipses, but UMBRA is specifically the dark part, right? That would confuse me. I'm not sure what part of the clue results in the A being added at the end, and again, I think there's too many steps to get BRUM before also having to anagram it.

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• David T Marchand 12:15 · 2022-10-09T21:42:45.212Z

  Super hard! I only really got MMO, unfortunately. Looking at the solutions, I have to say my favorite clues are for UNBOUND, ADAPTER, PONG, UPON, BAZOOKA, PLUMP, DARES, AREAS, LOOTER, INCOG, and even UGLI, though I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten that last one because I didn't know the word. In the future, I think you should do more of what you did with those ones.

  The main reason I didn't get them is the amount of black squares in your grid. More words should cross each other in a crossword! You generally want a word to alternate between a checked and an unchecked letter, and instead you filled your grid with instances of 2 consecutive unchecked. VIDEO and LOVER are special offenders here. I do get that the more words cross, the more complicated the words get, so it's always about finding a balance.

  The other clues could use some work, in my opinion. I jotted down some notes:

  In PROXIES, I don't think "player" and "Roman" are needed, as solvers should get PRO and L regardless. The grammar is a little wonky, but especially "behave" should be "behalf".

  It feels like the definition for TROLLED should be "annoyed" instead of "Getting annoyed" (as "I got trolled" equals "I got annoyed", not "I got getting annoyed"). Moreover, the reach of indicators feels a little arbitrary: "initially" only applies to the last 3 capitalized words when it feels like it should apply to Lord as well, and ugly applies to way too many things, when it feels like it should only apply to Lord. Anagrams are considered too unfair when you have to solve different types of wordplay to understand what the letters for the anagram even are.

  I'm not sure I understand RPG. Either way, "biginning" should be "beginning".

  I really like ORCS, though I don't think I would've ever read "pay attention" as a telescopic clue indicator. I would've spend way too long figuring out what "attention" is supposed to mean or if it's the definition.

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• David T Marchand 12:15 · 2022-10-09T21:45:03.723Z

  (4 of 4)

  Don't take any of my feedback too seriously, as I'm really bad at English-language cryptics and might be completely wrong. But I would advice starting super easy and pushing the difficulty after that. Even if people get bored, they're more likely to finish it and give you feedback and you can push the difficulty after that. If you start super hard, they might not finish them (or worse—get frustrated) and you get less feedback to work with. Keep up the good work (of which there is a lot here)!

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