Default: 348201
Default with Spaces: 131245
NOTES: I finished season 4 of Game of Thrones last week and decided to put together re-add the show’s names and terms as a theme list for scoring adjustments and inclusion in the DWS database. The series offers some handy vocabulary for puzzles. Character names include Arya (50), Sansa (50), Shae (50), and Theon (50). Actor names include Iain Glen (50), Iwan Rheon (50), and, of course, Oona Chaplin whose name currently appears to be the most common crossword entry to be clued with a GoT reference. Other crossword friendly terms include the continent of Essos (55) and the knight title Ser (45). I clued EYRIE as the Westeros locale in a puzzle earlier this year, but Francis Heaney scooped me by a few days with an almost identical clue for the entry in his fantastic “Flight Path” contest puzzle.
LISTS: I finished the Mark Diehl list of tens that contain at least one K. Some nice additions from that list include recipe book (80), think piece (80), and vodka tonic (85). The word skeuomorph (70) was new to me. It means a design ornamentation that imitates or references an older style or technology, such as faux wood paneling on a station wagon or the floppy disc icon used for the “save” command in some computer programs. Women’s work (10) is tricky. The singular form — woman’s work — could squeak by with a reference to the proverb: {It’s never done, per an old saying}. The plural is an archaism that would require an apologetic clue if it ever appeared as a crossword entry. Is there an approach that I’m missing?
life as a puzzle 