Yeah this is the reason! I try to give a Mr. or Ms., such as Mr. Willis for Bruce Willis, but since this they're French I opted for "M."
Nice time!
4 vertical was: "Ms. White, drummer from The White Stripes" :)
The spoiler tag markdown on the app I use doesn't seem to work for all apps, so apologies for typing this outright, but the 5.1.441 is the spot in the answer where the referenced character in the title speaks their final line - so they "stop there"!
I'm being a little cheeky here, mostly because it was just May the 4th, but the word in the spoiler is actually a common misquote of the line. The real line in the movie uses the two-letter answer in the grid!
Hey Spiral! Yes, the title is meant to be more of a confirmation for you when you solve the anagram, and provide loose avenues to explore, but is isn't intended to be as helpful as a typically crossword clue for sure. This is a tricky one to start with because I went a bit more obscure than usual to test some waters and see how it would be received, others do tend to be a bit kinder!
So I'm very open to feedback on this, but my general idea behind construction and word choice is that I permit 1 obscure word because you don't ultimately need to know it to solve the puzzle. In theory, you only need to know half of the clues. Issues arise when two obscure words intersect, but I do my best to avoid those.
It's a bit of a trade-off between being able to make grids, and keeping all the words common and general knowledge. Being able to fit a specific grouping of letters into a grid is tricky, which is why I allow words to be backwards. While it's a nice quirk to differentiate the puzzle, it's actually very necessary for me to make grids in the first place!
However, I'm always trying to expand my dictionaries, and fine tune them so that grid solutions are fair.
In the future, I want to be able to allow people to opt in to dictionaries - so you can choose puzzles that only have general knowledge words, but, for example, if you know everything about Lord of the Rings, I can add in puzzles where I needed "Eowyn" or "Gimli" to end up creating a grid.
I'm rambling now I fear, but back to your point, I currently feel okay adding in 1 obscure word because it doesn't ultimately block the puzzle solve, it lets me make more grids, and I think there is an element of fun learning new words - however, if the obscure word does end up ruining the experience of the puzzle overall, then perhaps a recalibration is needed on my end, at least in the interim until people can opt in to certain dictionaries! Would love your thoughts on this!
My thought process for the title is that you shouldn't be able to solve the puzzle directly from it, but that it makes sense in retrospect and is an attempt to create that "aha!" moment when you solve the anagram and can validate your thinking with the puzzle title. I know I don't always knock that out of the park, but in this case you're completely on the money.
!A salamander dropping its tail is, in my mind, a gamble that the predator will be distracted/sated with the tail so that the salamander can get away instead of being eaten, and the title itself allows for a bit of obfuscation in the sense that people can bet on coin flips or "gamble on heads or tails".!<
Yikes! Fixed the clues, thanks for that flag! Very pleased to hear you're enjoying them 🙂
Sub 5 on a Friday? Excellently done!!
Hey Jefe! Yes that's a really odd one. On puzzles where there is only one long word it, doesn't seem to be an issue, only when a second word is there! I've marked it high priority for a fix so hopefully won't be a problem in future puzzles. Nicely done on the solve!!
Thanks, Walden! That's a solid time for a Friday puzzle and you had to navigate the scrappiness. Thanks for sticking with it on mobile! Monday is typically only a 3x3 grid and 9-letter anagram, so I suspect you might break sub 3 mins if you tackle that one next week!
Happy Father's Day, Nusm! :) My two-year-old is still figuring out what special days are and keeps wishing me a Happy Mother's Day 😅