Crossword Fiend Forum

This is the second draft of a puzzle rejected in a number of places. The first draft was done about a year ago, I sent to one place it was rejected and it sat around. This draft did the rounds earlier this year (I redid because I'd learnt a lot about making better crosswords in the meantime - not that I don't have a lot more to learn!). It's been sitting on my computer since then...

As noted it's an early week theme, and I've kept it the way it was, could've upped the difficulty but it would've felt wrong. Still I have a tendency to overshoot the difficulty of easy puzzles, so it might be harder than I intended, for better or worse.

Of the places I sent it to, only got one specific comment, and that was, to paraphrase heavily, the keywords are too similar in their theme context to the context in the crossword phrases. If that doesn't make sense now it hopefully will once you've solved it!

Gareth

3:06 in across lite, which is somewhere around tuesday-wednesday for me. i don't understand the connection between {Bespoke} and TAILOR-MADE. i also don't think i get the theme. is "tinker tailor soldier sailor" a thing? i know only tinker, tailor, soldier, spy (which has been the theme of at least three crosswords in recent years).

the fill is super-smooth. the least desirable entry seems to be DAR, and that's not bad at all.

clues:
TACH/COKE clues both gave me some pause, as i think neither "speedo" nor COKE are used in american english the way they are used in your clues. the "for" should be parenthesized in your YEARNS clue. i think of JACKS UP as being "raises dramatically," rather than "improves dramatically." (it also can mean "hits really hard," in sports slang, or "injects," in drug slang.) and DAKOTA ... fanning? i think? is she so famous that you couldn't include her surname, even in an early-week puzzle? and there are nine reindeer, no? {Hole in the wall?} would be an okay clue for ATM, but with the hyphens, i think it doesn't work. oh, now i see that it's british slang for an ATM... not familiar here in the states. and there still wouldn't be hyphens, i think.

Bespoke is a British term referring to custom-made clothing (or anything else, such as software): a straight definition.

Rudolph does not appear in the original poem.