Seeing Double, at least some of the time

I haven't seen the other blogs yet on today's Mar 13 puzzle by Alan Arbesfeld (answers) but I can imagine the scuTTlebuTT on Rex's site. It's going to be all about breaking the formal contract.

We solvers enter into a solemn agreement with constructors. We agree to admire their cleverness, curse their traps, shout "Damn you, Will Shortz" when we get stuck on a wrong answer, and then feel smug when we finally fill in all those nasty blank squares. In return, the constructors promise to entertain us by creating a world for us to explore. The world has formal rules which are allowed to be broken for good or even whimsical reasons, but there is an expectation of consistent rules of engagement. Authors can rewrite the laws of physics as they see fit but then the story has to unfold within those parameters or we get grumpy.

Is this a reasonable expectation? There's no reason for it. Why can't the consistent rule be that the rules are inconsistent? After all, and excuse me in advance here, it's just a crossword puzzle.

And yet there's something unsatisfying about it. Call us ungrateful but it's true.  But wait, Mr. Arbesfeld, there's still a chance to redeem yourself. Just prove you're smarter than me and I go back to being in awe.

Here's what I mean. Right off, I wrote in IRRS for 1 Across but when I got RA(ZZ)LE crossing with BU(ZZ) OFF, I knew my 1 Across answer had to be wrong. Double letters get crammed into a single square. That's the new law of physics for today's universe. After scratching my head for a while, I decide IRRS and ARRIVES AT must be right after all even without the letter cramming. Now with the puzzle completely filled in and seemingly correct, I have only one more task — to figure out the more refined universal law. Double letters are rebussed except when...  Except when what? There's got to be a what. Are R's exempt? No, 43 Down is E(RR)S.

So I give up. I'm missing something too clever, or I leave this universe unsatisfied. I'm open to either. Perhaps one or both of my readers can clue me in.

That said, there are some nice touches. I did like "Black rat as opposed to Rattus rattus" as a clue for COMMON NAME.

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Yesterday's discussion about the All C's All the Time puzzle by Larry Shearer prompted mysterious commenter JJF to compare it to this absolutely amazing 2002 puzzle by Will Johnson where all the clues started not with a C but with an L. I pointed out that the four theme answers were all double-L words. Very clever. JJF directed me to look again. There are 12 more L's hidden in the grid that I hadn't noticed before. Wow.

Comments

[PhillySolver]

Rebus ok for down and across: ZZ FF GG EE MM AA TT BB PP RR DD SS OO CC LL

but not ok across: RR EE EE
and not ok down: RR SS

You could argue that you only get to use the double letters once. I don't want to complain too much, because the idea is good and like you, I hope there is some hidden magic.

Will wait for wiser folks to tell me.

[KarmaSartre]

When your initials are double letters (AA), you get some wiGGle rOOm.

[rckent]

I, too, hope that there is more elegance to the puzzle than meets the eye, but it's worth pointing out that, for every across answer affected by the trick, its symmetrical counterpart is equally affected. (I.e., A17 and A62 have two pairings, A18 and A59 have three pairings, A28 and A46 have two pairings, and A36 and A41 have one pairing.) In each of these answers, however, the letter-doubling does not necessarily occur in the same square(s), thus the down answers do not also boast the same symmetry.

[Bill from NJ]

Yes, quite. I,too, scratched my head at 1A for a long time for the same reasons you stated and finally shrugged and kept on truckin'.

Old joke: Man bought a horse, real cheap. The seller told him it was so cheap because he liked to sit on watermelons. The buyer said no problem with that and rode off. As he was crossing a stream, the horse abruptly sat down.
The man walked back and found the seller and complained. The seller said - I forgot to tell you, he also likes to sit on fish.

I felt the same way about this puzzle.

[profphil]

Jim,

I too was perplexed with irrs and the rebus. However, the double non-rebussed letters ar part of an abbreviation. That may be the logic behind 1 acoss irrs. and 53 down assts. Both have double non-rebussed letters and both are abbreviations. There seems to be a method to the madness as if the word is alrady shortened then the shortening of the rebus does not come into play.

[Orange]

Profphil: ARRIVES AT isn't an abbreviation. As one of the longest down answers, it wants to be part of the theme, but it isn't. (There's also KEEN.)

I think I would have liked this better if the "theme entries" running across were restricted to longer entries. Having two 4-square theme entries (ABBIE, ISAAC) is unsettling when there are also non-rebus 4-square entries that contain double letters (KEEN, IRRS).