Need advice on answer choice

[cranberry44]

Do you think any of the following answers would be acceptable?

Answer: "badmess" ("bad mess"); Clue: "Making the Best of a ___" MLK speech, 1965

or Answer: "madmess" ("mad mess"); Clue: Hollywood, to Stuart Whitman (with "a")

or Answer: "sadmess" ("sad mess"): Clue: Said of many a D-List movie (with "a")


(Besides other reviewers, Roger Ebert also called a few movies "a sad mess")

[mmcbs]

All of these are names of songs or albums. Depending on what venue you're targeting, they may be acceptable entries.

[cranberry44]

Thanks for answering, Mark--

I plan to submit my puzzle to NYT as the first choice. I notice, though, that Wikipedia does not have an entry
for any of groups that made these albums. But Nemesis Inferi (with the album "A Sad Mess") is listed in an
online metal (rock) encyclopedia. And the album itself has a few good reviews. It is available on Amazon.
What, then. would be your best guess re: NYT acceptance?

[mmcbs]

Well if this is a themed puzzle, it depends on the theme; I'm assuming these are options for incidental fill (?). If it's themeless, that's another story. If you'd like to PM me the puzzle file, I'll take a stab at it.

[cranberry44]

Hi Mark--

I changed around a few entries and was able to change the above-mentioned entry to "and mess" (with Clue:
Kitchen ___ tent). Per Internet, there's quite a few references to this unit re: military use and also California firefighters used
it when fighting a large fire. Do you think this is OK?

Yes, this entry is incidental fill. You may not remember; but I had sent you the 15 X 15 version of this puzzle a few months
ago. It's the one: re: pro boxing. I took into consideration your comments re: some problems and changed the puzzle
to a 21 X 21 while, hopefully, eliminating those problems. If you think the above is not a suitable entry, I'd like to take
you up on sending it to you (the grid is complete; but I'm still working on the clues.)

Thanks for you time.

[mmcbs]

I don't think the 7-letter partial phrase will fly. For most editors it needs to be 5-letters or less, and then only for very familiar phrases. Happy to look at it and see if I can see a way to fix that corner. Direct email, please CCW or PUZ format. mcclain.salem@gmail.com

[cranberry44]

Hi Mark--

I emailed the puzzle to you. Any help you can give would be appreciated.

And for the record, in my post above, I mistakenly entitled Nemesis Inferi's album as "A Sad Mess"; it's called "A Bad Mess."