Mon., 12/1 C.C. Burnikel

[magus]

THEME:   first word of phrase can start a KICK phrase
   
GOOD ONES:    
Foot-operated mechanism {& theme}   KICK STARTER   
   
BTW:   
Regret one's (sins)   REPENT [weak clue: one can regret and not repent]   
   
ESOS is n.g.

Five-cent coin   NICKEL [also a homonym for the second syllable of the constructor's name]

   
   
   
RATING:     
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[Thomps2525]

Two intersecting words were MESSI and PAPYRI. Lionel Messi is an Argentine soccer player and papyri is the Greek plural of papyrus, which is a tree and the paper-like material made from it. Including those words in a puzzle is---shall I say it?---messy.

In September, after a month-long analysis of seven daily crosswords appearing in four daily newspapers, I posted a list ( http://www.cruciverb.com/index.php?topic=105973.0 ) of the most common Crosswordese words: ALE, IRA and ORE topped the list and the majority of the words begin with a vowel. The New York Times puzzle appearing in today's Daily News uses ten of the most common words: ABS, ACRE, AREA, ARIA, ATE, ERR, ETA, ILL, ISLE and OLE. The puzzle also includes ARMPIT ("Deodorant spot"), not a very appealing word.

However, the crossword (created by Stanley Newman) was done very delightfully: the theme answers were DICKVANDYKE, DEATHVALLEYDAYS and DVDRECORDER. "Done very delightfully." See what I did there?