First, a small scheduling announcement: The Journal of Wordplay #3 will launch this Thursday! It’d normally be Wednesday, but I didn’t want to pit it against the usual Ubercross release.
Before I leave the subject of Schrödinger puzzles altogether, I wanted to give honorable mention to a few other recent grids that don’t quite work like typical Schrödingers but have some of the same energy.
Matt Gaffney’s example is arguably half Schrödinger, but Barbara Lin’s similar effort isn’t. Boht involve one-letter-different pairs that make up a phrase; in the across direction, they’re short entries meant to be read twice. For instance, 17-Across below, P(I/A)TTER, is read as PITTER-PATTER. In the down direction, Gaffney’s special characters work like Schrödinger squares, whereas Lin’s work as rebus squares.
PITTER-PATTER, GALILEO GALILEI, FATCAT, JELLY BELLY, BOY TOY, CHITTER-CHATTER, AS GOOD AS GOLD…
…BREAK BREAD, FACES FACTS, DON’T DO IT, TALL TALE, POWER MOWER, GO TOE TO TOE.
In Andrew Kingsley and John Lieb’s grid, using SCHRODINGER’S CAT as a centerpiece, surplus letters “jump” from one square to its neighbor. OMS, FEM, TOP, and TWO cross WHO/WHOM, BOOS/BOOMS, FAST/FEAST, MAIL/EMAIL, NEAT/NEATO, DROP/DROOP, TEEN/TWEEN, and OWS/WOWS.
There are sure to be more variations to come!