I had intended that the Ubercross Abecedaria A would have no themes beyond the concentrated use of the letter A. So I was somewhat mystified to look at the two longest answers in the grid…and see a theme emerging in spite of me.
“Spoiler” posts contain minor hints for solvers: this one discloses a single entry and discusses multiple clues. Skip this post if you want no hints at all.
The emergent theme wasn’t quite as miraculous as it may sound. At the time, I was using a collection of databases that didn’t include many long answers. The one exception was the database of film names…so the few really long spaces I’d allowed into the grid were almost certain to end up being films.
So that much was inevitable. What was peculiar destiny was that I looked at the pair of 30-letter films in the grid…and it struck me that I could write one clue that described both movies.
There are several types of similar films. The least interesting kind are just similar because they’re in formulaic genres (most Meg Ryan romcoms) or because one is modeled after the success of another (the Die Hard and Star Wars “formulas” inspired dozens if not hundreds of imitators). Then there are “twin films” like Antz and A Bug’s Life, easily confused stories released suspiciously close together.
The most fun kind of similar film, though, is a pair of surprisingly similar movies…films with big surface differences that nevertheless have a lot more in common than seems statistically likely. Sometimes it’s a case of odd influence, as between Gran Torino and Up. Sometimes the echoes are just…eerie coincidence, or never explained.
I don’t mean “They both have end credits” or “They both star Kevin Bacon” or “the hero refuses the call to action at first but then goes on a journey that changes their whole perspective about everything.”
I mean stuff like…like the three examples we ended up using.
“Film in which a rage-filled protagonist and his goodhearted companion struggle to complete a Yuletide journey; (spoiler) on the verge of success, the protagonist lets go of his anger and his perspective shifts, leading to a holiday dinner with an unexpected guest.” (Two answers, both 26 letters)
“In this sequel (Part Two), a thawed-out national icon from an earlier era has his last moments with his love interest from the previous film before her mind fails; he then foils a world-domination scheme using a doomsday weapon firing down from above.” (Two answers, both 30 letters)
“Film in which a brilliant, imprisoned monster plays psychological games with a relative innocent; he ultimately helps her at a high price before disappearing (you're better off ignoring the sequel where they become lovers, yeccch).” (Two answers, both 20 letters)
So the A sector of Ubercross Abecedaria now had a theme, which meant I’d have to think of themes for the other sections…but, well, later for that. I had to assign the theme a name that was somehow A-appropriate. So instead of something more crossword-natural like ANAGRAMS, ACROSTICS, or ANTANACLASIS, the theme became…
ANALOGOUS FILMS.
Had I created even more work for myself? Yep. But was the fun of looking at stories worth it? You bet. My only regret is that by the time the theme developed it was too late to fit, like, 50 more pairs in there. Maybe some other grid.