I would have remembered that when I figured out the across word above…
I was proud to see my hometown, AMES, become a common NYT clue a few years back. We’re a little light on ESNEs (our farmers are the family kind) or ERNEs (we’re 1,200 miles inland), and there isn’t a working ADIT anywhere in the state since the soft coal gave out. But we do have loads of ARILs (we’re a center for plant science), and the local fuzzbutts presumably are well supplied with ORTs.
Common or repeat words and clues could be easy starter points for the end user who don’t want to struggle with the puzzle to much.
I would suggest OP try a couple of NYT Saturday puzzles, not online for free to my knowledge. One would want to buy the paper for starters.
If the NYT isn’t available in your area, you can also go to a bookstore and look for the NYT crossword collections, which are more expensive than an issue, but much less expensive than a subscription.
I once saw a crossword where the theme was crossword clues. The clue would be a word commonly used in crosswords, and the theme answer was the clue usually used to clue that word.
Have to learn a lot of short filler words with many vowels, and obscure names.
And don’t forget two Melville novels Omoo and Typee. Really? You were a great writer and those were all you could think of as book titles?
Hey, if I were a writer, I’d give my books titles like Etea or Iroo. They’d be remembered for as long as crossword puzzles last (even if nobody ever read them).
Reading this might be helpful too.
That was great, thank you.
Here is another thread discussing many of the recurring famous names.