Alan Massengill author page
4 puzzles by Alan Massengill
with Constructor comments
| Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 8/17/2020 | 10/28/2021 | 3 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
|---|---|---|
| 1.63 | 17 | 18% |
See the 17 answer words debuted by Alan Massengill.
| B | A | D | P | R | A | B | A | F | T | T | B | S | ||
| A | M | O | R | E | N | O | M | A | S | H | O | W | ||
| B | E | R | I | G | H | T | B | A | C | K | A | C | E | |
| E | X | A | M | A | I | O | L | I | I | N | C | A | ||
| A | B | S | F | L | I | C | K | E | R | |||||
| I | F | A | L | L | T | O | P | I | E | C | E | S | ||
| M | I | L | T | E | L | L | K | E | A | T | S | |||
| U | R | L | S | N | E | A | R | S | S | T | A | T | ||
| P | E | N | A | L | T | I | P | S | O | P | I | |||
| I | T | S | A | N | O | B | R | A | I | N | E | R | ||
| O | H | G | O | D | N | O | E | N | D | |||||
| Z | A | H | N | G | R | A | P | E | I | D | L | E | ||
| A | N | T | W | E | A | R | E | S | O | D | E | A | D | |
| R | O | E | A | L | I | G | N | P | I | N | K | Y | ||
| K | I | R | N | A | N | O | S | S | T | Y | E | S |
Glad to be back in the Times. This was a really fun puzzle to make. I got the idea last Halloween while looking at some lawn decorations. Zombies only have a few specific features, ideal for four theme entries. The editorial staff was great to work with, we tweaked a couple of the theme entries and they improved several clues. Happy Halloween everyone!
| S | P | A | S | P | E | A | C | H | S | T | U | D | ||
| E | A | C | H | E | M | C | E | E | A | O | N | E | ||
| N | A | M | E | A | T | A | R | I | S | P | I | N | ||
| T | R | E | B | E | K | B | I | G | S | H | O | T | S | |
| C | A | R | P | S | S | H | E | A | F | |||||
| C | H | O | G | E | E | E | T | A | T | B | A | |||
| H | E | R | R | R | A | D | O | R | W | H | A | T | ||
| R | I | P | E | F | L | U | F | F | A | E | R | O | ||
| I | D | O | I | D | O | G | I | F | X | M | E | N | ||
| S | I | R | O | R | C | D | A | N | O | D | E | |||
| A | R | O | M | A | O | S | C | A | R | |||||
| I | N | T | E | R | A | C | T | H | O | R | N | E | D | |
| R | A | I | N | N | A | O | M | I | T | I | V | O | ||
| K | N | O | T | C | O | M | B | O | O | N | E | G | ||
| S | O | N | S | E | S | S | E | N | O | G | R | E |
ALAN: I am excited to see this one coming out during the holidays. This was another fun collaboration with ACME. Yes, 3-Down was my idea, I swear. We had a good back and forth with all the TOP words. We liked the final look of the 4 long theme phrases at the top of the grid, so APEX PREDATOR, SUMMIT NEW JERSEY, and a few others didn't make the final cut.
I had to visit California recently, but a silver lining was finally getting to meet Andrea. She is even more amazing in person.
Happy Holidays everyone!
ACME: My preference is always to have my themes go horizontally, with a punchline/reveal.
3-Down ACME CORPORATION was Alan's idea, I swear!
| H | I | S | S | P | A | T | Y | A | D | D | A | |||
| A | C | T | I | A | R | C | H | E | L | I | O | T | ||
| L | E | O | N | S | O | L | E | S | A | M | O | A | ||
| F | R | I | G | H | T | F | U | L | O | W | N | E | R | |
| S | C | O | U | R | M | M | E | |||||||
| F | R | A | C | K | A | N | D | R | U | I | N | |||
| C | O | D | T | Y | P | E | I | O | D | I | N | E | ||
| A | V | I | D | U | S | C | S | E | X | T | ||||
| L | E | V | I | E | D | H | A | H | A | S | S | S | ||
| F | R | A | N | K | A | M | A | T | E | U | R | |||
| E | R | A | I | D | E | A | S | |||||||
| F | R | I | S | K | Y | B | U | S | I | N | E | S | S | |
| P | I | A | N | O | T | A | F | T | A | R | G | O | ||
| A | N | J | O | U | A | M | O | S | M | O | T | H | ||
| M | E | A | N | T | G | A | S | E | S | S | O |
ACME: It's been wonderful collaborating with Alan. I believe this is our third in a row. Altho the idea was Alan's, these particular themers resonate deeply with me.
We originally had FROCKCONCERT which still makes me giggle but initially cost us a potential rejection. Happily, Will and Co. let us substitute in FRACKANDRUIN which in the end I think is a stronger, appeals to my politics and a more timely phrase.
FRIGHTFULOWNER is all too real in my current landlord situation and FRISKYBUSINESS is a shout-out to my dearly departed love of my life, Blackjack.
ALAN: It was fantastic collaborating with the funny and talented ACME! This was actually the first collaboration we had accepted by NYT last December. It still feels like my debut puzzle, which is really exciting. This idea came out of a spitballing session on another idea and we both had fun making these theme entries and clues. We got three entries pretty quickly but the fourth one was elusive. We are very thankful to the editors for working with us on an improved fourth theme entry. Team Will also tweaked several clues, definitely for the better, including the very enjoyable clues for 39D and 62A.
I could not have made this or any other puzzle without Jeff Chen and Jim Horne's XWordInfo.com site, their wordlists, and all the help Jeff and others have given me. I do not know of a better place for a new constructor to start. The crossword constructing community is amazing, and so supportive. Now if I could get Jim to help me with some tricky RegEx searches :)!
| W | O | O | S | P | A | L | S | A | D | L | I | B | ||
| A | U | N | T | A | V | O | W | A | I | O | L | I | ||
| L | I | E | U | W | A | V | E | S | H | E | L | L | O | |
| L | O | A | F | S | I | D | E | S | T | |||||
| S | U | R | F | T | H | E | N | E | T | S | E | L | F | |
| T | I | M | R | A | Y | T | O | N | E | R | ||||
| P | O | L | E | S | S | A | D | D | A | Y | ||||
| S | H | E | L | L | S | O | U | T | C | A | S | H | ||
| B | E | E | T | L | E | S | N | I | T | S | ||||
| T | A | R | T | S | U | R | I | B | A | E | ||||
| U | S | E | R | P | A | L | M | S | C | A | R | D | S | |
| I | S | D | U | E | S | C | O | O | P | |||||
| B | E | A | C | H | F | R | O | N | T | H | O | R | A | |
| L | A | T | K | E | A | N | E | W | O | M | E | N | ||
| T | R | E | S | S | S | E | G | O | O | S | S | A |
ALAN: This idea came out of another collaboration with Andrea. I kept trying to work WAVES into our hair theme puzzle, and Andrea kept giving it the thumbs down, but it put us in the mood for a beach puzzle. Andrea is an amazing collaborator; funny and talented. We played around with every combination we could think of, it was fun to focus on the beach terms as verbs. The reveal came late and brought the whole thing together.
The editorial staff is great to work with and their final touches improved the puzzle. They did put the kibosh on a not so good SAND entry, but let us remake the whole grid with the new longer theme entries. We tried to make the bigger corners accessible for an early week level.
We hope you all enjoy the solve. Stay safe everyone!
ACME: As a partner, Alan's a dream. Easygoing, completely open to criticism and suggestions, bursting with ideas, and quite unflappable (a quality you want in an anesthesiologist and a writing cohort!).
Will initially nixed SANDADECK as a deal-killer; not enough in the language. (I now wonder if SANDTHEDECK would've flown?) We pushed back and suggested alternatives, including swapping in PALMSCARDS. Happily, Will and team agreed. We revamped the entire puzzle to make lengths match, and the rest was a breeze. ;)