Ben Zoon author page
1 puzzle by Ben Zoon
with Constructor comments
See the 7 answer words debuted by Ben Zoon.
| A | M | U | S | E | I | M | A | C | S | T | A | P | ||
| N | O | F | U | N | N | A | C | H | O | R | U | E | ||
| D | O | O | R | L | A | T | C | H | E | S | A | G | E | |
| F | A | R | H | E | A | P | E | D | U | P | ||||
| D | A | T | A | C | A | P | S | P | A | C | E | R | S | |
| B | R | A | C | E | L | E | T | I | D | O | S | |||
| A | R | C | E | D | R | I | D | E | S | C | P | A | ||
| C | O | O | S | P | O | L | I | S | T | H | E | N | ||
| K | W | H | C | I | T | E | D | F | R | O | N | T | ||
| O | C | H | O | R | O | G | U | E | O | N | E | |||
| S | O | L | V | E | N | T | K | N | E | E | L | E | D | |
| P | A | D | S | E | E | E | W | A | L | P | ||||
| A | R | E | R | E | D | H | O | T | C | O | A | L | S | |
| D | E | R | O | R | D | E | R | A | S | Y | E | T | ||
| E | D | S | N | S | Y | N | C | N | E | E | D | Y |
Hello everybody! How cool is this?
I am a software engineer who took up crossword construction as a pandemic project, writing my own construction and word list software. Of the ten or so themed puzzles that I submitted to the NYT, this one is the simplest conceptually. With the help of a Python script, I found a few sets of anagrams in my word list of 11 letters or longer, but only sets of three. Luckily, for one of these sets, an online anagram solver uncovered TACO HOLDERS, which was not in my list.
The original version of this puzzle had REMIXED in the center as a revealer, but the editors made a great call to remove it in favor of a circular cluing strategy and better fill. Of course, the circular theme and clueing warranted 90-degree rotational symmetry as well!
I'll leave you a few more long anagrams — I'm sure there are other good ones out there to discover!
COORDINATES, CAROTENOIDS, DECORATIONS
INTEGRATION, ORIENTATING, TEARING INTO
LASTING PEACE, EATING PLACES, SPECIAL AGENT