Dan Schoenholz author page

Many of my puzzle ideas over the years have come to me while running — brainstorming theme possibilities makes the miles go by faster. This puzzle was no exception. I'd had a vague notion to try to build a theme around terms like "c-sharp" and "g-force," but it hadn't gone anywhere.

Then one day while running in the hills near my house, I crossed a little footbridge over a creek and I remember thinking that a bridge was a span, which led to me to think of C-Span, which then somehow morphed into the realization that a covered bridge was a C-SPAN in a way. I quickly came up with a few other, similar examples, and thought I might be on to something.

When I got home, I did some searching in the XWord Info database to see if the theme had been done before. I did find this cool crossword by Andrew Zhou, but my idea was different enough from his that I moved forward with brainstorming more theme answers, selecting a symmetrical set, and then constructing the puzzle.

This puzzle is light on theme material (seven themers as compared to the eight or nine that I usually aim for in a Sunday), which allowed for a grid with more long and mid-length non-theme material than in most 21 x 21 puzzles that I've constructed. On that note, I'm amazed that OREOPIE is making its debut in a New York Times crossword: a seven-letter phrase with five vowels is extremely useful from a construction perspective, so whatever the reason for its absence to-date, I suspect it will show up again. ARTY-FARTY is also making its first appearance; those who know me won't be surprised at how tickled I am to be the guy responsible.

Because it's Earth Day when I'm writing this, it seems appropriate to note that proceeds from this puzzle are going to support my undergraduate alma mater, the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley, where faculty and students bring incredible energy and intellectual horsepower to bear on the many environmental challenges facing our country and our planet.

Themes based on words that sound like letters have been done fairly often: a great example is this Sunday puzzle by Ashish Vengsarkar (May 21, 2006). The variation I came up with was to find two-word phrases where one word sounded like a letter, and the other word either began or ended with that letter. The theme answers in the first version of the puzzle were JOHNJAY, CARIBBEANSEA, BUSYBEE, BREAKFASTTEA and SNAPPEA. Will Shortz thought the idea was interesting, but wanted all the theme answers to be consistent.

In my next version, all five theme answers began with the letter in the phrase: they included JOHNJAY, CARIBBEANSEA, BUSYBEE, TAIWANESETEA, and UPTOYOU. Will liked this version better, but felt that TAIWANESETEA was too obscure. In version 3, I incorporated TEXASTEA and CHINASEA. I was worried that the theme square count would be too low, given how short all the theme answers had become, but Will was apparently unconcerned and accepted the puzzle.

Other than that, I'll note that this is the first time that KSTATE has ever appeared in a New York Times crossword. Glad to be able to give a shout-out to the alma mater of my high-school classmate Doug Rogge, whom I reconnected with at a reunion not long before constructing this puzzle, and who still lives in the vicinity of Manhattan, Kansas. Go, Wildcats!

I hope solvers like this wordplay theme—my recollection is that I came up with it while watching the Olympics last summer and wondering if any of the divers might experience a flip flop. The puzzle retains more of my clues as written than most I've published—probably two-thirds of the clues are either exactly the same or very close to what I submitted. Sadly, my proposed clue for CHEN at 53-Across ("noted crossword critic Jeff") was among the minority that got the axe. Sorry, Jeff: I tried!

I am also pleased to include a shout out at 4-Down to Sandie Gitchell (the mother of two of my closest friends), better known as "Madre" to me and many others. A warm, fun-loving person, Madre has been a friend and a supportive presence in my life for almost 40 years. Coincidentally, tomorrow happens to be her birthday, so I'm glad to be able to send her this 21 x 21 card via the crossword blogs. I'm doubly pleased (as Madre will be, as well) that the puzzle includes WINE—one of her favorite words—at 54-Across.

This is my second attempt at a puzzle with perimeter answers. My first one required a lot of dodgy fill, and was difficult enough to construct that I vowed never to try THAT again. But then I had the idea for today's puzzle.

Happily, when I sat down to construct this one, the fill came together pretty well. While it's hinted at in the revealer, it's not explicitly stated that each of the films referenced in the puzzle was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. Given that, as well as the need for symmetry and to have four corners where the first and/or last letters of the answers were the same, I didn't have a lot of wiggle room to try different configurations/answers. The three themers in the main body of the puzzle layered on additional constraints. Despite all that, the fill in the final product isn't bad, IMO, with only a few entries I wish I could have eliminated (KTS, ITA and IMET, you know who you are . . . )

One other tricky aspect of this puzzle was cluing. I wanted the clues to be independent of the films and their subjects: but since many of the theme movies were biopics, I couldn't pull it off. For example, how do you clue "Patton" in a way that doesn't relate to General Patton? How do you clue Amadeus without referencing Mozart? It doesn't work, unfortunately.

In any case, I hope solvers enjoy the puzzle enough to give it two thumbs up!

Who knew that there were so many phrases that include a two letter state code AND the nickname of that same state? And that they broke out symmetrically? When I first submitted this puzzle, Joel and Will liked the theme, but felt the fill was too bland, so this version is an extreme makeover. From my perspective, landing DONHO atop ALOHASHIRT was well worth the extra effort.

It's hard for me to believe this is my 20th puzzle in the Times. A long-time solver, I started constructing several years ago after attending a workshop given by Andrea Carla Michaels at the late, great Silicon Valley Puzzle Days event. Andrea demystified the process and encouraged those of us who were intrigued with the idea of constructing to give it a try. When my first puzzle was accepted, she was almost as thrilled as I was. Since Andrea is one of the great constructors of Monday puzzles, it seems karmatically correct that #20 for me is also a Monday — a symbolic 15x15 tip of the hat to a terrific mentor. Many thanks, Andrea!

For some reason, the theme for this puzzle didn't jump out at me when I was actually getting the cards and gag gifts that accompanied hitting the big five-oh: it wasn't until a few months later that the light bulb came on. My first version of the puzzle had FOOT LONG HOT DOGS as a central entry, but try as I might, I couldn't come up with a decent grid/fill with five theme answers included, so I had to settle for four. I was pleased, however, to hit on an alignment that allowed me to include what Matt Ginsberg has described as an Easter Egg (or maybe more appropriately for this puzzle, five Easter Eggs?): a hidden theme-related bonus that not all solvers would notice. If you are reading this, you probably are the type of solver that found the Easter Egg yourself, but if you didn't see it the first time through, take another look and see if you can spot it.

I was also glad that the end-product was smooth enough for a Monday — a first for me in the NYT.

I remember when I saw "Wordplay" how blown away I was by the genius of the famous BOB DOLE/CLINTON ELECTED crossword featured in the movie. When I started making puzzles myself a couple of years later, I thought it would be fun to try to construct one in the same vein. While this crossword is obviously nowhere near as intricate or brilliant as its progenitor, I'm glad to be able to add to the short list of "Schrodinger" puzzles that feature squares with more than one correct answer.

One other note: when I read on Xwordinfo a few months ago about a constructor who submitted a revision of a puzzle that had already been accepted, it prompted me to revisit this puzzle, which was one of my earlier efforts. What I saw — several entries that I no longer liked — convinced me to revamp it and send the update to Will, who graciously allowed me to substitute the new for the old. I hope solvers enjoy the final version.

This puzzle originated when I heard "Walk of Life" by Dire Straits on my drive to work one morning. Like any good constructor, I started unconsciously fiddling with the song title, and it hit me that the tune's Spoonerism would be "LOCK OF WIFE." Moments later I had what I thought was the perfect accompanying clue (Chastity belt?) — and after a few days spent developing a list of other possibilities, I was on my way.

Or so I thought. I sent the resulting 21x puzzle to Will Shortz at the NY Times and, after he gave it the thumbs down, to Rich Norris at the LA Times, where it also failed to make the cut. After subjecting their short rejection notes to a level of scrutiny normally reserved for newly-discovered biblical scrolls, I detected just an inkling of interest and decided that one or the other might consider using a revised version. But based on the feedback I'd received, I came to the conclusion — sadly — that LOCK OF WIFE had to go (apparently it would be too obscure for many solvers.) I also jettisoned DUTIFUL BAY (which didn't work, phonetically speaking, since "Beautiful Day" has a "y" sound after the "b"). In their place, I substituted DOWNED HOG as the central entry. With those modifications, along with some resulting improvements to the fill, Will liked the revision enough to accept it.

As always, I was psyched to get a Sunday puzzle in the NYT, but in this case I was also a bit wistful that my favorite entry and clue had to be sacrificed in the process. What did I learn from all this? To paraphrase another old rock n' roll tune, sometimes if you love a theme entry, set it free.