Emanuel Ax author page
1 puzzle by Emanuel Ax
with Constructor comments
See the 3 answer words debuted by Emanuel Ax.
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AX: I have been a passionate devotee of the Times puzzle for more years than I can count. When I travel, the daily puzzle is one of the things that makes me feel close to home. I am also very happy that my children seem to have caught the bug, and are far better than me at solving. Getting to try to make one for the great Will Shortz has been a true highlight for me, and I am grateful to Brad for his expertise, inspiration and patience.
WILBER: I minored in applied piano at college, and I'm still occasionally a church player, though when Will paired me with Mr. Ax ("call me Manny") he was only aware that I had a general classical music bent. I wanted a theme with some musical component, if possible, and once we sketched out a decent idea, Will and Joel had the brainstorm of the visual grid element and deftly tweaked the roster of theme entries to allow them to cross, thus clearing the middle.
Another frequent collaborator of mine, Doug Peterson, lent a hand with the nitty-gritty of grid design. Manny himself ably put crowning touches on the puzzle fill (including the revealer) and was game to do an even split of the clues. (I counseled against RUNS at 16A as a duplication of a theme entry, but I see it's back and I get it - TUNS or DUNS is not exactly commonplace.) After years of solving, Manny showed a nice affinity for New York Times style, I think - my favorites are 1A, 23A, 32A, 53D.
We worked over e-mail and by telephone, sometimes from wherever he was performing (Brahms concerto no. 2 in Milwaukee, Beethoven concerto no. 2 in Detroit, etc.), and more recently from his home as he was premiering the HK Gruber concerto with the New York Philharmonic.
Given my puzzle bylines over the last several years, you might correctly surmise that I derive lots of satisfaction from co-authoring, and this was one I won't soon forget. Beyond the joys of connecting with Manny and his enthusiasm, it's a special way for me to mark my 50th appearance in the Times, as Will mentions in his intro.