Jill Denny author page
5 puzzles by Jill Denny
with Constructor comments
See the 13 answer words debuted by Jill Denny.
| R | A | I | M | I | Z | E | T | A | H | A | L | L | ||
| V | R | O | O | M | I | N | O | N | O | B | I | E | ||
| S | T | U | M | P | N | Y | U | K | T | O | K | E | ||
| J | E | D | G | A | R | H | O | O | V | E | R | |||
| G | O | E | T | H | E | M | I | E | N | S | ||||
| U | H | A | U | L | R | E | N | T | A | L | ||||
| S | I | G | N | S | C | A | I | N | L | I | P | |||
| I | D | O | S | L | D | O | P | A | D | E | C | O | ||
| X | E | D | M | A | I | N | T | I | M | E | X | |||
| Y | C | H | R | O | M | O | S | O | M | E | ||||
| A | T | S | E | A | A | R | E | N | A | S | ||||
| F | O | U | R | T | H | O | F | J | U | L | Y | |||
| T | R | I | O | A | R | L | O | I | S | I | A | H | ||
| E | T | T | U | C | Z | A | R | O | U | N | C | E | ||
| R | E | S | T | K | O | P | S | T | S | K | E | D |
JILL: I'm excited to see this puzzle make it to the page after a few years in the queue. Jeff and I painted ourselves into a corner by choosing a theme that could only reasonably run on a single day out of the year, and only in the Monday-Thursdayspan. Thursday, July 4, 2013 was the most recent eligible date until today. Hello, old friend!
This theme popped up while we traveling, as our themes usually do. I'll be reading a book or daydreaming, and Jeff will turn to me and say, "You know, we haven't come up with any good crossword ideas in a while," and then I'll propose approximately two dozen terrible ideas that Jeff very politely pretends to consider, usually phrased as, "Hmm, interesting. Let's put it on the list." In keeping with the Infinite Monkey Theorem, I eventually land on a theme that makes Jeff's eyes light up. This particular idea came a little sooner than most, thank goodness. Turning an ordinal number into a fraction seemed like the kind of nerdy yet accessible theme that makes for a straight-over-the-plate weekday grid.
Although I'm pleased with how the grid turned out, I think we both wish that we could have found another option for the 'L' themer. L-DOPA isn't the freshest. Regardless, it was a fun collaboration. Stay tuned for our next joint project, due in less than a month. Hint: it's not a crossword.
JEFF: As usual, the collaborations between my wife and me are one part inspiration, one part genius. She's responsible for both parts, so I ... well, I smell reasonably inoffensive. Most of the time.
| A | S | T | U | D | E | N | T | P | I | C | K | U | P | |
| C | A | R | P | A | R | T | S | I | R | A | I | S | E | |
| T | H | E | T | W | O | H | A | S | L | A | N | D | E | D |
| L | Y | O | N | S | T | E | N | O | N | |||||
| H | E | R | O | E | E | G | S | |||||||
| T | H | E | O | N | E | M | A | N | Y | A | W | |||
| P | O | O | L | P | A | R | T | Y | H | A | B | L | A | |
| A | U | L | A | I | T | D | E | L | E | O | N | |||
| S | T | Y | N | E | W | A | T | E | R | P | A | R | K | |
| T | E | T | B | Y | E | B | Y | E | O | N | E | |||
| E | D | E | N | E | A | R | S | |||||||
| R | A | N | A | T | I | M | A | G | O | |||||
| P | A | R | F | O | R | T | H | E | C | O | U | R | S | E |
| G | R | O | T | T | O | O | V | E | R | R | U | L | E | |
| A | T | R | A | I | N | P | E | E | K | A | B | O | O |
Jill: One of my most glaring puzzle-solving weaknesses is total ignorance of anything related to baseball. After Jeff tired of my repeated grousing about baseball clues, we started brainstorming about how to incorporate non-baseball sports into a grid. How we landed on golf, I no longer recall, as I am even more stymied by golf than by baseball. The over/under PAR idea seemed like a tidy theme that nodded to the game without requiring any knowledge of golfers or other trivia. As for the themers, I love free-associating with words, so it's fun to come up with phrases in a puzzle like this — feels like a game of Taboo.
We are honored to have the first puzzle of 2015, and we hope you like it!
| L | O | E | B | C | H | I | C | A | A | H | A | B | ||
| E | A | V | E | H | U | N | A | N | L | O | C | O | ||
| D | R | A | G | O | L | O | R | D | B | L | E | W | ||
| C | O | M | P | U | T | E | R | K | E | Y | ||||
| U | S | U | R | E | R | E | A | R | B | O | B | |||
| S | T | A | R | W | A | R | S | C | A | N | T | I | N | A |
| T | O | T | A | L | O | O | H | S | A | B | I | N | ||
| E | V | E | D | A | V | I | D | L | O | G | ||||
| D | E | S | P | A | I | R | L | E | S | S | E | N | S | |
| R | I | S | K | D | E | U | S | |||||||
| R | E | W | O | R | K | P | B | A | N | D | J | |||
| A | X | E | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | A | R | I | ||
| Z | I | N | G | S | J | A | B | S | Q | U | I | B | ||
| O | L | D | E | A | G | A | T | R | E | E | ||||
| R | E | S | T | M | E | R | S | U | D | S |
Jill:
This crossword was born on Camano Island during a rainy weekend getaway back in 2010. Jeff and I often brainstorm crossword ideas while travelling, and this particular theme came to us at the breakfast table. Pancakes and crosswords, what could be better? I tend to admire constructions that have a visual element to the theme, like Jeremy Newton's brilliant "Ode to Joy" puzzle or so many of Liz Gorski's creations.
The original vision was that the squares containing SPACE at the bottom of the puzzle would be merged into a single rectangle resembling the spacebar on a keyboard, but there are understandably limitations on how much the grid can be altered in print. As for the construction process, collaborating with Jeff is always a delight. That's why I married him.
Jeff:
Wait. It wasn't my dashing good looks?
| T | A | C | H | B | A | S | E | S | P | O | N | E | ||
| O | S | H | A | U | N | C | U | T | A | V | O | W | ||
| P | N | O | M | S | T | O | R | E | N | A | P | E | ||
| A | E | R | O | H | E | W | A | N | T | L | E | R | ||
| T | R | E | N | D | E | D | O | M | O | O | ||||
| O | R | A | L | T | R | I | U | M | P | E | D | |||
| O | B | G | Y | N | C | O | D | E | S | I | B | O | ||
| W | A | R | E | W | A | T | E | R | P | L | A | N | ||
| N | I | A | E | A | G | E | R | B | U | O | Y | S | ||
| S | O | P | O | C | L | E | S | P | I | L | S | |||
| H | O | L | D | H | A | N | S | O | L | O | ||||
| P | S | C | A | L | E | W | I | S | A | P | I | D | ||
| I | T | A | R | N | A | I | V | E | T | I | V | O | ||
| S | O | D | A | D | E | F | E | R | E | Z | E | R | ||
| H | W | Y | S | A | C | I | D | S | S | E | N | S |
| C | R | E | D | O | T | E | S | S | T | U | F | T | ||
| H | O | M | E | D | I | R | O | N | A | L | O | E | ||
| A | G | I | L | E | M | I | R | E | K | N | O | X | ||
| F | U | L | L | S | P | E | E | D | A | H | E | A | D | |
| F | E | E | S | A | W | I | K | O | N | |||||
| T | A | D | A | D | Y | N | A | M | I | C | ||||
| F | L | E | W | U | R | L | E | B | O | N | Y | |||
| L | I | M | O | A | P | A | R | T | A | T | R | A | ||
| A | L | I | A | S | M | I | R | C | O | E | N | |||
| G | A | R | B | L | E | D | P | E | C | K | ||||
| R | U | N | E | T | E | L | C | O | S | |||||
| T | H | E | G | A | M | E | I | S | A | F | O | O | T | |
| W | H | O | A | M | I | L | D | M | A | T | Z | O | ||
| E | A | R | S | E | S | M | E | O | T | T | E | R | ||
| T | I | N | T | L | E | S | S | R | E | A | D | Y |