Julie Bérubé author page
4 puzzles by Julie Bérubé
with Constructor comments
| Total | Debut | Latest |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 6/21/2016 | 10/15/2019 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Rebus | Circle | Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 1.53 | 20 | 31% |
| S | K | Y | A | G | E | N | A | P | A | S | T | A | |||
| H | O | E | T | U | N | E | D | H | A | R | P | E | R | ||
| E | A | T | M | A | N | T | O | M | A | N | T | A | L | K | |
| E | L | I | E | R | U | T | A | N | T | I | C | ||||
| P | A | S | S | F | A | I | L | C | L | A | S | S | E | S | |
| S | U | N | E | L | O | T | R | O | N | ||||||
| E | S | C | O | R | T | U | N | D | O | A | L | E | |||
| R | O | E | B | E | E | P | B | E | E | P | C | O | W | ||
| I | N | N | Y | E | C | H | A | T | B | E | S | T | |||
| N | I | T | S | L | I | S | D | I | O | ||||||
| C | A | T | C | H | A | S | C | A | T | C | H | C | A | N | |
| U | M | A | M | I | A | H | I | R | A | K | E | ||||
| T | O | R | A | T | O | R | A | T | O | R | A | M | E | W | |
| U | V | U | L | A | S | S | H | R | E | W | E | L | L | ||
| B | I | S | O | N | H | E | A | D | S | L | A | Y |
How many crossword grids has the New York Times published that are not square (not counting acrostic puzzles)? I have to admit I have not solved enough NYT crosswords even to make a guess...
My first version of this puzzle was 15X15. The editors liked the basic idea of the theme, but thought some of the theme entries weren't lively enough (and, what's more, objected to "paper tape" as a lexical phrase; having done some house painting recently, I have quite a supply of the item). So back to work. The next set of entries was better, but still had too many dings for the editors, as they suggested fitting the theme into a 16X15 (or 15X16, in matrix-speak, i.e., rows by columns) grid. I had not known that a non-square grid was even allowed, but I was happy to comply. With the new format, the fill breathe better, and, as a bonus, I could make a few more fill entries complement the theme.
So! My next submission will be a 1 X 225 (or 225 X 1?).
| O | B | J | A | P | P | S | S | L | A | I | N | |||
| L | E | E | K | B | L | E | U | C | A | N | O | E | ||
| A | L | D | A | C | A | R | B | O | O | S | E | T | S | |
| F | A | I | R | S | C | I | T | I | T | W | A | S | ||
| L | U | G | E | L | O | I | S | |||||||
| S | O | O | R | A | N | K | E | N | S | T | E | I | N | |
| B | E | E | B | T | U | M | O | N | T | E | ||||
| I | R | A | S | O | A | N | D | O | P | I | S | A | ||
| B | U | R | M | A | S | E | T | A | M | P | ||||
| I | M | M | I | G | R | A | T | I | O | O | I | C | E | |
| L | O | U | T | G | E | A | R | |||||||
| S | A | T | E | N | O | S | H | L | A | Y | U | P | ||
| P | E | R | S | O | O | A | I | T | H | N | O | S | E | |
| A | R | I | A | L | S | L | O | E | I | D | E | A | ||
| S | O | O | T | Y | T | O | N | Y | A | R | T |
My original idea for this crossword was to juxtapose opposites in the theme entries — such as the pair that ended up in the crossword, for instance… But the answers were quite long, and in the end, after going back and forth, on and off, with the original idea, I settled on just one pair and made the answers ‘tighter' with rebuses.
I'm glad the editors liked the final idea well enough to make me work at improving the theme answers and the fill, over many, many iterations! I learned to appreciate what editing means for this one, although I had a worrying moment, with a "near puzzle-killer" of a word. I saw no way to remove it without losing the "theme" theme answer… But it was eventually downgraded to "reasonable thing for a cultured person to know." Phew...
| M | T | F | U | J | I | D | A | T | A | G | A | L | ||
| P | O | L | L | E | N | O | W | E | N | O | L | E | ||
| G | R | O | U | N | D | S | C | R | E | W | R | V | S | |
| E | E | L | E | A | S | Y | A | E | G | I | S | |||
| A | W | E | D | O | R | L | O | N | ||||||
| E | A | T | A | P | E | A | C | H | S | N | A | P | ||
| A | S | S | E | T | P | A | N | E | Z | I | T | |||
| S | P | H | T | O | O | L | B | O | X | O | L | A | ||
| T | A | B | S | U | P | E | P | A | L | E | S | |||
| I | D | L | E | S | T | A | Y | S | A | W | A | Y | ||
| R | O | G | E | T | E | T | T | A | ||||||
| R | I | N | G | S | S | O | A | R | S | K | A | |||
| O | L | D | T | U | N | A | S | A | S | H | I | M | I | |
| A | L | E | E | M | I | T | T | A | I | L | O | R | ||
| D | E | S | R | A | P | S | I | G | N | O | R | E |
I had been working on a puzzle with a musical theme, and my husband, "helpful" as always, had been suggesting all kinds of words that I just had to include. One was "Oscar Hammerstein." Now, that puzzle was already very difficult to compose, with all kinds of constraints, so I just laughed. "It's not that easy, you know," I told him. However, there was a hammer, just there. So, I put aside the musical idea and set to work on this toolbox puzzle — not that Oscar Hammerstein had any more luck making it into this puzzle than into the first one.
| A | R | O | M | A | B | R | O | M | E | C | C | A | ||
| S | U | P | E | R | F | O | O | D | A | Q | U | A | S | |
| P | E | T | I | T | I | O | N | S | N | U | R | M | I | |
| R | E | N | T | A | S | C | A | L | I | A | ||||
| A | G | T | M | A | I | N | S | A | I | L | ||||
| F | R | A | G | I | L | E | H | U | N | S | L | O | ||
| R | A | M | O | S | H | O | L | I | S | T | I | C | ||
| A | B | A | B | S | C | O | O | T | L | E | N | T | ||
| I | L | L | I | N | O | I | S | L | A | N | G | E | ||
| D | E | E | E | A | T | S | P | A | T | O | U | T | ||
| E | X | P | I | A | T | E | S | S | A | S | ||||
| A | D | A | P | T | S | B | A | S | T | A | ||||
| V | A | L | I | D | G | U | I | T | A | R | I | S | T | |
| E | R | I | C | A | A | T | R | O | C | I | O | U | S | |
| S | A | S | S | Y | P | S | S | T | A | U | P | E |
I have always liked words games. As an adolescent, I played Scrabble with, and made crosswords for, my uncle — I am Quebecoise, so this was in French. Newly married, I moved to the States, and my husband introduced me to the Sunday NYT puzzles — he doesn't regret this, but he now calls the pastime torture. Of course, we also came up with theme ideas and, eventually, I decided to try composing one… And I was hooked!
I've submitted a number of Sunday ones now, but nothing ever "tickled." Despair! One day, I was lighting a fire with old NYT pages, and came across a weekday puzzle with a hidden "fee fi fo fum" theme. Just nonsense syllables… I could do that, and it was accepted to boot! And the review and improvement process was surprisingly enjoyable.