Robert Logan author page
4 puzzles by Robert Logan
with Constructor comments
Hailing from the beach cities of Southern California, Robert is an engineer and businessman by education, a semi-retired developer of alternative energy electric power plants by profession, and a world traveler by choice (52 countries, and counting).
He currently resides in Belize and spends his time helping battle global climate change, writing crossword puzzles, leading other men in deep personal growth work, and carving stones into aesthetically pleasing abstract shapes.
| S | H | I | P | M | E | N | T | S | ||||||
| W | H | O | D | O | E | S | T | H | A | T | ||||
| N | A | R | R | O | W | S | T | H | E | G | A | P | ||
| B | O | N | U | S | S | A | D | S | A | T | A | N | ||
| R | A | N | G | E | S | C | E | N | T | R | E | |||
| I | P | A | Y | A | M | A | H | A | S | O | T | T | ||
| C | O | M | A | T | A | M | E | D | G | O | Y | A | ||
| K | L | A | Y | C | R | E | E | D | E | A | T | S | ||
| Y | O | K | E | H | I | N | D | I | E | R | R | S | ||
| A | G | E | A | M | A | S | S | E | S | T | I | E | ||
| R | I | A | L | T | O | S | T | R | I | C | T | |||
| D | E | B | I | T | B | I | D | R | I | S | K | S | ||
| S | E | N | I | O | R | M | O | M | E | N | T | S | ||
| T | U | R | N | E | D | H | E | A | D | S | ||||
| S | E | E | D | B | A | N | K | S |
| A | L | T | O | N | S | H | O | C | R | I | S | P | ||
| G | E | E | K | E | D | O | U | T | H | A | T | H | A | |
| G | A | R | G | O | Y | L | E | S | A | N | S | E | L | |
| I | F | S | O | N | A | S | O | N | S | A | L | E | ||
| E | Y | E | B | A | R | J | A | C | O | B | ||||
| C | O | M | P | L | E | T | E | M | E | S | S | |||
| U | R | B | A | N | O | A | S | E | S | W | A | I | L | |
| M | E | L | L | O | N | A | P | M | A | U | D | E | ||
| P | A | U | L | G | E | T | S | T | A | R | T | E | D | |
| S | P | E | C | I | A | L | S | A | U | C | E | |||
| R | E | N | D | S | F | L | Y | S | P | A | ||||
| S | T | I | N | T | S | F | A | A | S | T | A | R | ||
| H | A | D | T | O | D | A | R | N | I | T | A | L | L | |
| A | M | G | E | N | O | K | I | E | D | O | K | I | E | |
| D | E | E | R | E | W | E | S | O | P | E | N | S |
My goal in constructing this one is to start with a relatively interconnected 72-word grid, provide a bevy of fresh and lively marquee answers, and create a smooth and entertaining solving experience. Being a Friday puzzle, I also tried to balance keeping it accessible for newbie themeless solvers while still having enough meat on the bones to satisfy even the most experienced weekend warriors.
In the end, I was pretty happy that ten of the fourteen longest entries are NYT debuts, along with one additional Shortz-era debut. Moreover, many of these entries resonated with me personally. Having spent a couple of decades developing large renewable-energy power plants, I've seen over a hundred thousand 6-downs in my lifetime (which became my starting point for filling this grid). 24-down brought back many fond memories of a misspent decade tooling my 1985 CJ-7 around the beach communities of Southern California with the top down and the doors off — year round, even in the rain. I have 14-across on more things than I care to admit publicly. I even had a couple of 17-acrosses silently guarding my home for years.
And, of course, 31-down had me absentmindedly singing that song in my head for days after working on this puzzle.
All this with only (IMHO) a wee bit of all-organic, non-toxic glue to hold it all together. I really enjoyed creating this one and thought to myself, "11-down!" when it was done.
I hope you did, too.
| C | A | R | T | W | H | E | E | L | S | |||||
| H | O | M | E | R | E | M | E | D | I | E | S | |||
| D | O | U | B | L | E | D | O | G | D | A | R | E | S | |
| E | M | P | L | O | Y | A | R | E | N | A | S | |||
| G | A | L | E | S | P | S | I | S | N | A | F | U | ||
| A | G | E | D | V | A | I | N | D | A | T | E | D | ||
| S | E | T | H | A | N | G | G | L | I | D | E | R | S | |
| S | U | S | A | N | R | I | C | E | ||||||
| I | M | E | T | S | O | M | E | O | N | E | B | R | B | |
| C | A | D | E | T | A | T | W | T | S | O | I | L | ||
| E | N | G | E | L | S | S | N | B | I | N | D | I | ||
| D | I | A | L | E | D | L | A | T | K | E | S | |||
| A | R | T | S | A | N | D | L | E | T | T | E | R | S | |
| S | O | U | L | B | R | O | T | H | E | R | S | |||
| E | P | I | C | E | N | T | E | R | S |
"I should try an ultra-low-word-count themeless."
HA HA HA Ha Ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
What in the hell was I thinking? (There wasn't even any rum involved in formulating that thought. Well ... not a lot, anyway.)
Seventeen months, 42,420 gray hairs, dozens of grid variations, a thousand dead ends, case after case of Red Bull (and a few bottles of rum) later...
This one was truly a labor of love — and perseverance. I'm honored that it was accepted. And I'm beyond honored to be sharing a themeless weekend with the esteemed Ms. Weintraub. I'm also a bit nervous. She's a tough act to follow.
I rather like the graceful curves and flow of this grid. The seed entry was 13-Across. To be clear, it was the eleventeenth seed entry I tried for this particular grid iteration. But it did seem appropriate for the challenge I had laid out for myself way back when, and I'm very happy with the result.
I hope you are too.
| A | L | P | H | A | D | O | G | B | R | Y | A | N | T | |
| W | E | R | E | D | O | N | E | B | O | O | G | I | E | |
| O | V | E | R | P | L | A | N | S | O | U | R | C | E | |
| R | E | E | D | B | L | U | R | B | E | A | N | |||
| D | E | N | S | Y | E | S | I | N | D | E | E | D | Y | |
| R | E | P | O | R | T | |||||||||
| N | A | N | O | B | O | T | S | R | E | C | O | I | L | |
| S | M | O | K | E | R | T | A | H | I | T | I | |||
| A | P | T | E | S | T | S | C | H | M | A | L | T | Z | |
| Y | O | H | O | H | O | |||||||||
| H | A | R | D | T | O | T | E | L | L | F | R | O | M | |
| O | R | E | O | S | L | O | E | R | I | C | E | |||
| M | O | N | K | E | E | T | R | A | V | O | L | T | A | |
| E | S | T | E | E | M | I | T | S | A | D | E | A | L | |
| Y | E | S | Y | O | U | E | V | E | N | O | D | D | S |
This one started one day when I randomly ran across someone else's grid design and noticed all the 4-letter slots were downs and all the 5-letter slots were acrosses. Of course, my little nerd brain kicked in immediately: "Wonder if a grid like that's been done before? Wonder if it can be?" I thought I might be on to something when the answers came back — surprisingly: "Not that I can find" and "Yup."
Theme development is my constructor kryptonite, but even I figured out pretty quickly that — while a nice technical feat in grid design — as a theme goes, I've had more substance in hospital broth. And that was the end of it. I put it away.
But then the fill. It started to call out to me. Unbidden. At all hours. I realized I had never actually tried to fill that beautiful grid. It's only seventy words. No theme required. Maybe if I just see how clean I can get it...
When all that positivity popped up, my mind started wandering to retirement spots on alluring tropical islands with rum, pirates, sheepdogs, and sappy 1960s television... I knew my soul was home. I hope you found a little comfort as well. Cheers!
Much gratitude to my mentor, Jeff Chen. I wouldn't be here without his support, patience, kindness, and sage advice.