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Timothy Polin author page

55 puzzles by Timothy Polin
with Constructor comments

TotalDebutLatestCollabs
5512/11/20111/9/20222
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86962402
RebusCircleScrabDebutFresh
6161.6226357%
Timothy Polin
Puzzles constructed by Timothy Polin by year
Sun 1/9/2022 FOOD FOR THOUGHT
SOWNGIFNIMBLEADAGE
CREATIVEACHIERBORAX
ANISETEAJAZZVOCALIST
RAGTAGROARIDOOGRE
ETHMOUNTFUJIELTRAIN
ETCTOTSAMDAHTNT
YOUBETDEODEFOGS
MMMBOPGALAAFFAIR
SEAEELVIVONFLREFS
RETORTAGESRANEONS
ATTNEMPIRESTATEFRAU
SUEDDIESLIMWHACKS
PRODEKETAMPMELEES
WHENINROMECARLOS
CATNAPTOOTERRIF
ALAKIDKENWARNNW
TAXSALEIGETITNOWAAH
ABITOAFWRITBOWTIE
LAWOFGRAVITYLOOKOUTS
OMANITRICOTEYESORES
GAYERHECKNODESLEDE
Thu 10/7/2021
DEWARSCOSTANZA
EXARCHAWAYTEAM
MARACAREARAXLE
EMPLOYEDBATTEN
ROLLING
ICEBALLDINGED
TITOASKANYONE
ROSETTA
CHESSGAMEHAND
AIRPOPALISTER
BLARNEY
STASISBEANPATE
EACHTIMEBOYTOY
ANHEUSEREUROPE
SKIPPINGSTONES
Mon 1/27/2020
APPSMEALSARTS
TRIPAGLOWNOEL
BOLADRFUMANCHU
AVECLEILAKER
YOSEMITESAMYEP
CABSONAIR
ADWAROPTDOES
SNIDELYWHIPLASH
PANEEELLEDTO
ETAILSTAT
HASCAPTAINHOOK
IMAPCAVERUNE
MOUSTACHESETTA
ORCSNAOMIATON
MEETTWEENTAPE
POW Mon 12/23/2019
MAYANSDOTCOM
EXOTICEUROPA
MIDDLERELIEVER
ESAUNOAHXENA
SLEDRIDE
AWAKEISLAM
RIGSTAMOSEWE
CFOSOPALAVOW
HIGHSPEEDDRILL
EATSOL
REDDELICIOUS
TUXNINOPTA
SPINTHEDREIDEL
PETERIELROND
SESTETSIESTA
Thu 11/28/2019
STEWFLORAOJAI
TOTOLANESLOUT
JOHNNYCASHGAGS
ALIKEARTYAQUA
MACAWSOYUSS
ETABALLSZITI
SELLERLETSINON
ALASSOHO
RIPSINTONONCOM
ACHEDANCEANA
CEOGEOROBED
EWESCLODAFRIN
FINIRINGOFFIRE
ANILANTEDADOS
NEXTBEARDLENS
Thu 8/8/2019
PEPEPACEOPART
AVONSCATPOLER
WILDPITCHTWICE
DESITIPEBAY
FEBCOMICSTRIPS
ONEMORESAUL
NCAAASKBIO
DENTALHYGIENIST
STLLEDELLA
BEGSTOPSPOT
LOGICPUZZLERVS
ACROANAASIA
THINKHIGHKICKS
CONDIAREALEIA
HADINTEEMLSAT
POW Thu 1/3/2019
GRABBEDHASIDIM
LECARREEXODERM
ICENINEAMALGAM
DESKTOPPAPER
EDITSNOESP
DETESTSPSALM
LORAASEPSIS
WOLFOFSTREET
PIPETTEHEAL
USERSENSURES
PENPIPNAME
STONEJACKSON
LALAKERENLISTS
STOKERSSTANLEE
DETENTESINGERS
Wed 11/7/2018
BUSTEDSNOWBALL
EMPIRECAMELLIA
GALPALANGLEFOR
AMISILLDEANS
TITHEEDITED
EDNAMODHOT
SPEEDONILPOGO
TILTATWINDMILLS
ALASBINYESYES
YENWANGALA
MIDGUTDITSY
SWEATPOETATA
PITCHOUTWHALER
AFRAIDSOEOLIAN
TIEONEONROYALS
Tue 9/11/2018
METADATADEFANG
OXYMORONILLSEE
SHRINKINGVIOLET
HOEDARESO
ERSENGLISHROSE
STELLARPTAOLD
ALIASSNUG
FLOWERYLANGUAGE
LOPSOCEAN
AKAATMTARGETS
GILDTHELILYLEA
OBESEGNAT
ASFRESHASADAISY
WOEISIDOGOWNER
ELECTSSTEWPOTS
POW Sun 6/24/2018 CREATURE FEATURE
CASPEROLDHANDSIGMAS
DIPOLEREVENUEONEACT
SLIPINDORSALFMEANLY
ESCAPESLECARRE
ALLTIMERFNSSALTBATH
BOBATEAMETEDBIGOTRY
FREREFISHERSAXIOM
ARRDREADSDOUBTSNUN
BEGSELLIEENRONHGTS
HUFFESSREFANCE
MWAHAARP
SEAMONSTERDEEPTHREAT
ARTHOPESOALDRINETC
CLEFGREATWHITEGLIB
KERRYAMISNITEPOBOY
HAUNTSSATORI
RAZZESSHARKMALIGN
JAZZUPDEAFEARWOLFED
ANALAMITYISLANDLIAR
WARELATTETENORASTO
STDSITSOKSLIMYSHOP
Thu 3/1/2018
ZETASTREWPOPE
ICONIRENEARAL
TORYFIGHTINGWS
INCHTARAMASSE
HOESELDOM
WPROCESSORACDC
RAELUISOHSURE
YSLARCGPAPAS
LEADTOIRISONA
YOYOPUTINAWFOR
OPENEDTIC
OHARETRIPNOSE
WORDSQUAREICKY
NOTIANTONNOIR
SKYETEENSGAME
POW Thu 12/14/2017
TANKSHEDSCPAS
ATONTAKEILENA
MANOELECTARTY
ATEWELLOBOISTS
LIONELARMORY
ELFLABMICENAE
STYEROARKSAPS
OAFAGOAOL
BURLTINSHIH
CURLUPATONAL
ORBBATSNOCTA
LYESROBEDMOCK
STEPADLERIMHO
OHSOLATTEMEET
NEWTLYSOLETTA
Wed 11/22/2017
POLEFACESTARS
ODINABOXNISEI
REQDZESTAMEND
TAUBITERREADE
ICANCERES
CEDINGMEDULLA
ONDVDSHIPPAYS
ANIEQUATORSCI
SUETUGLYINTRA
TITANIAAPPIAN
CAPRICORN
BANTUSTERNLAW
ALOISNINOCITI
NTILEANOSANON
KOREAPAWSBEND
Mon 10/23/2017
IMDBMAHISCADS
MOUEASIFALLOW
ANCHORAGEGOPRO
CAKEDPHATCHAR
BAEZWRECKAGE
BALDIDAEOS
OWIEGUYANASAP
BONDAGEPILLAGE
OLDGULPEDAFRO
WARIDOWEAN
COVERAGELAMS
RIOTTESTNAPES
ALIBISHRINKAGE
MULANSOOTECON
SPARKOPTSREST
Tue 8/22/2017
VATSOZARKTGIF
CLUEROSINURGE
HOSEGOTTOGALE
INCBYMOUTHNOD
PEABOIRAMSDOS
LLBNILOAF
FOOFOALSNOW
SWOOPINYEWTREE
KISMETCHAKRA
AWAITPACIMSET
NAVALHERO
AGOGEMBERNOGO
BLOTSPAREIDEA
BOZOPANICCORK
AMENASYETARMY
Thu 8/3/2017
STIGMAMADVOIT
KABOOMCRUCIBLE
ICESUPCLEANAIR
MOTHSWOOLLYMAM
SKYYLADS
CHOLERAJAR
LONIITSASECRET
APSESTOCKSCOLL
ROEGHEDONISTIC
ANTENNABON
EARLUSMC
LIVESPIMIENTOO
OMERTABELTLOOP
DANGERYESSIREE
EXTORTAKATEDS
Mon 7/10/2017
ABETOUCHPSST
MACSIONIAUCLA
ALOHASHIRTPROS
SICEMTREEEVE
SHALOMMEIRTOWER
EARRIOSHRINE
SISINOPEACTED
PAXROMANA
SOSADSPITSACK
ARTSETTICSHE
MIRSPACESTATION
PGATIRERESIN
RAPTWORLDPEACE
AMISANITADIED
SINKNEEDYDRY
Wed 6/7/2017
ASHHEAPSUCSF
STEADYJOBMATE
GARDENSLUGPLEA
ATEINATOPLES
RESTGARTERBELT
DRYGEMSOLDTO
SETONNOTIN
BLITZKRIEGBOP
SLOSHAMIES
HANSENANDRAW
ARGYLESOCKROTO
MEHPROFGITMO
BOOTOFFTHECUFF
LURETAKEAKNEE
ETNALOWRIDER
Thu 5/11/2017
SCAMBATHSPOMP
HALOARROWAXEL
IMINNAOMIPITA
VEGETABLEGARDEN
SONYASLYCIERA
EKGAOK
MODELAIRPLANE
PEPSORCERYESP
AGETOPKNOTETA
RANSOMNEWDAY
PCPYARDSHAT
CHAIRLOABERET
LOSTOPPORTUNITY
ONESCHMEARDAN
YESSTAYSUPEXE
Sun 4/16/2017 SADDLE UP!
NAFTABIGAIDEAEGGOS
ELLENAMEXCARDSZORRO
ALISTTHEHUMANTORNADO
RAPTCHOKESBARMAGNET
HARBORAPPASSPAH
CISCOKIDEARLMALE
RIODIABLOALAFOE
PRIEDEATSLONERANGER
MANSESNAHSILVERDOME
SUBSOWSOITSEEMS
ALLOREPWIZWASLSAT
ROYROGERSGALNAG
TRIGGERINGPOWWELOST
SENIORYEARSNAPTONTO
EDYSKIGIRLSCOUT
BCCSSTEMPILEITON
ALEMDTMBADOOMED
DALEEVANSUTAHANOHOH
BUTTERMILKDONUTSTALE
EDICTPLOWSINTOPENCE
TECHSSETHSOURADDED
Tue 4/4/2017
XFLGRATESTAID
ERARELAYCOSMO
NOSERVICERAYON
ODEAOBIPESO
NORSELITERATURE
TUTGEMWAX
EMBERSAGEMINI
NEUROSCIENTISTS
DARNCURDIMHOT
ORSJABVEE
NATIONALPASTIME
ONUSYIPICON
JAPESPINOCCHIO
EXERTINTROARK
TENTSAGASPTAI
POW Sun 3/5/2017 IT'S ELEMENTARY
POWSSPACEBARMATZO
ETHOSPARANOIABABOON
WEATHERBALLOONENCORE
ERRREALBLOATTRU
EIFFELTOWERINTHESHOP
ADSONUSTEPID
PEEKSMOODSTABILIZERS
OGLEBALDHAVOCCECIL
UGLIEDSELKEGTHRACE
ROADSIDEDINERSEEYEW
SORENLAOCAPRI
ILLNUNDAGUERREOTYPE
DOESNTWEBTNOTESOLD
EMPTYSOUNDVCRSCLOG
AEROBICEXERCISEGOODY
ECOLIRIPETAO
LUCKYDOGSBASEBALLBAT
ASHUNITSGASPOWE
SEATACNUCLEARREACTOR
SOURCESMOOTHERLOCKS
INNIEUPTODATEWHEE
Tue 2/21/2017
AGAVESSPAALLA
IOMOTHEDUTEAR
DRYICEAFROPICK
APPLEPIEARRAYS
OATLESSEE
IVECELLOLSATS
DOHAASSTSETUP
ELLIOTKENOBI
STERNPTUITMEN
TARPSRUSTSIDS
IPHONEOTC
DCAREAARTPAPER
ALPACINOOSCINE
FOOTKOIGUILDS
TYPEURLAPTEST
Tue 1/17/2017
ACTIIBOARIDLE
FAINTALDACRUX
FRETSHELPMEOBI
ERIEAIDAPET
CINNAMONBUNS
TESTLABONARUN
PIETASOME
YOUREMYONLYHOPE
AURASODOI
WINSATRIPOFFS
PRINCESSLEIA
OHOSLAYETSY
WANKENOBIMOTHY
LUTEOMENALLEE
SLOGWIREPEERS
Tue 12/20/2016
PROMEWEDSAIL
AIDEPIPENEMMA
SCOTCHTAPEAPOP
THRICEPATCH
TAMPTRAILS
HOUSEOFBOURBON
LIBSRIALSPICE
ELSCANTORSOAR
FLESHTETEPUTT
TEQUILASUNRISE
SLUICEPEON
ICAMEGATEAU
ELOIONTHEROCKS
LOUDNOLOOKRID
FUSESCENEUNA
Thu 12/1/2016
MICROSWETKISS
ARRIVALASKEDIN
LOADEDBDPOTATO
INTERLAKENTHAW
ADORNGLORY
IROBOTOZZIE
MEWLAXIALGPA
ANNEOFGNGABLES
CDSHIREEAURA
LORAXEASEUP
ATRASEARNS
THEMCSCHOOLBUS
PELAGICADRIANA
ARIZONABEANDIP
RECEDEDSKEETS
POW Thu 11/17/2016
ALBOMTWICE
PEEPERSWATAT
RAREGASLOOTERS
PYRAMIDSCHEME
LAWBREAKERS
SALESTEAM
TETESSTRAP
TORTSSTIHL
RAMISTUTSNAIL
ABBAMUSICSRTA
SLRCAGEDUPAHS
TEABAGSYELLOUT
ALIENSSEAHAG
MADATAMANA
AMENMUMMYANIS
NPRTAP

JOE: Tim bounced a preliminary idea off of me for a pyramid puzzle, and I responded with suggestions on how he might cut down the black squares and incorporate additional theme. Later, I was delighted when he came back to me and asked to make this a collaboration. I have thoroughly enjoyed the collaborations I've had with Tim ... and all the other constructors I've made puzzles with over the years (Peter, Martin, Victor).

TIM: Thanks very much to Joe for working with me on this.

I'd built a mirror grid with a smaller pyramid/entombed mummy and the four theme answers, but it felt like the puzzle was in this weird area between the theme's not being rich enough and the grid's not being visually distinctive enough. There was too much noise for the pyramid to stand out; too little theme to compensate.

Assistance was required. On went the Bat-Signal.

Joe liked the idea but agreed that the grid needed revamping. He expanded it vertically while adding in the larger pyramid at the bottom and the three others around the sides.

Incidentally, King Tut's tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings, not in a pyramid. We weren't sure whether to include him anyway, but decided to after seeing that he could be tucked in under the barrow-like central block formation.

Thank you also to Will and to the enfant terrible of crosswords, David Steinberg, for their help in revising the theme. Specifically: how to link MUMMY with the outside fill. The notepad/numbers idea was all theirs.

Thu 10/6/2016
LAIDUPGIRTODE
OLDISHIDEAROS
CLIPCYCLOPSINK
AMOSLOLLKANJI
LATFAUNASLOOM
ALIBIPETPSYCHO
DECALSTREASON
TEEMYAYS
RATTRAPRHUMBA
BILLSINAIEMIRS
OBIEFONDLYDIS
UMBRAHOLAASEA
NEASEMPERSCIFI
CABANALDENZEL
ETAPONYSTEEDS
Mon 9/26/2016
ABATESARABADS
MYLOVETOFUNOT
PEPPERPOTTSIWO
SNARLHOMER
CROPPILLOWTALK
ROLODEXEMAIL
AGITAIANSHOW
SUVSTUFFITOLE
SEESONSABUSE
BAMBIDEBASED
TURKEYTROTDENY
BRASSAROSE
SINSTOCKINGCAP
PACEAVELAGUNA
SHHSPAREXSTAR

Today's revealer was originally going to be GET STUFFED ... good thing I checked out Urban Dictionary and Wiktionary first. Research is your friend.

Speaking of stuffing, that SNAX / EX-STAR crossing is decidedly not a product of unscrupulous high-value Scrabble packing. By sheer coincidence, I've used EX-STAR (not great) twice in the last few weeks, in both cases thinking its inclusion led to the best fill otherwise.

Imputing a motive for the scheduling of this puzzle is baseless projection, but I'd like to believe it's a message to one of two the participants (hint: the David Duke-endorsed one) in the travesty of debate I'm terrified will unfold tonight at Hofstra University. Jeff might hammer me for AGITA's inclusion, but if you've been walking with the same ever-present, ever-growing gnawing in the pit of your stomach that I've been for past several months, horrified that we're on the verge of doing something irrevocably, irredeemably and unforgivably stupid—and you weren't sure know what to call it—AGITA is the word you're looking for.

Of course, saying you're scared out of your f*cking mind works equally well. Better, even. Tougher to work in as fill, though.

Happy solving!

Tue 9/6/2016
LADLEBATHPIPE
ICEAXISAYIDEA
THEMSTHEBREAKS
HERETOEBROHOE
ODSANDSOITGOES
KOREADAH
GLIBPLOWTOBEY
WINSOMELOSESOME
BESETYELPTROT
STPFALSE
QUESERASERAFED
AHLRENOSTARVE
THATSLIFEIQUIT
AUTOITTYSUITE
RHEAMAGEHATER

My hope is that the punch line lands with solvers. The progression I was going for is a person with a stiff upper lip stoically spouting obnoxious cliché after obnoxious cliché while his world crumbles around him, before he's finally had enough, drops the act and blows his stack in an ill-conceived bout of self-destruction (a real specialty of mine).

In terms of the grid and fill there's not too much to say. For aesthetic and flow considerations, I made sure not to break up the 9s at 3- and 37-Down, and held the line at 76 words.

The SW corner was the trickiest spot to fill: At the last minute I replaced RHEE / TOE with RHEA / TO A (although there's a really good chance Will would have made that change himself). RHEE is never an asset, let alone early in the week; Jeff in fact commented on his aversion to it a few months ago. Plus, with KOREA in the grid, the clue might have to be cross-referenced, which can be annoying, particularly when the theme itself includes cross-references. Things get muddled. Eliminating all that baggage was worth a short partial.

The final cliché was a choice between THATS LIFE or CEST LA VIE, and since nobody but the redoubtable Joel Fagliano can successfully fill a Q?C?? pattern, THATS LIFE it had to be.

The good news is, I've dealt with my anger issues. Doctor gave me a relaxation cassette. When my blood pressure gets too high, the man on the tape tells me what to say.

POW Thu 8/11/2016
ACCRATACOSCOT
REAIRAMOKWAVE
CONFISCATEARID
DEALTEDMOND
ANYLIFEOFRILEY
RICEPULLEY
GOODGOLLYWHETS
OBRIENBIOPIC
TENETFLIRTWITH
SNEEZESLAM
SCRUTINIZESONO
PHENOMACING
YOGIRUNTHROUGH
FRATOPUSENERO
IDLYDINONOSES

Writing notes on this puzzle a month later, Jeff's got a very keen eye for picking out thorny patches. Interestingly, the ENERO / NOSES stack was an editorial change from EDEMA / NESTS. That corner was a real pain, as it can be difficult to navigate the trade-offs when there is no obvious best fill. Because I rated EDEMA and ENERO about equal—while favoring GMT / HAS over GRE / HOS—I opted for EDEMA (the medical term for fluid accumulation in body cavities); but that preference must have been incorrect.

"Inside pool?". No bueno?

Thu 6/16/2016
DOCKSTYROJAN
OBOESROARCORE
MOPEAROUNDRUGS
LAPCIRCAALOT
CASAHIPNESS
COATIADONAI
HUBNOIRSLUBES
ATAERGOGIMLET
LINACSPLUMORE
KEANUTIETOOIE
ARGOTSNADER
GORGEONMYMY
LIARTEASEUMP
ALDASANTACLAUS
REAMERTEBERLE
ERRTMENSTYLE

The normal progression for a themed puzzle is that you accumulate your silly little set of theme answers first, and design a grid around them second. Here, besides a short revealer, this grid had no pre-determined answers or structure. There were a lot of options for clue words, and those words could clue a lot of entries. You could take this idea in a thousand directions. The puzzle was my oyster. And I hate oysters.

My vague, initial plan was to have an open grid with longer theme answers. [Cubit, e.g.] = NATIONAL LEAGUER as a grid-spanning 15, for example. While brainstorming through the list of suitable words, though, many of my favorite clue/entry duos were 10s. When I saw that two pairs would intersect, I decided to make MOPE AROUND, COPACABANA, SANTA CLAUS and BLOODY MARY seed entries, and go from there. Symmetrical themers generally went in two at a time.

A minor editing change swapped TRIBE/AEGIS at 10-/11-Down for JOULE/ARGOS. This must have been done to excise the grid's sole I-T sequence (A BIT was at 21-Across). I wasn't sure whether to worry about an I-T in the fill (there are none in the non-theme clues), but if the powers that be found its removal an improvement, I'm glad it was in an easy-to-fix location.

Actually, oysters are OK. It's onions that are abhorrent. Onions, Donald Trump, and selfie sticks. In that order.

I hope people have fun with today's puzzle.

Wed 4/6/2016
BATSOHYESGIST
EUROPAULAALPO
STEPHENKINGBOOK
TOERINGTKOVIE
ATLSEINFELD
IRONSIDENEAP
DOYOUNEEDBANS
IDSPENTADSROI
GETSSOMETHING
EATSINSEASON
PARTYHATSRI
ARCPUPMEERKAT
PERSONALPRONOUN
ESAUTREATECRU
ROBESTOASTHAT

Many thanks to Joe Krozel for his assistance on this one. Most of the theme answers were ready last summer, but I was struggling with the right cluing scheme. Should their clues be the three different variations (as published), or should WHAT / IS IT be included as its own entry (split into 4s) within the grid, forcing you to uncover the phrase first, before cross-referencing it from the theme clues ("See X-/Y-Across," e.g.)? Joe's feedback went something like: "The first is Tuesday/Wednesday difficulty. The second is Thursday-plus, with hate mail."

Tempting ... but I chickened out.

The theme works better this way. It'd be pretty unreasonable to require mental copy-editing of an unknown phrase, as you'd also have to figure out capitalization and punctuation. I don't think it would ever have been published like that. Way too vague and confusing. All that cross-referencing would be tedious as well. Still, tempting!

POW Sun 2/28/2016 COURT JESTERS
DECLAWAPNEABANSFIB
AQUILAGLOVEAIRPLANE
BUZZERBEATERIDARESAY
SICBASISOOZEATTS
POWWOWDOUBLEDRIBBLE
HOWLSBREDONERUN
ASPENOCTALPTUIEMO
POINTGUARDTRONREAPS
ANADITTOSHOTCLOCK
RANSOMLONIALAMO
TROYBALLHANDLERLIMP
BLADEMIKEEMINOR
FIELDGOALMAGDACUE
MARLOLAINNOLOOKPASS
OLEHELLWASATEASES
ALECTOSIAMSEMIS
NOTHINGBUTNETVOTARY
CHADOOPSDEFERHOP
MARSBARSPERSONALFOUL
ATOMIZESAROSELOONIE
DEWTONYTAPASEXPEND

I played basketball in 7th and 8th grade. Coming from a small school full of Jews, it was a wonder the team didn't win a game in two years. As perhaps the shortest, least athletic Jew on the roster, it's also a wonder that I failed to score more than 7 points in my rookie year, or 6 during my second campaign. To the relief of sports fans everywhere, I hung up my spurs before high school, confident there weren't many no-look passes or buzzer beaters in my future.

The idea for the twist for NOTHING BUT NET, this theme's seed, came from the part in "Forrest Gump" where Forrest and Lieutenant Dan haul in garbage when they're first attempting to shrimp.

My original draft had PERSONAL FOUL in BUZZER BEATER's place and MARCH MADNESS at 116A, as a themer/revealer. That setup seemed OK, but I was a little worried the revealer was superfluous (something I got creamed for last time). OFFENSIVE REBOUND ("New lover taken to spite an ex?") sure would have been nice to include somewhere (tough with an unpaired 16!).

A few wonky comments:

  1. J could've been shoved into MA? / ?EW for the pangram, but that wouldn't have justified MAJ.
  2. My knees start wobbling by the third rung on a stepladder, so it's great to see an acrophobia shout-out in 88A's new and improved clue. The clue kinda reminds me of "Lost Horizon" (lovely book).
  3. ALECTO (toughie) could've been ELECTS, crossing M/COEN and HSN. One of the things, however, that the inimitable Joe Krozel inculcated me with was the desirability of limiting boring propers, both from a cluing standpoint, as well as from a solver's perspective. Here, ALECTO is fairly crossed, and in the aggregate results in one less name, so it was my preference. For this same reason, MIKE and TONY are clued as non-propers.

I've also been lucky enough to work with Jeff on a couple of things, and he too is an invaluable font of wisdom. Seeing his notes every day, I always ask myself WWJD? But, as a LOX-loving non-Gentile, the J stands for Jeff, and not Jesus.

Mon 12/14/2015
SHAHASKSSCRUM
MONOMWAHPOESY
OBAMACAREANDES
GOLEMGMENFORT
REAGANOMICS
ITSONMESTART
MEOWORCARMORS
ARFBUSHISMBEE
MITTENENOPEPE
BRATTFUELROD
HOOVERVILLE
PAILDIEDHAMAS
FILLSPRESIDENT
FLEETOGLETATA
TEDDYNESTONEG
Thu 12/10/2015
PUPSMESSCHAP
DINAHELLAHYPE
AXISOFEVILAGES
NETHOTICARTIST
CLEANSSEMITE
ESSISMDINNES
AEIOUGRILL
STUMBLINGBLOCKS
MELBAARIEL
UTTNSTRCAPDA
RAKEINEDDIES
GLASSSLIPPIEPA
OAHUANNESEXTON
ODORMOJOCIARA
FETEEWANTEST

This one began as an abstraction in need of a theme. My original, vague notion was using [individual blocks as stand-ins for letters] in some way. From there it was a matter of working backwards towards a fitting revealer. Going off a list of BLOCK phrases, I was lucky enough to find one receptive to playful reinterpretation.

Because it was the only bit of theme material, the 15-letter revealer had to go across the middle. For the sake of lucidity, it also felt best if the four ER blocks were totally isolated in all eight directions. These two constraints imposed a rigid block pattern on the grid, which, in its own way, was strangely comforting.

Oftentimes, when there are a myriad of options, it's easy (for me, at least) to get bogged down and expend way too much effort desultorily, without a set plan or course of action. Indecision, thy name is Tim. But when you're working within an inflexible structure, with an embedded central entry crossing multiple themers, you're forced to overcome problems, rather than discarding grid/fill #2836 and starting over again, convinced that the perfect setup is just over the next hill. It's the obsessive, insomniac crossword fan's equivalent of a straitjacket and a padded cell. Restraints which, judging from the comments, some solvers wish I were permanently kept in. Someday!

POW Sat 10/17/2015
ARCANALAPUTA
DOOWOPIRISES
LUNARECLIPSES
ITSYSOLSETI
BETOUTERNEZ
EERIEOUTRE
ALLSETASSESS
FALCOFLIER
CSASPACEPAM
EATSRIOARLO
ALIENINVASION
SLOGANELISHA
TENANTSINEAD

There have been a few recent puzzles with blanks as part of the solution. David Kwong's DRACULA. Jim Hilger's "Breaks." Even Miss Trunchbull — I mean, Jeff Chen (and his wife) — had SPACE BAR. Those were all great.

This basis for this idea actually came from a much older one: Manny Nosowsky's 2000 April Fools' Day puzzle, whose entire perimeter consisted of the letter T. Looking at that grid, I tried to come up with other tricky ways a perimeter might be utilized.

What about literal spaces, or blanks? BLANKS has lots of meanings, both as a noun and a verb. Better yet, it could be also clued as a proper. When the phrase OUTER SPACE, a fitting revealer, sprang to mind, I hoped I was onto something. Usually I'm not.

The best part about making this was generating a list of 13s and seeing what would interlock. That was loads of fun, because there was a huge reservoir to draw from. An earlier draft's successful interlock had "hard" science fiction entries like EVENT HORIZONS and GAMMA RAY BURSTS, but those were pretty literal, and not at all receptive to playful cluing. These four entries were the most colorful and varied set.

Some of my favorite new clues are those for LUNAR ECLIPSES, AD LIB and SLOGAN. Among the originals, I like CONSTELLATION, DOO-WOP, TENANT, ALI and ALIEN INVASION. It's cool that the Scrabble clue for BLANKS remains in a 6-letter slot, hinting at ?-TILES or a written-in BLANKS. ASSIZES is a word I learned on my first day of Torts. Well, my first day, and everyone else's second. Oops. Elle Woods I was not.

The five other puzzles this week have been fantastic. I'm thrilled, and very lucky, to have been included along with them.

Thu 9/17/2015
HALFSOSADISLA
ABELAWAREMOES
SAAAOFELIAPUMP
ASSUREIONSROE
THETAJESSEONNN
ALBINODROP
ELFANTAGETEN
XIIITAXTHEMEEE
TONSILFROSLO
NENAPRAYER
ATTTMUSICVALVE
RAUONESGAVEIN
OMNIPUBLICIVVV
MEEKIDEALNERO
ARSENOENDGREY

I can't think of too much to say about this one. The concept grew out of a vague idea of using my initials and the word TEPEE to make a sort of self-referential theme, as others have done.

David Steinberg got there first, however, so I tried to come up with a new way to exploit words that could be spelled phonetically with letters.

One word I regret not being able to include is XQQQ (EXCUSE). XQQQ YOU and WELL XQQQ ME would have been fun entries. The first wouldn't work in this layout though, because it would've had to go at 36A, and it takes a stouter heart than I've got to try to fill an open, double-themed area around three adjacent Qs.

My original grid actually had WELL XQQQ ME at the top. As you can imagine, the patch around those Qs was a little compromised, but it wouldn't have been anything to make solvers gnash their teeth over. Maybe just some light grinding. But after realizing I could, and probably should, set up the themers symmetrically so that there'd be a discernible pattern to the replaced words, I backed down and went for EXCISE instead.

I hope you enjoyed the puzzle. It's always nice when you're not nauseated and altogether strung out in the days before publication. As this one left me just slightly queasy, and only so on Tuesday night, it feels like progress. I await the torches and pitchforks!

POW Wed 8/19/2015
ACMEWATEROBOE
CHOPTIAMOVAIN
CALIFORNIAGIRLS
RIATASTRAP
ARROYOSKRAKEN
METEORARENA
ROMEOMRIGANGS
ACETHIMBLEDEA
JUDAHTABUMOLL
ILOSEENIGMA
VICTIMTEACHER
ORONORHINO
FOURSTARADMIRAL
ANTIINAWENACL
REZAFALLSEMTS
Thu 7/23/2015
ASTAJAILSULTRA
GOUPANNULROHAN
ATNOMAGNIFICENT
SHELFDEADBEAT
SERIESEILLUSE
INSTRUMENTEXPO
IMFNORASEEN
SPCIFILTEPAIDC
DISSETTEETD
ATIPASSOCIATES
BEARDSHENRYVI
NAILGUNSEERIE
MARYPOPPINSYANG
GLUTSAOKAYONCE
MAGOOSNIPSUTES

Chris McGlothlin did a sweet puzzle four years ago where he partitioned ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM into 11 chunks and rebused it across the middle of his grid. The obvious candidate for doing something similar with a longer word was PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS, a 45-letter term that refers to a lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust and fine ash, as from an erupting volcano.

Just kidding. (I'm saving that bad boy for a Science Friday crossword.)

Incredibly, a 1970 puzzle actually WAS built thematically around that word, stretching it across three 15-letter spanners. [Miner's ailment]—fun times!

The fill turned out pretty well. You always try to get rid of bits like NORAS and ITA, but adding cheaters or moving squares around to turn NORAS into NORA and SETTE into ETTE didn't lead to a clean fill in the SE, as nothing helpful built off of AL- (37D). The central blocks have to go above SUPER and below DOCIOUS, because nothing starts with CIOUS-. And if those blocks are fixed in place, you're very limited in how you can arrange the grid around the other two themers.

It took some confused thinking to come up with a thematic 11 to offset MARY. If her name were one shorter, Julie Andrews would have been the pick. Her singing partner, Dick Van Dyke, fit, but I wasn't sure if I could include him if she wasn't somewhere in the grid herself.

Parsing the main entry by its 14 syllables struck me as the only fair partition, even though it meant three squares would contain single letters instead of rebuses. The problem is that nothing larger than two divides into 34 except 17. Splitting SUPERC into SU / PE / RC, or IDOCIOUS into ID / OC / IO / US—which would force solvers to enter unintuitive, unpronounceable chunks into half the squares—seemed a miserable choice compared to this segmentation.

In other words, "He chose ... poorly" is the general sentiment I was hoping to avoid.

POW Thu 7/2/2015
CHAOSDIMPLEFDR
LIANAARARATORE
ECCENTRICITYUMA
ACEDEEDSEMINAR
NULLAMINOANDRE
SPLITSECONDNEIN
ESSAYRENTROD
MEDIUMRARE
MICSENDORALS
UHOHSTOOLPIGEON
GENUSENROLOOZE
GANGWARIVESLEA
IREINVISIBLEINK
NYCSNAPONIMAGE
GATSOLONGTUNER
Sun 6/21/2015 CLIMBING THE CORPORATE LADDER
ISISTESTSOTOHSTAMP
DUNEERNIEHEROEASYA
AGFASILEXMENUGEHRY
ALLELESOBPOSTABIO
TRUEFAHOLYWATERRIAL
ALERTDENOTEDBELINDA
CONSOEDGETSONIC
TAZNGSDAYSEATBELTS
FAMILIALSPECTSCION
EKESDREAMTAERO
THREETHEARTISTOKNOW
ROOTINSTEPHATE
ISAIDINTHAREALISTS
PENNYANTEHOWWASETC
GAUSSPGAEENPAIL
EDMUNDIBARNARDSOTTO
SEEPIDLEHANDSALLACY
TAROTIONMIRAFRESH
ONEPMOUSTBEALLATIT
PISANUPONANITAXENA
SETSISENTLOGICERGO

One of the advantages in doing this puzzle was that I was that working with a true word count of 144—not 137—since seven across answers are unclued and don't figure in the end total. The areas around the turns can be thorny, but the extra wiggle room is definitely noticeable throughout the rest of the grid. Because of the depressed word count, I made an effort to keep it at 137 rather than going to 139, which splitting up SUGARLOAF and STITCHING would have done. It seemed better to use cheaters to keep the fill clean and push the word count a little lower with those open corners.

Wow, my clue for HOLY WATER ([Liquid harmful to vampires]) is dorky. Really dorky. I can't think of another good way to clue it, but that's pretty embarrassing. Thank God there's not another entry in here with a clue that points towards too much time having been spent in high school playing D&D-based video games ...

... Except for POLEAXE. Son of a #*(!*&. Why should anyone who isn't a military historian or a knight at Medieval Times know that poleaxes and halberds are similar weapons? Great question.

Can I disavow authorship of those two clues in exchange for arrogating to myself credit for the clue for SEXOLOGY? ([Study for a Masters?])

Here's a gratuitous Seinfeld reference for Jeff:

Although, one wonders if "War and Peace" ("Voyna i MIR") would have been as highly acclaimed as it was had it been published under its original title, "War, What Is It Good For?".

Thu 4/2/2015
CABANASRONAS
OPERETTARESALE
BLEEPOUTEASTLA
UNCAPORTRAITS
SEALIMEOHO
DIEMENON
PARRPCSERASE
ALEEEREOGLED
MUTILATESWOPAT
SPINALTAPAGO
GETEXERCISESAT
RUDIITELLTIA
EDINCOCASINS
DENGKREMEMST
SSSETE

TIM: Joe and I found two theme arrangements that allowed us to finish this puzzle. Because we weren't sure which grid Will and Joel would prefer if they liked the theme, we submitted both. Each has its pluses and minuses.

The alternative grid's biggest virtue is that its theme answers are well distributed throughout. The greater length of SHANTIES (8) over CABANAS (6) is another advantage.

There's a bunch of bouncy stuff (TRADE WAR, LIVE AMMO, ROOKIE MISTAKES, TAMPER RESISTANT, RUM RAISIN, SCIENTIST), but there's also a fair accumulation of junk (ADAH, RST, TSE, A KING, ATL, ENGR). From an aesthetics standpoint, SSSS looks much worse than SSS, while the triplication (and crossing) of SEASONED TO TASTE, REASON TO LIVE and TURN TO STONE is hardly ideal. And PARENTIS, a slice of abstruse legalese, might have been the worst submitted entry since the time some nitwit (that would be me) sent in a puzzle containing ADEEM a couple of years ago.

On the other hand, the spacing of themers in CABANAS isn't perfect, even if the placement of a theme answer at 1-A (one of Joe's original, starry-eyed ambitions) helps to make up for it. A few clunkers of its own aside, the overall fill of CABANAS feels a touch zippier, and I think both of us prefer it now that we're removed enough to judge through more objective eyes.

If nothing else, the opportunity to clue SPINAL TAP made this whole endeavor worthwhile.

Wed 3/18/2015
FEDORASUSCOPS
EPISODESPILLIT
DIVISORMONOSKI
CARIBBEANQUEEN
INEAIGINST
AWLSISLETS
CHITIDYBACKUP
DOMESTICWORKERS
CANVASHOBOESS
ARAWAKPLAT
SAWNSOIMHO
PREDATORDRONES
RENEGEDAMSCRAY
ANDREASBEEHIVE
YAYSLYSTROKES

Despite only having three theme answers and a short revealer, constructing this puzzle was actually tough. The difficulty had to do with the lengths of the 14-letter entries and the 7-letter revealer. Unless I wanted six cheater squares, the QUEEN and DRONES entries had to go in the 4th and 12th rows (not rows 3 and 13, like usual). Under most circumstances that arrangement wouldn't be an issue, but here it was a problem, because the 7-letter length of the revealer meant that the top and bottom three rows had to be broken up with 3-block stacks in the middle column. Having those stacks then required threading a 9-letter entry down through three theme answers (no way to break it up), which doesn't always work. Luckily, it did this time. One restraint on theme arrangement was that QUEEN had to be on top.

Another difficulty with this grid was the impossibility of increasing the word count while holding the 3-letter words to a reasonable level. I could have added blocks into the corners to boost the word count to 74 or 76, but doing so would also have boosted the 3-letter count to 18 or 22, and made the solve much choppier. You can see how fortunate I was to be able to fill the open corners while still running four longish down answers through them. It was worth staying at 72, I think — especially since the SE corner filled so smoothly.

My initial submission from about 16 months ago, which Will had me rebuild completely, was a train wreck. In order to avoid open corners with stacked 7-letter entries, as well as to be able to break up the central column, I put the revealer in the middle. What's the problem? The number of 3-letter words. There were 26(!) of them, or one-third of the total. This grid is pretty embarrassing ... so bask in my ignominy.

It's interesting to see how quickly a new, topical entry with scrabbly letters becomes mainstream. When this puzzle was accepted in its current form last January, LOUIS C.K. had never been used in the NYT before. In fact, I remember being worried that he wasn't NYT-worthy. A little over a year later, and he's already making his third appearance, despite having seven letters and a weird pattern ending in -SCK.

And finally, you're missing out if you're not intimately familiar with Billy Ocean's CARIBBEAN QUEEN. She's simply awesome...

Thu 1/22/2015
JOSSAPPWAFT
UNTOCIAALOOF
PEELMESACARPI
ITEVERSUSNERF
TILDECAGESPAT
EMEEREDENHATH
RERUNBOASEWE
TEARNEAP
ATEDOGSMAGIC
BURRLSATBRUNO
OREOINGAEDSEL
ROANBARBERTRU
ORSONNULLMARM
NAOMILEMAVON
ENYAESSYERS

On Wordplay I said that the clue (not mine) for APP was the puzzle's best, inveigling solvers into confidently entering SPY (and never questioning it afterwards). What I failed to mention is that the shared P between APP and SPY makes the clue way more treacherous, as the solver will be able to solve 6d despite an incorrect crossing. Crossword jargon is not a strong suit—are these duplicitous letters called false friends? Or am I making that up? It'll be interesting to see if the shared P of two seven-letter planets gives anyone similar problems, especially since PEEL is the easiest crossing off 1d.

Herc as a kid, strangling Hera's snake assassins

Although Hercules ended up performing twelve labors in total, his original sentence only called for ten.

Angered by Zeus's innumerable infidelities, Hera drove her stepson Hercules mad, leading him to murder his wife and children. As atonement, the Oracle of Delphi advised Hercules to submit himself King Eurystheus, performing whatever services Eurystheus named.

Hercules' second task, the slaying of the Lernean Hydra, proved difficult. The Hydra, a multi-headed serpent who lived in a mephitic swamp, regrew two heads every time one was cut off. But Hercules' nephew Iolaus, who accompanied him on several of his labors, carried a torch and cauterized the stump of each neck as soon as Hercules had decapitated its head. After dispatching the mortal heads, Hercules buried the Hydra's single immortal head beneath a great rock.

The cleaning of the Augean Stables was designed to be an exercise in humility rather than strength. These stables, which held a massive herd of cattle, hadn't been cleaned in decades, and were overrun with waste. Confident that he was making an impossible offer, King Augeas wagered Hercules a tenth of the cattle if he could complete the task in one day. Hercules, not one to admit defeat, diverted two nearby rivers through the stables themselves, washing away the filth. Thus did Hercules accomplish his task in a single day, and so won the bet.

Despite completing Eurystheus' ten tasks, the King royally shafted Hercules by ruling that the Hydra and the Stables did not count. The Hydra, because Iolaus had aided Hercules; and the Stables, because Hercules had received payment for his work. He instructed Hercules to perform two replacement labors: retrieve the Apples of the Hesperides; and capture Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, unarmed.

Unjustly enriching oneself off the sweat and skill of underpaid athletic labor, and then harshly punishing said laborers for violating a petty, Byzantine regulatory system and accepting side payment? This must be where the NCAA got its business model from.

P.S. Most of the moons of JUPITER, of which there are 67, are named for the lovers or conquests of Zeus. So maybe Hera's jealousy was understandable, even if her revenge was misdirected, and slightly over the top.

Thu 12/18/2014
DIPSASPSTODGY
OMENMHOTINORE
JALOPIESEXTRAS
OMEGAMIMEHIVE
RIPTOPIECES
THERMOOLDS
LIVEANDBREATHE
CCEDOYEAUDI
KNUCKLEDRAGGER
CURLODEONS
DETERIORATE
REIDSPANAMINO
ARAFATPIGLATIN
MIRAGEITSRELY
SEATONDANAMEX

I have a chronic tendency to underestimate puzzle difficulty. This one I tried to gear towards a typical Wednesday; my guess is it will turn out to be a hard Thursday. Fortunately, I also have a chronic tendency to write harder-than-average clues, so these mistakes often balance each other out. One clue that was really toughened up, though, was PIG LATIN's. My submitted clue was [Secret language the constructor has disguised the five italicized clues using], which you can readily see is pretty explicit, and a bit verbose. The published clue still indicates that there's something amiss with the theme clues, but it does so without giving away too much information about the trick. And in fewer words.

Tue 12/2/2014
ZOUNDSDAMNWOW
EXPERTALAIANA
BERATEFLIXLEN
UNITAPTTOMTIT
SITKAFANBELT
CHIDETERIARLO
PANELBLAST
ALGALORCREFER
SHOOTEMOTE
DOHSENYAABRAM
ENOUNCELETIT
FEMBOTSSTTRIB
REBTAROHETERO
AYRCROCICESAW
GEEHECKCURSES

Out of nowhere, it popped into my head one day that [Holy cow] would make a suitable clue for ZOUNDS as well as ZEBU. Whether this kind of spontaneous realization is a sign of improving thematic awareness or an indication of deteriorating mental stability I'll leave for you readers to decide. The smart money's on the latter, since I'm not sure I was ever playing with a full deck to begin with. More like with a euchre deck, say.

Anyway, the hope that enough similar combos would constitute a decent theme led me to start searching for others. Discovering CURSES / BOWS was the crucial point of construction, as this puzzle, at least in its present form, might have proved impossible to build without it. In fact, if I hadn't found those symmetrical entries for the SE corner, I probably would have abandoned the effort altogether. ZOUNDS / ZEBU was just too nice of a combo, in my opinion, to contemplate making the puzzle without.

Will and Joel caught and fixed a subtle but dumb oversight of mine, replacing DARN with DAMN at 7a. DAMN *was* in that spot in earlier drafts, but I changed it to DARN for some unimportant reason, completely overlooking the resultant duplication. It was downright mortifying to think that I'd compromised the puzzle with something so easily corrected, all the more so considering that I'd noticed the mistake myself but hadn't yet submitted my own revision. But they did correct it, and relief washed over me in an awesome wave. So, GRAZIE MILLE, MERCI BEAUCOUP, MUCHAS GRACIAS.

Bonus points for identifying the movie paraphrased above. "Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?"

Thu 11/20/2014
FONTDAPIMCOLD
UTAHOLEMERRIE
DOZENEZBRAZEN
DEICIDEBUTTOUT
UNIBAEZ
SNORKELERSCAIN
NEWSAGENTACME
ERNEOOZEDPIPE
AVEONINESIDED
KERFMINDLESSLY
ZANEART
ANEMONEAVARICE
LIZARDZEEAZOV
ONEARMERGNOPE
TORSOSBOAODES

The NAZI / DEICIDE crossing, which was by far the best possible fill, looked particularly morbid to me, so I tried to clue both entries in an oblique way that would make them interesting, rather than depressing.

The NAZI clue, I think, helps to camouflage the inherent distastefulness of the word itself, and is less heavy-handed than one such as "European jackboot."

As for DEICIDE, there was a pair of Maleska-era clues in the database: "Murder of a god" and "Destruction of a god." Dictionary-like clues of this nature felt too straightforward and explicit for this entry, though, given its crossings; I thought a specific mythological clue would work better, and there were two to choose from.

Baldur taking on all weapons

The first option was the story of Baldur and Hodur from Norse mythology. Baldur, one of the sons of Odin, is beloved by all living creatures—including the gods' bitter enemies, the frost giants. Having heard a prophecy foretelling Baldur's death, Odin's wife Frigg has every last thing in the world swear never to hurt Baldur. The mistletoe plant, believed to be harmless, is the only thing that fails to take this oath. The jealous trickster god Loki, however, takes a sprig of mistletoe and fashions it into a dart. The other gods have made a game out of throwing their swords and axes at Baldur, which all bounce off harmlessly, as even metal has sworn him no harm. Loki gives this dart to Baldur's blind and innocent brother Hodur, who has been unable to participate in the fun because he lacks a weapon. With Loki's guidance Hodur throws the mistletoe straight at Baldur, killing him.

The story behind the wicked god Set's murder of his brother Osiris is equally fascinating. Envious of his brother's position as king of Egypt, Set arranges for a beautiful sarcophagus to be made conforming to Osiris' exact measurements. At a gala celebrating Osiris' return from travels abroad, Set brings forth the sarcophagus and proclaims that it is a gift for the one who fits inside. Everyone in turn tries the sarcophagus, to no avail. Osiris is the last to climb into the box, which of course fits him perfectly. Set and his attendants thereupon slam the coffin lid shut, sealing it with nails and boiling lead (killing Osiris), before throwing it into the Nile. Osiris never again walks among the living.

It's curious that both of these tales qualify as fratricide as much as they do deicide, even if they occur under wildly differing circumstances (although both involve jealousy). As it seemed less obscure, I went with the latter story.

If you take nothing else from this brief discourse, take this: If you're ever offered a glass slipper to try on, go for it. If you're ever offered a coffin to try on, decline politely and find the nearest available exit.

Oh, and keep away from mistletoe. Dangerous stuff.

POW Sat 8/23/2014
AMBITFOULBEDS
PEACEADZEARIA
EACHCLUEINPSST
XTCSACTATAMI
FADPEPSSITAR
ERROLTHEPUZZLE
SEAGODATONE
PETSULLIEDSTY
MEDEATEMPER
ISMISSINGROLES
QUASIAXONBIT
TINCTSAAATEA
ETTUTHELETTERN
SOREAUDIOWNED
TRASTRUEPADDY

Many crosswords have themes involving a uniform feature of some or all of the clues (length or starting letter or spelled-out message, e.g.). As a rule, these clue-based themes tend to be ornamental. Solvers need not discover them in order to finish the puzzle; oftentimes they don't even notice such themes unless they're specifically pointed out.

I thought it would be fun to try to build a crossword with the opposite approach: the solver would have to discern the clues' thematic feature *before* she could make progress. Each clue would be a microcosm of the overarching theme, and deciphering just one small riddle from anywhere within the grid would allow the solver to unlock the whole thing. A kind of fractal puzzle, if you will.

There were two requirements of the deleted letter. In the first place, it had to be very common. The deleted letter also needed to allow the revealer to be clued like everything else, so that the theme would be embedded within the cluing itself. When I saw that "hint" would reduce to "hit," and that the revealer could be written as though it were a four-part song, I settled on N. Because of its frequent usage in consonants clusters N worked out well.

The major difficulty of construction was that unless an entry was an everyday noun or verb, it was unlikely that it would clue satisfactorily. Entries such as QUASI, LOSES IT and AXON were all chosen specifically for their tricky possibilities. I scrapped a previous grid pattern and its half-clued fill when it got to a point where both ROSE RED and CERISE were necessary and I couldn't figured out how to clue them without repeating the same word containing N.

The usual thank yous and kudos go out to Will Shortz and his unheralded band of behind-the-scenes assistants. Changing my POET clue from [Date, e.g.] to [Doe, e.g.] is so, so cunning. Their ERSATZ clue is beautiful, and is one of my favorites.

*N.B. Ashish Vengsarkar and Narayan Venkatasubramanyan pulled off a similar (and brilliant) theme with TEN ORS back on December 6, 2008. In his Wordplay notes Mr. Vengsarkar mentions the difficult time he had persuading Will to accept the puzzle. As this puzzle encountered no such resistance, I owe them a debt of gratitude. I hope this puzzle in some small way measures up.

Tue 7/29/2014
ORCABATEDBIKE
FERNAGREEASIS
FLAGSNAKEPLANT
SOBERSUPPILATE
GLASSMENACES
VIRAGOJERKS
ANAELIOTTWOS
MTSDOGWOODOHM
POSEELOPELSU
SEXTSICEFOG
MESTIZALUCAS
ARMANIMAMASBOY
GOATSBEARDYALE
IDLEISSUEANEW
CELSTOKENSEGS

As noted on the Wordplay blog, this puzzle was my first crossword construction and submission. It was accepted two and a half years ago, in late 2011. I've come to realize that little motivates better than being your own fiercest critic, so with that in mind let's do an unvarnished, retrospective analysis of proto-me.

Jeff will probably point out that the puzzle's pinwheel layout allows for more control over the fill, while forgoing the opportunity to introduce longer — and presumably fresher — entries. Here, the presence of the central 7-letter bonus theme answer I think justifies that choice to some extent. The layout also produces some nice open areas in the four corners.

If I were to re-do this puzzle, the following entries would never be included: MTS, AGNUS, ESTES, I GET A, EINS, ESO, and SEGS. Nor is DEEPER (comparative form) ideal. While none of these is puzzle-breaking in and of itself, there is so much wiggle room in this low theme-count grid that there shouldn't be any blemishes like long partials, foreign words or ugly/plural abbreviations. The 8-letter entries SOBERS UP, BASS SOLO, OPIUM DEN and MAMA'S BOY are fine, but where I erred in construction is that I cemented those entries into place and then filled in from there, as though they were theme answers themselves. Nowadays I would still try all of them, but when they resulted in the aforementioned imperfections I would back those entries out and try different options until the puzzle sparkled everywhere. VIRAGO and MESTIZA are two other favorite entries, although I must confess to shoehorning in XZIBIT (who is not at all within my ken) without much consideration. Maybe others will disagree, but I wouldn't jump at the chance to use that entry today — irrespective of its effect on surrounding fill — unless nothing else fit.

It had been awhile since I'd looked back at the submitted clues. Several are cringe-inducing. Way too many contain obscure or uninteresting pop-culture references, and a lot my attempts at wordplay and misdirection, which at the time must have seemed clever and pithy, are anything but. I would have thought that there was no way Will could have used more than 5-10% of my clues, but I just totted them up and 26 out of 74 survived, with minor editing, for a hit rate of 35%. Which is shockingly high. {Light courses?} for EASY A'S was the one punny clue that made the cut.

Warts and all, I don't believe this was a terrible first attempt.

POW Thu 6/19/2014
OPECTHEOCSEMI
POLOTIARAPROS
TWENTYQUESTIONS
SEPTALHOTTEA
RHOSGMCGAIT
ALARTRIOSNCIS
PINTHADUPDAZE
ENTICINGLYPREX
RESOUNDEDPOTSY
NEAPSAOL
MELISSADELIRIA
ONESTARORISONS
TOOTIREDTOTHINK
ERNCANITBELAS
TMIKITTIESETO
SEASLSESTDEF

There are a couple of embarrassing truths about this one.

The first is that there was a grid design long before any theme concept materialized. Most of my ideas for puzzles are directly inspired by other constructors' creativity and execution, and in this case I wanted to try to construct an asymmetrical themeless puzzle with subtle thematic content, much like Joe Krozel's CREVE/COEUR (July 10, 2009) and Elizabeth Gorski's JOHNNY ONE-NOTE (December 10, 2010). Lacking any kind of plan, I just played around with blocks, hoping to stumble upon something that could be a viable backbone. The question mark design was simply the first grid that gave me pause, and the TWENTY QUESTIONS concept only surfaced after I'd already tried and dismissed several other ideas.

The second is that the cluing concept of the published version is radically different from the concept of the submitted one. My very inferior — and probably semantically incorrect — idea was that 20 of the entries would be clued with a wordplay-style clue ending in a question mark. You can still bear witness to my legion of awful puns in the clues for TIARA, EAU, CUE STICKS and DEF.

Be thankful for editors. Mr. Shortz saw my vision more clearly than I ever did, and with his lambent touch effortlessly improved the puzzle to the point at which I'm not even sure I should receive full authorship. In my limited constructing experience, nothing else begins to approach how truly confounding and humbling it was to open the preview puzzle a week ago and see my middling concept eviscerated, transformed and then rebuilt into the polished product you see today.

In the end it's fitting that this puzzle is running today, the sixth anniversary of Joe Krozel's LIES puzzle (June 19, 2008) — a puzzle which wasn't on my mind while making this one, but is perhaps the puzzle that this one ended up most closely resembling.

Thu 8/29/2013
TTADROLDEMYHR
YHTNAMOELIOTE
RETRACENACIRRUH
OSHOERDNALOC
AELSTOTSTIMO
EUGESANIRTAK
KRYPTOAIG
GIMLETEOFNEWT
APOSEINES
TYPHOONBRIDE
REUSEIPUTELY
ANTGLENSEWES
BROOKLYNCYCLONE
BORNEOEIREHOV
INSEAMROTSCHE

The original (rejected) version had THE PERFECT STORM at 55a, crossing OF NEWT. Having found a way to thread two EYE extensions (of which there were precious few) through two theme answers apiece, I was sure no other suitable 15-letter entries existed and so stopped looking. I felt fortunate to have those entries and was convinced the puzzle's constraints all but precluded alternatives. There must have been 30 ways to fill the lower middle, none of which was more than marginally acceptable. Every attempt included at least two of the following: TMAC, NOTCHY, OEUF, EFOR, NTS, PUNTO. Discouraged, I began researching again.

As soon as BROOKLYN CYCLONE materialized I thought I might have hit the jackpot. The new entry filled the un-fillable section cleanly and improved half the grid. The rush of such an aha moment during construction, when a seemingly intractable grid or fill problem resolves itself, dwarfs all the happy epiphanies I've experienced while solving.

From a practical standpoint the hardest parts to fill were where entries ran in only one wrong direction and crossed three themers (the ROLE PLAYS/LEERING AT sections), and the transition areas where abutting entries ran in opposite directions. These sections required spacial gymnastics that are difficult to describe but involved rotations about axes and bizarre, walled-in grid patterns. (I'm hopeless at filling by hand). Strangely enough, finishing the NE corner was a simple matter of filling a modified SW corner and reverse-transposing the fill back to the NE.

Thank you for reading and solving!

Thu 8/1/2013
OBSAFIRSTTWIG
RATSLOOPSHONE
CRACKUNDERFORCE
ACTAESSAAREA
SAURONKOS
REDUCEDISTANCE
TYRANTTIME
HAZESERGCECIL
EGADICETEA
POPULATIONMASS
ONOVOLUME
THUDRANIOLES
PHYSICSFORMULAS
COMEDETROPERE
PUNSSTAINSNYX

Tracy Gray's clever "Infractions" puzzle was my creative inspiration here. I loved Tracy's concept of representing a third word by stacking two unrelated words, so I tried to find a new twist on that type of thematic expression.

In general, the fill in most areas of this heavily constrained grid is decent. The SE, NE and SW corners are all pretty nice. Maybe changing LODI to LOKI and re-filling the SW would be a slight upgrade. But it's hard to imagine a way to improve the SE corner, given its triple-stacked, unmovable theme answers. Nor was there anything to be done to eliminate NIC and CMI beneath DISTANCE / TIME.

I did make two indisputable mistakes:

In the NW I messed up by using SAURON at 23a, which produced the entries OBS (ungood) and ACTA (doubleplusungood). Having struggled for so long to finish the trickiness of the rest of the grid, I was slipshod in filling that section and never considered alternatives to the Dark Lord after I saw he'd fit. It evidently didn't take much for me to fall under his evil sway. I would be a terrible Ring-bearer.

The mistake at the grid's bottom (DE TROP instead of BETTOR at 64a) can be chalked up to inexperience. The reason for NOR I instead of NOT I, CDS instead of CBS and MPS instead of MRS was that I was endeavoring not to duplicate the I in DARE I / SAY. These days I wouldn't blink twice at such a repeat. DE TROP is legitimate, but BETTOR would have been a substantial improvement. The kicker to all of this, of course, was that Will ended up cluing NOR I as [Me neither] instead of [Seaweed wrapped around sushi] — creating the very duplication I had contorted the fill to avoid in the first place.

That physics-related ERG hanging out at the center of the grid? Pure happenstance. Some people liked its inclusion there as an easter egg, and others found it inelegant. Tough to say.

Sun 11/18/2012 STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
JULIEAHASCMAJ
SAMARRAKREMERAGA
INBREEDSBERRIEDIMAM
TERACECILIAANDROBBIE
ARIATERRORSPARSONS
ROANSPARTAHOOKAH
SENDAIPSSGUIDEEGOS
YONDTOMSSPEECH
MENUGABSAMPEDATSEA
OMARRHUMRAHOSXTAT
BIBIILSAANDRICKRANT
BROIDIRBIELOIOPIE
OAKENACTASYECHSOAR
STOLAVOATHKATE
SEVEILOSECBCTRACTS
CAVILSFLARESNORE
GETTHISSEATERSDTEN
SCARLETTANDRHETTJENI
POCONETBOOKLEONARDO
OLINNYLONSAUCIER
TITSSLEDTSKED
Sun 12/11/2011 TAKING HALF-STEPS
FWAREJANETSNHABITAT
TIMONERASESCORONADO
ODINGWINKATARTLOVER
PENCILSENERSUNIONIST
ONATIREOSSE
OFEENATERISERAZORS
LTRECLASSHASHVOLES
DENRELSTHOMASININE
PRETERNKEEPASLOOKOUT
RESODAUELELON
ORTSHYPERINFIONSCOT
CEOSCOLSNLAKE
FEARTHSOCIETYALSORAN
CAPEESHELSAFFEEDPS
AVILAISLERETOOLSIE
REALMSCTRLVERVESSS
ISISACEDICC
SOBJECTSNBORNCITIZEN
TRUELIESGIDEONIRANI
OCOTILLOALETTEORNOT
NAYSAYERSEXTETNIELS
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