See the 4 answer words debuted by Evan Park.
| I | N | C | A | S | A | H | A | B | J | O | C | K | S | O | S | |||||
| T | E | M | P | E | H | C | E | N | A | E | U | R | O | S | Y | N | C | |||
| S | W | I | T | Z | E | R | L | A | N | D | T | R | E | A | S | U | R | E | R | |
| S | A | N | S | P | A | S | T | U | R | E | S | A | L | I | B | A | B | A | ||
| A | G | O | T | A | J | M | A | R | K | S | M | A | N | S | H | I | P | |||
| D | E | R | B | Y | A | T | F | P | R | I | U | S | G | I | S | T | S | |||
| A | R | C | H | E | R | Y | S | S | N | P | E | D | ||||||||
| M | U | R | A | L | S | U | E | R | O | A | R | E | D | |||||||
| U | N | C | U | P | L | I | T | S | T | A | R | R | S | E | A | S | ||||
| D | E | A | D | B | E | A | T | V | I | A | A | C | H | C | N | N | ||||
| S | P | A | R | R | O | W | F | R | I | S | K | T | H | E | B | I | G | A | ||
| A | I | R | E | W | E | U | A | E | E | Y | E | E | X | A | M | S | ||||
| W | E | T | S | N | E | L | L | Y | P | A | E | S | E | G | U | T | ||||
| H | E | R | E | S | Y | A | B | E | S | I | S | S | Y | |||||||
| N | O | R | I | A | M | R | O | S | S | I | N | I | ||||||||
| S | C | A | T | S | E | N | D | E | D | W | H | O | H | T | T | P | S | |||
| S | H | O | O | T | I | N | G | S | T | A | R | L | S | D | R | A | W | |||
| H | A | R | V | E | S | T | P | A | R | A | S | I | T | E | C | U | R | E | ||
| A | F | T | E | R | L | I | F | E | W | I | L | L | I | A | M | T | E | L | L | |
| P | E | A | R | A | R | E | A | I | M | O | K | M | O | R | T | A | L | |||
| E | D | S | M | E | E | K | N | I | T | S | P | L | O | Y | S |
We are good friends from school, bonding through activities like frisbee, water polo, cards, outdoor adventures, and of course, crosswords. We are both graduating now. Jeffrey will be starting work soon and Evan will be traveling the world for a year, volunteering along the way. What a nice graduation gift it is to have a puzzle together in the Times as we go our separate ways for a while.
This puzzle arose when Evan had an idea that included a literal representation of a bow and arrow. Jeffrey thought to link it to William Tell because every morning his high school would play the William Tell Overture in the halls right before class. The concept developed organically from there, and the puzzle came together over many iterations, spanning months, all over video call. We hope you enjoyed solving!
| A | F | L | A | C | O | W | L | S | S | H | E | |||
| T | R | O | L | L | S | H | I | N | O | T | I | S | ||
| R | E | S | E | A | H | A | D | A | B | L | A | S | T | |
| I | T | T | S | C | A | R | P | E | E | R | S | |||
| A | S | S | I | S | T | F | B | I | L | A | B | |||
| D | A | R | N | I | N | T | R | U | D | E | ||||
| O | H | M | E | L | E | A | K | S | Y | R | I | A | ||
| L | E | A | S | T | I | S | I | T | S | E | T | |||
| A | R | K | I | N | L | I | N | E | A | T | M | S | ||
| F | R | E | S | N | O | A | I | R | E | D | ||||
| I | T | E | M | S | S | N | A | K | E | S | ||||
| S | T | R | A | I | N | B | E | D | S | L | A | T | ||
| S | U | P | E | R | N | O | V | A | S | T | A | G | E | |
| P | L | O | P | E | R | A | S | I | R | U | L | E | ||
| Y | U | P | E | T | C | H | T | A | S | E | R |
EVAN: I'm thrilled to have my debut puzzle published in The New York Times! I'm not your typical constructor. I've solved fewer puzzles than I've now published. This wouldn't have been possible without my co-author Jeffrey, whose passion for crosswords made the whole process super fun. His infectious enthusiasm turned what started as a casual interest into an unforgettable experience.
Jeffrey and I are two intramural demons from Western University, leading our Ultimate Frisbee dynasty to a perfect record and hoping to earn our first purple shirt in water polo this season. Thank you, Jeffrey, for guiding me through every step of this journey.
JEFFREY: What a pleasure to be alongside Evan for his NYT debut! This is the third puzzle we constructed together, and by far my favorite. Brainstorming this idea was a lot of fun because it combines my love of space and my love of wordplay. It's also fun that we were even able to use diagonal symmetry for this grid! (And, fun fact, it makes Evan the second constructor ever to debut with diagonal symmetry!)
It's amazing how quickly Evan learned along the way. His creativity and persistence make him a great constructor, but also feature prominently in other areas of his life. I think I've successfully hooked Evan on crossword construction, so don't be surprised if you see us back in the NYT together soon! Congrats again Evan on a well-deserved debut!