Jill Singer author page
3 puzzles by Jill Singer
with Constructor comments
Jill Singer is a filmmaker in Lexington, Mass., working on media for history museums.
| R | A | D | P | H | D | S | F | L | I | R | T | S | H | A | R | K | |||||
| E | M | I | L | L | A | I | N | R | A | W | E | R | P | H | A | S | E | I | |||
| D | O | V | E | A | P | S | A | V | E | D | I | S | A | P | E | A | R | N | E | D | |
| T | E | E | N | S | Y | C | P | A | S | L | I | M | P | S | E | E | L | S | |||
| A | B | R | A | H | A | M | L | I | N | C | O | L | N | I | C | A | M | E | |||
| G | A | T | O | R | C | A | N | T | O | R | S | N | I | P | D | U | B | ||||
| L | A | S | S | I | A | S | C | E | T | I | C | T | H | E | T | A | |||||
| U | S | M | I | N | T | M | A | G | G | O | T | H | E | I | D | E | R | ||||
| S | T | I | N | K | U | P | L | E | O | R | O | T | W | S | J | ||||||
| E | E | K | N | A | R | C | A | D | E | L | E | I | T | A | L | I | A | ||||
| O | N | E | A | P | T | W | O | A | P | H | O | T | C | R | O | S | S | B | U | N | S |
| N | O | S | A | L | E | B | P | L | U | S | A | S | H | E | N | A | T | ||||
| N | O | D | B | O | A | E | O | S | H | O | V | L | A | N | E | ||||||
| A | S | A | D | A | S | I | N | N | R | E | C | F | A | I | R | E | R | ||||
| C | C | L | E | F | K | N | E | E | I | N | G | O | H | F | U | N | |||||
| S | I | P | E | L | I | S | S | E | A | N | C | E | G | E | T | A | T | ||||
| A | C | R | I | D | T | H | E | U | N | I | O | N | S | H | I | E | L | D | |||
| S | A | S | H | B | O | D | H | I | R | I | C | O | A | N | T | E | U | P | |||
| P | U | T | I | N | Y | O | U | R | T | W | O | C | E | N | T | S | E | M | M | A | |
| U | T | O | P | I | A | L | E | M | O | N | N | E | O | S | M | E | N | S | |||
| N | O | R | S | E | L | E | E | K | S | E | D | G | Y | D | I | S |
| A | C | H | E | A | N | N | E | C | L | A | P | S | ||
| C | O | M | I | C | B | O | O | K | H | A | S | I | T | |
| C | H | A | R | L | O | T | T | E | E | M | I | L | Y | |
| R | E | R | E | A | D | E | S | C | P | A | L | E | ||
| A | N | T | R | E | G | A | T | S | ||||||
| P | A | S | A | D | E | N | A | I | C | U | ||||
| H | O | P | E | T | O | R | T | O | I | S | E | S | ||
| T | H | E | T | H | R | E | E | S | I | S | T | E | R | S |
| T | H | E | S | A | H | A | R | A | S | E | A | R | ||
| P | I | N | K | O | U | R | T | N | E | Y | ||||
| S | A | N | Z | E | N | K | I | M | ||||||
| S | O | F | T | E | O | N | S | E | L | E | N | A | ||
| K | H | L | O | E | R | O | O | T | W | O | R | D | S | |
| I | M | I | N | G | B | E | L | E | S | P | R | I | T | |
| T | Y | P | E | O | S | L | E | D | E | Y | E | S |
| S | U | P | E | R | B | S | E | A | M | S | A | W | ||
| O | H | I | S | E | E | A | L | T | A | T | W | O | ||
| B | U | T | T | E | R | F | L | I | E | S | E | A | R | |
| A | H | A | K | N | E | E | T | U | R | K | S | |||
| B | E | E | I | N | M | Y | B | O | N | N | E | T | ||
| P | A | R | A | D | E | D | A | U | D | I | ||||
| A | C | E | S | E | N | T | O | B | R | B | ||||
| W | H | A | T | S | B | U | G | G | I | N | G | Y | O | U |
| N | E | D | I | O | N | O | E | M | U | S | ||||
| E | C | R | U | A | B | I | L | I | T | Y | ||||
| A | N | T | S | I | N | M | Y | P | A | N | T | S | ||
| T | O | W | E | L | A | P | R | S | T | I | P | |||
| L | I | E | I | N | M | Y | S | T | O | M | A | C | H | |
| A | R | E | A | S | I | A | A | L | T | K | E | Y | ||
| S | E | T | N | A | T | S | B | E | S | E | T | S |
This theme came to me on a hike in Bryce Canyon, Utah. It's not that there are a lot of bugs there, but on a long hike, my mind wanders and empties, which seems to create fertile ground for theme ideas. Once I started along the bug path, I was delighted to realize how many good expressions there were, ones that I had often used myself. Ants in my pants when I sit at a desk working on theme ideas too long, check. A bee in my bonnet when I am trying to find a grid that works, check. Butterflies in my stomach as I open an email from the NY Times Crossword editors to see if this might finally be an acceptance, check, check, check.
As a fairly new constructor when I made this puzzle, I thought that there were fixed tradeoffs in good fill — that once a grid and themes were in place, you could make a word or a section better, but another section would suffer. So I submitted the puzzle with quite a few problem areas, thinking it was the best it could be. Thanks to the many iterations with Wyna Liu, I was delighted to learn that this wasn't the case — a grid can almost always be improved!