Robert Logan author page
6 puzzles by Robert Logan
with Constructor comments
| B | A | T | T | E | D | A | T | A | N | C | H | O | R | |
| A | D | H | E | R | E | M | A | N | G | I | O | N | E | |
| D | R | E | X | E | L | I | M | D | O | O | M | E | D | |
| J | O | N | A | S | T | R | E | E | S | E | M | O | ||
| O | P | E | N | H | A | I | R | S | C | M | O | N | ||
| K | I | X | K | I | L | T | S | B | L | A | M | E | ||
| E | N | T | R | A | N | C | E | G | E | O | D | E | ||
| S | T | B | A | R | T | S | P | R | E | V | E | N | T | |
| H | I | D | E | S | T | R | I | F | E | C | T | A | ||
| B | E | G | I | N | S | W | I | M | S | O | P | T | ||
| R | O | T | I | T | H | E | S | E | D | O | L | E | ||
| A | C | H | H | A | R | E | M | B | A | K | E | R | ||
| H | E | I | N | E | K | E | N | L | A | R | I | A | T | |
| M | A | N | I | P | E | D | I | L | I | K | E | S | O | |
| A | N | G | L | A | I | S | E | C | L | O | S | E | T |
| S | N | U | C | K | S | T | O | O | L | S | ||||
| P | O | N | I | E | S | W | H | O | K | N | E | W | ||
| I | O | S | A | P | P | S | H | O | T | D | A | T | E | |
| C | N | N | T | A | I | L | O | R | S | L | S | D | ||
| Y | E | A | H | I | M | S | U | R | E | L | A | S | E | |
| S | P | I | T | B | A | L | L | K | O | R | A | N | ||
| S | T | R | O | L | L | P | I | N | K | Y | ||||
| M | E | T | S | G | A | N | G | |||||||
| P | L | E | A | S | B | U | R | D | E | N | ||||
| S | E | O | U | L | W | A | I | T | A | S | E | C | ||
| A | A | R | P | B | E | N | D | Y | S | T | R | A | W | |
| U | S | A | P | L | A | C | E | B | O | F | U | R | ||
| C | A | N | T | E | E | N | S | U | R | M | I | S | E | |
| E | N | G | R | O | S | S | S | T | O | N | E | S | ||
| S | T | E | I | N | S | A | N | G | S | T |
| 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.