Zhou Zhang author page
1 puzzle by Zhou Zhang
with Constructor comments
See the 3 answer words debuted by Zhou Zhang.
| M | A | R | X | E | R | G | O | S | P | A | M | G | I | Z | A | |||||
| V | O | G | U | E | L | O | U | D | P | E | P | E | A | N | I | M | E | |||
| P | R | E | S | S | P | S | I | S | F | E | N | D | G | A | T | O | R | |||
| S | E | S | H | M | A | I | L | L | E | I | A | W | I | R | E | |||||
| D | O | E | S | N | T | H | A | V | E | A | C | L | U | E | ||||||
| A | T | E | I | N | T | O | T | O | T | E | D | I | G | N | O | B | L | E | ||
| D | I | N | E | R | O | R | O | M | E | O | A | L | F | R | E | D | ||||
| W | M | D | Y | O | S | H | I | U | N | S | E | E | E | V | E | |||||
| A | T | O | N | E | T | A | P | T | A | U | T | R | A | I | N | |||||
| R | A | F | A | S | A | N | M | B | A | E | K | E | S | |||||||
| M | T | V | I | T | D | E | E | M | U | B | O | D | ||||||||
| H | E | R | M | E | S | X | N | A | S | S | A | U | ||||||||
| T | E | E | O | U | S | T | I | A | R | T | E | T | A | J | ||||||
| O | R | R | A | L | M | A | T | M | I | R | E | S | P | A | ||||||
| T | A | O | M | I | E | N | E | N | I | D | T | A | N | |||||||
| A | S | A | P | U | N | D | E | R | T | H | E | S | E | A | B | A | R | K | ||
| L | E | D | U | P | X | E | N | O | N | W | A | R | T | Y | ||||||
| R | O | D | D | E | N | T | U | R | E | H | I | D | ||||||||
| F | O | U | R | S | Q | U | A | R | E | R | O | D | E | O | D | R | I | V | E | |
| L | O | S | E | H | E | A | R | T | L | I | P | R | E | A | D | E | R | |||
| A | P | E | D | D | E | E | S | L | E | A | N | P | O | T | S |
Zhou: I am so very thrilled to be making my NYT debut (especially because there were many times over the last two years where I was convinced it would never happen), and it is particularly meaningful to be sharing a byline with my favorite person in the whole world.
My original concept for this puzzle involved a passcode that was a Schrödinger entry but with one unchecked square… I reluctantly agreed to Kevin's simpler approach of putting a lock in the middle, secretly still thinking my way was better. Yikes! In hindsight — I hate to say it, but: Kevin, you were right. (Please don't use this statement against me in the future.)
Lastly, and most importantly, we're actually not the first people in our family to publish a crossword in the Sunday NYT. Our two oldest kids, Kaela (newly 9) and Nate (10), were published in the Kids section in April (interview by the incredible Christina Iverson here, solve the puzzle here). Time will tell if Vivi (almost 7) also catches the construction bug.
Kevin: Zhou and I met as teenagers. It's fun to think back to those days: she convinced me to dance the hula with her in front of 500+ people, and I convinced her to play offensive line on my flag football team. Our interests were so different, but we were always looking for ways to help each other grow.
Fast forward more than two decades: many of our interests have converged as we've shared our lives together. But our spirit of tackling new challenges side-by-side remains. This particular puzzle builds on literally hundreds of hours put into puzzles that were rejected. With the help of Christina and the amazing editing team, we couldn't be prouder to share it with the world.
This note wouldn't feel complete without mention of our friends Shawna and Austin, who we've tackled many escape rooms with. There's nothing quite like the feeling of deciphering the final challenge and becoming 42-Downs. We hope that this puzzle recreates some of that magic for you!