Alan DerKazarian author page
5 puzzles by Alan DerKazarian
with Constructor comments
| F | A | C | E | S | M | A | J | O | R | C | A | |||
| E | R | A | G | O | N | U | S | O | T | O | U | R | ||
| L | A | N | G | U | O | R | S | T | A | T | U | T | E | |
| I | M | I | M | P | R | E | S | S | E | D | G | T | O | |
| Z | I | N | C | M | A | K | E | R | P | H | I | L | ||
| S | E | M | I | A | R | I | D | P | R | I | M | A | ||
| S | U | C | R | E | S | W | R | I | T | E | R | |||
| F | E | A | R | H | A | I | D | |||||||
| S | E | L | F | I | E | B | I | T | S | E | C | |||
| P | L | A | I | N | S | O | R | E | S | P | O | T | ||
| E | D | E | N | E | U | L | E | R | A | L | I | S | ||
| C | U | R | U | N | I | T | E | D | F | R | O | N | T | |
| I | Q | T | E | S | T | S | S | O | L | A | N | G | E | |
| F | U | E | L | E | R | S | G | O | D | E | E | P | ||
| Y | E | S | I | S | E | E | W | E | L | S | H |
My first themeless in the New York Times! O happy day! After having numerous ones rejected you'd think I would now have a better idea of what Will Shortz and company are looking for, but sadly I don't. Looking over the grid, it looks like a normal themeless of mine, but something must have caught their eye. I do remember in Joel's acceptance letter he said there were a lot of assets in the puzzle with little dreck. One interesting thing is that it doesn't appear that this grid pattern has ever been used in the New York Times before. Maybe its different look helped get it accepted? Enjoy!
| A | T | H | O | L | S | A | S | A | S | L | A | N | ||
| S | H | A | M | U | T | U | T | C | H | A | M | P | ||
| F | R | Y | E | R | E | R | A | C | R | Y | E | R | ||
| O | E | R | E | F | R | O | N | R | E | A | R | |||
| R | E | I | N | D | E | E | R | S | A | W | B | I | T | |
| M | A | D | E | L | O | A | M | Y | D | E | C | K | ||
| E | M | E | R | I | L | S | A | N | D | T | A | O | ||
| D | O | F | F | I | D | I | D | |||||||
| S | T | P | C | L | U | B | R | O | O | T | L | E | ||
| S | H | A | M | A | L | A | M | O | W | H | A | M | ||
| W | R | Y | E | S | T | H | A | M | O | N | R | Y | E | |
| O | H | N | O | D | R | Y | E | R | E | E | R | |||
| S | W | E | A | R | O | A | T | F | E | A | T | S | ||
| P | I | E | C | E | N | I | A | E | N | D | T | O | ||
| A | N | D | E | S | A | N | G | O | L | S | E | N |
Whereas my first three NYT crosswords were published within one or two months of their acceptance, this little guy sat around for twenty months. It's a pretty simple theme, so maybe that had something to do with the long wait.
The original version of this puzzle had HOP ON POP as the theme. However, the H on top of the P proved to be quite challenging and, while Will and Joel liked the theme, they weren't crazy for the fill. So HAM ON RYE was born and a better puzzle made. I do remember that in Joel's acceptance email he said the five instances of HAM being on RYE was quite challenging to pull off and a key factor in the puzzle's acceptance.
Hope you enjoyed!
| S | U | S | P | E | C | T | D | E | F | R | O | O | M | P | O | O | R | A | T | |||
| T | H | E | R | E | A | R | E | N | L | A | L | D | A | T | O | P | E | K | A | |||
| E | S | T | E | L | L | E | P | O | I | V | I | D | I | E | X | I | L | E | D | |||
| T | I | M | E | D | O | U | T | E | V | E | N | E | R | N | A | L | A | |||||
| A | M | A | Z | E | S | I | S | N | T | L | A | R | E | D | O | T | E | X | A | S | ||
| F | E | V | E | R | D | E | I | C | E | E | D | O | ||||||||||
| F | A | I | L | L | E | T | T | E | R | A | L | I | E | N | A | T | T | A | C | K | ||
| A | L | A | S | K | A | N | S | R | E | S | T | C | O | R | D | O | N | |||||
| B | I | T | A | U | T | O | B | U | S | A | T | T | H | A | T | I | D | L | E | |||
| L | E | O | T | R | I | D | E | N | T | C | E | L | E | R | Y | A | L | I | A | |||
| E | R | R | T | A | N | A | G | E | R | E | M | E | R | I | L | L | E | N | D | |||
| W | E | A | P | O | N | O | R | G | Y | S | I | L | E | N | T | B | H | A | D | |||
| A | L | B | A | N | O | P | O | R | E | O | N | A | T | E | A | R | E | G | O | |||
| C | L | A | R | E | T | E | L | I | S | M | I | S | S | S | C | A | R | L | E | T | ||
| S | A | N | E | V | A | L | L | E | Y | A | T | T | Y | S | N | A | D | I | A | |||
| D | E | F | E | N | S | I | V | E | E | D | G | I | N | G | ||||||||
| S | N | O | U | R | N | N | E | S | I | N | T | H | E | L | O | U | N | G | E | |||
| C | O | N | V | E | Y | I | N | G | N | O | R | U | N | S | ||||||||
| A | N | S | E | L | M | O | P | E | R | A | M | I | G | O | F | I | R | S | T | |||
| L | A | H | R | U | M | P | I | R | E | W | I | T | H | T | H | E | R | O | P | E | ||
| A | M | I | S | C | R | E | N | N | A | A | N | O | E | U | R | O | V | A | N | |||
| R | E | P | O | H | I | S | S | E | D | Y | E | N | S | E | N | N | E | T | T |
The first puzzle I ever sent to the New York Times was so God-awful it's amazing Will Shortz didn't tell his people to throw anything else from me right in the trash. Check this beauty out:
Clue: _X_VMDCCIIII (16,704)
Answer: MXLIIIITIMESXVI
Hoo boy … Anyway, over the next year and a half things got better and better, yet I still received those emails from Paula Gamache ending "He did appreciate seeing these, tho." Then about a year ago Will wrote that he liked a Sunday of mine but wanted to talk about it on the phone as there was just too much to discuss in an email. So I got to talk to Will Shortz, which was quite a thrill! He told me he "liked the puzzle or we wouldn't be talking now" and went over two or three things he'd like changed to improve it. After a few weeks I emailed him the new puzzle with the changes he'd requested and got a reply that the theme now looked solid but he had issues with some of the fill in the southeast and southwest grids. After re-doing those two grids yet again, BANG, my first puzzle accepted (though third to see publication).
I'm very curious to see what Will did with the southeast grid. As I wrote to him, I wanted that section to be so difficult that without knowing the answers to the Clue accusation not even fastest-solver-in-the-universe Dan Feyer could solve it in under 10 minutes; yet with the answers to the Clue accusation entered (around 35% of that grid) it would become typical Sunday-hard. I felt this was necessary because, if people were able to figure out the accusation by solving the SE quadrant before the other three, then what was the point of the puzzle? I wanted solving the other three before the SE to be of paramount importance.
| B | B | S | D | I | P | T | P | A | I | N | E | T | H | A | N | O | L | |||
| E | E | W | E | N | A | A | E | T | N | A | S | U | I | T | O | R | S | |||
| R | A | E | N | I | L | B | E | I | N | G | P | R | E | E | N | E | D | |||
| G | R | E | A | T | D | I | V | I | D | E | W | I | N | S | ||||||
| M | E | N | T | A | L | N | O | T | E | S | H | O | E | S | E | W | E | S | ||
| A | R | E | O | L | E | T | H | E | R | E | A | N | D | A | G | A | I | N | ||
| N | S | Y | N | C | S | E | A | O | A | S | T | T | H | A | T | S | O | |||
| A | B | E | S | H | U | M | P | W | H | A | L | E | ||||||||
| S | M | O | R | E | S | M | A | S | S | D | O | E | R | D | A | |||||
| C | H | O | P | I | N | F | I | N | E | C | O | N | C | L | A | V | E | S | ||
| N | U | T | T | E | D | E | N | G | C | O | W | L | A | B | O | R | S | |||
| B | L | O | S | S | O | M | E | D | B | O | N | N | O | C | E | L | O | T | ||
| C | A | R | V | I | D | T | O | N | E | S | C | R | E | E | N | |||||
| P | A | P | E | R | B | O | O | K | M | A | K | O | ||||||||
| L | O | O | S | E | R | L | A | W | S | D | I | X | S | O | D | O | M | |||
| B | R | O | K | E | M | O | U | N | T | A | I | N | E | S | P | A | N | A | ||
| S | A | L | S | W | O | O | D | S | L | O | S | S | L | E | A | D | E | R | ||
| W | A | R | P | B | A | C | K | I | N | B | L | A | C | K | ||||||
| N | I | A | G | A | R | A | O | P | I | N | E | K | I | A | I | L | E | |||
| I | D | C | A | R | D | S | L | O | G | O | S | E | N | L | S | U | R | |||
| P | O | E | T | E | S | S | D | I | A | N | E | S | O | L | T | B | S |
I knew I wanted to make a rebus puzzle using "Back in Black" so I started by experimenting with some 15x15 grids. None of these really worked, however, as there just wasn't enough room to cram in the revealer and a bunch of theme answers, so I started thinking bigger! I'm not sure how I came upon the idea of bisecting the grid into two halves and using the BACK rebus to allow the solver to jump across the divide, but it worked beautifully, allowing for some lengthy BACK answers and for the shock value of a puzzle divided in two. I'm sure some solvers were thinking, "Well, how the hell is this going to work?"
Anyway, the puzzle was brutally hard to fill in 140 words or less and there ended up being a lot of funky looking black patterns all over the place. Will said he liked the theme but "would I like to have another go at the fill?" I was having the same problems on the second attempt when suddenly I had an epiphany. "You idiot! The words before and after BACK don't count as two words. It's all one word!" I was trying to make a puzzle with 132 words, not 140. Once I realized I could let Crossword Compiler tell me my puzzle was 148 words instead of 140, it made all the difference in the world.
One quick note on what is sure to be the most questioned answer, DENTALCARIES. First, it really made that section hum; I wouldn't have used it if I didn't have to. Second, if you go to Wikipedia and search for "tooth decay" you come to an article where the main heading is "dental caries." That was good enough for me. I was still worried about it, though, but it seems it was good enough for Will, too.
| R | I | A | T | A | S | S | H | A | M | F | B | I | ||
| A | N | T | E | U | P | W | O | V | E | A | L | F | ||
| R | H | O | N | D | A | A | B | A | N | D | I | T | S | |
| E | A | U | I | N | I | O | R | S | O | N | ||||
| B | B | C | R | O | O | K | S | I | A | N | ||||
| H | U | B | E | P | I | C | T | R | I | P | ||||
| A | P | O | L | O | B | O | N | E | S | E | C | O | ||
| F | I | V | E | O | A | R | D | T | O | T | E | S | ||
| T | E | E | K | I | N | T | E | E | L | U | D | E | ||
| A | R | R | S | G | A | S | X | A | I | R | ||||
| E | I | N | C | C | C | M | O | N | T | E | ||||
| S | A | T | I | N | S | A | P | F | I | R | ||||
| W | W | W | W | S | T | O | P | M | I | N | I | N | G | |
| N | I | E | M | E | D | E | O | P | O | R | T | O | ||
| E | N | D | E | D | E | N | M | E | R | E | S | T |
This puzzle went through three incarnations. The first one had a musical theme. I had (NIGHT)INBANGKOK, (PAC)(PAC)SHAKUR, (DOG)(DOG)(DOG)NIGHT, and (WAY)(WAY)(WAY)(WAY)STREET (a CSNY live album). Will questioned the 2Pac entry (among other things, rightfully so) but said he was interested in the theme. I couldn't find any other musical TWO entries that would fit, so I made a new puzzle with (ARMED)BANDITS, (STAR)(STAR)MOVIES, (CARD)(CARD)(CARD)MONTE, (WAY)(WAY)(WAY)(WAY)STOP.
Again, Will said he liked the theme but felt (STAR)(STAR)MOVIES was kind of arbitrary. It could be two or three or four…would I be interested in trying again? Well, hell yes! So I replaced that with (BIT)(BIT)CROOKS. The only thing I was worried about was the decidedly "criminal" angle the puzzle took. Bandits, crooks, and a three card monte don't really mesh with a four way stop. I looked for a criminal FOUR for a while but found nothing that fit. Hopefully, the bloggers don't take me to task for it too badly :-)