Alan Siegel author page
2 puzzles by Alan Siegel
with Jeff Chen comments
Alan Siegel lives in Rancho Palos Verdes California and is a soccer referee. In the off season, he volunteers at the local senior center with the AARP Tax-Aide program preparing tax returns. He has been a long time crossword solver and was inspired by a lecture given at the local library by David Steinberg. A high school student at the time, David explained the history of crosswords and the terminology used, what a rebus was, and also served Oreos — the favorite cookie of Cruciverbalists owing to their colors. Alan tucked away the idea of creating puzzles until time permitted — which came during the Covid-19 pandemic. His debut entry in The New York Times, was actually his first submission to The Times. He is indebted to the mentors and guides met on the Facebook groups Cruciverb and Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory.
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| C | A | I | N | E | C | A | S | E | O | C | H | O | ||
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| R | E | E | F | U | L | N | A | W | A | N | N | A | ||
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| A | N | S | E | L | S | Y | M | B | I | O | T | I | C | |
| T | O | T | E | S | Y | E | S | N | O | T | C | H |
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| A | L | A | R | M | C | L | O | C | K | I | V | A | N | |
| K | E | R | M | I | T | P | E | P | L | O | G | O | ||
| I | R | K | E | D | P | E | D | O | M | E | T | E | R | |
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| E | L | F | P | E | R | K | Y | |||||||
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| U | T | A | H | E | R | R | Q | U | O | T | E | D | ||
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| S | E | A | T | O | M | E | N | O | M | A | N |
When the iPhone was about to debut in 2007, my brother shook his head, clucking his tongue. Raising his trusty flip-phone, he declared that so-called "SMART" PHONEs would never catch on. Too bulky! Too easy to smudge! Too expensive!
Too bad. Apple stock has gone up just a smidge since then.
I held onto my Razr until four years ago, when the AT&T guy burst into laughter when I took it in. "Does this thing even make calls?" he snorted.
Yes!
(If you yell into it loudly enough.)
Thank goodness I finally joined the herd. Thank goodness for my trusty Samsung Galaxy 4!
(sounds of AT&T tech support people cackling at me)
Amazing to think of what our phones do these days. Say bye-bye to the COMPASS I carried when I traveled to Japan, since I couldn't read the street signs. No need to wear a PEDOMETER anymore!
(Except that I don't know how to turn on the pedometer in my phone. Ahem.)
I enjoyed much of the debut gridwork, a tough challenge to work around so many not-too-short but not-too-long themers. It often gets tricky when themers pile up, like in the middle with the potentially newb-unfriendly DINAR / NAS crossing. Working in some PIE CHART, STILETTO, YOO HOO helped soothe that pain point.
This theme didn't charm me, but it is thought-provoking, making me wonder what tech innovations will make the SMARTPHONE feel antiquated 20 years from now. (When they pry the Galaxy 4 out of my cold, dead hands.)