Alina Abidi author page
3 puzzles by Alina Abidi
with Constructor comments
See the 13 answer words debuted by Alina Abidi.
Alina Abidi grew up in California, and currently lives in Pittsburgh, where she works as a software engineer at Duolingo. She enjoys making pasta, climbing (easy, indoor) rocks, practicing the same one song on guitar ("Operator" by Jim Croce) and wearing socks with sandals.
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ALINA: When I tell friends and family that I spent the weekend at a crossword tournament, they always ask the same question: Did you win? No, of course I didn't win! I only finished a ⅓ of Puzzle 5, for starters! You know who competes in crossword tournaments? People who are "REALLY good" at solving crosswords. I'm only "pretty good." I did come in 4th alphabetically, though, trailing behind Adam Aaronson (as expected).
Something that I do always plan to do at crossword tournaments (aside from solving wonderful puzzles) is meet up with my lovely online crossword friends, like Matthew Stock! I was delighted when he sent me this perfect theme idea, and I love how the puzzle turned out especially the unintentionally adorable grid art.
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I'm a software engineer at Duolingo, where I'm part of a small but dedicated crossword club. Every day after lunch, a group of us crowd into a conference room and chaotically shout out the answers to the day's NYT puzzle. I'm so excited that today's is Party Animals!
I had been sitting on this theme for months, with PARTY ANIMAL(S), PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY and WHITE ELEPHANT, but I just could not get the symmetry to work. One day, I thought of using a second revealer that would emphasize the political party angle, and the first one I tried, THOMAS NAST, worked!
Thanks to the NYT team for their kind, constructive feedback, and to my online crossword friends (Erik, Brooke, Paolo, Will, and more) for their thoughtful advice and always delightful puzzles.
I also want to shout out my dad, who definitely inspired my love of words and trivia. Hi Dad!