Andrea Carla Michaels page, Constructor comments

Total	Debut	Latest	Collabs
85	6/12/2000	11/21/2023	54

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
7	61	12	2	3	0	0

Rebus	Circle	Scrabble	PGram	Fresh
2	4	1.64	7	22%

Tue 11/21/2023
O	S	C	A	R	S		C	E	R	A		M	I	C
F	L	O	R	E	T		L	O	U	D		O	O	H
F	R	E	I	D	A	P	I	N	T	O		O	N	E
				B	R	A	M			R	E	L	I	C
	R	A	M	A		U	B	E	R	B	L	A	C	K
G	O	V	I	R	A	L		C	A	S	K
O	B	E	R	O	N		D	I	S			M	A	E
A	I	R	O	N	T	H	E	G	S	T	R	I	N	G
T	N	T			M	O	W		L	E	A	N	T	O
			A	G	A	R		S	E	A	B	E	E	S
R	O	Y	A	L	N	A	V	Y		H	E	R	D
I	D	A	H	O			I	N	F	O
V	O	W		B	E	A	N	C	O	U	N	T	E	R
A	R	E		E	M	M	Y		U	S	A	R	M	Y
L	S	D		S	O	I	L		R	E	P	U	T	E

Andrea: This puzzle came to me fully formed by my prolific, frequent collaborator Kevin Christian. My job was just to clue it.

I insisted he didn't need me, but he likes to have me clue, which is flattering as there isn't often that much room in an early week puzzle to have too much cleverness! (Tho I'm sad to say "Stripper in sneakers" for AIR ON A GS TRING probably wouldn't have flown… and there was pushback on "Name screamed at a Beatles concert" for PAUL… as I loved that visual/audio! Plus, I like to have at least one Beatles clue in any puzzle I'm a part of!)

It's a semi-straightforward type of puzzle, but I loved Kevin's extra dollop of FOUR crossing the reveal! To me, that made it special, so am happy to share some unearned credit!

Mon 10/16/2023
D	O	M	E	S		Z	I	P	S		S	L	I	M
O	Z	O	N	E		O	B	O	E		P	A	P	A
J	A	S	O	N	M	O	M	O	A		A	S	A	P
O	R	A		D	I	M		F	L	A	R	E
S	K	I	T		L	I	V		E	N	T	R	E	E
		C	H	A	N	N	I	N	G	T	A	T	U	M
			O	L	E		T	U	S	H		A	R	T
B	Y	G	U	M		M	R	T		E	G	G	O	S
O	A	R		A	C	A	I		I	M	O
D	W	A	Y	N	E	J	O	H	N	S	O	N
E	N	D	E	A	R		L	A	D		D	O	R	M
		U	N	C	A	P		Z	I	T		N	I	A
F	L	A	T		M	O	V	I	E	B	U	F	F	S
D	A	T	A		I	S	E	E		S	T	A	L	K
A	X	E	S		C	H	E	R		P	E	T	E	S

Michael Lieberman: This puzzle has its origins at this year's American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, where we made a point of meeting each other at the suggestion of our mutual friend (the journalist Stefan Fatsis). Andrea's excellent movie-themed puzzle (with Christina Iverson) came out a few days later, and we soon started emailing about collaborating on something else movie-related, which led to this theme.

Andrea wanted to include Chris Hemsworth (if not "all those Chris guys," as she put it), and we thought we had a theme set that included him, only to realize that I had miscounted letters and had to replace Mr. Hemsworth to maintain symmetry. We'll try to work him into our next collaboration!

Andrea Carla Michaels: I was thrilled to meet Mike, magically (Magic Mike?) on Stefan's April Fool's birthday. Mike's earlier-that-week LEMURMURMUR puzzle makes me beam every time I think about it!!! This all came together quickly and easily and was a hunk a hunk a burning love.

Mon 9/18/2023
F	O	R	M		A	R	T	S		A	D	A	P	T
A	R	I	A		P	O	R	T		C	A	R	R	Y
T	A	L	K	A	B	L	U	E	S	T	R	E	A	K
S	L	E	E	T		L	E	N	A		K	A	Y	E
			M	O	A	B		C	R	A	M
		T	E	L	L	A	W	H	I	T	E	L	I	E
A	G	O		L	E	C	H			M	A	Y	O	R
J	A	M	B		S	K	O	A	L		T	I	T	O
A	L	E	U	T			S	L	I	P		N	A	S
R	A	I	S	E	A	R	E	D	F	L	A	G
			Y	A	L	E		E	T	A	L
B	R	E	W		E	V	E	R		I	O	W	A	N
C	O	L	O	R	C	O	M	M	E	N	T	A	R	Y
C	A	M	R	Y		I	M	A	X		O	N	C	E
S	M	O	K	E		R	A	N	T		F	E	S	T

POW Mon 7/31/2023
S	T	A	R		C	R	O	P			C	I	A	O
L	U	K	E		L	A	V	A		G	H	O	S	T
A	B	I	T		O	M	A	R		O	I	N	K	S
V	E	N	U	S	W	I	L	L	I	A	M	S
			R	A	N			O	L	D	E
	K	I	N	G	C	H	A	R	L	E	S	I	I	I
T	A	C		S	A	U	L			D	I	D	N	T
W	H	E	E		R	E	I	N	S		N	A	T	E
A	L	I	V	E			S	E	E	M		H	E	M
S	O	N	I	A	S	O	T	O	M	A	Y	O	R
			L	S	A	T			I	R	E
		S	E	E	Y	O	U	I	N	C	O	U	R	T
V	I	N	Y	L		O	S	H	A		M	R	I	S
C	R	I	E	S		L	E	A	R		E	G	G	O
R	A	P	S			E	D	D	Y		N	E	S	S

DAVID: Hey, everyone! I'm from San Diego and am currently a physics student at the University of Chicago. I've been constructing since early high school, and I'm thrilled to make my NYT debut!

The theme for this puzzle came to me back in September when I was working on a politics podcast. I was brainstorming "court-adjacent" titles for an episode about a district court when I realized "See You In Court" could make for a nice crossword theme.

Looking back at email archives, original drafts of the puzzle included a "Food Court" themer and SHAQUILLE ONEAL. Andrea and I went through a couple of rounds of cluing, but luckily, my favorite hung around: 38-Down.

I really want to thank Andrea for co-constructing this with me; she has such a great sense of what works and what doesn't in a puzzle, and we are delighted with how it turned out.

ANDREA: David, the son of an old college classmate of mine, is exceedingly bright with nifty ideas and was inspiring and easy to work with.

We were excited to be the first to get King Charles III into the puzzle as his coronation was looming when we wrote this.

I was also pleased that both the athlete and the judge we chose who reign Supreme in different courts were both female and people of color. :)

He has followed my footsteps as a podcast namer, a crossword constructor, and now a published Monday Guy! I'm glad he's too young to have seen "All About Eve."

Hoping future collaborations to follow. Or at least enjoy his continued success from afar!

POW Tue 4/4/2023
Z	O	O		D	A	W	N	S		D	E	C	O	R
E	M	U		E	M	A	I	L		I	V	O	R	Y
T	A	T		M	Y	S	T	I	C	P	I	Z	Z	A
A	R	O	M	A			E	G	O		L	Y	O	N
		F	I	N	A	L		H	E	F	T
B	R	O	A	D	C	A	S	T	N	E	W	S
O	A	R		S	H	I	A			W	I	N	G	S
R	I	D	S		E	R	U	P	T		N	O	L	O
E	L	E	C	T			N	O	T	E		W	I	N
		R	O	S	E	M	A	R	Y	S	B	A	B	Y
			R	A	R	E		E	L	T	O	N
A	S	A	P		I	T	D			E	G	G	O	S
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	A	N	C	E		E	R	E
D	E	F	O	E		I	D	I	O	M		L	A	X
S	P	A	N	X		C	A	L	M	S		S	L	Y

ACME: After Christina and I did a puzzle about going into labor and delivering a baby, I got to think about what else is delivered? Babies, the news, pizza, milk (in the Olden Days) mail/Amazon packages (in the Newen Days). We thought it'd be fun to think of films with those words in the titles, with the reveal being "Deliverance"… a pivotal film of my adolescence.

"Licorice Pizza" was out in the theaters, but we weren't sure it would stand the test of time.

The tricky part was a way to unite the films clue-wise. So we focused on the setting where the actors "deliver" their performances. I think it's pretty tough without at least one prominent actor's name attached (Julia Roberts, Holly Hunter, Burt Reynolds), but space limitations overruled.

As a serious movie buff, I love this puzzle. And I loved working on a "sequel" with Christina!

CHRISTINA: Andrea is a pleasure to work with, and I'm happy to share a byline with her again! When this puzzle comes out, we will have just seen each other in person at ACPT (The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament). Maybe one day we'll make a puzzle together that has nothing to do with delivering babies!

Mon 1/9/2023
A	S	K	E	W		S	S	N			C	O	L	D
S	P	I	R	E		A	T	E		B	Y	L	A	W
S	A	C	R	E	D	C	O	W		A	N	D	R	E
A	R	K	S		A	H	I		G	R	I	E	V	E
Y	E	S		C	R	A	C	K	E	D	C	R	A	B
		B	L	O	T			E	L	S
P	L	A	I	N		T	H	A	I		P	L	I	E
B	A	C	K	G	R	O	U	N	D	C	H	E	C	K
J	O	K	E		E	T	T	U		A	I	M	E	E
				P	I	E			O	S	L	O
J	A	C	K	A	N	D	C	O	K	E		N	A	P
A	L	T	E	R	S		O	U	I		A	S	T	O
P	E	R	S	E		A	C	T	E	D	C	O	O	L
A	X	L	E	S		P	O	E		O	D	D	L	Y
N	A	V	Y			E	A	R		S	C	A	L	P

KEVIN: It's always a pleasure to collaborate with Andrea. She's the best Monday constructor out there in my opinion.

AC/DC was a significant part of the soundtrack of my teenage years. This puzzle is dedicated to their original lead singer Bon Scott who died in 1980.

ANDREA: Some collaborations are equal back and forth, ironing out themes, grid layout, fill, and cluing. Others, one might do most of the theme (my preferred role), the other most of the grid. Today's puzzle was 90% Kevin: his idea, his grid. I merely offered advice from the sidelines, smoothed out a section or two, and clued it for Monday difficulty.

My biggest contribution was ignored all around! I wanted circles, not just to ease the solve, but to highlight how brilliantly Kevin found phrases that did not just contain the letters A, C, D, C in that order (no mean feat) but phrases that paired them together!

I was assured by Kevin (and every editor I pleaded with) that solvers would be able to pick up on that construction subtlety by the reveal alone. We shall see!

I look forward to many future collaborations between Kevin and me, or should I say, AC/KC?

Mon 9/19/2022
A	T	L	A	S			A	L	A			T	O	M
P	H	O	N	E		I	R	A	S		D	O	P	E
P	E	N	N	E		C	A	S	H	B	O	N	U	S
L	I	E	U		D	E	B	T		I	W	I	S	H
E	R	R	A	T	I	C		M	E	A	N
			L	I	A	R		A	T	S	T	A	K	E
S	H	A	P	E		E	O	N	S		O	V	I	D
P	A	T	H	S		A	D	O		H	A	I	T	I
A	R	M	Y		O	M	E	N		A	S	S	E	T
M	E	S	S	U	P	S		E	P	I	C
			I	S	T	O		A	R	R	I	V	E	S
A	L	I	C	E		C	A	R	E		E	A	V	E
C	O	N	A	R	T	I	S	T		A	N	N	E	X
E	V	I	L		B	A	T	H		S	C	E	N	T
S	E	T			A	L	I			P	E	S	T	S

LESLIE: This may be your first time seeing my byline, but it's not my first puzzle; I've previously published under my maiden name, Leslie Rogers.

It was a delight, as always, to collaborate with Andrea — she has such an eye for picking out which themes will be successful, and she brings so much joy to the discussion of theme entries. Self-indulgently, I would have liked to represent my household's professions with OK COMPUTER and HIS DARK MATERIALS, but hopefully, the set we landed on is more cohesive and accessible.

To my fellow constructors: I certainly do not recommend using a 4x14 set of theme answers. If you want to stick to 38 or 40 blocks and include long bonus entries, those bonuses will likely either have to (1) go in the same direction as the theme (in this case, down) and possibly cause confusion about whether they are theme answers, or (2) go in the opposite direction and cross at least three theme answers apiece, which is very constraining. Given the constraints, I'm glad to have at least squeezed two longer bonuses in. Enjoy the puzzle!

ACME: Meeting Leslie right here in San Francisco was one of the many things I love so much about the puzzle community! We had such fun working on our first CAP AND GOWN puzzle, despite our different ages and backgrounds (I didn't know DATASET, she didn't know BILLY IDOL ... OK Zoomer!), now Leslie has pointed out we are two for two! ;)

This one was all her idea, I just coached from the sidelines when I thought four 14s would be tough to tackle. I was pushing for LET'S GET PHYSICAL which was a 15 ... This puzzle was created so long ago, Ms. Olivia Newton-John was still alive and well, but that would've made for a super tribute!

We had a dozen back and forths about some of the fill (and a little clean-up in one corner at the editor's request), but overall, a surprisingly smooth ride. I'm down for science, down for a third collaboration, and just down for Ms. Rogers in general!

Thu 8/25/2022
A	N	T	I		S	I	Z	E		R	A	N	D	Y
L	O	O	M		A	C	E	R		O	L	I	V	E
S	A	N	D		L	A	T	E	C	O	M	E	R	S
O	H	I	O	W	A	L	A	B	A	M	A
			W	E	D			U	S	B		A	B	U
M	A	I	N	E	B	R	A	S	K	A	N	S	A	S
O	R	D		P	A	I	L			S	U	T	R	A
T	I	C	K		R	O	P	E	S		B	E	A	U
I	S	A	I	D			H	I	T	S		R	C	S
V	E	R	M	O	N	T	A	N	A	L	A	S	K	A
E	N	D		G	E	E			R	O	W
			T	R	I	S	T	A	T	E	A	R	E	A
T	O	M	C	O	L	L	I	N	S		R	O	M	P
S	W	A	B	S		A	L	T	O		D	O	M	E
O	N	R	Y	E		S	E	E	N		S	T	Y	X

OLIVIA: It has been such a pleasure to work with Andrea on my first ever NYT collab! When I started in the biz, Andrea provided me with invaluable guidance, and I'm thrilled to share a byline with her today.

This is also my first Thursday puzzle! I was definitely out of my comfort zone (Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays), but I'm really happy with how it came out.

I love the playfulness of the theme entries — they're just so fun to say. I remember we struggled with the best way to clue them — initially, we thought of describing a road trip route via cities and using something like INTERSTATE [Type of travel used in this puzzle] as the revealer. But I think the revealer we landed on makes for a tighter theme since it specifically calls out how we got three states in each entry. And as someone who has lived almost all her life in the NYC tri-state area, this revealer feels cozy to me, like coming home. Hope you enjoyed!

ACME: I met the crazily brilliant Olivia Mitra Framke when she reached out on the Fb mentor/collaborator page.

From an offhand remark of my being intrigued to discover a shared four letters between MiNNESota and TeNNESsee, Olivia was inspired to create a long list of overlapping states!

(My fave is the fact that the two shortest named states OHIO and IOWA overlap into OHIOWA)

From there we wrestled with best way to clue as well as a dead-on reveal.

Here's a quote from one of our earliest back-and-forths that gives a peek into the process:

Ideally they should look slightly Un crazy and maybe even fun to say!
Like the FLORIDAHOHIO 12 is a bit trippy bec at first it just looks like you've stuck an H between Florida and Ohio.
I can't tell if that's great or the opposite!

I look forward to more collaborations. We've bonded (Oliviandrea?) but have yet to meet IRL, as the kids say!

Mon 2/28/2022
P	A	C	K		T	I	E	D	U	P		W	A	S
A	L	A	I		A	R	L	E	N	E		I	C	E
S	I	P	S		O	K	E	F	E	N	O	K	E	E
T	E	R	S	E			N	E	A		O	I	L	Y
A	N	I	M	A	N	I	A	C	S		M	P	A	A
			E	T	A	L		T	E	M	P	E
P	C	S			V	E	T			R	A	D	I	I
T	H	I	R	T	Y	S	O	M	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	I	T	A	R			M	E	N			A	K	A
		U	N	I	T	S		A	D	A	M
P	E	A	K		W	O	R	D	S	W	O	R	T	H
A	C	T	I		O	L	E			S	P	O	R	E
C	H	I	N	C	H	I	L	L	A		I	D	E	A
T	O	O		D	I	D	I	O	N		N	E	E	D
S	S	N		C	T	S	C	A	N		G	O	D	S

ZACH: I'm the creator and host of the Crossword Show, in which a panel of guests solves a crossword puzzle live onstage in front of an audience, and when the pandemic hit, I pivoted to making a series of videos I called "Solos."

After releasing this Solo (about Jared Leto holding a reproduction of his own head, which in turn inspired the notion of cephalophoric words), I received an email from dear friend and Crossword Show ally Andrea Carla Michaels, who said: "Have you made a crossword out of these and would you like to???" ACM was a joy to work with and learn from, and she deserves literally all of the construction credit; I'm very grateful to her for sharing the byline, suggesting this collab in the first place, and making sure 59D stayed in the grid.

Additional thanks to Will Nediger, who helped me figure out the initial cephalophoric words concept, and to my Crossword Show co-producers Dominic Del Bene and Jessica Mozes. We'll be announcing live dates soon, including several on the East Coast in summer 2022!

ANDREA: Three years ago I went to Zach's Crossword Show" (first of maybe four or five since) and was blown away. In one of his shows was this concept of Cephalophores (carrying one's own head). It inspired the idea for this puzzle, so I asked Zach if he'd like to join forces.

Zach's original concept and Will Nediger had come up with a list of 20 of these types of words. With his permission/blessing I culled a half dozen from the list and fashioned them into a puzzle. Joel asked for a rewrite (or three!) to get rid of some vocabulary unsuited for a Monday (sigh) e.g. REIKI and a weird variation of PNOM (my bad).

We lost our inside joke of LETO at 1A but slipped 59 D HEADS in as the final word. CEPHALOPHORE didn't make ANY of the cuts… but about ten versions later, et voilà, a crossword collaboration!

Mon 10/4/2021
A	B	B	O	T		M	O	N	T	E		C	O	B
S	A	U	N	A		B	R	O	O	M		L	I	E
L	A	B	O	R	D	A	Y	W	E	E	K	E	N	D
				G	A	S	X			R	O	O	K	S
	C	A	P	E	S			I	A	G	O
P	U	S	H	T	H	E	E	N	V	E	L	O	P	E
A	R	T	I	E		D	A	L	I		S	P	A	M
C	A	R		D	I	G	R	E	S	S		E	N	O
E	T	A	S		B	E	L	T		O	W	N	I	T
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	Y	S	E	R	V	I	C	E
			D	O	T	S			L	E	A	N	S
C	H	I	L	I			G	L	E	E
H	E	R	E	C	O	M	E	S	M	Y	B	A	B	Y
A	R	K		E	N	O	L	A		E	A	G	L	E
P	B	S		D	E	I	S	T		S	H	O	T	S

CHRISTINA: I reached out to Andrea a little over a year ago to see if she'd be interested in a collaboration. I love the collaborative process and have learned so much from each constructor I've worked with, so it was fun working with a pro like Andrea!

The idea I originally pitched was a lot more convoluted, with some wacky phrases relating to labor. She suggested doing a simpler Monday puzzle, and we came up with this. My daughter was a newborn at the time, so I clearly had birthing on my mind! I also had "Here Comes My Baby" stuck in my head for a long time while this puzzle was in the works!

ANDREA: As Prissy said in GWTW, "I don't know nothin' about birthin' babies!" But I do know this collaboration was a labor of love! Though virtual strangers (no more!) Christina and I discovered we share Minnesota roots and we had so much fun and laughter putting this together… And I love the idea of two making a baby without no men in sight … how 2020 is that?!

POW Mon 6/14/2021
A	W	E	S		T	V	P	G		S	L	I	C	E
B	A	N	E		H	E	A	R		E	A	S	E	L
A	T	T	N		E	R	I	E		C	D	R	O	M
C	U	R	D	S	A	N	D	W	H	E	Y
U	S	E		A	L	E			A	D	D	S	T	O
S	I	E	R	R	A		A	I	W	E	I	W	E	I
			I	A	M	B	I	C				A	C	L
	A	N	C	H	O	R	S	A	W	E	I	G	H
O	D	E				E	L	N	I	N	O
Z	I	M	B	A	B	W	E		I	D	C	A	R	D
S	N	O	O	Z	E			E	M	O		S	E	A
			G	O	Y	O	U	R	O	W	N	W	A	Y
S	O	L	A	R		K	N	O	T		A	I	R	S
A	W	A	R	E		R	I	D	E		P	R	E	P
T	E	X	T	S		A	X	E	S		A	L	D	A

ACME: A couple of months into lockdown, I began cleaning up and clearing out files that had accumulated over decades. Decided to see if I could turn some partial ideas/rejects into something salvageable now that I had an extra ten years of experience.

This puzzle was originally 13 15 13 themers before four became the new three! The original set:

HAVEITYOURWAY 13
HERCURDSANDWHEY 15 (partial!)
ANCHORSAWEIGH 13

I changed it into three 12s and added an 8 (AIWEIWEI) and thought I could try mirror symmetry but didn't know how to do that. So I approached the genius, zen puzzlemaster Doug Peterson who added another 8 (ZIMBABWE!). We dreamed up new ideas and wrestled back and forth between his wonderful suggestions of "PROJECTRUNWAY" 13 or "GOYOUROWNWAY" 12. An instant earworm (and a puzzle) was born!

I'm truly blessed to be able to worship in the "Way of Doug".

DOUG: It's always a treat to work with Andrea, and I love salvaging a theme that's "almost there." It's hard to believe that this is our first NY Times collaboration. We're a regular team on the Crosswords With Friends app, so if you enjoyed this one, look for many more of our puzzles there.

Mon 4/19/2021
S	L	I	T		P	E	T	A		S	K	O	S	H
M	A	C	E		I	R	O	N		P	A	L	A	U
I	T	E	M		T	E	N	D		A	T	E	S	T
T	H	E	P	R	I	C	E	I	S	R	I	G	H	T
H	E	S		E	F	T			U	S	E
			S	V	U		S	T	P			T	E	A
	T	O	T	E	L	L	T	H	E	T	R	U	T	H
S	O	N	A	R		A	R	R		A	O	R	T	A
Y	O	U	B	E	T	Y	O	U	R	L	I	F	E
R	N	S			A	S	P		O	K	S
			F	A	X			J	A	I		C	T	S
C	L	A	S	S	I	C	G	A	M	E	S	H	O	W
O	U	S	T	S		H	O	P	I		N	I	N	E
O	N	T	O	E		E	B	A	N		A	N	Y	A
L	E	A	P	T		W	I	N	G		P	A	S	T

This puzzle is very, very near and dear to my heart because my life has been one big gameshow! YOU BET YOUR LIFE. TO TELL THE TRUTH, I choose to live on air and a semi-barter system; I decided to press my luck on gameshows because THE PRICE IS RIGHT. (Not the best retirement plan in the world!)

Over the years, I've lost on "Jeopardy!" (Or "come in second" as my therapist has taught me to say!), appeared on "Weakest link", "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", "Scrabble", "Win Ben Stein's Money", and "Wheel of Fortune", where I managed to win a $50,000 motorhome!

I still watch the CLASSIC GAME SHOWS nightly on "Buzzer". This puzzle is my tribute to the most formative experiences of my life.

Mon 1/25/2021
I	R	A	N		D	E	S	I		A	D	A	P	T
N	E	M	O		I	R	O	N		R	O	M	E	O
C	H	I	C		G	A	R	B	A	G	E	C	A	N
H	A	G	U	E			T	O	R	O	S
	B	A	T	T	L	E	A	X	E		L	I	M	B
			S	C	A	N			S	T	A	L	E	R
S	O	S			S	T	A	B		S	P	I	R	O
Q	U	A	R	T	E	R	B	A	C	K	S	A	C	K
U	N	D	E	R		Y	O	G	A			D	Y	E
A	C	I	D	I	C			E	G	A	D
B	E	E	B		A	N	K	L	E	B	O	O	T
			I	G	L	O	O			A	G	N	E	W
Y	O	U	R	E	F	I	R	E	D		S	I	T	E
A	A	N	D	M		S	E	E	R		A	C	R	E
P	R	E	S	S		Y	A	L	E		T	E	A	K

ACME: Although we rewrote this (several times!) over a year and a half ago, I'm thrilled with the timing of the publication as I've been living for Jan 20th to shout the reveal from my rooftop!

KEVIN: I'm going to address the elephant in the room head-on. This puzzle contains the phrase YOU'RE FIRED, which is a phrase that 45, i.e., the most recent former occupant of the White House, used to say on the television show "The Apprentice." This puzzle is running five days after being "fired," and a new president has been sworn in.

Someone somewhere in the crossword blogosphere will complain that the puzzle is political and that crossword puzzles shouldn't be political because they're supposed to be "fun" and unbiased. They're wrong for two reasons.

First, they're wrong because the timing of the puzzle is coincidental. It was scheduled before the NYT noticed its timely significance.

Second, they're wrong because a crossword puzzle is a work of art, and art absolutely has the right to be political. Books, paintings, and songs can be political. So can crossword puzzles.

The timing of this puzzle delights me, and here's why: 45 was the worst president ever. It's hard even to know where to start with this guy's faults, but in case you slept through the last four years, in case you've forgotten the horrors he wreaked on our country and the world, I have not.

For these reasons and many more, I say to 45 that I'm ecstatic that YOU'RE FIRED. I didn't plan for this puzzle to run on this day, but I'm delighted that it did. If anyone in the crossword blogosphere is upset by this, I DON'T CARE.

Mon 12/28/2020
S	P	A	S		P	E	A	C	H		S	T	U	D
E	A	C	H		E	M	C	E	E		A	O	N	E
N	A	M	E		A	T	A	R	I		S	P	I	N
T	R	E	B	E	K		B	I	G	S	H	O	T	S
		C	A	R	P	S		S	H	E	A	F
C	H	O		G	E	E		E	T	A		T	B	A
H	E	R	R		R	A	D		O	R	W	H	A	T
R	I	P	E		F	L	U	F	F		A	E	R	O
I	D	O	I	D	O		G	I	F		X	M	E	N
S	I	R		O	R	C		D	A	N		O	D	E
		A	R	O	M	A		O	S	C	A	R
I	N	T	E	R	A	C	T		H	O	R	N	E	D
R	A	I	N		N	A	O	M	I		T	I	V	O
K	N	O	T		C	O	M	B	O		O	N	E	G
S	O	N	S		E	S	S	E	N		O	G	R	E

ALAN: I am excited to see this one coming out during the holidays. This was another fun collaboration with ACME. Yes, 3-Down was my idea, I swear. We had a good back and forth with all the TOP words. We liked the final look of the 4 long theme phrases at the top of the grid, so APEX PREDATOR, SUMMIT NEW JERSEY, and a few others didn't make the final cut.

I had to visit California recently, but a silver lining was finally getting to meet Andrea. She is even more amazing in person.

Happy Holidays everyone!

ACME: My preference is always to have my themes go horizontally, with a punchline/reveal.

3-Down ACME CORPORATION was Alan's idea, I swear!

Tue 10/6/2020
H	I	S	S			P	A	T		Y	A	D	D	A
A	C	T	I		A	R	C	H		E	L	I	O	T
L	E	O	N		S	O	L	E		S	A	M	O	A
F	R	I	G	H	T	F	U	L	O	W	N	E	R
	S	C	O	U	R			M	M	E
			F	R	A	C	K	A	N	D	R	U	I	N
C	O	D		T	Y	P	E		I	O	D	I	N	E
A	V	I	D			U	S	C			S	E	X	T
L	E	V	I	E	D		H	A	H	A		S	S	S
F	R	A	N	K	A	M	A	T	E	U	R
				E	R	A			I	D	E	A	S
	F	R	I	S	K	Y	B	U	S	I	N	E	S	S
P	I	A	N	O		T	A	F	T		A	R	G	O
A	N	J	O	U		A	M	O	S		M	O	T	H
M	E	A	N	T		G	A	S			E	S	S	O

ACME: It's been wonderful collaborating with Alan. I believe this is our third in a row. Altho the idea was Alan's, these particular themers resonate deeply with me.

We originally had FROCKCONCERT which still makes me giggle but initially cost us a potential rejection. Happily, Will and Co. let us substitute in FRACKANDRUIN which in the end I think is a stronger, appeals to my politics and a more timely phrase.

FRIGHTFULOWNER is all too real in my current landlord situation and FRISKYBUSINESS is a shout-out to my dearly departed love of my life, Blackjack.

ALAN: It was fantastic collaborating with the funny and talented ACME! This was actually the first collaboration we had accepted by NYT last December. It still feels like my debut puzzle, which is really exciting. This idea came out of a spitballing session on another idea and we both had fun making these theme entries and clues. We got three entries pretty quickly but the fourth one was elusive. We are very thankful to the editors for working with us on an improved fourth theme entry. Team Will also tweaked several clues, definitely for the better, including the very enjoyable clues for 39D and 62A.

I could not have made this or any other puzzle without Jeff Chen and Jim Horne's XWordInfo.com site, their wordlists, and all the help Jeff and others have given me. I do not know of a better place for a new constructor to start. The crossword constructing community is amazing, and so supportive. Now if I could get Jim to help me with some tricky RegEx searches :)!

Mon 8/17/2020
W	O	O	S		P	A	L	S		A	D	L	I	B
A	U	N	T		A	V	O	W		A	I	O	L	I
L	I	E	U		W	A	V	E	S	H	E	L	L	O
L	O	A	F	S			I	D	E	S	T
S	U	R	F	T	H	E	N	E	T		S	E	L	F
T	I	M		R	A	Y				T	O	N	E	R
			P	O	L	E	S		S	A	D	D	A	Y
	S	H	E	L	L	S	O	U	T	C	A	S	H
B	E	E	T	L	E		S	N	I	T	S
T	A	R	T	S				U	R	I		B	A	E
U	S	E	R		P	A	L	M	S	C	A	R	D	S
			I	S	D	U	E			S	C	O	O	P
B	E	A	C	H	F	R	O	N	T		H	O	R	A
L	A	T	K	E		A	N	E	W		O	M	E	N
T	R	E	S	S		S	E	G	O		O	S	S	A

ALAN: This idea came out of another collaboration with Andrea. I kept trying to work WAVES into our hair theme puzzle, and Andrea kept giving it the thumbs down, but it put us in the mood for a beach puzzle. Andrea is an amazing collaborator; funny and talented. We played around with every combination we could think of, it was fun to focus on the beach terms as verbs. The reveal came late and brought the whole thing together.

The editorial staff is great to work with and their final touches improved the puzzle. They did put the kibosh on a not so good SAND entry, but let us remake the whole grid with the new longer theme entries. We tried to make the bigger corners accessible for an early week level.

We hope you all enjoy the solve. Stay safe everyone!

ACME: As a partner, Alan's a dream. Easygoing, completely open to criticism and suggestions, bursting with ideas, and quite unflappable (a quality you want in an anesthesiologist and a writing cohort!).

Will initially nixed SANDADECK as a deal-killer; not enough in the language. (I now wonder if SANDTHEDECK would've flown?) We pushed back and suggested alternatives, including swapping in PALMSCARDS. Happily, Will and team agreed. We revamped the entire puzzle to make lengths match, and the rest was a breeze. ;)

Mon 5/25/2020
S	T	A	B		B	A	R	S		C	A	S	T	E
A	R	I	E		I	C	A	L		A	L	P	H	A
M	I	D	N	I	G	H	T	I	N	P	A	R	I	S
E	M	A	I	L	M	E		P	O	I		I	R	E
			G	E	O		M	U	S	T		T	D	S
	F	I	N	D	M	Y	I	P	H	O	N	E
E	A	R		E	M	T	S			L	A	Z	E	D
G	I	R	L		A	D	M	I	N		M	E	S	A
G	R	E	E	N			A	T	O	Z		R	P	M
		L	E	O	N	A	R	D	N	I	M	O	Y
E	Y	E		S	I	C	K		E	N	E
L	A	V		E	L	I		A	V	E	R	A	G	E
C	H	A	N	G	E	D	O	N	E	S	M	I	N	D
I	O	N	I	A		I	R	O	N		A	D	A	Y
D	O	T	T	Y		C	E	N	T		N	E	W	S

ACME: As a Libra, I'm very familiar with the phrase, "I've changed my mind" so decided to see if I could literally do just that within the confines of a puzzle. When I realized LEONARDNIMOY contained the word MIND reading backwards I got very excited about trying to do a MINDMELD puzzle. Then I found the matching-in-length FINDMYIPHONE and I was off to the races.

MIDNIGHTCOWBOY, one of my favorite films of all time, morphed into MIDNIGHTINPARIS...fittingly, as it's the only Woody Allen film I've enjoyed in the past 20 years. He was my idol as a young girl (ahem) and I had a long correspondence with him (see photo) after we met in the 70s.

I approached Victor Barocas whom I coincidentally saw made a CHANGEDHANDS puzzle for the LA Times while I working on this one. We had met through a puzzle tournament in Minnesota, where he is a professor at the U of M, just as my dad had been decades before. Victor is phenomenal with dense material (just look at those nice sixes: ACIDIC MERMAN BENIGN SLIPUP... that's a short story in itself!) and was able to wrangle my all-over-the-place-ness with a nice grid.

Actually, our initial attempt was rejected b/c of the weak fill, I blame myself, but we were given a chance to start from scratch on the strength of the not-in-a-grid previously themers. Glad Will Shortz and company CHANGEDTHEIRMIND and let us redo to a much better puzzle all around! As per usual, not originally intended as a Monday (given the anagramming and the theme density), but there you have it!

VICTOR: I had the privilege to work with Andrea for a few years on the (sadly, now gone) Minnesota Crossword Tournament sponsored by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. Andrea is both delightful and professional, and she always brings a combination of joy and flair to her puzzles. It was a pleasure to work with her on this puzzle, and I hope that the solvers enjoy it as much as we did.

Mon 4/6/2020
A	C	L	U		A	G	O			A	P	A	R	T
L	O	O	N		H	E	N	S		D	E	L	H	I
M	R	S	C	R	A	T	C	H		V	R	O	O	M
A	D	E	L	E		R	E	E	L		M	O	N	O
		S	A	Y	H	I		L	U	C	I	F	E	R
C	O	L	D		O	D	E		T	O	T
D	O	E			L	O	L		H	E	M	A	N
S	P	E	A	K	O	F	T	H	E	D	E	V	I	L
	S	P	E	E	D		O	A	R			A	C	E
			O	R	E		N	B	A		V	I	E	D
O	L	D	N	I	C	K		A	N	S	E	L
P	O	O	F		K	O	L	N		E	N	A	C	T
E	C	O	L	E		B	E	E	L	Z	E	B	U	B
R	A	N	U	P		E	A	R	S		E	L	B	A
A	L	E	X	A			P	O	D		R	E	A	R

ANDREA: The original idea was to have all these fun names for the devil (I'm a sucker for funny words like BEELZEBUB or BLATHERSKITE) with the reveal DEVIL MADE ME DO IT 15 spanning the center. But once joining forces with Brian, it evolved into SPEAK OF THE DEVIL with all the theme clues being, "We were just talking about you!" We wrote/clued it for midweek because we had a lot of non-Monday level words like HOLODECK and AEON FLUX (neither of which I even knew! But I wildly appreciated Brian's grid skills).

It's been so long from creation to publication that I just parsed MRSCRATCH as "MRS CRATCH" and wondered who/what that was! Early on, Brian made a cool version with HOT STUFF going down, which fed nicely into the hellish theme ... but it compromised other fill, so I didn't LOSE SLEEP over it.

I hope folks have hella fun solving this!

BRIAN: Like Andrea said, I don't remember too much from the making of this puzzle. I remember being similarly excited about the word BEELZEBUB. Once Andrea hit on SPEAK OF THE DEVIL as a cute revealer, we were off to the races!

We went through a few different iterations before we settled on this grid shape. It's interesting to me how much the relatively short seven-letter themers affected the rest of the layout.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was SHEL Silverstein's "The Missing Piece meets the Big O." The older of my TOTs is just getting into "bigger" books, so we will have to break that one out along with "The Giving Tree" soon.

Hoping this is a fun little way to kick off everyone's week!

Mon 3/2/2020
C	B	S			E	T	C	H		B	S	I	D	E
H	I	N	T		L	O	R	I		R	A	T	I	O
E	B	A	Y		A	R	A	P		I	B	S	E	N
Z	I	P	P	O	L	I	G	H	T	E	R
		O	E	R				O	A	F	I	S	H
S	Q	U	A	T	J	U	M	P	S		N	Y	E	T
K	A	T		E	R	M	A			L	A	M	A	R
I	T	O		G	R	A	N	I	T	E		P	R	O
M	A	F	I	A			O	D	O	M		A	S	L
P	R	I	M		Z	E	R	O	M	O	S	T	E	L
	I	T	A	L	I	C				N	T	H
			N	O	T	H	I	N	G	D	O	I	N	G
D	E	L	A	Y		O	D	O	R		C	Z	A	R
O	M	E	G	A		E	L	S	A		K	E	N	O
M	O	D	E	L		D	Y	E	D			R	A	W

As for the puzzle, I got nothin'! (Only kidding)

The earlier versions had LOVE in them and/or ended with NADA. Two themers began with Z, and a third had a Q and J of SQUAT JUMPS. This presented some challenges to making sure the fill would be Monday smooth.

Will Shortz and Sam Ezersky both nudged me to keep trying with different configurations, which is a luxury I'm not usually afforded, but they were treating this specially, which I appreciated. Ultimately, NADA was discarded ... and LOVE was not all you need, contrary to what the Beatles say!

Mon 9/23/2019
M	A	N	E		S	P	O	O	L		S	I	A	M
A	W	O	L		A	R	G	U	E		E	D	G	E
T	A	L	K	A	H	O	L	I	C		Z	E	A	L
E	R	A		T	A	P	E		T	H	W	A	R	T
S	E	N	I	O	R			R	U	T	H
			B	L	A	B	B	E	R	M	O	U	T	H
S	T	E	E	L		R	E	B	E	L		G	A	Y
W	I	L	T		C	I	A	O	S		S	L	I	P
A	L	L		P	R	A	D	O		S	T	Y	L	E
B	L	A	T	H	E	R	S	K	I	T	E
			R	E	V	S			N	A	M	E	I	T
M	A	L	A	W	I		C	A	S	K		M	F	A
U	S	E	S		C	H	A	T	T	E	R	B	O	X
S	I	G	H		E	E	R	I	E		D	E	L	I
E	A	S	Y		S	H	L	E	P		A	D	D	S

I love playing with the onomatopoeia-ness of words like BLABBERMOUTH, TATTLETALE, etc. As a matter of fact, TATTLETALE was in the first version, Will and Company loved the idea of the puzzle theme but felt it didn't have the same ring as the other three. The dictionary lists it as a synonym, but who am I to argue?!

SO, all I had to do was come up with another ten-letter word that was fun and an exact match to the others and rewrite the whole puzzle from scratch!

LOQUACIOUS is indeed ten letters, but, alas, an adjective not a noun like the others. Complete credit to Sam Ezersky for suggesting not-on-my-radar TALKAHOLIC!!!

And for those who don't know BLATHERSKITE, well, neither did I. Learn something new every day ... even on a Monday!

They also pushed back on the word CALOR for a Monday. Spanish 1, everybody! Reminds me of course of the old joke: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? TRILINGUAL. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? BILINGUAL. What do you call someone who only speaks one language? AMERICAN.

Mon 3/25/2019
T	A	L	C		P	E	S	O		Y	O	W	Z	A
I	G	O	R		A	R	T	S		E	N	R	O	N
L	A	T	I	N	P	E	R	C	U	S	S	I	O	N
		T	S	E			I	A	N		I	T	S	O
L	E	O	P	A	R	D	P	R	I	N	T
A	L	P		P	A	R				E	E	L	S
P	O	R			M	A	M	M	A	S		A	E	R
U	P	I		L	O	W	P	O	S	T		T	R	A
P	E	Z		U	N	S	H	O	D			E	B	B
	S	E	E	N				C	O	O		X	I	I
			L	A	U	N	C	H	I	N	G	P	A	D
A	S	A	P		M	E	H			M	A	A
L	E	G	A	L	P	R	O	C	E	E	D	I	N	G
G	R	A	S	P		V	I	S	E		O	N	E	A
A	F	R	O	S		E	R	I	K		T	T	O	P

ACME: Every now and then, Kevin sends me a ton of creative ideas to see if anything strikes me. We have radically different styles, though complementary, so we like to collaborate. He is a grid master with out-of-the-box ideas (see his Mullet puzzle!). We've made lots of puzzles, but this is only our second one for the NYT.

Two word phrases that start with the same two letters is fairly straightforward, so we were able to generate a long list of possible theme answers. After arguing whether or not LILYPAD is one or two words, or how well-known LUKE PERRY is (who knew how timely!) we put together a set ... neither made the final cut!

What makes this unusual is Kevin managed to get SEVEN theme entries (plus a three letter reveal) into a Monday puzzle! My job was to make the fill as smooth as I could.

(There is a bonus theme answer if you parse 23D, perhaps clued as "Hollywood dog star?")

KEVIN: I like collaborating with Andrea for many reasons. She's easy to get along with and has a great sense of humor. When I bring her an idea, she always does something to it that makes it better. Most importantly, she's a fantastic judge of what is and is not clean fill.

We had a ton of LP expressions to pick from for this puzzle. Some of my favorites that didn't make the cut are LUNG POWER, LINKIN PARK (we miss you Chester Bennington), LATERAL PASS, LITMUS PAPER, LANDING PARTY, LIBRARY PASTE, LOTUS POSITION, LACROSSE PLAYER, and LEARNERS PERMIT.

I'm glad we were able to get seven theme answers into the puzzle and to make two of them downs that crossed some of the across theme answers. That was not a gimme. There was no guarantee that was going to work, but we were able to get it to work, which was great.

For the record, I still don't know if LILY PAD is one word or two without googling it. It's two, right?

Thanks for solving!

Sun 3/3/2019 D.J.'S SPINNIN'
P	E	C	A	N	S		M	I	S	D	E	A	L		S	C	A	L	A	R
I	R	O	B	O	T		I	T	S	O	N	M	E		C	O	S	I	N	E
S	A	L	O	M	E		L	E	A	N	S	I	N		R	I	S	I	N	G
H	O	O	V	E	R	J	A	M		J	U	S	T	B	U	N	N	I	E	S
	F	R	E	S	N	O			L	U	I	S		U	N	A	S
			A	S	E	A		C	A	A	N		U	S	C	G		P	X	S
E	T	A	L		R	O	L	L	I	N	G	I	N	T	H	E	J	E	E	P
M	I	L	L	S			E	O	N			S	P	A	Y		E	T	N	A
A	M	I		T	A	T	A	S		C	L	U	E			S	T	E	A	M
J	O	C	K	O	F	T	H	E	B	A	Y		G	M	A	I	L
	R	E	A	L	T	Y		T	E	R	R	A		O	N	E	A	C	T
			R	I	A	L	S		G	R	A	V	E	J	I	G	G	E	R	S
A	L	O	A	D			H	E	S	S		A	L	O	N	E		L	A	P
C	O	A	T		C	L	O	Y			T	I	O			S	W	E	D	E
M	A	K	E	T	H	E	J	E	A	N	S	L	I	S	T		I	B	E	X
E	M	S		R	A	V	I		L	I	P	S		P	O	L	S
			A	I	R	E		G	A	P	S			A	R	L	E	N	E
G	A	R	B	A	G	E	J	U	M	P		J	U	N	E	B	U	G	G	Y
I	C	E	A	G	E		O	N	E	I	D	A	S		R	E	P	A	G	E
B	A	N	T	E	R		S	I	D	E	O	N	E		O	A	T	I	E	R
B	R	E	E	D	S		S	T	A	R	T	E	D		S	N	O	O	D	S

TONY:

Placing the additional Js was the main challenge in making this grid, with EMAJ maybe the main concession — but that's a nice-sounding key so, I for one am OK with it!

JOAO came to mind from a musical place, as well. Andrea and I both love names, and our initial, proposed clue was [Stan's partner on the 1964 multimillion-selling "Getz/Gilberto" album]. Having seen a clue in this Friday's puzzle referencing STAN Getz and his nickname, "The Sound," I half hoped that was somehow meant to help prime solvers for this, coming Getz reference in the form of JOAO (Gilberto).

However, the revised clue [Ian : Scottish :: ___ : Portuguese] does give the solver a fairer shot at getting this unusual-looking name, not used previously in the NYT puzzle, as they do not need to know Joao Gilberto to get the answer ... still, I do hope they will go and find him and that classic record that helped popularize the Bossa Nova in the U.S.

Similarly, JOSS went from the restrictive (name) [Screenwriter/director Whedon who created "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"] to the more gettable [Kind of stick for incense].

ACME:

The seed inspiration we had was FARMER IN THE JELL ironically not realizing JELL wasn't a word!

Tony carefully worked on the grid ensuring that there were no other unchanged D in the theme answers.

Although there are a limited number of words that start with J, we had a surprisingly rich list to choose from and would prob still be generating ideas if I had not insisted we actually send something in!

POW Mon 2/18/2019
T	A	R	O	T		A	W	E	D		R	O	P	E
U	N	I	O	N		M	A	T	A		O	B	E	Y
N	I	G	H	T	N	I	G	H	T		A	N	N	E
E	M	U			O	D	E		A	L	M	O	N	D
R	E	P	O	S	T	S		E	S	S	E	X
			W	H	I	T	E	W	E	D	D	I	N	G
P	A	S	E	O			P	E	T			O	I	L
E	L	U	D	E		U	S	S		S	A	U	C	E
R	O	N			C	F	O			I	B	S	E	N
M	U	S	H	R	O	O	M	B	A	L	L
		C	O	O	P	S		A	T	T	E	S	T	S
P	A	R	O	D	Y		S	N	O			T	O	E
A	G	E	D		C	A	P	A	N	D	G	O	W	N
T	R	E	E		A	L	A	N		N	A	M	E	S
H	A	N	D		T	I	N	A		A	P	P	L	E

ACME: Leslie Rogers was looking for a mentor and had forwarded many good ideas, and this one stood out to me.

We had a natural reveal in CAP AND GOWN, so it was a matter of hashing out details (e.g., caps should consistently come first. We needed matching 10s, etc.)

There are both metaphoric types of caps as well as physical ones (i.e., baseball vs. ice cap or hard cap) but there are only a few types of gowns, almost entirely physical (hospital, wedding.)

Leslie is a software engineer, so after we came up with initial lists, she made a program that generated every conceivable combination. New way of working for me!

Big age gap, but she learned who BILLY IDOL is, and I learned what a DATASET is. Fun and easy collaboration facilitated by the fact that we "met" online through the blogosphere but both live in San Francisco.

Happy to have played a part in her debut.

Leslie Rogers: It's a dream come true to make my debut as a New York Times crossword constructor! My mom introduced me to crosswords when I was young, and my obsession has grown in the last couple of years as I've discovered the NYT app, tournaments, and blogs. I'm a software engineer from Silicon Valley, and besides crossword puzzles, my hobbies include backpacking, scavenger hunts, trivia nights, board games, and cross country skiing with my team Aloha Nordic.

I originally met Andrea online when she posted a message that she was open to mentoring and I took her up on her offer. Coincidentally, it turned out that we live right by each other, which made collaboration easier! I sent her several theme ideas, and she picked CAP AND GOWN as having the most potential. We brainstormed dozens of caps and gown and I wrote a short script to print out all the combinations and filter them by entry length to help us choose. NIGHT-NIGHT came quickly, WHITE WEDDING was next after Andrea convinced me that Billy Idol is crossworthy, and after another round of brainstorming we finally came up with MUSHROOM BALL to round out the set. I hope you enjoy the solve!

POW Mon 12/17/2018
C	A	L		S	C	O	R	E	S		A	B	I	T
A	L	A		I	S	R	A	E	L		T	R	O	Y
B	A	T		S	P	A	R	R	O	W	H	A	W	K
A	M	I	E		A	L	E			A	L	G	A	E
L	O	N	D	O	N	B	R	I	D	G	E
		L	I	U				M	U	S	T	E	R	S
S	C	O	T	C	H		Z	A	C		E	X	I	T
T	O	V		H	I	J	A	C	K	S		T	S	A
E	K	E	S		J	U	G		S	U	R	R	E	Y
P	E	R	U	S	A	L				M	I	A
			R	U	B	Y	S	L	I	P	P	E	R	S
A	S	H	E	N			P	A	N		E	X	E	C
B	L	A	C	K	F	R	I	D	A	Y		T	H	E
L	A	V	A		R	E	C	E	N	T		R	A	N
E	V	E	N		O	P	E	N	E	D		A	B	E

ACME: This fun idea was all Brian's! I just talked him into making the theme phrases horizontal rather than vertical. He was going vertical to emphasize the idea of "High" jacks, whereas I thought horizontal would be easier to spot the theme (especially as it would probably be a Monday)... We put HIJACKS across the center, so we could emphasize that the "JACKS" were "Hijacked" from the answers. I love that the word HIJACKS has HIJ..K all in a row. Subtle extra layer of wordplay/letter fun!

Three of his four original JACKS made it intact (LONDON, RUBY, and BLACK), I just helped shore up a fourth for consistency, as Brian's initial idea of JACK FROST was more a thing, not a person.

Very pleased with his initial grid that had the LATIN LOVER and EXTRA EXTRA, as I am a sucker for both Italian men and extra Xs. This all came together very quickly and easily, considering we've never met. I had a lot of fun with Brian and look forward to another collaboration soon!

BRIAN: I needed some help fleshing out an idea, and who better to turn to for an early week puzzle than Andrea? Working with her was a blast - once she ironed out the theme the grid, came together nicely (at least we think so)!

I was very happy to work LATIN LOVER and EXTRA EXTRA in as bonus downs. SURE CAN is a personal fave, and with some scrabbly letters also sprinkled throughout I'm hoping there's something for all to love. Filling the grid is my favorite part of construction, and overall I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. The big north and south areas were toughest to fill — but escaping with just a couple dabs of glue isn't too shabby.

Most of the clues are hers too — they've just got a fun, creative spirit to them that really adds to the puzzle. Hope all enjoy! We've got a few other ideas simmering so keep an eye out for that in the future.

Mon 8/6/2018
T	O	P			O	R	A	L		P	R	A	W	N
E	P	A		S	N	A	K	E		R	O	M	P	S
E	R	R		L	E	T	I	N		O	B	A	M	A
M	A	K	E	I	T	S	N	A	P	P	Y
S	H	A	M	P	O	O			E	U	N	I	C	E
			B	U	G		S	T	E	P		O	H	M
L	O	V	E	P	O	T	I	O	N		S	N	I	P
A	P	E	R	S		O	F	T		C	L	I	N	T
T	E	N	S		N	O	T	S	O	L	U	C	K	Y
C	R	U		P	E	N	S		T	E	D
H	A	S	S	L	E			S	T	A	G	G	E	R
			W	A	R	O	N	P	O	V	E	R	T	Y
6	I	R	O	N		T	O	R	M	E		A	H	A
0	C	A	R	B		I	D	E	A	S		D	E	N
S	E	N	D	S		S	E	E	N			E	L	S

MARK: Andrea floated the idea of MAKE LOVE NOT WAR as a possible four-word phrase to form a puzzle roughly a year ago. We brainstormed four lists of lively theme entries, one each starting with MAKE, LOVE, NOT, and WAR; then developed a grid with matching-lengthed pairs. I suggested upping the ante with 6O'S as the antepenultimate down entry to act as a revealer since this position felt like the most likely slot to fill around — requiring only one entry that need start with a number. We settled on a SW corner of:

6BALL

ORIEL

SALTS

Will and company liked the idea, but wanted an actual 0[zero] instead of an O and also a different 6 entry, since "the 6 would be a shot in the dark for solvers who don't know their pool balls." Valid points, but oh my goodness, this ratcheted up the challenge significantly! After a couple of days of concerted effort, the final version emerged and passed muster. Whew! Always a pleasure working with Andrea; hope you enjoyed our efforts as much as we did.

ANDREA: What more can I say? I love Dr. Diehl. You dream something up, and he comes back with 50 choices of how to make it work. This was a follow up to our STILL WATERS RUN DEEP. I love the 60s in the corner because it took a straightforward idea and gave it a super fun little twist.

Mon 5/14/2018
L	E	E	R		O	B	L	A		P	O	U	L	T
A	R	T	E		F	U	E	L		L	U	C	I	E
B	I	T	E	V	A	L	V	E		A	T	L	A	S
S	C	U	B	A		K	I	C	K	S	T	A	R	T
			O	R	B	S			E	M	O
L	I	L	K	I	M		D	I	Y		W	A	I	L
A	N	O		E	O	S	I	N		T	I	N	N	Y
S	C	R	A	T	C	H	A	N	D	S	N	I	F	F
S	U	R	L	Y		E	L	S	I	E		S	E	T
O	R	E	L		P	A	S		E	L	D	E	R	S
			O	T	C			A	M	I	E
P	U	N	C	H	B	O	W	L		O	U	G	H	T
A	R	O	A	R		F	I	G	H	T	C	L	U	B
P	L	U	T	O		F	R	A	U		E	E	L	S
A	S	N	E	W		S	E	E	M		S	N	A	P

This is the kind of puzzle that used to just need three long themers, but Will has challenged me to go for at least four including a reveal. This one has four PLUS a punchline. Lots of theme fill to get into a Monday.

I had never heard of a BITEVALVE, but I needed a BITE other than BITE-SIZED so it would have a different meaning for BITE. Proud it's not been used.

Recently went to hear David Mamet speak and he pointed out TSELIOT was an anagram of TOILETS. That was my takeaway from the Pulitzer Prize winner!
(And appears as 38-Down)

Mon 3/19/2018
A	B	B	I	E		Z	I	N	G		B	L	O	W
R	O	L	F	E		A	S	E	A		L	I	V	E
O	R	A	N	G	E	P	E	E	L		U	S	E	S
A	N	N	O		S	P	E	D		H	E	A	R	T
R	E	D	T	A	P	E			P	U	B
				I	N	D	I	G	O	G	I	R	L	S
O	N	D	V	D			M	O	N	O	R	A	I	L
L	I	I	I		P	A	P	P	Y		D	U	M	A
A	L	L	O	C	A	T	E			I	S	L	E	T
Y	E	L	L	O	W	L	I	G	H	T
			E	O	N			R	A	I	N	B	O	W
M	A	L	T	S		F	W	I	W		O	U	Z	O
A	C	E	R		G	R	E	E	N	A	R	R	O	W
T	I	N	A		R	E	E	F		C	A	R	N	E
E	D	D	Y		R	E	P	S		S	H	O	E	D

MICHAEL:

The idea for the puzzle first came to me in 2007. I tried unsuccessfully to fit seven entries that had all the colors of the rainbow, plus RAINBOW as the reveal. I looked at the puzzle from time to time, but couldn't manage to get eight entries into one puzzle. I concluded it couldn't be done, but then I was trying to fit all entries horizontally. I revisited the idea and came up with something I could make work by making two of the entries vertical.

I had had four unthemed puzzles published in the NYT by this time, but, although I've had many themed puzzles published, none in the NYT. My efforts were an inconsistent mix of easy and difficult entries and clues.

I contacted Andrea Carla Michaels because I felt I needed help with devising an early-week puzzle from someone who has a lot of experience with them. In a lengthy exchange (70) of emails, we honed the puzzle till we got something we felt worth submitting. We considered ROYGBIV as the reveal ("Mnemonic for remembering a list of seven of which the starred entries all contain elements") but went back to RAINBOW. For ?APPY, we went back and forth with HAPPY, NAPPY, SAPPY, YAPPY, and settled on HAPPY as the best word for early week.

FWIW, we think the final version contains a minimum of difficult entries.

ACME:

Was in awe that Michael could get eight theme entries into a Monday! (I warned him that regardless of the difficulty WE thought this was, it would be slotted for a Monday!) That necessitated many iterations, to get the fill "simple." How nice at the end of all this to see a rainbow!

Mon 2/26/2018
A	R	F		S	A	A	B	S		P	H	O	T	O
M	A	O		M	I	L	L	I		L	E	T	I	N
A	I	L		O	R	L	O	N		A	I	S	L	E
S	T	I	L	L	K	I	C	K	I	N	G
S	T	O	O	D	I	N			V	E	L	C	R	O
			W	E	S		C	O	A	T		L	O	U
W	A	T	E	R	S	D	O	W	N		D	E	U	S
H	E	A	R	S		O	U	I		G	I	A	N	T
A	I	M	S		R	U	N	E	R	R	A	N	D	S
R	O	E		K	U	R	T		E	E	L
F	U	R	I	E	S			O	R	W	O	R	S	E
			D	E	E	P	T	H	O	U	G	H	T	S
M	A	S	O	N		L	E	G	U	P		Y	R	S
S	T	A	L	L		U	S	E	T	O		M	A	E
N	E	W	S	Y		S	H	E	E	N		E	P	S

MARK: I sent Andrea a congratulatory e-mail on her celeb-paired Monday puzzle with NdGT (03/20/17) and floated the idea of a collaborative Monday puzzle based on the old adage "still waters run deep" — four words that felt like strong candidates when used individually. Andrea liked the idea, and I liked the possibility that, with her help, I might finally score a Monday puzzle in the NYT. We batted around phrases beginning and ending with each of those four words for a day or so until Andrea lit upon the possible combo of:

STILLKICKING 12
WATERSDOWN 10 (which was the only WATERS... we could think of)
RUNONEMPTY 10 or RUNINPLACE 10
DEEPTHOUGHTS 12

Since the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament was now in a couple of days and my dear wife, Lee Ann, and I had decided to try and attend as helpers/judges every year possible — I stuck a pin in the project from my end. Then, while helping to organize registration packets on Thursday for the tourney we found that Andrea was entered to compete! That spurred me on — so I sketched out a couple of workable grids on slips from a complementary Stamford Marriott notepad and presented them to Andrea at the registration table the next day. Some more enjoyable back-and-forth followed, Andrea clued it all up, and I changed only the clue for SAW to make it a revealer before mailing our opus off to Will.

ANDREA: Mark was so easy to work with and such a delight that we did a second one immediately after Will accepted this one.

Sun 7/16/2017 IF THE SPIRIT MOVES YOU
O	L	A	V	S			P	J	S		N	E	B	S		P	O	S	H
N	A	D	I	R	S		H	A	I		E	R	L	E		A	P	I	A	N
L	I	V	E	I	T	D	O	W	N		W	R	E	N		Y	E	S	N	O
A	N	A	T		Y	I	N	A	N	D	Y	A	N	G		D	R	A	K	E
N	I	N		L	M	A	O		F	R	O	N	D		B	I	A	L	Y	S
D	E	T	R	A	I	N		W	E	I	R	D		E	A	R	N
		A	O	N	E		R	E	I	N	K		K	N	I	T	T	I	N	G
S	E	G	U	E		F	R	A	N	K		B	E	T	O			F	O	E
O	L	E	G		D	O	R	R		S	O	L	A	R		A	D	A	M	N
W	I	S	H	F	U	L		S	H	A	R	O	N	A		C	U	T	E	X
			C	O	C	K	T	A	I	L	L	O	U	N	G	E	S
I	N	F	U	N		T	O	W	E	L	E	D		C	O	S	T	N	E	R
W	A	L	T	Z		A	S	A	D	A		K	N	E	W		M	O	A	N
I	V	E			P	L	A	Y		R	A	N	A	S		F	O	N	T	S
N	E	D	R	O	R	E	M		C	O	R	O	T		A	L	P	S
			E	P	O	S		C	R	U	E	T		I	L	O	S	T	I	T
S	T	I	V	E	S		P	H	O	N	Y		S	P	A	R		A	N	I
A	I	D	A	N		S	E	E	A	D	O	C	T	O	R		E	R	T	E
I	T	E	M	S		A	T	W	T		U	N	E	D	U	C	A	T	E	D
D	R	A	P	E		L	E	O	I		I	B	N		M	I	S	E	R	Y
	E	L	S	A		E	R	N	A		N	C	O			V	E	R	N	E

ACME: Back in 2010 I met Pete, and inspired by his Jack in the box puzzle, came up with the idea ORDERSAROUNDOFDRINKS 21 and in six quadrants have a drink name in circles (TOMCOLLINS, VODKATONIC, etc). Pete thought this could work: "DRINKSALLAROUND 15 [Generous patron's offer and a clue to this puzzle's theme] or AROUNDOFDRINKS 14 for a 20x20 ... could get cute and put OLIVE on top of the MARTINI circle etc. ..." and thus started a 50 email exchange, countless grids, almost seven year odyssey towards a Sunday puzzle!

Pete will tell you I finally cornered him at the 2017 ACPT and said next grid you send me, I'm filling it, cluing it and NO MORE IMPROVEMENTS! (He is a multi-talented creative genius and kept thinking he could do better!)

(response from Pete: "Andrea is too kind to mention that after she had clued the grid I sent her, I found something I couldn't live with it and redid it one more time ...so she had to clue it twice!")

Because Pete got the reveal in the puzzle (crossing with COCKTAILLOUNGES!) we also needed to come up with a title, which of course, as a namer, is my favorite part of constructing!

We needed drinks with 4 8 and 12 letters to make it work... It's a little ironic as I have never been a drinker and had never even heard of a TIAMARIA nor PINKLADY, but I love it! Bottoms up! Skoal! CHEERS and all that!

PETE: My last published NY Times puzzle was in 2013, the year after I started doing the MMMM (Muller Monthly Music Meta). Thirteen crosswords a year is right at the limit of what I can create, so I reluctantly had to stop submitting puzzles to other venues.

Andrea had invited me to collaborate with her on this idea seven years ago (!), and I had started in on it but ultimately gave up because I didn't love the fill enough. I guess sometimes I can be overly picky (Andrea liked some of the grids I came up with just fine.) She gently sent regular reminders to me and encouraged me to keep at it. I promised her that I would definitely get to it within a year. That was in 2015.

I studiously avoided Andrea at the 2016 ACPT, but she managed to track me down anyway and extract another promise that I would finish within a year. Only an extra year late, and seven years after we originally started, I took another shot at a collection of theme entries that we liked, and made it a lot better. Andrea did almost all the cluing (I changed a handful of her clues).

Hope you like it!

I do miss having crosswords in the Times and hope to find time to start submitting a puzzle or two per year going forward.

POW Mon 3/20/2017
S	P	A	Y		A	S	A	P		A	M	B	E	R
M	U	L	E		I	T	S	A		L	A	U	R	A
I	M	O	N		R	U	B	Y		L	O	G	A	N
L	I	T	T	L	E	D	I	P	P	E	R
E	C	O	L	I			G	A	S	G	I	A	N	T
D	E	F		B	E	G		L	I	E		F	O	E
			F	R	A	M	E				B	A	R	N
		S	T	A	R	C	L	U	S	T	E	R
F	O	O	D				K	N	E	A	D
O	W	L		T	A	I		O	W	N		H	O	P
R	E	D	D	W	A	R	F			G	O	O	D	S
			H	E	A	V	E	N	L	Y	B	O	D	Y
A	L	G	A	E		I	T	O	O		A	V	E	C
D	O	U	B	T		N	A	P	S		M	E	S	H
Z	U	N	I	S		G	L	E	E		A	S	T	O

ACME: Neil and I met almost 40 years ago in a galaxy far far away and have been friends for a long long time. We had already discussed doing a puzzle together when Will broached the idea of pairing a megastar (pun intended!) with a mere mortal.

Neil participated in every aspect, from theme generation to input on fill and cluing, despite his very tight schedule ... he really is in another stratosphere these days!

(The original theme seed was YOUCANTBESIRIUS (15!), followed by PLANETOFTHEAPUS, a bird-of-paradise constellation no one has ever heard of!)

Neil and I went through dozens of astropuns and Will and Joel were the final arbiters, even adding LITTLEDIPPER. They were strict about getting us to tighten our focus on stars, specifically. Smooth sailing, despite a little "discussion" as to whether HEAVENLYBODY clued as a "hottie" was sexist or not ... and my stubbornness of wanting DWARFPLANET ("Where Doc and Dopey hail from?") as a poke at Neil, who was responsible for demoting PLUTO, much to the horror of third graders everywhere.

Neil is an energetic, indefatigable, humorous, brilliant educator who wants to highlight Science in many forms ... whether hosting "Cosmos" or joining forces with his old college buddy to create a little Monday puzzle!

NEIL: I suppose a good puzzle clue is one where some people know the answer outright, while other people know they should know the answer but don't, leaving the rest to feel guilty for being clueless about the clue itself. Of course, politics, literature, entertainment, and pop culture, combined with nimble vocabulary, heavily feed these puzzles.

But as science rises in or culture, empowering us to become better shepherds of this world that we are borrowing from our descendants, we might expect to see science-inspired clues alongside the traditional ones. And maybe even occasional puzzle that's entirely science themed. In this spirit, I was delighted to work with one of the NYT's frequent contributors Andrea Carla Michaels, an old acquaintance from college, to bring some of the universe down to Earth — in this case, for a Monday Puzzle. As good a place as any to start.

Mon 9/12/2016
A	B	H	O	R		B	R	I	T		A	H	A	B
L	O	O	I	E		L	O	C	I		L	E	V	I
P	O	L	L	S	P	O	L	E	S		T	A	I	L
O	N	E	P	I	E	C	E			F	A	L	S	E
			A	N	D			E	M	I	R	S
A	S	S	N		I	M	A	M	A	N		H	U	B
F	L	E	S	H		I	S	D	U	E		E	N	O
T	I	L		A	D	D	S	A	D	S		E	P	A
E	E	L		D	O	L	E	S		T	A	L	E	S
R	R	S		A	R	E	T	H	A		S	S	G	T
		C	I	G	A	R			M	A	H
S	E	E	T	O			I	R	I	S	H	S	E	A
I	S	L	E		P	A	R	E	S	P	E	A	R	S
C	A	L	M		I	C	O	N		C	A	C	T	I
K	I	S	S		G	E	N	T		A	P	S	E	S

VIC: While in Tampa for Merl's memorial service last August, Andrea and I talked about possibly collaborating on a puzzle at some point in the future. We'd both collaborated with many others, so it seemed a logical fit.

Weeks later, I ran an idea or two by her. I was impressed by her keen insight. And her quick resolve not to delve into a theme that wasn't clearly "fun." I tend to default to "complex" and then try to make it fun.

And then … I was reflecting on my first Times puzzle—a 2005 collab with Nelson Hardy that seemed both complex and fun: theme answers were punnily clued phrases in which the present and past tense of the same verb ran consecutively. E.g., SIT SATURDAY, HAVE HADDOCK. An idea came to me: 2-word phrases consisting of back-to-back homophones.

How happy I was when Andrea wrote, "This is fun!" We exchanged a few emails, developing the theme, filling the grid, writing the clues. Will liked it, but wanted some fill upgraded. This led to several revisions. When Will finally wrote, "This turned out nicely," he was holding revision no. 15!

ACME: Judge Vic and I bonded during Merl's memorial last year in Tampa. We discussed turning one of the illustrious judge's ideas into a Monday. PARESPEARS appeared in databases, but we figured the four others were fresh.

As this appears so close to the anniversary of our dear friend's untimely passing, I hope it will do him proud.

Tue 8/9/2016
M	A	C	S		Z	O	O	M		Z	O	O	M
O	S	H	A		I	T	N	O		I	N	P	U	T
C	H	I	T		L	E	E	R		P	E	R	M	S
K	E	N	O		C	R	A	N	K	S		A	B	A
		A	U	T	H	O	R		A	U	T	H	O	R
B	A	T	T	Y			T	R	I	P	E
O	R	O		P	A	S	H	A	S		D	Y	E	S
N	E	W	Y	O	R	K		N	E	W	Y	O	R	K
D	A	N	E		M	E	A	G	R	E		U	N	I
			A	C	I	D	S			A	B	B	O	T
H	E	A	R	Y	E		H	E	A	R	Y	E
E	L	L		B	S	H	A	R	P		E	T	C	H
A	L	I	T	O		I	N	R	I		N	C	A	A
T	I	B	E	R		E	T	O	N		O	H	M	S
	S	I	N	G		S	I	N	G		W	A	S	H

Made this years ago when Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer were nice enough to ask me to create something for Lollapuzzoola. Brainstormed ideas wanting to do something New York-centric (thus the NEW YORK NEW YORK running thru the middle and ELLIS Island and CHINATOWN running down) (And a little YOUBETCHA as a shout out to the Minnesotans out there!)

My original concept for this puzzle is quite different from what appears here. To be honest, I fought both Patrick and Will on this, but lost in the end. (Of course. they are probably right.) But I wanted to have double phrases (ZOOM ZOOM, HEAR YE HEAR YE, SING SING, etc.) separated by a black square but the FIRST word would be defined as is... and the second one would be "With such and such across (New concept)" So, for example, 71A: "To chant melodically" (SING) / 72A: "With 71A a prison in upstate NY" (SINGSING). This way, only the second half would have "With such and such ..." in the clue...so it would be two different ideas... a singular one and when doubled, a new concept.

But Patrick thought it would be better if they were defined as one concept in two different ways. In the end, I had to defer to his genius and instincts. (Will agreed and was willing to publish it in the NYT to generously cross promote the tournament this upcoming weekend, so I'm thrilled it's seeing the light of day, years later, in any form!)

Patrick and Will should share in the credit. (AUTHOR AUTHOR AUTHOR?) I urge everyone to go and have a blast at Lollapuzzoola, even though I can't make it this year. You can find me in San Francisco having a major bout of FOMO.

Thu 7/7/2016
I	K	E	S		E	C	O		I	M	A	G	E
N	A	V	E		G	U	N		F	O	M	E	N	T
T	H	A	T	M	O	R	E		T	R	E	N	T	E
A	U	D	I	O		L	I	G	H	T	B	E	R	S
K	N	E	L	T			S	E	A	H	A	R	E	S
E	A	R		I	D	I		S	T	L		A	A	A
			O	V	E	N	S				B	L	T	S
		C	H	E	C	K	P	O	I	N	T	S
A	T	O	M				A	R	R	O	W
R	O	N		A	S	P		B	E	D		E	T	C
A	T	T	I	T	U	D	E			D	I	R	E	R
W	A	R	T	N	D	A	L	L		E	L	E	N	A
A	L	I	B	I	S		Y	O	U	D	O	N	T	Y
K	E	T	O	N	E		S	O	S		S	O	L	O
	R	E	Y	E	S		E	K	E		E	W	E	N

JOEL: Andrea (the "Queen of Mondays") and I know each other from LA Scrabble before she moved to NoCal. At the California Open in SF in late 2014 she was mentioning to me that despite her many published puzzles, she wouldn't know how to even begin constructing a rebus. Somehow the idea of "TSA" came up and I told her I'd take a stab at doing a grid.

I sent her about 30 potential theme answers, of which she told me which ones she really liked (PATSAJAK, MORTSAHL, LIGHTSABER, YOUDONTSAY, WARTSANDALL, THATSAMORE). I liked "CROSS_CHECK" for the reveal, and she preferred "CHECKPOINTS". I deferred, and in retrospect, I think that was the better choice. We obviously couldn't get in everything we wanted (sorry, Pat), but I tried to get in most. We worked on the fill and cluing over a few dozen emails.

I have never had a puzzle published before (other than some I did for a throw-away years ago) and so I am thrilled to be able to check this off my bucket list. And in the NYT to boot! (Sort of like debuting on Broadway!) Only need about 50 more to catch up to Andrea...

ACME: Joel is a brilliant Scrabble player, a natural puzzle constructor, and a fun collaborator. It's his debut ... and a mini-one for me as I've never even been a part of a rebus. I loved this, WARTSANDALL! It's also my first puzzle in the NYT this year, and a Thursday no less! Wha?!

In re-solving it 18 months later, I recognized almost nothing, so it's been heavily edited or I've lost my memory. Perhaps a bit of both!

(Actually I found the original submission... grid totally intact, 1/3 of clues edited. I believe I came up with the original TSA for the rebus. Joel dug up at least 30 theme possibilities, which we whittled down to 8 and added the reveal. Joel built the grid where we put in 8s where the rebuses were to go.)

During the many iterations to smooth out the fill, we added the square in the upper NE and lower SW, and that did wonders.

Touches that mean something to me personally include: ELYSE (which is my sister's name), MORTSAHL, a role model when I began my career as a topical quasi-political standup back in the day (he got his start and is still going strong here in SF), and the ATTITUDE / Miley Cyrus clue that we didn't write, but I totally approve of!

Sun 12/13/2015 BANDS TOGETHER
A	M	P	L	E		L	A	P	D	O	G			A	D	A	G	I	O	S
C	A	R	O	L		O	N	H	I	R	E		E	L	E	G	A	N	C	E
C	H	I	C	A	G	O	T	R	A	I	N		N	E	A	T	I	D	E	A
R	E	M	A	I	L			A	L	G	E	B	R	A		S	T	I	L	T
A	R	R		N	A	R	C	S			R	O	O	S	T			F	L	A
		O	N	E	D	I	R	E	C	T	I	O	N	T	R	A	F	F	I	C
C	A	S	E		E	D	Y		Y	U	C	K			O	G	E	E
O	L	E	I	N			O	A	S	T			U	T	T	E	R	R	O	T
Y	E	S	N	O	D	O	U	B	T		L	E	A	H			R	E	L	O
				D	E	L	T	A		E	A	G	L	E	S	W	I	N	G	S
A	M	I	S	T	A	D		S	E	L	I	G		S	I	E	S	T	A	S
B	O	S	T	O	N	C	R	E	A	M		S	C	E	N	E
C	L	A	Y			A	U	S	T		P	O	I	S	O	N	F	R	E	E
S	T	A	L	W	A	R	T			B	O	N	N			Y	I	E	L	D
		C	U	P	S			Z	O	O	M		E	A	U		N	A	S	A
F	U	N	S	M	A	S	H	I	N	G	P	U	M	P	K	I	N	S
A	S	E			P	E	E	T	A			T	A	P	A	S		O	H	O
L	O	W	E	S		E	R	I	T	R	E	A			S	I	G	N	A	L
A	P	T	I	T	U	D	E		R	U	S	H	T	H	E	D	O	O	R	S
N	E	O	N	A	T	E	S		I	T	S	A	G	O		R	O	U	T	E
A	N	N	E	X	E	D			P	H	O	N	I	C		O	F	T	E	N

TRACY: Two years ago, Mike Black and I collaborated on this concept but received a rejection due to inconsistencies with the theme. Mike's career was really taking off so he encouraged me to give it another try with a new constructor. The puzzle lay idle until I teamed up with Andrea this past April.

Our first version received a "we're interested" from Will and Joel but they wanted us to rework the puzzle and change our theme entries to include either two or three band names, not a mix of both, for consistency and elegance. Since most of our three band name entries were too long (THE CARS RUSH ONE DIRECTION (23)), we concentrated on crunching together two band names, striving for theme entries with the best "surface sense." I was sorry to have to drop THE POLICE QUIET RIOT from our approved theme set since we couldn't find another (18) for symmetry, and my own personal favorite, STRAY CATS CROWDED HOUSE, didn't make the cut.

One of the memorable moments during the construction process was writing to and getting a response from "The Pretenders" band asking for a definitive answer on whether or not their name included "the" or not. Their response: "The answer is there is no definitive answer! It is both and either!"

Also, working with Andrea was a hoot! Her quick wit and sense of humor, combined with her "naming" talent, came through loud and clear from San Fran to Baltimore in the multitude of emails we exchanged. Thanks, Andrea — so glad we BANDED TOGETHER!

ACME: When Tracy approached me to see if I would collaborate on her fun and bouncy Sunday idea, I couldn't have been more delighted, because I love thinking about themes and am less fond of creating the actual grid! Although we'd never met in person, we seemed to be on the same page as to what needed doing. My favorite discarded entry was a bit darker, i.e. "STRAY CATS POISON TOTO."

I mostly create Mondays, though I have had three or four Sundays with new papa Patrick Blindauer. This is my first (accepted) Sunday-sized collaboration with a woman — I asked Will if that was a first. (It's not, there have been five or six in the past, all involving the quiet, often-unsung heroine Nancy Salomon … though it's been almost ten years since it's been two gals on a Sunday).

There must have been 500 emails back and forth on this puzzle and I'm thrilled it's seeing the light of day! And as Dick Clark might say, I hope you find that it has a nice beat that you can dance to!

POW Mon 11/2/2015
P	O	O	L		I	R	I	S	H		A	S	K	S
O	L	D	S		N	O	K	I	A		S	P	A	M
P	A	D	D	E	D	C	E	L	L		T	O	T	E
S	Y	S		R	I	O				M	A	R	I	A
		M	I	R	A	C	L	E	W	O	R	K	E	R
S	H	A	R	E		O	U	T	E	R
Y	O	K	E	D			C	O	N	K	I	N	G
M	O	E	N		C	L	I	N	T		N	E	L	L
	F	R	E	S	H	E	N			O	N	C	U	E
				H	O	N	D	A		D	I	E	T	S
P	U	S	H	U	P	D	A	I	S	I	E	S
I	N	T	E	L				R	L	S		S	A	P
A	D	E	N		B	O	O	B	Y	T	R	A	P	S
N	E	A	R		A	W	F	U	L		A	R	E	A
O	R	L	Y		A	N	T	S	Y		M	Y	S	T

LOREN: A couple of years ago, Andrea emailed me, telling me I should consider trying to construct. We started working on various ideas — man, she's a bundle of energy and enthusiasm! And patience.

It occurred to me that I could take some wordplay I'd been joking around with for years before constructing and translate them into themes. I've been maintaining for years that BOOBY TRAPS would be a fun name for a bra store. So then I thought it'd be a cool revealer. My thought on its execution was utterly pedestrian; Andrea is the one who suggested going the disguise-the-bra-type-in-another-phrase idea. We racked our brains coming up with kinds of bras — training, halter, Wonder, support, plunge — until we settled on this group.

It's cheeky, but I hope solvers will be good sports as Will continues to allow the Gray Lady to, well, to bust out of her more traditional confines of propriety and decorum.

ACME: I was impressed with Loren's unbridled enthusiasm and hysterical anecdotes on "another" blog and thought she'd make a fantastic constructrix, if given a bit of a nudge. This took 3 1/2 years to "develop"! It was quickly accepted 3 years ago but sat on for who knows why! By the time it was ready to publish, we were told the fill would no longer fly. We had five entries, some starting with the bra type, some ending, so in order to get a cleaner fill, we decided four would be the new five, and we would start all the theme phrases with types of bras.

Loren created a nice new grid with CHEST in the middle. But in the end, CLINT gave us the cleanest. We are thrilled that it's finally seeing the light of day … and yes, we would like a medal AND a chest to pin it on!

Mon 8/17/2015
B	E	A	M		D	I	O	R		J	E	S	S	E
A	L	F	A		E	T	N	A		O	Z	A	W	A
H	A	R	D	Y	B	O	Y	S	S	E	R	I	E	S
S	N	O	C	A	T		X	C	I		A	L	E	E
			A	L	O	E		A	L	F
H	A	R	P	E	R	V	A	L	L	E	Y	P	T	A
A	L	I			S	I	L		S	E	E	R	E	D
R	O	S	I	E		L	O	S		D	R	A	N	O
S	H	E	R	R	I		N	A	P			D	E	B
H	A	R	V	A	R	D	G	R	A	D	U	A	T	E
				T	A	R		I	S	O	N
E	T	T	U		Q	U	A		T	I	P	T	O	P
L	A	U	G	H	I	N	G	O	U	T	L	O	U	D
K	U	B	L	A		K	E	R	R		U	R	S	A
S	T	A	Y	S		S	E	R	E		G	E	T	S

I'm pleased to see I've reached a milestone with this being my 50th puzzle in the NY Times. It was fun in retrospect to see how personal this puzzle is for me in that 1.) it's a Monday, 2.) one of the clues is "Acme", 3.) it's a pangram, and 4.) it's about joy. I'm BEAMing at 1-Across and I'm LAUGHINGOUTLOUD at the reveal.

I wanted to do a puzzle with HARDY HAR HAR ... which is old-fashioned with something modern. Once I realized LAUGHINGOUTLOUD was 15 letters as was HARPERVALLEYPTA and HARDYBOYSSERIES, I was on my way.

The challenge was the second HAR. In my original submission I had HARLEMBOYSCHOIR but had failed to notice that I used BOYS twice (HARDYBOYS and HARLEMBOYS). So Will suggested he'd accept the puzzle IF I could substitute in a different phrase.

There aren't that many phrases in the language that start with HAR to begin with, much less exactly 15 letters, so it was a nice coincidence that I stumbled on HARVARDGRADUATE just as I was headed back East for my 35th reunion (OK, I threw in YALE at 18D for equal time).

Since the grid was pretty restricted in the order which things had to appear (I only had flexibility in swapping out the second and third HAR), Joel Fagliano helped me substantially lay out the grid so I could get as smooth a fill as possible. He deserves structural credit here!

I particularly like MADCAP and "So's YER old man!" My favorite corner is the Northeast, where SAIL crosses ALEE, and JESSE/ OZAWA/ EZRA and SWEE' pea all play together with EASE.

ALOHA!

Mon 6/29/2015
N	E	E	D		S	L	O	G	S		F	R	A	T
E	M	M	A		C	A	I	R	O		L	E	V	I
W	E	B	C	R	A	W	L	E	R		O	P	E	N
T	R	A	C	E	R		S	E	R	G	E	A	N	T
	A	R	A	B	I	C		N	O	R		C	U	E
M	L	K		A	L	I	C	E	W	A	L	K	E	R
O	D	E	S		Y	A	H		S	P	Y
M	S	D	O	S		O	U	T		H	O	T	E	L
			L	E	A		R	E	V		N	A	T	E
B	L	A	D	E	R	U	N	N	E	R		X	C	I
A	I	R		P	E	R		T	R	O	M	P	E
K	E	M	O	S	A	B	E		B	L	E	A	T	S
E	L	A	N		R	A	D	I	O	F	L	Y	E	R
R	O	D	E		U	N	I	T	S		E	E	R	O
S	W	A	G		G	E	E	S	E		E	R	A	S

TODD: This puzzle started with an e-mail to my fellow constructors about my WORD LOOP puzzle (squee!), where I mentioned I was now just a Monday short of hitting for the cycle (or, as one clever solver called it, a "Shortz top"). Andrea offered to help me create a Monday puzzle. How could I refuse?

Well, actually, I *did* refuse at first. Because at the time I wanted to hang up my spurs and stop submitting (this was *before* the WORD LOOP puzzle was published ... and reviewed). I felt like I was letting solvers down, and once my puzzle was published I couldn't fix it. Andrea said she understood, but urged me not to quit. So I suggested a couple of theme ideas to her, we went with the second one.

First, she came up with two improved theme entries, then I created a workable grid for our theme, which she filled. The grid had some nice entries we removed (like BARACK and BB KING) because it meant using entries like ABAD (a bad idea) and OTAY (less than okay). We fixed these, but couldn't fix DACCA in the upper left or EERO and SROS in the lower right.

Andrea sent Will our puzzle in late January of 2014. Will accepted it in early June, and a year later it's ready to solve. We hope everyone who crawled, walked, ran, or flew (or just logged in) to get a copy will enjoy our joint creation.

ACME: The nice theme was Todd's idea but I changed two entries (T-BONE WALKER became ALICE WALKER and AISLE RUNNER became BLADE RUNNER). He was a fun and easy to work with collaborator.

Tue 5/5/2015
S	W	E	E	T		C	A	F	E		D	O	Z	E
P	A	R	S	E		A	I	L	S		A	X	I	S
A	N	I	T	A		S	W	A	P	M	E	E	T	S
	G	E	O	R	G	I	A	B	R	O	W	N	I	E
				S	O	T			I	L	O
	M	S	N		B	A	R	S	T	O	O	L	I	E
W	A	T	E	R			O	U	S	T		U	S	A
E	R	A	S	E		P	U	B		O	S	C	A	R
A	L	I		E	D	E	N			V	I	R	A	L
R	A	R	E	B	I	R	D	I	E		S	E	C
			C	O	G			M	R	I
S	H	O	C	K	I	N	G	P	I	N	K	I	E
M	I	L	L	S	T	O	N	E		D	I	D	S	O
U	R	G	E		A	M	A	D		I	D	E	A	L
T	E	A	S		L	O	W	E		A	D	D	I	E

ANDREA: Michael came up with this idea of adding -IE back in 2012 which I thought was super fun; it's the exact kind of puzzle I like. We generated a big list (so big that I wanted to make it a Sunday ... still might!) but MB talked me down, even though there was some hesitation over the ugliness of 14s and I feared some confusion starting 1A with both a theme answer and breaking it in two to fit in all of SWEETGEORGIABROWN.

When MB came up with the solution of matching first word SWEET with the last word's reveal of ADDIE, we were good to go! Lots of back and forth over whether we could use BREAKFASTNOOKIE and GODSWILLIE ... we toyed with the idea of making this X-rated!

Upon acceptance, there was a request to redo the NE corner to get rid of some dreck (FREI, TARE, ILO) so we swapped out PERIMETER for SWAPMEETS and it all came together.

MICHAEL: Coming up with a NYT-quality theme is about the hardest part of puzzle making these days, and yet every week I see a clever theme and think, "Why didn't I — or Andrea and I — think of THAT?" When this one came to mind, I felt sure it wasn't original. After all, ADDIE ("Tatum's 'Paper Moon' role") is almost a chestnut in crosswords, so I felt sure someone would have figured out a list of "plus IE" entries. There was one non-NYT puzzle from many years before in the database, but it didn't have the ADDIE kicker and there was no overlap in our theme entries.

We had a lot of giggles when generating our potential theme entries. Andrea is the one to think of BREAKFAST NOOKIE, and I thought of GOD'S WILLIE (my proposed clue was "Florida?" but Andrea didn't get it) and we thought it might be an Onion puzzle, but those were the only good "blue" entries, so we went with this. It was still fun, even if it was clean!

Mon 3/2/2015
J	A	I	L	S		P	A	R		F	R	A	U	D
E	L	S	I	E		H	W	Y		L	E	N	N	Y
S	T	I	L	L	L	I	F	E		E	L	I	D	E
T	O	T		E	S	A	U		R	E	I	S	E	R
				C	A	L	L	L	E	T	T	E	R	S
E	M	M	E	T	T			O	B	I
Z	E	A	L		S	H	A	G		N	A	M	E	S
R	A	I	S	E		E	R	A		G	L	A	R	E
A	N	N	E	X		R	I	N	G		E	R	I	C
				P	V	T			R	A	C	K	E	T
M	E	L	L	L	A	Z	A	R	U	S
O	C	E	L	O	T		M	O	E	T		B	A	G
O	H	G	O	D		T	W	O	L	L	L	A	M	A
L	O	O	S	E		D	A	M		E	E	R	I	E
A	S	S	A	D		S	Y	S		Y	O	D	E	L

This is a" lllove llletter" to MELL LAZARUS, brilliant cartoonist of "Miss Peach" and "Momma" who has always dreamed of being in the puzzle. His ambition was more modest, thinking the unusual double L of MELL would be enough.

Lazarus solving the actual puzzle featuring him!

Mell is the friend and mentor to my lifelong friend, Tom Gammill, fellow cartoonist, SNL/Seinfeld/Simpsons writer (along with partner Max Pross) and one of the most upbeat, funny guys around. Tom and I wanted to honor Mell who is in his late eighties and conspired to make a puzzle for him.

Once I had the three LLL- idea in place, we brainstormed dozens of other entries, including BASEBALLLEAGUE, FALLLINEUP, TALLLATTE as well as my online Scrabble frenemy WILLLEE (Bassist for the David Letterman show, which Tom was an original writer for!)

After four rewrites to get rid of too many names and one ONTHE partial, the only thing changed in the grid was the last entry in the SW. Will changed YOULL to YODEL. YOULL was clued as "Try it, ____ Like it!" as in attempt as a bonus three LLL themer that had been too long to fit into the original grid.

"Ideallly" I would have liked TWOLLLAMA to be THREE-L-LLLAMA but that "ironicallly" didn't fit, as there are four Ls in that phrase!

By the way, I fear I'll get brickbats for the self-referential NAMES clue (34A: Andrea, Carla and Michael) but I swear that was changed from my tongue-in-cheek clue: "Some people drop them"!

Mon 12/8/2014
A	R	T		W	H	I	P			B	I	G	O	T
T	O	R		H	A	N	O	I		O	N	E	T	O
S	A	Y	H	E	Y	K	I	D		O	C	T	E	T
E	L	M	E	R	S		S	L	A	B		O	R	A
A	D	E	L	E		S	E	E	N	O	E	V	I	L
			M	A	Z	E		D	I	O	D	E
T	I	T		M	A	G	I				I	R	K	S
S	C	I	F	I	C	O	N	V	E	N	T	I	O	N
P	U	M	A				N	E	R	O		T	I	L
		E	V	E	R	S		R	A	N	D
S	O	F	A	R	A	W	A	Y		T	I	A	R	A
N	I	L		N	E	I	L		P	O	S	S	E	S
A	L	I	C	E		S	I	O	U	X	C	I	T	Y
F	U	E	L	S		H	E	N	R	I		A	R	E
U	P	S	E	T			N	A	R	C		N	O	T

Kevin:

I'm very lucky to be able to collaborate with Andrea and very pleased that we're having a Monday puzzle published together. Andrea is one of the most accomplished Monday constructors of all time. She's had 31 Monday puzzles published (now 32), which is the 6th most in the Shortz era. Plus she's fun to hang out with, she's friendly and nice to everybody, and she organizes lunches at restaurants in San Francisco for Bay Area constructors to get together!

We started on this puzzle in early 2013. I emailed Andrea with a long list of possibilities, and we narrowed them down as follows. We started with a long list of SAY possibilities. I was trying to find a SAY 10 to go with SUE GRAFTON, but Andrea decided early on that her favorite SAY answer was SAY HEY KID, so we decided to look for a SUE 9.

Eventually we figured out it didn't have to be SUE, it could be SOO or SIOUX, so we went with SIOUX CITY. I proposed SEE NO EVIL and SO FAR AWAY (clued as the Carole King song) early on, and we both liked both of those, so we stuck with those. We had some SIGH possibilities, but none we were crazy about, and several of them were even lengths. Eventually we figured out we could do SCI FI something, with SCI FI CONVENTION and SCI FI SHORT STORY both as good options that were length 15.

I find easy puzzles are hard to make and harder puzzles are easier to make, because the universe of fill answers you can use in an early week puzzle is relatively small, but the possibilities for a later week puzzle are much broader. For this puzzle, we went through at least a dozen versions of the grid before we found one that was clean and crisp enough to be Monday-worthy.

ACME:

I love collaborating with folks who are really excited and dedicated, like Kevin. It makes me feel like there is more of a community that goes beyond just an individual little puzzle. He had a nice idea based on my vowel-run "poems" that stretched it in fun ways. It was a true collaboration.

POW Tue 10/28/2014
F	A	L	C	O		A	M	I	S	S		G	S	T
I	L	I	A	C		Z	O	W	I	E		L	E	I
A	L	L	T	H	A	T	J	A	Z	Z		I	M	A
T	A	T	A	R	S		O	S	E		S	T	I	R
			L	E	T					O	U	T	T	A
	D	A	Y	S	O	F	T	H	U	N	D	E	R
S	I	N	S			L	O	A	N	S		R	O	Y
P	S	S	T		T	O	N	Y	A		T	A	P	E
A	C	E		A	E	R	I	E			O	T	I	S
	O	L	D	B	L	A	C	K	M	A	G	I	C
G	U	A	V	A					A	T	E
A	N	D	I		N	B	A		S	H	T	E	T	L
U	T	A		B	E	A	T	T	H	E	H	E	A	T
D	E	M		E	X	T	R	A		N	E	R	D	Y
Y	D	S		E	T	H	A	N		A	R	O	A	R

The original idea came as a follow up to the FOOTBALL MATCHUP crossword made with my neighbor Kent Clayton. This is really a naming puzzle disguised as a sports theme. Unbelievably, all the sports clues are mine (ROY, TONYA, LET, YDS).

I feel giddy getting in GLITTERATI and the "Splish Splash" (BATH) clue!

It might surprise some folks to see me on a Tuesday, but I swear I send 90% of my puzzles thinking they are Tuesdays ... inevitably, Will asks me to get rid of some "later week" entries and try again! In this case I had to get rid of ECZEMA and a few other entries, but I'm glad I did. I had to start from "scratch" (eczema pun intended!) and this is my fifth rendition. In the earlier versions, at least 3 of the clues had Beatles lyric references (AND I love her, Come TOGETHER, IM A Loser, but I didn't want to cause a STIR.)

Honestly, I didn't know these were the only non-plural NBA team names ... that's trivia perhaps Will dug up. My original thought was to have RUN WITH THE BULLS (15) going down the middle, but this set was cleaner.

This is the most elaborate construction I've ever attempted (two sets of parallel 10-letter downs, and the two middle theme entries cross at 7 of their 13 letters.

It's a Q short of a pangram, but, despite (un)popular belief, I'm not ever trying to force one, tho I love to fill my puzzles with a Z here, a K there and at least one X.

Finally, there is my usual Minnesota shout out — see if you can spot it!

Mon 9/15/2014
L	E	W	I	S			A	C	T	S		A	B	S
A	L	A	S	K	A		N	O	E	L		L	O	U
B	E	L	L	Y	D	A	N	C	E	R		D	Y	E
O	G	L	E		V	R	O	O	M		J	A	Z	Z
R	Y	E		H	I	C		O	E	N	O
			F	I	S	H	A	N	D	C	H	I	P	S
E	M	M	A	P	E	E	L			O	N	C	U	E
V	I	E	T		D	R	E	C	K		D	A	R	E
E	L	W	A	Y			P	R	I	S	O	N	E	R
R	O	L	L	O	F	T	H	E	D	I	E
			L	U	L	U		S	N	L		G	P	S
Q	U	A	Y		E	V	I	T	A		D	R	E	I
U	R	L		B	E	A	N	S	P	R	O	U	T	S
I	S	E		U	C	L	A		S	A	V	E	A	S
T	A	X		D	E	U	S			J	E	L	L	Y

I wrote this JELLY puzzle a while back... can't take a peek at it or I'll have to recuse myself from our yearly tournament that Andrew Laurence has organized to raise money for SMA.

All I remember is that I thought JELLY was an exceedingly fun word to say. I was thinking about words that followed. There aren't many (BEAN, ROLL, BELLY) but they are all fun and energetic, and that's what my goal is for all my puzzles! I can't say the word JELLY without smiling (and then wondering if I have something between my teeth!).

It's cool to be asked what I was thinking (in a nice way...not in the "What were you THINKING??!!!?" way...)

By the way, this month's Alaska Airlines magazine, Horizons, is featuring a lengthy article about a few of us West Coast constructors. Check it out below. Nancy Shack was nice enough to format it in a readable form.

Mon 6/2/2014
J	I	F	F		I	M	P	E	L		O	H	M	S
U	S	E	R		W	A	H	O	O		D	O	I	T
S	H	E	E	R	A	G	O	N	Y		O	S	L	O
			D	O	N	O	T			Q	U	E	E	R
A	T	M		S	N	O	O	Z	E	A	L	A	R	M
N	O	I	D	E	A			O	A	T	S
I	N	N	O				S	O	S	A		A	T	T
S	Y	D	N	E	Y	A	U	S	T	R	A	L	I	A
E	S	S		P	E	R	M				S	T	A	B
			H	E	L	I			S	U	P	E	R	B
S	A	M	U	E	L	A	D	A	M	S		R	A	Y
E	X	A	M	S			E	T	U	D	E
A	L	M	A		S	M	A	R	T	A	L	E	C	K
T	E	E	N		S	P	L	I	T		M	A	N	E
S	S	T	S		E	S	S	A	Y		S	U	N	G

I could write an ESSAY about this, but I'll keep it short! (Relatively...for me). I simply liked the simplicity of "S.A." phrases and that it was a play on the pronunciation of ESSAY.

Tried to make all five interesting, mostly excited about SNOOZEALARM and SMARTALECK. The crowning moment for me was to realize SYDNEYAUSTRALIA was a perfect 15. It was not SHEERAGONY to make!

As always, I envisioned this as a Tuesday, because of the non-immediate obviousness of the theme, the fact that there were five theme entries, plus a reveal.

The clues were left 90% intact. One exception, I had 21A "___ Eye for the Straight Guy" which was one of my favorite guilty pleasures back in the day. I saw every episode...twice! Not thrilled to have QUEER defined as "Odd", but that certainly is one definition.

Wanted to liven it up with QUEER, QATAR, SMUTTY, JIFF and WAHOO crossing with MAGOO. Needless to say, this was originally a pangram, but the V magically disappeared when Will's intern Joel redid the bottom SE corner which was LAVA/OUST/CVS/KAT and is now MANE/SUNG/CNN/KEG.

I'm happy all around but didn't really remember the impetus etc. from a year ago. I was heavily involved with a book of essays on not having had children. The book is called No Kidding: Women Writers on Bypassing Parenthood. When I googled ESSAY to find when I submitted this puzzle, 200 emails came up around the same date about the book. So ESSAY must have been something seared in my brain.

Mon 3/3/2014
W	A	L	S	H		P	J	S		S	C	A	N	T
A	M	A	T	I		H	A	H		U	H	H	U	H
D	I	V	A	N	D	I	V	A		B	R	A	K	E
S	E	E	N	T	O		A	R	C		I	B	E	X
			Z	A	N	Y		O	U	T	S
		P	A	T	T	E	R	N	P	A	T	T	E	R
I	B	E			G	O	A			P	I	A	N	O
F	R	E	E	T	O	W	N	F	R	E	E	T	O	W
W	E	L	S	H			G	O	O			E	S	E
E	A	S	T	E	R	N	E	A	S	T	E	R
			R	E	P	O		L	I	R	A
B	R	I	O		M	B	A		E	U	G	E	N	E
B	A	D	G	E		L	E	A	R	N	L	E	A	R
Q	U	E	E	N		E	R	R		K	E	N	T	S
S	L	A	N	G		R	O	T		S	T	Y	L	E

Andrea:

Started with an email from my friend and partner in many puzzles, Michael Blake, asking if I wanted in on the theme. EASTERNEASTER and PATTERNPATTER had come to him in his sleep and they weren't in the database.

I thought this was a neat and weird concept, x n x, which could be parsed two ways, and was more than just add an N. Will thought it was original too, which pleased us.

We called it LIVE n LEARN even though that wasn't the exact thing we were doing, but the feel we wanted to communicate. We discarded many ideas, they weren't as easy to come up and be clear and/or amusing as we thought, but then we got a nice set together.

I added DIVANDIVA and LEARNLEAR because I wanted them to make the most surface sense possible. Michael then came up with the wonderful FREETOWNFREETOW which went neatly across the middle. Can't imagine who came up with a pangram for the fill! :)

Mon 12/23/2013
C	O	L	A		C	R	E	S	T		B	O	N	G
R	A	I	D		C	I	N	C	O		A	M	O	R
O	R	Z	O		S	P	E	R	M	W	H	A	L	E
P	S	A	L	M			M	I	C	A		N	A	G
			P	I	G	G	Y	B	A	C	K	I	N	G
M	E	T	H	A	N	E		E	T	O	N
A	B	O		M	A	S	C				O	J	O	S
T	A	K	E	I	T	T	O	T	H	E	B	A	N	K
E	Y	E	S				Q	U	O	I		W	I	I
			M	O	E	T		B	R	E	A	S	T	S
R	I	V	E	R	P	H	O	E	N	I	X
A	V	E		C	O	E	N			O	I	N	K	S
F	O	G	M	A	C	H	I	N	E		O	O	O	H
T	R	A	M		H	A	N	O	I		M	A	K	E
S	Y	N	E		S	T	E	R	N		S	H	O	D

Andrea:

Michael and I met at a construction lunch and became good friends a half dozen years ago. Many of our puzzles are from something one or the other of us has spontaneously said at lunch and we expand it into a puzzle. Because the puzzle was based on an idea Michael originally had, he gets top billing on this one. This is our 6th published collaboration, but we've made at least a dozen more that have been published elsewhere, or for private clients, or have (gulp) been rejected.

We have very different styles and senses of humor, but share a respect for each other and usually have dozens of backs and forths about what we can and can not live with, usually managing to work it all out. We offer advice on each other's individual work as well. And it was Michael who brought me into this century by insisting I learn how to use a computer to aid my construction and to facilitate our collaborations. This puzzle went through eight or so iterations as we tried to make it as smooth as possible.

This is a traditional puzzle type (this word follows these words ...) but we were excited because we had a nice 15 reveal across the middle and four theme entries that had not been used before: SPERM WHALE, PIGGYBACKING, FOG MACHINE. Two 10s, two 12s and a 15 reveal seemed like a lot of material for a Monday, so I thought this would be a Tuesday, but I think I'm seared in Will's brain as Miss Monday. So be it!

What we liked is that there are so many kinds of banks, river banks, sperm banks, piggy banks, fog banks (a nod to SF where we both reside), so room to play! Plus we loved the cheekiness of SPERMWHALE as well as the X in RIVERPHOENIX. And yes, we went for the pangram. Originally we had JAH/JONG but it was for a Monday/Tuesday level and Michael couldn't live with JAH, but was able to change OBOE to OJOS and preserve the J!

KOKO is snuck into the lower corner as a tribute to the Siamese I had for 16 years who was my closest companion. The only other private shout out is to the COEN brothers, as they are fellow Jews from Minneapolis. When we made this puzzle a year and a half ago, "No Country for Old Men" was their big hit. I've asked Will to update the clue to their new smash "Inside Llewyn Davis", but it may be too soon, or that film title might not be Monday level.

Tue 10/15/2013
G	R	U	B		A	I	L	S		J	I	H	A	D
L	I	S	A		K	N	E	E		O	N	O	N	E
A	T	M	S		I	F	A	T		S	T	A	T	E
M	A	C	I	N	T	O	S	H		H	E	X	E	D
			L	I	A	R			C	U	R
T	O	X	I	C		M	E	C	H	A	N	I	C
A	D	A	S	H			N	R	A			G	L	O
M	I	C	K	E	Y	M	O	U	S	E	C	L	U	B
P	U	T			E	E	K			N	A	O	M	I
	M	O	C	C	A	S	I	N		T	R	O	P	E
			H	U	H			U	S	E	S
S	E	D	E	R		M	U	C	K	R	A	K	E	R
E	V	I	C	T		E	L	L	E		L	O	V	E
G	E	E	K	S		A	N	E	W		E	K	E	D
A	N	T	S	Y		D	A	I	S		S	O	L	O

Andrea:

Post-ACPT 2010, Patrick suggested M*C idea, knowing i like to do this kind of AEIOU puzzle. I came up with preliminary entries, most held to the end, though the MIC was MICROPHONESTAND. Really love MICKEYMOUSECLUB so much more, esp with EEK under MOUSE! (and I snuck in my Siamese cat KOKO)

We talked about adding MCC (MCCOURT) and /or MRC Mr Clean. Maybe MYC MYCENAE...maybe even a MDC snuck in there. PB did a version with SEVEN of them, but the MUC (MUCHADO) lacked the MAC, MEC, MIC, MOC sound. So we decided to scale back and just do a clear, solid, fun alphabet run. I made a new grid having just learned how to use Crossfire, that my other frequent collaborator Michael Blake insisted I learn. The peppy original cluing is all Patrick. Though not a pangram, two Xs and seven Ks (!) make up for no QZ.

Many of my puzzle partners are new folks I've mentored, but Patrick's role with me is that he always takes my ideas and bumps them up many notches. Always. :)

Patrick:

Flattery will get you everywhere. ;)

Working with Andrea is a lot of fun; her vivacious energy is quite infectious. Glad we scaled back our original theme ambitions on this one, though I do like the idea of adding some consonants to the usual "vowel run" theme. Maybe next time!

Mon 7/29/2013
A	C	M	E		L	A	P	A	Z		C	A	G	E
B	O	O	T		A	B	A	B	A		L	U	L	L
E	P	I	C		N	O	D	O	Z		I	D	E	E
			H	E	A	R	T	W	A	R	M	I	N	G
N	S	C		S	I	T	H			E	B	O	N	Y
T	A	R	O	T			A	S	I	F
E	Y	E	R	O	L	L	I	N	G		D	I	A	M
S	H	A	M	P	O	O		O	L	E	A	N	N	A
T	I	M	E		G	U	T	B	U	S	T	I	N	G
				T	O	D	O			S	A	T	I	N
S	U	S	H	I			R	O	S	E		S	E	A
K	N	E	E	S	L	A	P	P	I	N	G
I	T	E	M		I	C	E	A	X		A	J	A	X
M	I	M	E		C	A	D	R	E		Z	O	N	E
P	E	E	N		K	N	O	T	S		E	G	G	S

This was a simple idea, parts of the body used in "in the language" phrases... EYEROLLING, HEARTWARMING, etc. was hoping solvers would continue the game by coming up with their own. Looked for a unifying theme, came up with different types of stories. I would not have had two "Like a Hilarious story" but would have preferred four different clues, building in the direction from HEARTWARMING to GUTBUSTING.

As in in-joke I put my initials (and the name of my naming company) ACME at 1-Across because I had been accused of having a lot of self-referential mentions, but it's only the 3rd time in 40 puzzles that I've had ACME in one of my puzzles (and one of those was a collaboration). However, ACME appears very frequently in puzzles, but not by me!

You are more likely to find lots of Scrabbly letters or a pangram or a Beatles reference in one of my puzzles than my initials!

Mon 6/17/2013
T	O	A	S	T		H	A	R	A		F	A	D	S
I	R	A	Q	I		Y	V	E	S		I	C	E	T
V	I	R	U	S		D	I	S	C		R	I	P	A
O	G	E	E		P	R	A	I	R	I	E	D	O	G
			A	R	E	A		D	I	G	E	S	T	S
J	A	C	K	I	N	T	H	E	B	O	X
O	R	O		O	N	E	A		E	R	I	C	A	S
B	L	O	C			S	R	A			T	A	M	E
S	O	L	O	N	G		P	V	T	S		L	O	W
			C	A	R	D	O	O	R	L	O	C	K	S
K	O	O	K	I	E	R		C	O	O	T
I	N	T	E	R	N	E	T	A	D		E	G	O	S
T	R	E	Y		A	W	E	D		S	L	O	A	N
E	Y	R	E		D	O	N	O		A	L	O	H	A
R	E	I	D		E	N	D	S		P	O	P	U	P

ANDREA:

This is my second collaboration with Johanna Fenimore whom I have still yet to meet face to face. We had a fun add-an-o puzzle Tues 7/5/2011. Now Johanna had come up with a super fun idea of things that "pop up".

We both love puzzles that are visual and peppy. She had PRAIRIEDOG and JACKINTHEBOX (love that J and X) and maybe INTERNETAD. we needed a fourth, as Will felt PINGPONGBALL didn't "pop up" in the same way. It was a bitch coming up with a fourth 12 letter word. I think after a lot of trial and error, Johanna landed upon CARDOORLOCKS! Done!

(If only it were CARDOORLOCKZ we'd have had a pangram!)

I added TOAST at 1-Across and matched it with POPUP as the last word. It was a true collaboration and still so funny that we've never met.

Sun 1/6/2013 PUZZLE ENVY
D	A	D		A	S	S	I	S	T	S		J	A	C	K	S		N	A	N
A	R	A		T	U	R	N	P	R	O		E	B	O	A	T		U	Z	I
N	I	G	H	T	V	I	S	I	O	N		J	O	U	L	E		M	E	X
C	O	M	E	A	S		A	N	Y		B	U	R	N	E	R		E	R	E
I	S	A	A	C		K	N	E	E	P	A	N	T	S		L	U	R	I	D
N	O	R	T	H	V	I	E	T	N	A	M	E	S	E		I	N	I
			S	E	E	N		S	S	R				L	E	N	S	C	A	P
A	N	N		S	L	E	D			T	R	I	P		I	G	U	A	N	A
B	I	A	S		D	R	O	S	S		A	N	I	O	N		B	L	E	W
E	X	T	O	R	T		N	A	P	A	V	A	L	L	E	Y		V	W	S
	O	I	L	Y		N	O	V	A	C	A	N	C	Y		U	T	A	H
A	N	O		N	O	W	V	O	Y	A	G	E	R		S	L	A	L	O	M
M	E	N	S		S	T	A	R	E		E	R	O	D	E		D	U	P	E
P	R	A	I	S	E		N	Y	R	O			W	E	N	D		E	E	L
M	A	L	T	E	S	E				D	P	S		C	O	O	K
		V	A	N		N	O	R	F	O	L	K	V	I	R	G	I	N	I	A
T	H	E	R	E		L	O	R	D	M	A	Y	O	R		O	N	E	N	D
A	O	L		S	C	A	L	A	R		X	F	L		T	O	D	A	T	E
G	U	V		C	A	R	A	T		N	I	A	V	A	R	D	A	L	O	S
U	S	E		E	A	G	L	E		E	C	L	O	G	U	E		O	N	T
P	E	T		S	N	E	A	D		B	O	L	S	T	E	R		N	E	E

ANDREA:

This collaboration came about because in the summer of 2012 Dan Feyer and his lovely girlfriend Gretchen organized a fundraiser up in Napa Valley (where Gretchen grew up). In between rounds, Dan entertained up with a trivia game where all the answers had the initials NV, for Napa Valley. I thought that might make a good basis for a crossword.

To me, it would be funny and risque to have a puzzle called "Puzzle NV" so I suggested to Dan that we expand his list into a Sunday-sized puzzle. Never mind that although he is the five time ACPT solving champion, he had only constructed one puzzle and was reluctant to risk his one for one perfect creation/acceptance rate. (It pays to enlist geniuses as collaborators.) So I talked him into expanding the list he had, we found a half dozen nice solid pairs. Lucky for me, Dan wanted the challenge of constructing a Sunday-sized grid, which I've still not yet been able to do on my own. (My three solo Sunday attempts have not been accepted by any major publication.)

Before I knew it, Dan had created a fabulous grid with a crowning touch of stacking three of the theme answers. The hardest part was getting him to not be such a perfectionist and keep creating grid after grid. We settled on one and THEN tried to perfect it.

Mon 12/3/2012
Z	E	S	T		J	P	E	G		F	U	G	U	E
O	L	E	O		E	U	R	O		A	S	O	N	E
O	N	E	R		S	T	A	Y		C	E	D	A	R
M	I	N	N	E	S	O	T	A	F	A	T	S
I	N	I		Y	E	N			A	D	O	P	T	S
N	O	T	B	E		S	P	A	R	E		E	W	E
			R	O	C		E	R	R		B	L	O	W
C	A	L	I	F	O	R	N	I	A	R	O	L	L	S
A	L	I	T		P	E	C		H	O	T
R	E	F		M	I	X	E	D		C	H	U	C	K
A	X	E	M	A	N			A	R	K		N	O	I
		V	I	R	G	I	N	I	A	S	L	I	M	S
Q	U	E	S	T		S	A	N	D		U	T	E	S
U	N	S	H	Y		A	N	T	I		M	E	T	E
I	O	T	A	S		Y	O	Y	O		P	R	O	D

This was back to my roots. I just wanted a simple three-themer to go with MINNESOTAFATS 13 and VIRGINIASLIMS 13 Again, I needed at least one more state + plural noun that had a different meaning from the state itself. Happily CALIFORNIAROLLS was a nice 15 across. done! The synchronicity for me was that it was secretly biographical in that I was born in Virginia, grew up in Minnesota and now live in California.

Mon 11/5/2012
P	I	T	T		A	D	V	I	L		S	O	A	R
A	C	H	E		M	A	I	N	E		A	H	M	E
R	E	E	L		A	R	S	O	N		N	E	O	N
		B	L	Y	N	K	E	N	A	N	D	N	O	D
A	M	I		O	D	E				E	A	R	N	S
L	A	R	R	Y	A	N	D	C	U	R	L	Y
A	U	D	I	O			R	A	N	D
W	I	S	P		A	W	A	R	E		S	S	T	S
				E	X	A	M			C	A	C	H	E
		D	E	W	E	Y	A	N	D	L	O	U	I	E
S	T	E	N	O				O	U	I		L	S	D
C	R	A	C	K	L	E	A	N	D	P	O	P
R	E	D	O		O	C	T	A	L		U	T	A	H
E	V	E	R		S	H	A	M	E		S	O	H	O
W	I	N	E		T	O	B	E	Y		T	R	I	O

Another partners theme, but with threesomes...but since WYNKEN, BLYKEN AND NOD was longer than 15, I thought it might be fun to list one of the trio and have the solver come up with the other two. I envisioned this as a call and response between constructor and solver.

Snap!

Mon 9/10/2012
F	A	R	C	E			A	P	E	S		S	A	M
A	L	T	E	R	N	A	T	I	V	E		A	N	O
Q	U	E	E	N	O	F	M	E	A	N		F	I	R
S	I	S			T	R	E	S		O	B	A	M	A
			A	C	T	E				R	U	R	A	L
H	E	A	R	N	O	E	V	I	L		M	I	L	E
A	L	I	T	O			A	N	E	W
S	O	M	E	T	H	I	N	G	W	I	C	K	E	D
				E	R	I	E			N	A	O	M	I
A	L	E	C		S	I	D	V	I	C	I	O	U	S
F	O	R	U	M				E	D	E	N
G	N	O	M	E		E	A	R	L			Q	B	S
H	E	T		D	O	N	T	B	E	C	R	U	E	L
A	L	I		I	N	D	I	S	R	E	P	A	I	R
N	Y	C		C	O	S	T			O	M	I	T	S

I liked coming up with different phrases around EVIL. QUEENOFMEAN and SIDVICIOUS led me to wanting them all to be people, but it was not to be.

Fretted that SOMETHINGWICKED 15 was but a partial of the full Bradbury title of SOMETHINGWICKED this way comes, but finally went with it, because the book is often referred to as SOMETHINGWICKED and it perfectly summed up the theme. Now don't be cruel...

Mon 6/11/2012
G	A	B	S		O	G	R	E	S	S		F	A	D
R	E	A	M		A	P	A	C	H	E		I	R	E
U	R	G	E		F	A	L	L	E	N	I	D	O	L
F	I	E	L	D			P	A	R		M	G	M	T
F	E	L	L	O	W	S	H	I	P		P	E	A	S
			Y	E	O	W		R	A	B	A	T
A	D	O			R	A	W			E	L	I	S	E
F	I	L	L	I	N	T	H	E	B	L	A	N	K	S
L	E	D	I	N			O	V	O			G	A	P
		Y	O	K	E	D		I	N	E	Z
A	M	E	N		F	O	L	L	O	W	S	U	I	T
B	A	L	E		F	L	A			E	A	T	M	E
F	U	L	L	N	E	L	S	O	N		Z	A	H	N
A	R	E		O	C	A	S	E	Y		S	H	O	D
B	A	R		S	T	R	O	D	E		A	N	T	S

ANDREA:

FALL, FELL, FILL, FOLL, FULL. Michael and I had done H*CK, P*CK, I had done M*LT so now we tried F*LL. People occasionally pooh pooh this kind of "vowel run" theme. I still think of them as fun, bouncy word poems. Plus it's very difficult to FILL a grid with all those Fs and double LLs. FILLINTHEBLANKS was the perfect 15 across the middle and was a crossword reference so it seemed to pull it all together.

Mon 1/16/2012
J	A	S	M	I	N	E		O	M	N	I	B	U	S
E	M	P	E	R	O	R		L	A	N	T	A	N	A
W	O	R	D	S	W	O	R	D	S	W	O	R	D	S
S	K	Y	S			D	U	E	T		R	E	E	S
				S	N	E	E	R	E	D		D	R	Y
S	H	A	S	T	A				R	I	P
P	I	C	K	Y	P	I	C	K	Y	P	I	C	K	Y
A	L	A	I			G	N	U			L	O	L	A
M	O	N	E	Y	M	O	N	E	Y	M	O	N	E	Y
			R	O	I				E	S	T	E	E	S
F	A	D		W	R	I	T	T	E	N
A	F	R	O		A	S	E	A			E	P	E	E
C	L	A	N	G	C	L	A	N	G	C	L	A	N	G
T	A	C	T	I	L	E		G	O	O	S	I	N	G
S	T	O	O	G	E	S		O	N	E	A	D	A	Y

This one was inspired from Patrick Blindauer's wedding to his lovely bride Rebecca in St. Louis. I wanted CLANGCLANGCLANG 15 WENTTHETROLLEY 13 and MEETMEINSTLOUIS 15 but somehow that evolved into just three repeating words.

I thought PICKYPICKYPICKY was funny and MONEYMONEYMONEY was the name of a song. Again Will pushed for four, which is the new 3. WORDSWORDSWORDS was from Shakespeare so I thought that classed things up a bit!

Mon 11/28/2011
F	L	O	W		I	M	A	C		H	A	D	A	T
D	I	D	I		S	A	R	A		O	B	E	S	E
A	M	O	S		O	N	A	N		F	I	C	H	E
	P	R	E	T	T	Y	B	O	Y	F	L	O	Y	D
			G	O	O		S	E	E	M	E
G	A	L	U	M	P	H			R	A	N	G	I	N
U	G	L	Y	B	E	T	T	Y		N	E	U	R	O
E	R	A			S	T	E	E	P			L	A	M
S	E	M	I	S		P	L	A	I	N	J	A	N	E
S	E	A	M	E	N			S	L	O	E	G	I	N
			A	C	E	L	A		S	H	E
G	O	R	G	E	O	U	S	G	E	O	R	G	E
A	V	O	I	D		S	H	I	N		I	R	I	S
R	E	U	N	E		T	O	N	E		N	E	R	O
B	R	E	E	D		Y	E	A	R		G	W	E	N

UGLYBETTY seemed to scream for a puzzle to be made out of the title. PRETTYBOYFLOYD was the second, natural balance thematically but totally different lengths, and the difficult to work with 14 letters. Once I came up with GORGEOUSGEORGE 14 to match I was good to go, as UGLYBETTY at the odd number 9 could go across.

But it seemed a bit light. The challenge rather than scrapping the puzzle was to come up with a fourth, 9 letters, preferably another woman, so it was two men, two women...but it had to be on the spectrum of UGLY, PRETTY, GORGEOUS. The adjective also ad to come first, so PLAINJANE was a godsend.

Sun 10/30/2011 HOLLYWOOD FROM RIGHT TO LEFT
S	A	M	E	H	E	R	E		O	P	A	Q	U	E		P	A	I	L	S
T	R	A	V	E	L	E	D		M	E	D	U	S	A		E	L	L	I	E
A	N	G	E	L	M	A	N	A	G	E	M	E	N	T		N	I	T	T	I
G	O	I	N		S	P	A	R		R	I	B		S	E	N	O	R	A	S
			T	E	T	E		M	A	S	T	E	R		G	A	T	O
S	H	A	U	N		D	O	R	M		S	C	A	L	Y	M	O	V	I	E
S	A	L	A	D	A		N	E	A	P			P	I	P	E		A	M	A
T	H	E	L	I	G	H	T	S	T	U	F	F		M	T	S		T	E	S
S	A	X		C	A	W		T	I	N	L	I	K	E			J	O	L	T
			D	O	T	Y				C	O	S	I		H	A	I	R	D	O
P	I	L	A	T	E	S	O	F	T	H	E	C	A	R	I	B	B	E	A	N
A	G	E	N	T	S		V	I	A	L				E	N	D	S
Y	U	N	G			P	I	E	D	I	S	H		C	G	I		M	S	G
C	A	N		T	W	O		F	A	N	T	A	S	T	I	C	F	O	U	L
U	N	O		V	O	L	E			E	Y	R	E		S	A	L	O	M	E
T	A	X	I	D	R	I	V	E	L		E	M	A	J		T	E	R	S	E
		L	O	I	S		A	R	I	O	S	I		A	B	E	T
F	I	E	N	N	E	S		O	E	R		N	A	C	L		C	H	A	P
E	D	W	I	N		W	E	D	D	I	N	G	C	L	A	S	H	E	R	S
S	E	I	Z	E		A	R	E	T	O	O		H	Y	S	T	E	R	I	A
T	A	S	E	R		M	A	S	O	N	S		S	N	E	E	R	S	A	T

ANDREA: The impetus was PILATESOFTHECARIBBEAN a perfect 21 across... Once we came up with TAXIDRIVEL it was ON. Some discussion since we were turning Rs into Ls what to do about extra R's in the theme answers (The R in CaRibbean, or the first R in DRiver) but decided the answers were too much fun to give up. Again we generated a huge list, had tons of fun coming up with film titles, since both Patrick and I are movie fans but of different eras and genres. That is the best part of our balancing each other in terms of sex and age and different interests, but unifying ones in being into pop culture more than sports, say.

Mon 8/29/2011
Q	T	I	P	S		A	P	E	S		G	L	O	B
T	O	T	A	L		J	U	M	P		R	O	T	E
S	U	C	R	E		A	M	I	R		A	N	T	E
	T	H	E	P	U	R	P	L	E	O	N	I	O	N
			N	T	H				E	N	D
S	P	A	T		O	P	E	N	S	E	S	A	M	E
H	I	S		S	H	A	R	I		R	O	L	E	X
E	X	T	R	A		P	I	T		U	N	I	T	E
L	E	R	O	I		A	C	T	I	N		B	A	R
F	L	O	O	D	P	L	A	I	N		S	I	L	T
			T	A	R				C	E	L
T	H	E	W	H	O	L	E	S	H	M	E	A	R
A	U	T	O		B	E	V	Y		B	A	G	E	L
K	E	R	R		E	V	E	N		E	Z	I	N	E
E	Y	E	D		D	I	S	C		D	E	N	T	S

ANDREA:

Michael Blake and I are frequent lunch companions and I wonder if this idea came up over a bagel one day! the best part of this puzzle for me is getting the word SHMEAR literally over the reveal BAGEL. We had to decide if we wanted the types of bagels to be the first or last word. Some concern that the PURPLEONION might not be well enough known. But it is the icon of comedy and jazz clubs here in SF and where the Smothers Brothers and Woody Allen and Mort Sahl all cut their teeth. As a former standup, I couldn't resist and was happy it slipped through.

Tue 7/5/2011
S	C	O	W	L		G	L	O	B		W	A	S	H
O	H	S	A	Y		H	I	L	L		A	S	T	I
F	U	L	L	S	P	E	E	D	O	A	H	E	A	D
A	M	O	N		A	T	V		O	P	I	A	T	E
			U	N	I	T		S	P	I	N
D	I	R	T	Y	R	O	T	T	E	N	E	G	G	O
E	X	I	S	T			O	U	R		S	O	N	S
N	I	N			T	O	W	N	S			G	A	T
Y	O	G	A		E	W	E			S	P	O	R	E
S	N	O	W	B	A	L	L	I	N	H	E	L	L	O
			A	L	M	S		B	A	H	N
K	R	A	K	O	W		H	I	S		A	I	D	E
N	O	L	E	G	O	T	O	S	T	A	N	D	O	N
O	P	E	N		R	O	L	E		O	C	E	A	N
X	E	R	S		K	E	Y	S		L	E	A	S	E

Andrea: This was my first collaboration with someone I've never actually met in person! Johanna Fenimore is a virtual friend through Rex Parker's blog and we have a very similar sense and sensibility on our takes on puzzles. We both have also spent time in Minnesota. We've been friends for over 5 years and yet have never met! Johanna had made an offhand joke about SPEEDO Bumps and that led me to envision an add an o to make funny phrases, with FULLSPEEDOAHEAD as our sort of risque anchor.

I had made an add-an-i puzzle with Tony Orbach (Sunday 1/31/2010) and this seemed like a great follow up to that. I think it was an Alan Arbesfeld (one of my favorite constructors, whom I've also met at the ACPT but have never collaborated with) who had an add a letter puzzle that had made me really laugh and I thought how lovely and simple to add but one letter yet totally transform a phrase. Johanna and I have tossed around a hundred other ideas, and had another successful collaboration Mon 6/17/13 off another of Johanna's clever ideas of things that "pop up".

Tue 5/24/2011
P	A	W	A	T		Y	O	U	R	S		H	O	P
O	X	I	D	E		A	L	G	A	E		A	P	O
K	I	S	S	A	N	D	S	H	O	W		T	A	B
E	S	P			A	D	O			N	E	C	R	O
			D	R	Y	A	N	D	M	I	G	H	T	Y
I	C	A	M	E				A	I	N	G	E
M	O	R	A	N		H	E	R	R			T	R	A
P	R	E	J	U	D	I	C	E	A	N	D	J	O	Y
S	A	Y			O	T	O	S		E	R	O	D	E
		O	R	T	H	O				R	O	B	E	S
T	O	U	C	H	A	N	D	S	T	O	P
U	L	N	A	E			E	T	A			A	L	S
F	L	U		R	I	S	E	A	N	D	S	P	I	T
T	I	T		M	O	U	R	N		E	N	E	M	Y
S	E	S		O	N	R	E	D		X	O	X	O	X

ANDREA:

This collaboration with Michael was a bit unusual. I wanted to take common phrases that had a common element like KISS AND TELL / SHOW AND TELL and "swap partners" to make KISSANDSHOW. We had a lot of fun coming up with these. The most unusual was PRIDE is with both PREJUDICE and JOY, which was also a nice 15!

Mon 3/14/2011
A	C	L	U		H	T	M	L		M	A	R	I	E
D	R	I	P		E	R	I	E		A	T	O	L	L
D	A	T	S		M	A	L	T	E	D	M	I	L	K
A	Z	T	E	C			A	B	A	A
M	E	L	T	I	N	O	N	E	S	M	O	U	T	H
S	S	E		V	O	L			E	A	R	T	H	A
			B	E	H	I	N	D			A	N	E	W
	M	I	L	T	O	N	B	R	A	D	L	E	Y
M	E	N	U			S	C	A	L	E	S
U	L	T	R	A	S			N	E	T		C	I	S
M	O	L	T	E	N	C	H	O	C	O	L	A	T	E
				R	A	C	E			X	A	N	A	X
M	U	L	T	I	P	L	I	E	R		B	A	L	I
A	K	I	R	A		E	D	G	E		E	L	I	S
D	E	V	I	L		F	I	G	S		L	S	A	T

Back to MALT, MELT, MILT, MOLT, MULT. I wanted MELTINYOURMOUTH, but the rule seems to be to use ONES. Not sure why and I got some grief about that. Lucky that MILTONBRADLEY was 13 and I like that it was a board game company, which seemed complementary to crosswords. I love all games.

Mon 1/31/2011
S	L	I	N	G		E	D	G	E		C	P	A	S
L	A	N	A	I		N	E	A	R		A	L	I	T
A	U	N	T	J	E	M	I	M	A		L	A	M	A
M	D	S		O	M	I	T			N	I	N	E	R
			B	E	T	T	Y	C	R	O	C	K	E	R
D	E	B	U	S	S	Y		L	I	M	O
E	T	A	L				H	U	E	S		J	A	I
J	O	L	L	Y	G	R	E	E	N	G	I	A	N	T
A	N	D		O	O	O	H				S	I	T	S
			O	R	G	S		B	E	D	E	L	I	A
C	H	E	F	B	O	Y	A	R	D	E	E
H	O	F	F	A			P	O	U	F		S	A	S
E	L	L	E		C	A	P	N	C	R	U	N	C	H
W	E	A	R		B	O	L	T		A	N	I	M	E
S	S	T	S		S	K	E	E		Y	I	P	E	S

The genesis of this was to try and have family/food names AUNTJEMIMA/UNCLEBEN but I couldn't come with more. But then I started thinking about food icons across the board...vegetables, cereal, condiments...Though it's ultimately "just a list" I thought the fact that they were all animated, colorful characters from our childhood would make up for lack of a ton of wordplay.

Sometimes I like to evoke nostalgia or stories for the solver to share. I'm a former standup comic who is part of the storytelling scene here in SF...so I love when solvers share stories that the puzzle has triggered. That's part of the whole constructing/solving experience. I like the idea of the conversation continuing after the solve...or even inspiring others to come up with a follow-up puzzle.

Tue 12/7/2010
I	R	A	Q		M	A	P	L	E		R	I	N	K
N	A	N	U		I	W	I	L	L		O	M	A	N
C	H	I	E	F	T	E	X	A	N		A	P	S	E
		M	E	E	T			M	I	S	D	E	A	L
S	T	A	G	E		G	I	A	N	T	B	I	L	L
E	A	T		L	A	U	D		O	I	L
R	B	I	S		B	I	O	S		L	O	C	O	S
F	O	O	T	B	A	L	L	M	A	T	C	H	U	P
S	O	N	A	R		T	I	E	R		K	A	T	E
			G	Y	M		Z	A	C	H		M	I	A
J	E	T	P	A	C	K	E	R		U	P	P	E	R
A	R	R	A	N	G	E			P	L	E	A
R	O	A	R		R	A	M	C	H	A	R	G	E	R
E	D	I	T		A	C	R	I	D		I	N	F	O
D	E	N	Y		W	H	I	G	S		L	E	G	O

ANDREA:

As mentioned in the constructor comments for Mon 11/2/2009, my neighbor Kent Clayton and I decided to collaborate again after his reveal of BELIEVEITORNOT saved my bacon. Kent was watching football, so we decided to do a sports theme, which might surprise many of those who follow my anti-sports comments on certain blogs. However, I am NOT anti-sports. I am anti the overuse of baseball and the presumption that solvers will know the most obscure MVP of 1953, yet will not know who HELLOKITTY is, or whatever girl-centric topic comes up. And I like to be a thorn in the side of those who overdose on sports clues. I have nothing against sports itself.

This puzzle focused on team names. We decided to combine them and have a nice reveal of FOOTBALLMATCHUP 15 going across the grid. It was a lot of fun to mix and match the team players and coming up with clues. There were many that were so natural, like RAMCHARGER or JETPACKER (though I don't think our Boba Fett clue made it to the final version).

Thu 9/2/2010
S	L	E	E	P		P	O	L	S			O	R	G
P	A	C	E	R		A	S	T	I		A	N	T	E
A	L	O	N	E		T	I	D	E		G	I	R	O
M	A	L		S	I	R	E			F	A	C	E	D
S	S	E		S	S	O	R	C	A	Y	R	E	V	E
			L	E	O	N		H	S	I
R	O	T	O	R		S	P	O	T		S	L	A	G
M	O	R	F	S	D	A	E	R	R	E	W	S	N	A
S	P	I	T		E	I	R	E		M	A	D	A	M
				D	E	N		O	M	E	N
T	F	E	L	O	T	T	H	G	I	R		N	O	B
A	L	L	I	N			O	R	C	A		O	R	E
D	O	O	R		T	A	M	A		L	O	R	N	E
A	J	A	R		S	T	E	P		D	A	M	O	N
S	O	N			P	O	O	H		S	T	A	T	E

ANDREA:

This was my first Thurs and the most complicated idea I had ever had. I wanted all the words in the grid to be OTHER words if read backwards. I envisioned three sets of clues: Across, Down and Backwards. There is no way I could make this grid on my own, so I went to the genius aka Patrick Blindauer. We bandied about how we could have a reveal in the grid itself. Either a phrase like TO AND FRO, BACK AND FORTH. Both he and Will felt it would be too easy to have a third set of clues.

Then Patrick managed to create a grid with the phrase EVERY ACROSS / ANSWER READS FROM / RIGHT TO LEFT (written from right to left). I didn't originally want something that looked like gobbledygook in the grid, but there was no denying this was an incredible solution and that it broke into three balanced phrases that could be read backward was breathtaking. One of the early drafts had several palindromes that I suggested were "cheating" which was a poor choice of words, which caused a lot of stress between us, but Patrick managed to get rid of most of them. (I bring this up not to tell tales out of school but to be honest about the difficulty of collaborating at times. Especially if one person feels they have done the lion's share of work.)

This is a delicate topic with partnerships. My personal feeling is whoever comes up with the idea should get full and equal credit/money, whereas Will told me a good idea could come from anywhere and doesn't necessarily deserve credit. Needless to say, I don't agree. I'd rather be extra generous with credit as we have so little else. I had been a writer in Hollywood for many years and was well aware of the heartbreak, rifts and lawsuits not giving proper credit can bring. We also didn't want partials that couldn't stand alone without a clue, like INOR even though it could be clued as Rice-a-___, but INOR when read left-to-right, out of context wouldn't stand on its own, so we were sensitive to that as there would be only the clues for the words going backwards, but would still look like good words read from left to right.

My fear was also when people caught on what was happening, they would have to erase or start completely over or have a big mess if solving with pen...and it was the first time ever I worried about pissing off solvers! But am super proud of the concept and the result.

Mon 8/16/2010
G	A	M	M	A		S	P	E	E	D		S	P	A
A	M	O	U	R		N	I	E	C	E		T	A	N
L	O	O	S	E	C	A	N	N	O	N		O	U	T
A	S	T	I		A	F	T			I	D	O	L	S
			C	A	S	U	A	L	F	R	I	D	A	Y
A	S	P	I	R	E			A	L	O	P
M	A	Y	A	N		D	E	M	O			E	M	U
B	U	R	N	O	N	E	S	B	R	I	D	G	E	S
I	L	E			A	L	P	S		R	I	O	T	S
			D	I	S	H			N	A	S	S	E	R
C	A	P	U	C	H	I	N	M	O	N	K
E	X	U	D	E			O	O	P		E	R	O	S
L	I	L		T	V	D	E	T	E	C	T	I	V	E
L	A	S		E	C	O	L	E		A	T	T	I	C
O	L	E		A	R	E	S	T		W	E	E	D	Y

ANDREA:

Jennifer Nutt is a gal I've met here in SF through various crossword functions. She had a puzzle in the LA Times which had LOOSECANNON and CASUALFRIDAY as part of a theme about LOOSE, CASUAL, etc. but while solving, I thought it was going to be about the TV detectives CANNON, Joe FRIDAY, et al. So I approached her about doing one together with that theme, since my idea had been inspired by one of her puzzles. She was very easy to work with. It was the first time I collaborated with someone I didn't know that well.

Wed 4/28/2010
A	R	O	M	A		C	L	A	P			A	D	O
B	E	L	O	W		R	O	M	E		P	R	O	P
A	C	E	I	N	V	A	D	E	R		R	I	O	T
C	O	O	S		E	V	E	N		W	E	A	R	S
I	N	S	T	O	N	E			C	H	A
				R	I	N	G	C	H	I	C	K	E	N
D	E	M	U	R			R	O	U	G	H	A	G	E
E	L	O	N		D	E	I	S	M		E	T	A	T
M	A	S	S	L	E	S	S			P	R	O	D	S
I	N	T	H	E	B	O	T	T	L	E
			A	N	T			Y	E	S	D	E	A	R
S	H	I	V	A		F	I	D	O		I	N	R	E
H	I	K	E		E	L	L	B	I	N	D	E	R	S
O	P	E	N		S	O	S	O		A	U	R	A	E
T	S	A			P	E	A	L		S	P	O	U	T

ACME: This puzzle was with longtime friend and college buddy Peter Stein, who is better than I am at everything we do...except maybe Scrabble! We decided to collaborate on a puzzle, his idea to riff off the one I had 10/27/08 a year and a half earlier with frequent collaborator Michael Blake.

The 08 puzzle had SPIN as the reveal, i.e. SP-IN (SPUTTERNONSENSE, SPRAYOFSUNSHINE, SPACEOFDIAMONDS) so we decided to try SP-OUT, where we took OUT the letters SP. As a result the phrases are shorter than the three 15 spanners of the original puzzle, but we made up for it by having four entries. It's harder to take out letters and still have a phrase that makes sense. There is more energy and fun in adding letters... I think that's what made this a Wednesday.

It's been over 5 years and we are itching to collaborate again!

Mon 3/22/2010
D	D	E		R	O	G	E	T		M	U	D	D	Y
R	E	X		A	B	A	S	H		A	N	I	S	E
O	V	E	R	H	I	L	L	A	N	D	D	A	L	E
V	I	R	U	S				T	O	R	O	S
E	T	T	E		G	I	R	L	I	E		P	O	T
S	O	S		E	R	R	O	L			B	O	R	E
			A	L	A	M	O		S	O	R	R	E	L
	L	E	T	S	M	A	K	E	A	D	E	A	L
S	A	M	I	A	M		I	N	F	E	R
I	D	B	E			S	E	D	E	R		K	I	T
P	E	A		S	E	N	S	O	R		P	A	C	E
		R	H	O	N	E				K	A	R	E	N
T	A	K	E	O	V	E	R	T	H	E	L	E	A	D
S	H	E	E	T		R	E	V	E	L		E	G	O
P	A	D	D	Y		S	C	A	M	P		M	E	N

Again, I tried to branch out, this time with anagrams: LEAD, DALE, DEAL as anagrams of LADE. But I wish I had included something about LEDA "transforming" into something else, since according to myth went from human to swan. That would have made it a stronger reveal.

Sun 1/31/2010 KEEP AN EYE ON IT!
S	I	N	A	T	R	A		B	E	R	E	F	T		G	A	S	B	A	G
S	M	O	T	H	E	R		A	S	E	V	E	R		E	M	E	R	I	L
T	H	E	W	I	Z	A	R	D	O	F	I	D	I		N	O	N	A	M	E
S	O	L	O	N		M	I	G	S		T	E	N	D	E	R		S	T	A
				K	H	A	K	I		T	A	X	I	E	V	A	S	I	O	N
	T	A	I	P	E	I		R	B	I				L	A	L	A
Y	O	U	C	A	N	C	A	L	L	M	E	A	L	I			L	S	A	T
A	D	D	E	D			U	S	O		A	R	A			P	O	U	C	H
Z	O	I	C		A	Y	S		C	O	M	M	O	N	S	E	N	S	E	I
			A	F	R	O	S			P	O	E		A	T	T		H	R	S
		O	P	E	N	W	I	D	E	A	N	D	S	A	Y	A	H	I
A	N	N		N	E	Z		O	R	R			A	C	E	L	A
J	E	D	I	C	L	A	M	P	E	T	T		L	P	S		C	I	N	E
A	R	I	S	E			T	E	C		I	F	S			S	K	O	A	L
R	O	T	O			M	A	R	T	I	N	I	A	N	D	L	E	W	I	S
			L	E	I	A				S	Y	D		F	E	U	D	A	L
L	A	N	A	I	T	U	R	N	E	R		G	U	L	A	G
I	S	O		G	I	D	E	O	N		T	E	S	T		F	L	A	S	K
S	Y	L	P	H	S		A	R	E	W	E	T	H	E	R	E	Y	E	T	I
P	L	A	I	T	S		P	A	R	O	L	E		A	U	S	T	R	I	A
S	A	N	C	H	O		S	H	O	O	E	D		M	E	T	E	O	R	S

ANDREA:

My second Sunday came about through meeting Patrick Blindauer's close friend and collaborator. Tony Orbach is the one of the most beloved people in Crossworld. So funny and lots of fun ... so we tried to come up with fun bouncy phrases where we added an "I". I wanted just phrases that ENDED with I, like, AREWETHEREYETI and OPENWIDEANDSAYAHI, so you could REALLY "hear" the additional i. But Tony liked to mix it up a little, like MARTINI AND LEWIS and TAXI EVASION. Again, I had to bow to collaboration and for the umpteenth time, they were proved right!

Mon 11/2/2009
F	E	M	A		S	N	A	P		H	A	S	T	A
A	X	E	S		P	O	L	E		A	C	T	O	R
R	I	S	K		E	D	I	T		S	Q	U	A	T
	T	H	E	E	A	S	T	E	R	B	U	N	N	Y
			D	I	K				E	R	I
S	T	P		G	O	B		F	L	O	T	S	A	M
T	O	O	T	H	F	A	I	R	Y		T	I	N	E
I	N	L	E	T		H	O	O		S	A	L	O	N
C	Y	A	N		S	A	N	T	A	C	L	A	U	S
K	A	R	A	C	H	I		H	B	O		S	T	A
			C	H	I				D	U	E
B	E	L	I	E	V	E	I	T	O	R	N	O	T
E	Y	E	O	N		S	P	A	M		T	O	U	R
A	R	G	U	E		T	O	M	E		E	Z	R	A
M	E	S	S	Y		E	D	E	N		R	E	N	T

ANDREA:

This collaboration with Kent Clayton came about in a funny way. I had made a puzzle with SANTACLAUS 10, EASTERBUNNY 11, TOOTHFAIRY 10 with the reveal MYTHBUSTERS 11 a popular TV show for kids. I asked my across the hall neighbor if he was familiar with MYTHBUSTERS and would get the connection between these imaginary characters. He said, "Why not BELIEVEITORNOT?" which was 14 letters, always an awkward number to work with and didn't have a matching pair... but SO MUCH BETTER than what I had. So we changed EASTERBUNNY to THEEASTERBUNNY 14, et voila! A few folks carped that we used THE with EASTERBUNNY but not with TOOTHFAIRY, but I cared NOT!

As I had to start the puzzle from scratch, I offered to share credit with Kent and taught him how to make a puzzle with the rewrite. This then inspired him to want to do another, from scratch, which later became our Tues 12/7/2010 FOOTBALLMATCHUP puzzle a year later. A good collaborator can come from anywhere!

Mon 9/7/2009
G	O	F	I	S	H		R	B	I	S		M	I	Z
P	U	E	B	L	O		A	L	D	A		A	C	E
S	I	M	E	O	N		P	A	L	M	T	R	E	E
			T	A	K	E	T	H	E	B	A	I	T
A	P	U		N	E	D				A	N	N
L	E	N	D		D	U	M	P	S		S	E	T	H
M	O	D	E	L		C	A	R	P	S		G	I	A
O	P	E	N	A	C	A	N	O	F	W	O	R	M	S
S	L	R		M	O	T	E	T		F	R	E	E	S
T	E	T	E		R	E	S	E	T		B	E	L	L
		H	A	W				G	U	S		N	Y	E
	G	E	T	R	E	E	L	E	D	I	N
C	A	S	S	E	T	T	E		O	N	E	T	W	O
A	G	E		N	O	U	N		R	A	I	S	E	R
B	A	A		S	N	I	T		S	I	N	K	E	R

ANDREA:

Now that there were blogs, and I had attended the ACPT two years in a row, I now had lots of friends in the crossworld. One of them is Ashish Vengsarkar. We decided to collaborate on an idea I had of lots of fishing terms that were used as metaphors in other situations. Ashish constructed the grid and added MARINEGREEN and UNDERTHESEA as long downs. We disagreed about that. I like all the themes to be horizontal (I don't think I've ever had theme answers running down and I didn't want ones that were sort of like the theme but not really). Ashish hung tight and as it was a collaboration, I eventually deferred to him. He proved right in that folks loved the extra "atmospheric" entries.

Even tho solvers love long answers, I think if they are as long as the theme answers, that is really confusing. But I do like having bonus and atmospheric words in the grid to add to the overall feel.

Sun 8/9/2009 MADE FOR TV-MOVIES
B	A	L	B	O	A			T	W	A	N	G	S		M	A	S	S	E	S
A	N	T	E	U	P		G	O	I	R	I	S	H		E	Q	U	I	N	E
G	O	S	S	I	P	G	I	R	L	I	N	T	E	R	R	U	P	T	E	D
			E	S	T	I	V	A	L				L	O	C	A		O	R	E
P	E	L	E		S	T	E		P	I	L	A	F	S		M	A	N	O	R
F	L	E	C	K			I	M	O	N	I	T		E	D	A	M
F	A	T	H	E	R	K	N	O	W	S	B	E	S	T	I	N	S	H	O	W
T	N	T		N	I	A		R	E	P	R	I	S	E	D			A	R	A
			H	O	A	R	S	E	R		A	N	N	A		I	L	I	A	D
A	P	S	O		T	E	E			I	R	T				C	A	R	T	E
G	R	E	Y	S	A	N	A	T	O	M	Y	O	F	A	M	U	R	D	E	R
H	E	L	L	O				H	R	S			O	B	I		G	O	D	S
A	L	L	E	Y		S	H	E	A		S	A	R	A	L	E	E
S	A	T			C	H	A	R	C	O	A	L		C	A	B		M	A	O
T	W	O	A	N	D	A	H	A	L	F	M	E	N	I	N	B	L	A	C	K
			P	E	E	L		M	E	N	A	C	E			S	A	N	E	R
P	E	T	R	A		L	E	S	S	O	R		W	D	S		Y	O	D	A
O	L	E		T	O	O	T				I	N	T	E	N	S	E
S	E	X	A	N	D	T	H	E	C	I	T	Y	O	F	A	N	G	E	L	S
I	N	A	L	I	E		O	S	S	U	A	R	Y		R	E	G	R	E	T
T	A	N	A	K	A		S	A	I	D	N	O			L	E	S	S	O	N

Andrea:

Huge breakthrough, dream come true, a Sunday puzzle. All my Sundays have been something based on one of my ideas but collaborations with different guys who are more sophisticated grid makers than I. My early week collaborations tend to be with folks I'm either mentoring or helping them realize their dream of getting a puzzle published in the NYT. My later week ones, I'm in the other position.

Patrick Blindauer and worked long and hard for consistency, a TV show followed by a movie, never movie followed by TV. Something contemporary paired with something from the past. We had a huge list. In the end, and a lot of fun coming up with them and settled upon five that were perfect 21s across. My favorites were GOSSIPGIRLINTERRUPTED and FATHERKNOWSBESTINSHOW just for smoothness factor and new with old.

Patrick made the grid. In 2013, another pair used the same title and I was sort of bummed. Their idea was slightly different though: the TV shows were one-word titles inserted into movie titles.

Mon 3/30/2009
J	A	M	B		E	M	I	L		A	R	M	E	D
E	S	A	I		R	E	N	O		L	E	O	N	A
S	I	N	G	L	E	O	C	C	U	P	A	N	C	Y
T	A	E	B	O		W	H	I	R		S	O	S
			A	L	S				G	O	O
D	O	U	B	L	E	I	N	D	E	M	N	I	T	Y
I	T	T	Y		E	D	I	E		A	S	T	R	A
G	T	E		S	P	E	N	C	E	R		I	A	L
A	E	R	I	E		A	J	A	X		A	N	N	I
T	R	I	P	L	E	L	A	Y	E	R	C	A	K	E
			L	A	T				S	A	C
	S	H	E		T	A	C	K		C	E	L	I	A
Q	U	A	D	R	U	P	L	E	B	Y	P	A	S	S
V	E	R	G	E		E	U	R	O		T	O	N	I
C	R	E	E	D		X	E	N	A		S	S	T	S

I had made a nice puzzle with SINGLE, DOUBLE, TRIPLE Will pushed me to add a QUADRUPLE. I already had TRIPLE BYPASS, but needed the BYPASS for QUADRUPLE BYPASS. So TRIPLE became LAYERCAKE 15 so then I had to make all of them 15. I didn't think I could do it, but was thrilled that he had pushed me in the end. First indication that four was rapidly becoming the new three... That was the end of an era for me. I think I've only had one or two three-themed puzzles since then.

It was around this time I heard about the blogs, I think, and that I had a reputation to uphold as a Miss Monday!

Mon 1/5/2009
A	C	D	C		C	A	C	T	I		L	E	S	T
S	H	I	V		A	P	A	I	N		A	S	W	E
T	A	X	I		P	A	N	E	S		U	S	E	R
A	R	I		M	O	T	O			P	R	E	E	N
	M	E	E	T	T	H	E	P	A	R	E	N	T	S
		C	A	S	E	Y		O	R	A	L
E	R	R	S				G	L	A	D		H	M	S
M	E	A	T	A	N	D	P	O	T	A	T	O	E	S
T	O	T		L	A	O	S				O	P	T	S
			B	O	N	N		P	A	I	R	S
M	E	T	E	O	U	T	J	U	S	T	I	C	E
A	D	O	L	F			A	R	T	E		O	R	O
T	I	N	T		P	A	S	S	E		S	T	E	T
E	T	T	E		A	M	O	U	R		A	C	C	T
S	H	O	D		L	I	N	E	N		O	H	T	O

I had had success with my 5 AIR homonyms, and there was a new film called MEETTHEPARENTS 13 which led to MEAT, METE, MEET. I like these types of themes, but when you have an odd word like METE you are pretty limited to what phrases that are "in the language" that you can use...so you have to get lucky that there will be a pairing. Whereas with MEET you have MEETTHEPRESS, MEETMEINSTLOUIS, MEETTHEPARENTS, MEETTHEFOCKERS, etc.

Mon 10/27/2008
O	L	G	A		C	A	G	E	D		G	A	P	S
N	E	A	T		A	B	A	T	E		U	N	I	T
E	A	R	L		P	A	S	T	A		S	T	A	R
S	P	R	A	Y	O	F	S	U	N	S	H	I	N	E
			N	U	T	T	Y			A	E	S	O	P
B	E	A	T	L	E			O	I	L	S
A	S	T	I			S	A	B	R	E		K	I	A
S	P	A	C	E	O	F	D	I	A	M	O	N	D	S
E	N	D		D	E	P	O	T			N	E	A	P
			B	I	R	D			E	X	C	E	S	S
A	S	P	I	C			A	I	R	E	R
S	P	U	T	T	E	R	N	O	N	S	E	N	S	E
P	E	R	T		L	O	E	W	E		D	O	P	E
E	L	S	E		L	I	R	A	S		I	M	I	N
N	L	E	R		S	L	A	N	T		T	O	N	Y

Andrea:

Someone had done a puzzle where the reveal was a word that could be parsed into a direction, like THIN (add TH INto puzzle) So Michael and I came up with SP-IN. SPACEOFDIAMONDS was the original phrase. It later inspired my friend Peter Stein to want to create a SP-OUT puzzle (Wed 4/28/2010) but it's interesting to note that to add in letters was a Monday idea, but to take them out was a Wed. Words flow better when you add another letter. When you omit them (as in ELL CHECK) it takes a few seconds to figure out what is going on.

Mon 9/1/2008
N	A	P	S		P	S	I	S		A	L	I	V	E
O	D	I	C		E	T	T	U		M	I	N	E	O
S	I	L	E	N	C	E	I	S	G	O	L	D	E	N
A	D	A	N	O		T	S	H	I	R	T
L	A	T	E	N	T			I	N	A		M	I	A
E	S	E		C	A	M	P		A	L	P	E	R	T
			N	O	R	U	S	H			E	L	S	E
		M	U	M	S	T	H	E	W	O	R	D
M	A	I	D			T	A	R	I	F	F
T	V	S	E	T	S		W	O	L	F		S	R	O
S	A	T		R	O	D			L	I	S	T	E	N
			C	I	T	R	U	S		C	L	O	V	E
M	Y	L	I	P	S	A	R	E	S	E	A	L	E	D
G	O	T	T	O		I	G	G	Y		B	E	R	G
M	U	S	E	D		N	E	A	R		S	N	E	E

My oldest friend is named David Golden. I think one of his daughters used SILENCEISGOLDEN as her email address. Ever since this puzzle, for the past five years, whenever I have a puzzle published, he writes "liked it but couldn't find the word GOLDEN". I was lucky once again that there were three phrases with such close meanings and that the numbers matched up.

Mon 8/25/2008
A	N	T	I			S	H	I	N		A	F	A	R
M	E	A	N		S	T	I	N	T		L	A	L	A
P	A	C	K	A	P	U	N	C	H		B	R	I	T
S	R	O		L	I	N	D	A		P	E	E	V	E
			P	E	C	K	I	N	G	O	R	D	E	R
P	O	L	I	C	E				O	N	T
O	M	A	N			L	A	P	A	Z		S	T	P
P	I	C	K	O	F	T	H	E	L	I	T	T	E	R
S	T	Y		C	E	D	A	R			O	L	E	O
			S	T	A				A	A	R	O	N	S
P	O	C	K	E	T	C	H	A	N	G	E
U	N	L	I	T		H	E	S	S	E		A	D	O
T	E	A	M		P	U	C	K	E	R	E	D	U	P
T	A	R	P		E	T	H	E	L		R	A	N	T
S	L	A	Y		N	E	E	D			A	M	E	S

Andrea:

My first published collaboration with Michael Blake (see notes on Mon 11/26/2007). PICKOFTHELITTER 15 was the genesis. PACKOFLIES was the later genesis of an idea with Joon Pahk to do a "six pack" puzzle, that actually had SEVEN theme answers to include the reveal, but it ran in the LA Times.

Tue 7/8/2008
	G	E	D		G	A	B	S		E	D	S	E	L
P	O	U	R		A	U	R	A		D	O	U	S	E
A	I	R	J	O	R	D	A	N		I	N	B	E	D
S	T	A		F	B	I			S	T	O	P
H	E	I	R	T	O	T	H	E	T	H	R	O	N	E
A	R	L	O			S	O	N	Y		S	E	E	R
			A	L	T		N	O	L	O		N	O	R
		E	R	E	I	S	A	W	E	L	B	A
I	Q	S		W	A	H	L		S	E	A
R	U	T	S		R	U	E	S			E	Z	R	A
A	I	R	E	D	A	L	E	T	E	R	R	I	E	R
		A	X	I	S			A	L	B		N	C	O
M	O	N	T	E		A	E	R	L	I	N	G	U	S
A	R	G	O	T		D	O	V	E		S	E	S	E
C	O	E	N	S		O	N	E	S		A	R	E

My first attempt at homonyms. AIR HEIR ERE AIRE AER. I was pleased to have five.

Mon 6/23/2008
S	A	N	T	A		P	A	C	E		A	C	M	E
A	L	I	E	N		I	B	E	T		B	L	I	P
W	I	N	S	O	M	E	L	O	S	E	S	O	M	E
S	T	A	T		I	R	E	S		B	O	G	I	E
			T	I	N				H	E	R
	Y	O	U	D	I	D	Y	O	U	R	B	E	S	T
S	A	M	B	A		R	O	U	S	T		R	H	O
K	L	E	E		W	I	D	T	H		P	A	A	R
E	I	N		R	I	L	E	D		E	A	T	M	E
W	E	S	T	I	L	L	L	O	V	E	Y	O	U
			E	N	D				E	L	S
S	A	G	A	S		H	E	A	T		L	E	N	T
C	L	O	S	E	B	U	T	N	O	C	I	G	A	R
A	I	R	E		A	R	N	O		U	P	O	N	E
B	E	E	T		A	L	A	N		E	S	S	A	Y

Andrea:

THis was my first official collaboration with my then newbestfriend Patrick Blindauer. We had met when he was working for Peter Gordon at Sterling as an assistant. I had known Peter for 20+ years from our days at Games Magazine, so I would pop by to see him whenever I was in NY. Patrick and I got to know each other better at the first ACPT I attended. (I hadn't gone the first 25+ years as I lived across the country, etc.) Will was using one of my puzzles for the opening puzzle of the 2008 ACPT I believe. (Cheers! It was four ways to toast, I think, which each theme answer being "Cheers!")

Patrick and I were standing together as people were approaching Trip Payne and consoling him on his second place finish. Folks were saying various cliches, "You did your best!", "So close!", etc. Patrick and I sat down and created a list "We still love you!" "Close but no cigar!", etc. and that became the first of a dozen collaborations. I think Deb Amlen called us the Fred and Ginger of constructors.

We both live very separate lives now, but he's always been my go-to person when I want to create a Sunday-sized puzzle that have funny phrases by changing a letter, or what have you. I love his sense of humor and what a genius he is. Until Patrick, I had only been published on Monday-Wed. He is my collaborator on 3 Sundays (not counting a couple we've done for the WSJ) and my sole NYT Thursday.

Mon 1/21/2008
L	E	W	D		D	W	A	R	F		J	E	S	T
A	R	E	A		R	A	R	E	R		U	T	A	H
W	I	N	B	Y	A	N	O	S	E		M	A	U	I
N	E	T		A	M	E	S		E	B	B	I	N	G
		F	A	C	A	D	E	S		A	L	L	A	H
S	M	I	R	K	S			T	U	B	E
T	O	R	T			R	E	U	S	E		U	S	N
L	O	S	E	O	N	E	S	B	A	L	A	N	C	E
O	T	T		C	O	N	E	S			A	D	O	S
			N	E	W	T			C	A	R	E	T	S
S	A	M	O	A		S	O	B	E	R	E	R
A	L	U	M	N	I		C	O	D	A		O	U	I
V	I	S	A		D	R	A	W	A	B	L	A	N	K
E	K	E	D		O	I	L	E	R		E	T	T	E
R	E	D	S		L	O	A	D	S		W	H	O	A

Went back to a simple WIN/LOSE/DRAW ... but I was especially fond of DRAW A BLANK because I am a Scrabble enthusiast. And I love that it is such a good thing in Scrabble to draw a blank, but a bad thing in real life!

Mon 11/26/2007
G	A	R	B		B	R	O	W		A	P	P	L	E
O	R	E	O		O	E	N	O		F	R	I	E	S
H	A	C	K	Y	S	A	C	K		L	A	P	S	E
O	B	E		A	C	R	E		L	A	N	E	S
M	I	S	S	Y	O	U		H	E	C	K	L	E	R
E	A	S	Y			P	L	U	G		S	I	N	K
			N	A	G		A	B	U	T		N	E	O
	H	I	C	K	O	R	Y	S	M	O	K	E	D
R	O	D		A	L	O	T		E	G	O
A	L	E	S		D	R	O	P			L	A	W	S
H	O	C	K	N	E	Y		R	O	M	A	N	I	A
	G	L	E	A	N		R	I	S	E		G	P	S
B	R	A	I	N		H	U	C	K	A	B	E	E	S
E	A	R	N	A		A	S	E	A		B	L	U	E
A	M	E	S	S		T	E	R	R		S	A	P	S

This was my first attempt at what is now known as a "vowel run," a dismissive phrase I dislike. I like to think of them as a fun tone-poem. It's really fun to say HACK, HECK, HICK, HOCK, HUCK. Plus it's nigh impossible to get them in the right order while having the A match the U, the E match the O and the I to be odd-numbered, fun and straight across the middle.

And despite the fact I had made the Gilligan's Island puzzle with five themes (Tu 9/21/2004) I felt ill-equipped to construct this, thus my first collaboration! I had met Michael Blake at a constructors lunch I had organized after having met some constructors at Martin Herbach's lovely Los Gatos home the year before. Michael came as someone else's guest and we hit it off and became friends. He is very technically coordinated and offered to help lay out the grid as a favor. I felt I could not have done it without him and wanted to share credit/money which he demurred on.

We would often help each other with feedback and even a theme answer here and there but would submit as individuals. When he helped me again on PACK PECK PICK POCK PUCK (Mon 8/25/2008) I insisted we share everything. Although he felt it was my idea, fill, etc. I could NOT at that time, Luddite that I was, have ever figured out how to lay out the five themed answers. We've had at least a half dozen since then. He forced me to learn to use a computer so I could be more independent. The iron is, I enjoyed him so much that now when we collaborate, we merge our sensibilities which are quite different, and you can not parse out who did what.

I believe out of 40 published NYT puzzles (as of my writing this in November 2013) they have been almost evenly split between solos and collaborations.

Mon 10/15/2007
S	T	O	I	C		N	E	A	R		C	O	A	T
H	O	N	D	A		U	R	G	E		O	A	T	H
E	A	T	I	N	G	C	R	O	W		I	S	E	E
A	D	O		C	U	L		G	R	A	N	T	E	E
			R	E	N	E	E		I	R	E
		T	A	L	K	I	N	G	T	U	R	K	E	Y
J	O	E	Y	S			C	O	E	N		A	R	E
E	R	T	E		C	A	R	T	S		I	S	I	N
E	A	R		T	O	N	Y			A	M	E	N	S
P	L	A	Y	I	N	G	P	O	S	S	U	M
			A	N	D		T	R	E	S	S
D	E	F	R	A	U	D		G	A	I		B	A	A
O	V	E	R		C	R	Y	I	N	G	W	O	L	F
C	A	T	O		T	I	M	E		N	O	R	M	A
K	N	E	W		S	P	A	S		S	W	E	A	R

Originally I had:

CRYING WOLF 10
TALKING TURKEY 13
PLAYING POSSUM 13
SITTING DUCK 10

Will pointed out that SITTING DUCK was a noun, whereas the other three were an action + noun. I thought I was doomed. Couldn't just drop it, had to find a matching 10 and not sure one even existed! Plus, I was used to having just three 15s. I found four themes daunting! When I came up with EATING CROW, I could have wept with happiness.

Mon 2/19/2007
H	U	T			A	T	M			A	M	B	I	T
O	P	A	L		B	R	E	R		T	E	A	M	O
M	L	I	I		B	O	D	E		M	A	D	A	M
B	O	N	D	J	A	M	E	S	B	O	N	D
R	A	T	S	O		P	A	I	L	S		R	B	I
E	D	S		D	R	E		D	O	T		E	A	R
			P	I	E		B	U	T		C	A	K	E
	H	O	M	E	S	W	E	E	T	H	O	M	E
R	E	V	S		T	I	E		E	O	N
E	R	E		S	A	L		A	R	M		A	D	E
P	E	R		A	T	L	A	S		E	S	S	E	X
		T	I	M	E	A	F	T	E	R	T	I	M	E
S	L	U	R	P		R	O	O	M		O	D	O	R
A	U	R	A	L		D	O	R	M		W	E	N	T
S	C	E	N	E			T	S	A			S	S	S

Back to simple three 13s. I thought it was fun to say BOND JAMES BOND even though normally you couldn't repeat a word in a puzzle. HOMESWEETHOME was a natural and TIME AFTER TIME fit perfectly. I wanted TIME AFTER TIME clued as a Cyndi Lauper song, again to get in something contemporary and women-oriented, but the clue was changed.

Wed 9/7/2005
A	N	G	E	S		S	C	R	O	D		C	O	T
D	A	R	I	A		P	I	A	N	O		R	F	K
A	R	E	N	A		O	T	T	E	R		U	F	O
P	R	E	S	B	Y	T	E	R	I	A	N	S
T	O	N			O	T	R	A			E	A	V	E
S	W	E	E	T	L	Y		C	R	A	W	D	A	D
			L	O	A		S	E	A	T		E	T	S
	B	R	I	T	N	E	Y	S	P	E	A	R	S
P	E	A		A	D	D	S		S	A	C
J	A	I	A	L	A	I		A	T	M	C	A	R	D
S	U	N	G			F	E	T	A			M	A	I
		B	E	S	T	I	N	P	R	A	Y	E	R	S
C	E	O		L	O	C	A	L		D	O	L	E	S
P	A	W		A	R	E	C	A		A	R	I	S	E
A	U	S		T	E	S	T	Y		M	E	A	T	S

I had read somewhere that BRITNEY SPEARS was an anagram for PRESBYTERIANS. I couldn't believe that! Plus PRESBYTERIANS anagrammed into BEST IN PRAYERS. All 13s, so this was a natural.

The only problem was, Will didn't think BRITNEY SPEARS would last if the puzzle were reprinted six years hence. I didn't care about that issue because I wanted something fresh. Plus it's a daily newspaper, why should I be concerned about shelf-life? And although I'd like my puzzles to stand the test of time, it only benefits the publishers, as they don't pay royalties, nor even supply the authors with a book, so my feeling is why should I knock myself out worrying who will/won't be known in 10 years time? It was not published for a long time ... and I would argue with Will that BRITNEY would be around for a long time, that all girls knew her, and young folks, etc. It was the beginning of my trying to champion puzzles with a more feminine-bent to the themes. Even though the older male editors and sports enthusiasts that abound might not be a BRITNEY fan, there were plenty of women (and gay men) who were.

In the meantime, I thought it hadn't been accepted as I heard nothing for years. So I created a similar one, with four themes, for Peter Gordon and the Sun. BRITNEYSPEARS/PRESBYTERIANS and PEPSICOLA/EPISCOPALS. She was the spokesperson for Pepsi so I thought that was also a stunning coincidence. Totally different puzzle, as I said, four themes, not three and I hadn't heard from the Times in a couple of years. Suddenly the Times puzzle was printed and someone on line (which was a new phenomenon in 2005) accused me of plagiarizing the theme! He didn't realize that it was the same person who had written both puzzles. I was mortified ... wasn't the first, nor the last time, someone online had been scathing without knowledge, but I was embarrassed. I think over a year went by before I published again.

Tue 9/21/2004
C	O	M	A		T	B	I	L	L		B	L	A	B
A	D	A	M		O	L	L	I	E		L	O	S	E
T	I	N	A	L	O	U	I	S	E		A	N	T	E
S	E	X		O	T	R	A			I	D	E	A	S
				B	O	B	D	E	N	V	E	R
B	O	O	H	O	O			R	I	I	S
E	L	I	A			C	E	A	S	E		B	A	A
G	I	L	L	I	G	A	N	S	I	S	L	A	N	D
S	O	Y		M	A	R	G	E			O	L	D	E
			M	A	R	T			P	A	N	D	A	S
		J	I	M	B	A	C	K	U	S
F	A	U	N	S			L	E	S	E		A	A	A
I	M	I	N		A	L	A	N	H	A	L	E	J	R
T	A	C	O		H	O	R	D	E		A	R	A	T
S	T	E	W		S	T	O	O	D		D	O	R	Y

At this point I was only making one a year, if that. I hadn't started thinking of myself as a constructor yet. Simply a solver who had ideas from time to time. But I loved coming up with themes, which TV Guide didn't care about. GILLIGANSISLAND was a perfect 15 across and I started putting in character names and some of the actors real names. Will said "All character names or all real names, no mixing. Again, I was flabbergasted by the synchronicity of FOUR of the actors having complementary lengths! TINALOUISE/ALANHALEJR (The Jr was a slight fudge, but that IS how he's credited) JIMBACKUS/BOBDENVER. I felt bad about having to leave out the Professor and Mary Ann (not to mention Mrs. Howell) but even on the show the first few years they were just "And the rest..."!

This was my first experience of having five theme answers, as I used to think just in threes, preferably all 15s going straight across. Actually I still do!

Mon 7/21/2003
S	M	A	C	K		S	H	E	D		S	H	O	P
P	U	R	E	E		P	E	T	E		M	O	M	A
A	S	T	O	R		A	L	U	M		O	P	E	N
T	H	E	S	C	O	R	P	I	O	N	K	I	N	G
				H	E	E			T	O	Y
O	R	C	H	I	D		C	A	I	N		J	F	K
R	E	L	E	E		H	A	L	O		T	E	L	E
T	H	E	A	F	R	I	C	A	N	Q	U	E	E	N
H	A	F	T		E	L	H	I		U	N	P	E	N
O	B	S		D	A	L	E		Y	E	A	S	T	Y
			S	E	C			H	I	E
T	H	E	L	I	T	T	L	E	P	R	I	N	C	E
H	U	L	A		I	R	A	S		E	V	I	A	N
I	S	I	S		N	E	W	S		S	O	C	K	O
S	H	A	H		G	E	N	E		T	R	E	Y	S

My second puzzle I call "Royal Titles". I always give my puzzles titles and wish the daily puzzles would have them. That way the punchline could be in the title instead of the grid. I name things for a living and always feels like a name elevates anything to a whole 'nother level. Plus it's easier to keep track of!

I had three titles that had KING, QUEEN, PRINCE in them. Plus they were all 15s, all had THE something (Royal). Very synchronicitous. My first submission, however, THE AFRICANQUEEN was on top, as it was easier to have the Q higher up, beginning a word, rather than in the middle.

Will wrote back and said he'd like it KING, QUEEN, PRINCE or PRINCE, QUEEN, KING or not at all. My first experience of having to rewrite from scratch. He was right. Much better.

That Q may have implanted the idea of using all the letters of the alphabet. I never "force" a pangram, but I do like to have one whenever possible. Will doesn't care one way or the other. Others inexplicably rage against them, but to me they are fun, creative, echo my love for Scrabble and add an extra dollop to the construction whether the solvers notice or not.

Usually I'm just one or two letters short of one. I'd have to go back and check to see if this was one. But the amazing thing about Xwordinfo, just ONE of the quietly amazing things, is that it notes pangrams as well as what letters are not in the grid. (The above paragraph is a pangram, by the way!)

Mon 6/12/2000
E	G	A	D	S		S	A	L	S		S	E	P	T
L	O	G	I	C		T	A	U	T		T	A	R	A
E	A	R	T	H	Q	U	A	K	E		I	T	I	S
C	L	O	S	E	U	P		E	M	B	L	E	M	S
				D	O	O	R			E	T	N	A
B	E	T	A		D	R	I	V	E	R	S
A	L	I	B	I			P	I	N	E		G	A	S
S	A	N	A	N	D	R	E	A	S	F	A	U	L	T
S	L	Y		C	A	I	N			T	H	Y	M	E
			S	U	N	B	E	L	T		A	S	A	P
	S	L	O	B			D	A	H	S
A	M	E	R	I	C	A		C	O	A	C	H	E	S
L	I	M	B		A	F	T	E	R	S	H	O	C	K
A	L	O	E		B	R	E	R		H	A	N	O	I
S	E	N	T		S	O	N	S		A	N	E	N	T

My first NY Times puzzle. I had been making them for TV Guide for years. Don't know what specifically prompted me to submit to Will, though we knew each other from the early 80s through Games Magazine where I did a lot of word game puzzles. I was an avid solver and then had an idea for one for the Times. This remains my favorite puzzle, though it didn't turn out in print (or on computer) as I hoped.

The idea was simple: EARTHQUAKE, SANANDREASFAULT, AFTERSHOCK I asked Will if there was a way to put a "tear" through the middle of the puzzle so that it would look like an earthquake had ruptured the puzzle. I envisioned it being torn down half way through. He ingeniously nudged up a few squares 1/3 of the way, the next few rows down a bit and the last ones up again. Problem was, unsolved in the paper it looked like something was amiss so folks didn't solve it, as though there was a printing problem. Years later when reprinted in books the computer printed it without the squares going up and down, just a regular grid, so all the cleverness was lost. Just three themes 10, 15, 10.

But I loved that AFTERSHOCK was below. And the whole impetus for SANANDREASFAULT is that a) I live in California and b) TV Guide never gave us bylines so I thought I'd sneak my name smack dab in the middle of the puzzle! (I later did those secret shoutouts with ACME or putting in a Beatles clue. In TV Guide, I put in "The Streets of ___ Francisco" whenever I could so friends would know it was one of my puzzles. As I said, we had no bylines and the Times had just started using them, under Will, but they were tiny, 1/4 size underneath the puzzle, so almost impossible to see.)

I still think this is an issue. Most people still think the puzzles are made by computer or by Will Shortz. And this was my first experience having a puzzle in a book with no residuals, no warning, not even a copy of the book! This has been a burning issue for me going on 15 years now, I'm almost at acceptance, but not fully!

I framed this puzzle, as it was my first, but it's ironic that there were computer issues with replicating it online more than a decade ago! On the other hand, it prompted a compliment from Manny Nosowsky, who recalled the puzzle and said he remembered it because it was literally thinking outside the box! It would be three years before I submitted another!

Andrea Carla Michaels author page

85 puzzles by Andrea Carla Michaels
with Constructor comments

O	S	C	A	R	S		C	E	R	A		M	I	C
F	L	O	R	E	T		L	O	U	D		O	O	H
F	R	E	I	D	A	P	I	N	T	O		O	N	E
				B	R	A	M			R	E	L	I	C
	R	A	M	A		U	B	E	R	B	L	A	C	K
G	O	V	I	R	A	L		C	A	S	K
O	B	E	R	O	N		D	I	S			M	A	E
A	I	R	O	N	T	H	E	G	S	T	R	I	N	G
T	N	T			M	O	W		L	E	A	N	T	O
			A	G	A	R		S	E	A	B	E	E	S
R	O	Y	A	L	N	A	V	Y		H	E	R	D
I	D	A	H	O			I	N	F	O
V	O	W		B	E	A	N	C	O	U	N	T	E	R
A	R	E		E	M	M	Y		U	S	A	R	M	Y
L	S	D		S	O	I	L		R	E	P	U	T	E

D	O	M	E	S		Z	I	P	S		S	L	I	M
O	Z	O	N	E		O	B	O	E		P	A	P	A
J	A	S	O	N	M	O	M	O	A		A	S	A	P
O	R	A		D	I	M		F	L	A	R	E
S	K	I	T		L	I	V		E	N	T	R	E	E
		C	H	A	N	N	I	N	G	T	A	T	U	M
			O	L	E		T	U	S	H		A	R	T
B	Y	G	U	M		M	R	T		E	G	G	O	S
O	A	R		A	C	A	I		I	M	O
D	W	A	Y	N	E	J	O	H	N	S	O	N
E	N	D	E	A	R		L	A	D		D	O	R	M
		U	N	C	A	P		Z	I	T		N	I	A
F	L	A	T		M	O	V	I	E	B	U	F	F	S
D	A	T	A		I	S	E	E		S	T	A	L	K
A	X	E	S		C	H	E	R		P	E	T	E	S

F	O	R	M		A	R	T	S		A	D	A	P	T
A	R	I	A		P	O	R	T		C	A	R	R	Y
T	A	L	K	A	B	L	U	E	S	T	R	E	A	K
S	L	E	E	T		L	E	N	A		K	A	Y	E
			M	O	A	B		C	R	A	M
		T	E	L	L	A	W	H	I	T	E	L	I	E
A	G	O		L	E	C	H			M	A	Y	O	R
J	A	M	B		S	K	O	A	L		T	I	T	O
A	L	E	U	T			S	L	I	P		N	A	S
R	A	I	S	E	A	R	E	D	F	L	A	G
			Y	A	L	E		E	T	A	L
B	R	E	W		E	V	E	R		I	O	W	A	N
C	O	L	O	R	C	O	M	M	E	N	T	A	R	Y
C	A	M	R	Y		I	M	A	X		O	N	C	E
S	M	O	K	E		R	A	N	T		F	E	S	T

S	T	A	R		C	R	O	P			C	I	A	O
L	U	K	E		L	A	V	A		G	H	O	S	T
A	B	I	T		O	M	A	R		O	I	N	K	S
V	E	N	U	S	W	I	L	L	I	A	M	S
			R	A	N			O	L	D	E
	K	I	N	G	C	H	A	R	L	E	S	I	I	I
T	A	C		S	A	U	L			D	I	D	N	T
W	H	E	E		R	E	I	N	S		N	A	T	E
A	L	I	V	E			S	E	E	M		H	E	M
S	O	N	I	A	S	O	T	O	M	A	Y	O	R
			L	S	A	T			I	R	E
		S	E	E	Y	O	U	I	N	C	O	U	R	T
V	I	N	Y	L		O	S	H	A		M	R	I	S
C	R	I	E	S		L	E	A	R		E	G	G	O
R	A	P	S			E	D	D	Y		N	E	S	S

Z	O	O		D	A	W	N	S		D	E	C	O	R
E	M	U		E	M	A	I	L		I	V	O	R	Y
T	A	T		M	Y	S	T	I	C	P	I	Z	Z	A
A	R	O	M	A			E	G	O		L	Y	O	N
		F	I	N	A	L		H	E	F	T
B	R	O	A	D	C	A	S	T	N	E	W	S
O	A	R		S	H	I	A			W	I	N	G	S
R	I	D	S		E	R	U	P	T		N	O	L	O
E	L	E	C	T			N	O	T	E		W	I	N
		R	O	S	E	M	A	R	Y	S	B	A	B	Y
			R	A	R	E		E	L	T	O	N
A	S	A	P		I	T	D			E	G	G	O	S
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	A	N	C	E		E	R	E
D	E	F	O	E		I	D	I	O	M		L	A	X
S	P	A	N	X		C	A	L	M	S		S	L	Y

A	S	K	E	W		S	S	N			C	O	L	D
S	P	I	R	E		A	T	E		B	Y	L	A	W
S	A	C	R	E	D	C	O	W		A	N	D	R	E
A	R	K	S		A	H	I		G	R	I	E	V	E
Y	E	S		C	R	A	C	K	E	D	C	R	A	B
		B	L	O	T			E	L	S
P	L	A	I	N		T	H	A	I		P	L	I	E
B	A	C	K	G	R	O	U	N	D	C	H	E	C	K
J	O	K	E		E	T	T	U		A	I	M	E	E
				P	I	E			O	S	L	O
J	A	C	K	A	N	D	C	O	K	E		N	A	P
A	L	T	E	R	S		O	U	I		A	S	T	O
P	E	R	S	E		A	C	T	E	D	C	O	O	L
A	X	L	E	S		P	O	E		O	D	D	L	Y
N	A	V	Y			E	A	R		S	C	A	L	P

A	T	L	A	S			A	L	A			T	O	M
P	H	O	N	E		I	R	A	S		D	O	P	E
P	E	N	N	E		C	A	S	H	B	O	N	U	S
L	I	E	U		D	E	B	T		I	W	I	S	H
E	R	R	A	T	I	C		M	E	A	N
			L	I	A	R		A	T	S	T	A	K	E
S	H	A	P	E		E	O	N	S		O	V	I	D
P	A	T	H	S		A	D	O		H	A	I	T	I
A	R	M	Y		O	M	E	N		A	S	S	E	T
M	E	S	S	U	P	S		E	P	I	C
			I	S	T	O		A	R	R	I	V	E	S
A	L	I	C	E		C	A	R	E		E	A	V	E
C	O	N	A	R	T	I	S	T		A	N	N	E	X
E	V	I	L		B	A	T	H		S	C	E	N	T
S	E	T			A	L	I			P	E	S	T	S

A	N	T	I		S	I	Z	E		R	A	N	D	Y
L	O	O	M		A	C	E	R		O	L	I	V	E
S	A	N	D		L	A	T	E	C	O	M	E	R	S
O	H	I	O	W	A	L	A	B	A	M	A
			W	E	D			U	S	B		A	B	U
M	A	I	N	E	B	R	A	S	K	A	N	S	A	S
O	R	D		P	A	I	L			S	U	T	R	A
T	I	C	K		R	O	P	E	S		B	E	A	U
I	S	A	I	D			H	I	T	S		R	C	S
V	E	R	M	O	N	T	A	N	A	L	A	S	K	A
E	N	D		G	E	E			R	O	W
			T	R	I	S	T	A	T	E	A	R	E	A
T	O	M	C	O	L	L	I	N	S		R	O	M	P
S	W	A	B	S		A	L	T	O		D	O	M	E
O	N	R	Y	E		S	E	E	N		S	T	Y	X

P	A	C	K		T	I	E	D	U	P		W	A	S
A	L	A	I		A	R	L	E	N	E		I	C	E
S	I	P	S		O	K	E	F	E	N	O	K	E	E
T	E	R	S	E			N	E	A		O	I	L	Y
A	N	I	M	A	N	I	A	C	S		M	P	A	A
			E	T	A	L		T	E	M	P	E
P	C	S			V	E	T			R	A	D	I	I
T	H	I	R	T	Y	S	O	M	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	I	T	A	R			M	E	N			A	K	A
		U	N	I	T	S		A	D	A	M
P	E	A	K		W	O	R	D	S	W	O	R	T	H
A	C	T	I		O	L	E			S	P	O	R	E
C	H	I	N	C	H	I	L	L	A		I	D	E	A
T	O	O		D	I	D	I	O	N		N	E	E	D
S	S	N		C	T	S	C	A	N		G	O	D	S

A	B	B	O	T		M	O	N	T	E		C	O	B
S	A	U	N	A		B	R	O	O	M		L	I	E
L	A	B	O	R	D	A	Y	W	E	E	K	E	N	D
				G	A	S	X			R	O	O	K	S
	C	A	P	E	S			I	A	G	O
P	U	S	H	T	H	E	E	N	V	E	L	O	P	E
A	R	T	I	E		D	A	L	I		S	P	A	M
C	A	R		D	I	G	R	E	S	S		E	N	O
E	T	A	S		B	E	L	T		O	W	N	I	T
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	Y	S	E	R	V	I	C	E
			D	O	T	S			L	E	A	N	S
C	H	I	L	I			G	L	E	E
H	E	R	E	C	O	M	E	S	M	Y	B	A	B	Y
A	R	K		E	N	O	L	A		E	A	G	L	E
P	B	S		D	E	I	S	T		S	H	O	T	S

O	S	C	A	R	S		C	E	R	A		M	I	C
F	L	O	R	E	T		L	O	U	D		O	O	H
F	R	E	I	D	A	P	I	N	T	O		O	N	E
				B	R	A	M			R	E	L	I	C
	R	A	M	A		U	B	E	R	B	L	A	C	K
G	O	V	I	R	A	L		C	A	S	K
O	B	E	R	O	N		D	I	S			M	A	E
A	I	R	O	N	T	H	E	G	S	T	R	I	N	G
T	N	T			M	O	W		L	E	A	N	T	O
			A	G	A	R		S	E	A	B	E	E	S
R	O	Y	A	L	N	A	V	Y		H	E	R	D
I	D	A	H	O			I	N	F	O
V	O	W		B	E	A	N	C	O	U	N	T	E	R
A	R	E		E	M	M	Y		U	S	A	R	M	Y
L	S	D		S	O	I	L		R	E	P	U	T	E

D	O	M	E	S		Z	I	P	S		S	L	I	M
O	Z	O	N	E		O	B	O	E		P	A	P	A
J	A	S	O	N	M	O	M	O	A		A	S	A	P
O	R	A		D	I	M		F	L	A	R	E
S	K	I	T		L	I	V		E	N	T	R	E	E
		C	H	A	N	N	I	N	G	T	A	T	U	M
			O	L	E		T	U	S	H		A	R	T
B	Y	G	U	M		M	R	T		E	G	G	O	S
O	A	R		A	C	A	I		I	M	O
D	W	A	Y	N	E	J	O	H	N	S	O	N
E	N	D	E	A	R		L	A	D		D	O	R	M
		U	N	C	A	P		Z	I	T		N	I	A
F	L	A	T		M	O	V	I	E	B	U	F	F	S
D	A	T	A		I	S	E	E		S	T	A	L	K
A	X	E	S		C	H	E	R		P	E	T	E	S

F	O	R	M		A	R	T	S		A	D	A	P	T
A	R	I	A		P	O	R	T		C	A	R	R	Y
T	A	L	K	A	B	L	U	E	S	T	R	E	A	K
S	L	E	E	T		L	E	N	A		K	A	Y	E
			M	O	A	B		C	R	A	M
		T	E	L	L	A	W	H	I	T	E	L	I	E
A	G	O		L	E	C	H			M	A	Y	O	R
J	A	M	B		S	K	O	A	L		T	I	T	O
A	L	E	U	T			S	L	I	P		N	A	S
R	A	I	S	E	A	R	E	D	F	L	A	G
			Y	A	L	E		E	T	A	L
B	R	E	W		E	V	E	R		I	O	W	A	N
C	O	L	O	R	C	O	M	M	E	N	T	A	R	Y
C	A	M	R	Y		I	M	A	X		O	N	C	E
S	M	O	K	E		R	A	N	T		F	E	S	T

S	T	A	R		C	R	O	P			C	I	A	O
L	U	K	E		L	A	V	A		G	H	O	S	T
A	B	I	T		O	M	A	R		O	I	N	K	S
V	E	N	U	S	W	I	L	L	I	A	M	S
			R	A	N			O	L	D	E
	K	I	N	G	C	H	A	R	L	E	S	I	I	I
T	A	C		S	A	U	L			D	I	D	N	T
W	H	E	E		R	E	I	N	S		N	A	T	E
A	L	I	V	E			S	E	E	M		H	E	M
S	O	N	I	A	S	O	T	O	M	A	Y	O	R
			L	S	A	T			I	R	E
		S	E	E	Y	O	U	I	N	C	O	U	R	T
V	I	N	Y	L		O	S	H	A		M	R	I	S
C	R	I	E	S		L	E	A	R		E	G	G	O
R	A	P	S			E	D	D	Y		N	E	S	S

Z	O	O		D	A	W	N	S		D	E	C	O	R
E	M	U		E	M	A	I	L		I	V	O	R	Y
T	A	T		M	Y	S	T	I	C	P	I	Z	Z	A
A	R	O	M	A			E	G	O		L	Y	O	N
		F	I	N	A	L		H	E	F	T
B	R	O	A	D	C	A	S	T	N	E	W	S
O	A	R		S	H	I	A			W	I	N	G	S
R	I	D	S		E	R	U	P	T		N	O	L	O
E	L	E	C	T			N	O	T	E		W	I	N
		R	O	S	E	M	A	R	Y	S	B	A	B	Y
			R	A	R	E		E	L	T	O	N
A	S	A	P		I	T	D			E	G	G	O	S
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	A	N	C	E		E	R	E
D	E	F	O	E		I	D	I	O	M		L	A	X
S	P	A	N	X		C	A	L	M	S		S	L	Y

A	S	K	E	W		S	S	N			C	O	L	D
S	P	I	R	E		A	T	E		B	Y	L	A	W
S	A	C	R	E	D	C	O	W		A	N	D	R	E
A	R	K	S		A	H	I		G	R	I	E	V	E
Y	E	S		C	R	A	C	K	E	D	C	R	A	B
		B	L	O	T			E	L	S
P	L	A	I	N		T	H	A	I		P	L	I	E
B	A	C	K	G	R	O	U	N	D	C	H	E	C	K
J	O	K	E		E	T	T	U		A	I	M	E	E
				P	I	E			O	S	L	O
J	A	C	K	A	N	D	C	O	K	E		N	A	P
A	L	T	E	R	S		O	U	I		A	S	T	O
P	E	R	S	E		A	C	T	E	D	C	O	O	L
A	X	L	E	S		P	O	E		O	D	D	L	Y
N	A	V	Y			E	A	R		S	C	A	L	P

A	T	L	A	S			A	L	A			T	O	M
P	H	O	N	E		I	R	A	S		D	O	P	E
P	E	N	N	E		C	A	S	H	B	O	N	U	S
L	I	E	U		D	E	B	T		I	W	I	S	H
E	R	R	A	T	I	C		M	E	A	N
			L	I	A	R		A	T	S	T	A	K	E
S	H	A	P	E		E	O	N	S		O	V	I	D
P	A	T	H	S		A	D	O		H	A	I	T	I
A	R	M	Y		O	M	E	N		A	S	S	E	T
M	E	S	S	U	P	S		E	P	I	C
			I	S	T	O		A	R	R	I	V	E	S
A	L	I	C	E		C	A	R	E		E	A	V	E
C	O	N	A	R	T	I	S	T		A	N	N	E	X
E	V	I	L		B	A	T	H		S	C	E	N	T
S	E	T			A	L	I			P	E	S	T	S

A	N	T	I		S	I	Z	E		R	A	N	D	Y
L	O	O	M		A	C	E	R		O	L	I	V	E
S	A	N	D		L	A	T	E	C	O	M	E	R	S
O	H	I	O	W	A	L	A	B	A	M	A
			W	E	D			U	S	B		A	B	U
M	A	I	N	E	B	R	A	S	K	A	N	S	A	S
O	R	D		P	A	I	L			S	U	T	R	A
T	I	C	K		R	O	P	E	S		B	E	A	U
I	S	A	I	D			H	I	T	S		R	C	S
V	E	R	M	O	N	T	A	N	A	L	A	S	K	A
E	N	D		G	E	E			R	O	W
			T	R	I	S	T	A	T	E	A	R	E	A
T	O	M	C	O	L	L	I	N	S		R	O	M	P
S	W	A	B	S		A	L	T	O		D	O	M	E
O	N	R	Y	E		S	E	E	N		S	T	Y	X

P	A	C	K		T	I	E	D	U	P		W	A	S
A	L	A	I		A	R	L	E	N	E		I	C	E
S	I	P	S		O	K	E	F	E	N	O	K	E	E
T	E	R	S	E			N	E	A		O	I	L	Y
A	N	I	M	A	N	I	A	C	S		M	P	A	A
			E	T	A	L		T	E	M	P	E
P	C	S			V	E	T			R	A	D	I	I
T	H	I	R	T	Y	S	O	M	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	I	T	A	R			M	E	N			A	K	A
		U	N	I	T	S		A	D	A	M
P	E	A	K		W	O	R	D	S	W	O	R	T	H
A	C	T	I		O	L	E			S	P	O	R	E
C	H	I	N	C	H	I	L	L	A		I	D	E	A
T	O	O		D	I	D	I	O	N		N	E	E	D
S	S	N		C	T	S	C	A	N		G	O	D	S

A	B	B	O	T		M	O	N	T	E		C	O	B
S	A	U	N	A		B	R	O	O	M		L	I	E
L	A	B	O	R	D	A	Y	W	E	E	K	E	N	D
				G	A	S	X			R	O	O	K	S
	C	A	P	E	S			I	A	G	O
P	U	S	H	T	H	E	E	N	V	E	L	O	P	E
A	R	T	I	E		D	A	L	I		S	P	A	M
C	A	R		D	I	G	R	E	S	S		E	N	O
E	T	A	S		B	E	L	T		O	W	N	I	T
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	Y	S	E	R	V	I	C	E
			D	O	T	S			L	E	A	N	S
C	H	I	L	I			G	L	E	E
H	E	R	E	C	O	M	E	S	M	Y	B	A	B	Y
A	R	K		E	N	O	L	A		E	A	G	L	E
P	B	S		D	E	I	S	T		S	H	O	T	S

Andrea Carla Michaels author page

85 puzzles by Andrea Carla Michaels with Constructor comments

85 puzzles by Andrea Carla Michaels
with Constructor comments

O	S	C	A	R	S		C	E	R	A		M	I	C
F	L	O	R	E	T		L	O	U	D		O	O	H
F	R	E	I	D	A	P	I	N	T	O		O	N	E
				B	R	A	M			R	E	L	I	C
	R	A	M	A		U	B	E	R	B	L	A	C	K
G	O	V	I	R	A	L		C	A	S	K
O	B	E	R	O	N		D	I	S			M	A	E
A	I	R	O	N	T	H	E	G	S	T	R	I	N	G
T	N	T			M	O	W		L	E	A	N	T	O
			A	G	A	R		S	E	A	B	E	E	S
R	O	Y	A	L	N	A	V	Y		H	E	R	D
I	D	A	H	O			I	N	F	O
V	O	W		B	E	A	N	C	O	U	N	T	E	R
A	R	E		E	M	M	Y		U	S	A	R	M	Y
L	S	D		S	O	I	L		R	E	P	U	T	E

D	O	M	E	S		Z	I	P	S		S	L	I	M
O	Z	O	N	E		O	B	O	E		P	A	P	A
J	A	S	O	N	M	O	M	O	A		A	S	A	P
O	R	A		D	I	M		F	L	A	R	E
S	K	I	T		L	I	V		E	N	T	R	E	E
		C	H	A	N	N	I	N	G	T	A	T	U	M
			O	L	E		T	U	S	H		A	R	T
B	Y	G	U	M		M	R	T		E	G	G	O	S
O	A	R		A	C	A	I		I	M	O
D	W	A	Y	N	E	J	O	H	N	S	O	N
E	N	D	E	A	R		L	A	D		D	O	R	M
		U	N	C	A	P		Z	I	T		N	I	A
F	L	A	T		M	O	V	I	E	B	U	F	F	S
D	A	T	A		I	S	E	E		S	T	A	L	K
A	X	E	S		C	H	E	R		P	E	T	E	S

F	O	R	M		A	R	T	S		A	D	A	P	T
A	R	I	A		P	O	R	T		C	A	R	R	Y
T	A	L	K	A	B	L	U	E	S	T	R	E	A	K
S	L	E	E	T		L	E	N	A		K	A	Y	E
			M	O	A	B		C	R	A	M
		T	E	L	L	A	W	H	I	T	E	L	I	E
A	G	O		L	E	C	H			M	A	Y	O	R
J	A	M	B		S	K	O	A	L		T	I	T	O
A	L	E	U	T			S	L	I	P		N	A	S
R	A	I	S	E	A	R	E	D	F	L	A	G
			Y	A	L	E		E	T	A	L
B	R	E	W		E	V	E	R		I	O	W	A	N
C	O	L	O	R	C	O	M	M	E	N	T	A	R	Y
C	A	M	R	Y		I	M	A	X		O	N	C	E
S	M	O	K	E		R	A	N	T		F	E	S	T

S	T	A	R		C	R	O	P			C	I	A	O
L	U	K	E		L	A	V	A		G	H	O	S	T
A	B	I	T		O	M	A	R		O	I	N	K	S
V	E	N	U	S	W	I	L	L	I	A	M	S
			R	A	N			O	L	D	E
	K	I	N	G	C	H	A	R	L	E	S	I	I	I
T	A	C		S	A	U	L			D	I	D	N	T
W	H	E	E		R	E	I	N	S		N	A	T	E
A	L	I	V	E			S	E	E	M		H	E	M
S	O	N	I	A	S	O	T	O	M	A	Y	O	R
			L	S	A	T			I	R	E
		S	E	E	Y	O	U	I	N	C	O	U	R	T
V	I	N	Y	L		O	S	H	A		M	R	I	S
C	R	I	E	S		L	E	A	R		E	G	G	O
R	A	P	S			E	D	D	Y		N	E	S	S

Z	O	O		D	A	W	N	S		D	E	C	O	R
E	M	U		E	M	A	I	L		I	V	O	R	Y
T	A	T		M	Y	S	T	I	C	P	I	Z	Z	A
A	R	O	M	A			E	G	O		L	Y	O	N
		F	I	N	A	L		H	E	F	T
B	R	O	A	D	C	A	S	T	N	E	W	S
O	A	R		S	H	I	A			W	I	N	G	S
R	I	D	S		E	R	U	P	T		N	O	L	O
E	L	E	C	T			N	O	T	E		W	I	N
		R	O	S	E	M	A	R	Y	S	B	A	B	Y
			R	A	R	E		E	L	T	O	N
A	S	A	P		I	T	D			E	G	G	O	S
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	A	N	C	E		E	R	E
D	E	F	O	E		I	D	I	O	M		L	A	X
S	P	A	N	X		C	A	L	M	S		S	L	Y

A	S	K	E	W		S	S	N			C	O	L	D
S	P	I	R	E		A	T	E		B	Y	L	A	W
S	A	C	R	E	D	C	O	W		A	N	D	R	E
A	R	K	S		A	H	I		G	R	I	E	V	E
Y	E	S		C	R	A	C	K	E	D	C	R	A	B
		B	L	O	T			E	L	S
P	L	A	I	N		T	H	A	I		P	L	I	E
B	A	C	K	G	R	O	U	N	D	C	H	E	C	K
J	O	K	E		E	T	T	U		A	I	M	E	E
				P	I	E			O	S	L	O
J	A	C	K	A	N	D	C	O	K	E		N	A	P
A	L	T	E	R	S		O	U	I		A	S	T	O
P	E	R	S	E		A	C	T	E	D	C	O	O	L
A	X	L	E	S		P	O	E		O	D	D	L	Y
N	A	V	Y			E	A	R		S	C	A	L	P

A	T	L	A	S			A	L	A			T	O	M
P	H	O	N	E		I	R	A	S		D	O	P	E
P	E	N	N	E		C	A	S	H	B	O	N	U	S
L	I	E	U		D	E	B	T		I	W	I	S	H
E	R	R	A	T	I	C		M	E	A	N
			L	I	A	R		A	T	S	T	A	K	E
S	H	A	P	E		E	O	N	S		O	V	I	D
P	A	T	H	S		A	D	O		H	A	I	T	I
A	R	M	Y		O	M	E	N		A	S	S	E	T
M	E	S	S	U	P	S		E	P	I	C
			I	S	T	O		A	R	R	I	V	E	S
A	L	I	C	E		C	A	R	E		E	A	V	E
C	O	N	A	R	T	I	S	T		A	N	N	E	X
E	V	I	L		B	A	T	H		S	C	E	N	T
S	E	T			A	L	I			P	E	S	T	S

A	N	T	I		S	I	Z	E		R	A	N	D	Y
L	O	O	M		A	C	E	R		O	L	I	V	E
S	A	N	D		L	A	T	E	C	O	M	E	R	S
O	H	I	O	W	A	L	A	B	A	M	A
			W	E	D			U	S	B		A	B	U
M	A	I	N	E	B	R	A	S	K	A	N	S	A	S
O	R	D		P	A	I	L			S	U	T	R	A
T	I	C	K		R	O	P	E	S		B	E	A	U
I	S	A	I	D			H	I	T	S		R	C	S
V	E	R	M	O	N	T	A	N	A	L	A	S	K	A
E	N	D		G	E	E			R	O	W
			T	R	I	S	T	A	T	E	A	R	E	A
T	O	M	C	O	L	L	I	N	S		R	O	M	P
S	W	A	B	S		A	L	T	O		D	O	M	E
O	N	R	Y	E		S	E	E	N		S	T	Y	X

P	A	C	K		T	I	E	D	U	P		W	A	S
A	L	A	I		A	R	L	E	N	E		I	C	E
S	I	P	S		O	K	E	F	E	N	O	K	E	E
T	E	R	S	E			N	E	A		O	I	L	Y
A	N	I	M	A	N	I	A	C	S		M	P	A	A
			E	T	A	L		T	E	M	P	E
P	C	S			V	E	T			R	A	D	I	I
T	H	I	R	T	Y	S	O	M	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	I	T	A	R			M	E	N			A	K	A
		U	N	I	T	S		A	D	A	M
P	E	A	K		W	O	R	D	S	W	O	R	T	H
A	C	T	I		O	L	E			S	P	O	R	E
C	H	I	N	C	H	I	L	L	A		I	D	E	A
T	O	O		D	I	D	I	O	N		N	E	E	D
S	S	N		C	T	S	C	A	N		G	O	D	S

A	B	B	O	T		M	O	N	T	E		C	O	B
S	A	U	N	A		B	R	O	O	M		L	I	E
L	A	B	O	R	D	A	Y	W	E	E	K	E	N	D
				G	A	S	X			R	O	O	K	S
	C	A	P	E	S			I	A	G	O
P	U	S	H	T	H	E	E	N	V	E	L	O	P	E
A	R	T	I	E		D	A	L	I		S	P	A	M
C	A	R		D	I	G	R	E	S	S		E	N	O
E	T	A	S		B	E	L	T		O	W	N	I	T
D	E	L	I	V	E	R	Y	S	E	R	V	I	C	E
			D	O	T	S			L	E	A	N	S
C	H	I	L	I			G	L	E	E
H	E	R	E	C	O	M	E	S	M	Y	B	A	B	Y
A	R	K		E	N	O	L	A		E	A	G	L	E
P	B	S		D	E	I	S	T		S	H	O	T	S