Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
5 | 11/23/2009 | 10/11/2021 | 1 |
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Circle | Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
2 | 1.58 | 27 | 44% |
Mon 10/11/2021
C | O | N | C | H | | S | A | M | | C | L | O | U | T |
A | K | I | R | A | | T | I | O | | H | E | N | N | A |
T | A | K | E | I | T | O | R | L | E | A | V | E | I | T |
E | Y | E | D | R | O | P | | E | N | L | I | S | T | |
| | | | T | O | G | A | | G | E | N | | | |
L | O | V | E | I | T | O | R | H | A | T | E | I | T | |
A | N | I | S | E | | | T | A | G | S | | C | U | E |
L | E | D | E | | T | A | B | L | E | | B | A | L | M |
A | P | E | | N | O | N | O | | | F | A | R | S | I |
| M | O | V | E | I | T | O | R | L | O | S | E | I | T |
| | | O | W | L | | K | E | E | L | | | | |
| B | O | W | S | E | R | | D | A | D | B | O | D | S |
M | A | K | E | I | T | O | R | B | R | E | A | K | I | T |
E | A | R | L | E | | W | O | O | | R | H | I | N | E |
G | L | A | S | S | | S | E | X | | S | T | E | E | P |
I'm jazzed to return to the pages of the Times after *nine* years away. A lot can change in nine years. Back in 2012, I was a high school senior who wrote puzzles in between homework assignments and college applications. Today, I'm a 26-year-old software developer who writes puzzles while waiting for code to build ...
Like me, crosswords have also grown up in the past decade. More kinds of people make and enjoy crosswords than ever before, there has been an explosion of indie crossword content, and the subject matter of the puzzles themselves has gotten better at keeping in lockstep with today's culture. It's an honor to make my contribution to this new and improved era of crosswords.
Today's puzzle's journey began when I was brainstorming straightforward Monday themes to flex my constructing muscles. My mind wandered to one of the puzzle's seed phrases and I wrote down as many as I could that followed the pattern. I'm never satisfied with a theme if it's too broad — my rule is that if I can think of 50% more candidate theme entries than I need, I probably need to narrow it a bit or add an extra hook.
To my surprise, there were not a ton of ___ IT OR ___ IT phrases. From there, it came down to eliminating duplicate words and finding matching pairs. I especially appreciated that while the phrase structure is pretty rigid, I was able to write clues that don't feel formulaic and show each theme entry in its own light.
Thu 9/6/2012
A | C | T | E | D | | V | E | G | | | R | E | A | M | S |
H | I | R | E | S | | A | L | I | E | | A | B | B | I | E |
A | V | A | N | T | | P | I | Z | Z | A | J | O | I | N | T |
B | I | D | | | R | O | T | A | R | Y |
| L | E | I | S | U | R | E | | A | R | A | N | T | X | A |
B | U | N | T | S | | | A | P | E | S | | | | |
E | N | S | U | E | S | | S | O | S | | I | B | M |
L | I | E | N | | O | A | H | U | | B | A | R | I |
L | O | C | K | | T | E | E | N | | A | M | E | N |
A | N | T | | P | O | R | | D | A | B | S | A | T |
| | | | A | H | S | O | | | B | E | A | K | S |
E | G | O | T | R | I | P | | G | O | E | S | M | A | D | |
S | P | L | I | T | S | E | C | O | N | D | | | P | A | W |
H | A | I | R | S | | A | D | A | N | O |
S | A | E | N | S | | K | N | E | E | | M | A | R | C | O |
E | S | S | A | Y | | | E | S | T | | I | N | T | E | L |
Sun 7/10/2011 BODY ENHANCEMENT
H | O | L | L | O | W | | | C | L | O | D | | A | T | T | A | I | N | E | D |
E | R | O | I | C | A | | F | R | O | D | O | | M | O | I | S | T | U | R | E |
C | O | U | N | T | S | N | O | I | S | E | S | | A | N | T | I | E | T | A | M |
| | S | E | A | H | O | R | S | E | | | U | T | I | L | S | | C | S | I |
C | O | I | N | | L | I | M | P | S | E | R | V | I | C | E | | F | R | E | T |
R | U | N | S | T | O | | | | I | S | E | E | | | D | O | R | A | | |
E | N | G | | R | A | B | B | I | T | P | E | A | R | S | | P | A | C | E | S |
E | C | U | | I | D | E | A | S | | | | | E | A | S | E | | K | E | A |
P | E | P | S | | | C | H | I | C | K | E | N | F | L | I | N | G | E | R | S |
| | | W | O | R | K | S | | H | O | N | E | S | | D | E | A | R | I | E |
S | O | M | E | D | A | Y | | D | I | V | O | T | | G | E | N | U | S | E | S |
E | V | A | D | E | D | | S | A | L | I | C | | L | E | A | D | S | | | |
T | A | K | E | S | O | N | T | H | E | C | H | A | I | N | | | S | F | P | D |
A | T | E | | S | N | E | E | | | | | G | R | E | T | A | | R | O | E |
T | E | S | L | A | | B | R | O | W | N | B | E | A | T | E | N | | E | R | I |
| | G | I | N | A | | | B | E | A | U | | | | A | S | S | E | T | S |
I | D | O | L | | F | A | C | E | T | P | O | W | D | E | R | | E | A | S | T |
R | O | O | | A | L | L | O | Y | | | Y | E | A | R | L | O | N | G | | |
I | N | D | I | C | A | T | E | | P | S | A | L | M | R | E | A | D | E | R | S |
S | H | O | W | E | R | E | D | | A | U | N | T | S | | S | H | I | N | E | S |
H | O | N | O | R | E | R | S | | L | E | T | S | | | S | U | N | T | A | N |
Sun 12/5/2010 ON A ROLL
Q | U | A | F | F | S | | | O | M | A | H | A | | S | A | P | P | I | E | R |
A | N | G | O | L | A | | A | S | E | V | E | R | | I | N | A | H | O | L | E |
T | E | R | R | O | R | | C | U | T | O | N | B | O | L | D | L | I | N | E | S |
A | V | E | | P | A | R | T | | E | N | S | | R | V | S | | L | I | M | E |
R | E | E | K | | J | E | S | T | S | | | O | N | E | O | F | | Z | E | N |
I | N | D | O | | E | B | O | N | | S | A | P | O | R | | I | D | E | N | T |
| | | I | N | V | E | N | T | | H | U | R | T | | E | X | I | S | T | S |
N | A | M | | A | O | L | | | B | O | N | A | | I | D | E | S | | | |
O | P | E | N | S | | S | H | A | D | E | T | H | E | C | I | R | C | L | E | S |
D | O | N | O | T | | | O | M | A | R | | | V | E | T | | O | L | L | A |
O | L | D | S | | S | E | P | O | Y | | B | O | O | T | S | | L | A | P | D |
F | L | E | E | | O | R | O | | | C | A | S | K | | | N | O | M | A | D |
F | O | L | D | A | L | O | N | G | D | A | S | H | E | S | | E | R | A | S | E |
| | | I | V | E | S | | L | I | N | K | | | A | G | O | | S | O | N |
P | E | E | V | E | S | | C | O | R | D | | O | O | L | O | N | G | | | |
R | U | L | E | R | | P | H | O | T | O | | O | N | T | O | | A | S | P | S |
E | R | E | | S | C | R | A | M | | | S | H | R | E | D | | G | E | L | T |
S | A | V | E | | A | I | R | | J | A | I | | U | R | N | S | | W | A | R |
U | S | E | T | A | P | E | O | N | E | D | G | E | S | | E | N | L | A | C | E |
M | I | N | U | T | E | S | | O | H | O | H | O | H | | S | I | E | G | E | S |
E | A | S | I | E | S | T | | B | U | S | T | S | | | S | P | E | E | D | S |
Mon 11/23/2009
R | A | J | | D | I | G | I | N | | A | B | B | E | Y |
O | N | O | | I | R | A | T | E | | Q | U | O | T | E |
P | O | I | | P | O | L | E | V | A | U | L | T | E | R |
E | D | N | A | | N | A | M | E | T | A | G | | | |
R | E | T | Y | P | E | S | | | O | S | I | R | I | S |
| | H | E | L | D | | M | A | N | | N | E | S | T |
T | H | E | S | E | | L | A | I | C | | G | A | T | E |
W | A | N | | B | E | A | T | L | E | S | | D | O | W |
E | L | A | L | | L | I | E | S | | T | R | I | O | S |
R | A | V | I | | T | R | Y | | N | E | O | N | | |
P | S | Y | C | H | O | | | D | A | M | A | G | E | D |
| | | E | A | R | P | L | U | G | | D | R | E | W |
A | G | E | N | T | O | R | A | N | G | E | | O | R | E |
W | O | R | S | E | | O | W | N | E | D | | O | I | L |
L | O | R | E | S | | S | N | O | R | T | | M | E | L |