Ben Tolkin author page
2 puzzles by Ben Tolkin
with Constructor comments
See the 13 answer words debuted by Ben Tolkin.
| T | A | T | A | B | O | K | E | H | ||||||
| H | U | M | A | N | P | Y | R | A | M | I | D | |||
| N | A | T | I | O | N | A | L | A | N | T | H | E | M | |
| O | O | Z | E | S | A | G | I | L | E | A | C | E | ||
| W | R | Y | E | S | T | I | N | S | S | T | A | R | ||
| L | U | I | S | A | C | N | E | A | I | S | L | E | ||
| E | S | P | P | R | O | G | A | N | G | |||||
| T | H | A | T | D | O | G | D | O | N | T | H | U | N | T |
| O | F | T | R | O | D | S | N | A | E | |||||
| R | E | S | T | S | B | F | F | S | A | M | P | S | ||
| I | S | L | E | W | A | R | O | C | C | U | L | T | ||
| N | S | A | M | A | T | E | O | L | U | T | E | S | ||
| D | A | Y | S | O | F | O | U | R | L | I | V | E | S | |
| Y | E | A | R | E | N | D | B | O | N | U | S | |||
| D | Y | E | R | S | S | I | T | E |
| S | O | I | G | A | T | H | E | R | E | D | ||||
| D | A | N | C | E | R | O | U | T | I | N | E | |||
| L | E | T | T | E | R | T | O | S | A | N | T | A | ||
| C | L | A | S | H | B | I | L | K | G | I | L | |||
| T | H | O | R | E | P | I | C | S | T | I | R | E | ||
| H | E | Y | D | R | O | L | L | Z | O | N | E | R | ||
| R | E | D | W | O | O | D | E | A | S | T | ||||
| U | R | S | U | L | A | U | N | E | A | S | E | |||
| R | E | D | O | S | T | A | M | M | E | R | ||||
| D | R | E | S | S | U | P | T | O | P | B | A | G | ||
| O | O | R | T | S | T | R | A | P | E | U | R | O | ||
| G | M | O | C | O | L | E | I | P | A | S | S | |||
| B | A | T | S | A | N | E | Y | E | L | A | S | H | ||
| E | N | I | G | M | A | T | O | L | O | G | Y | |||
| D | O | C | T | O | R | S | N | O | T | E |
This puzzle started with the oversized groups of black squares in the corners because I liked the look of those big pools of ink. How the crossword looks before you solve it is part of the experience! (I think it's like the plating of a dish at a restaurant, in an awkward metaphor I've tried to force before.) With this many black squares, I could afford a pretty low word count, and I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of fill I could get. (ENIGMATOLOGY, most famous as the invented major of a young Will Shortz, was a happy accident, not an attempt to curry favor!)
Glad to make a Times debut and that they went with a somewhat odd puzzle. Tremendous thanks to the many resources out there that greatly reduce the barrier to crossword construction: in my case, the many helpful users and hardworking admins of the Crosscord discord server, free wordlists including Peter Broda's and Spread The Wordlist, and the Phil web app originally developed by Keiran King. I am always down if any puzzlers want support, feedback, to collaborate, or just to chat about puzzles; find me online or wandering about Cambridge, Massachusetts.
More notes are online.