Craig Stowe author page
1 puzzle by Craig Stowe
with Constructor comments
| T | A | P | E | R | P | A | P | A | A | B | C | S | ||
| I | L | L | B | E | E | D | E | N | S | L | O | T | ||
| D | O | U | B | L | E | C | H | I | N | S | I | N | E | |
| Y | E | S | O | R | T | O | K | I | N | D | A | |||
| M | A | G | I | C | K | I | N | G | D | O | M | |||
| T | R | E | A | D | O | N | N | O | E | N | D | |||
| R | O | M | P | S | E | T | A | A | R | M | ||||
| A | M | P | J | U | G | H | E | A | D | T | O | E | ||
| P | A | L | E | L | L | E | E | E | L | S | ||||
| O | R | F | E | O | G | U | E | S | S | E | S | |||
| S | A | Y | A | F | E | W | W | O | R | D | S | |||
| T | U | M | M | Y | A | U | D | I | W | O | O | |||
| A | R | E | A | D | I | S | G | U | S | T | I | N | G | |
| L | A | N | D | A | C | N | E | O | W | N | E | R | ||
| E | S | T | A | B | E | T | S | N | O | O | S | E |
Crossword construction is a funny thing. I couldn't say why I do it; it's a peculiar hobby. I'm not one of those people who can pick a theme out of thin air, if such people actually exist. For me, it's a lot of hard work and the closest I get to being disciplined.
One day I was down the rabbit hole of attempting to fill a themeless grid — my favorite kind of puzzle to do as both constructor and solver. I was at an impasse staring at the network, pondering my next move. I had MAGIC KINGDOM as a placeholder, and it wasn't working out very well. That's when I noticed ICK spanning the two words; I laughed to myself and thought how appropriate. The lightbulb lit up, and once I had SAY A FEW WORDS, the rest came together quickly.
I never did finish that themeless puzzle.