David J. Lieb author page

I don't remember the exact genesis of this theme in March 2012, but of course it was inspired by all the "word that can follow both parts of …" puzzles that came before. I submitted the puzzle in October 2013 and it was accepted in January 2014.

My original idea for the DOUBLE DOUBLE reveal was to stack the two DOUBLES on top of each other in one answer, resulting in six adjacent rebus squares. But I couldn't get it to work, especially because of the limited possibilities for answers containing UU.

I put the puzzle aside and took my dog for a walk and was fortunate to run into my crossword consigliere, Brendan Emmett Quigley, in the park. Brendan suggested keeping it simple and to just go with the DOUBLEDOUBLE answer you see today.

With six theme answers, the first and last of which are 12 letters long, I had to widen the puzzle to 16 squares instead of the standard 15 to fit all the themers in. Perhaps another constructor could have done it with some themers going down.

This puzzle benefitted from considerable editing, with not just clues, but several answers changed in the SE corner. Two of the best new clues, IMO, are movie-related: 36-Down (American Sniper) and 48-Down (Fargo). One of my favorite clues that didn't make the cut was also movie-related: "Delta __ Chi (‘Animal House' frat)" at 69-Across, as I am an unrecovered Animal House fan. My other favorite clue that was changed: "The majority of the answer to this clue" for ESSES at 73-Across was actually improved by the clue that references the whole bottom row of the puzzle and the general crossword phenomenon that many S's tend to accumulate there. Finally, on one more movie note, I was happy to see ELI still clued in reference to my cousin, director Eli Roth. I hope Eli Manning's family is not too disappointed.

Thanks to BEQ, Will and Joel and to Jeff and Jim for XWord Info, which is a real boon to fledgling constructors!

It's exciting enOUGH to have my first puzzle in the Times, but all the more on my 50^th birthday! I wish my grandmother were alive to enjoy this. As a kid growing up in the Sacramento, CA area, I started solving crosswords with her when she visited from Baltimore. I helped her with the sports clues and let her take the opera ones. (Neither of us specialized in Malayan apes or Assam silkworms.) Today I am a database developer and aspiring bioinformatician in the Boston area. I caught the construction bug when I attended my first American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 2010.

The theme of this puzzle was inspired by a collection of early Dr. Seuss writings and cartoons entitled "The Tough Coughs as he Ploughs the Dough." I always wondered why they didn't name it "… Ploughs Through the Dough" to include a fifth pronunciation of "OUGH." I have attempted to rectify that with this puzzle.

The first version I submitted in June 2012 included the theme entries (in order): TOUGH CROWD, COUGH MEDICINE, PLOUGH THROUGH, and DOUGH HOOKS, with SEUSS as a bonus in the center. Will asked if I could make PLOUGH THROUGH the last theme entry since it has two OUGHs. I submitted the revised version in December 2012 and it was accepted in January 2013. Alas, I wasn't able to keep SEUSS in the grid, but I'm glad I could include him in these notes.

Thank you to Will and Joel for their editing. I'm pleased that half of my clues made it in with another 20% only moderately changed. I'd also like to thank Brendan Emmett Quigley for his suggestions and encouragement.