Ella Dershowitz author page
9 puzzles by Ella Dershowitz
with Constructor comments
See the 43 answer words debuted by Ella Dershowitz.
| A | P | L | O | M | B | A | S | M | U | C | H | |||
| T | R | E | E | B | O | A | S | E | A | F | O | A | M | |
| H | O | R | N | E | T | S | Y | E | S | O | R | N | O | |
| E | M | O | S | H | I | E | L | D | S | O | D | D | ||
| V | A | N | C | E | N | Y | U | E | E | N | I | E | ||
| A | S | I | A | U | S | E | M | E | M | A | N | S | ||
| P | A | T | S | T | E | |||||||||
| L | O | V | E | L | E | T | T | E | R | S | ||||
| C | R | O | N | E | A | L | I | E | G | O | T | S | ||
| J | A | W | E | D | D | E | M | N | E | R | V | E | ||
| C | P | R | A | N | Y | N | E | W | S | R | A | N | ||
| R | A | I | N | O | F | A | G | E | P | E | C | S | ||
| E | N | S | U | I | T | E | A | T | E | I | N | T | O | |
| G | U | E | S | S | E | R | P | R | O | C | T | O | R | |
| G | I | S | H | S | N | S | Y | S | O | R | S |
| B | O | P | S | S | P | A | O | N | E | L | S | |||
| F | L | I | P | S | O | U | T | N | A | R | U | T | O | |
| A | D | O | R | A | B | L | E | I | C | E | P | O | P | |
| N | I | K | E | S | N | T | H | O | R | E | ||||
| S | I | E | G | E | A | L | I | T | I | N | E | D | ||
| A | P | E | O | R | A | L | B | N | E | S | S | |||
| M | A | R | K | E | R | C | L | I | F | F | ||||
| S | E | A | C | R | E | A | T | U | R | E | ||||
| L | U | A | U | S | E | N | A | M | E | L | ||||
| H | I | T | S | S | N | U | B | S | P | L | Y | |||
| I | D | I | O | M | G | P | A | O | U | T | I | E | ||
| J | O | N | A | D | S | D | I | R | T | Y | ||||
| A | N | K | A | R | A | E | G | O | T | I | S | T | S | |
| B | O | L | E | Y | N | N | E | W | S | L | E | A | K | |
| T | E | R | S | E | O | R | A | E | T | N | A |
| A | M | S | T | E | L | A | D | D | S | K | E | W | ||
| P | A | N | A | M | A | B | O | A | P | E | S | O | ||
| S | T | A | R | B | U | R | S | T | S | O | T | T | O | |
| E | S | P | E | R | A | H | U | N | T | E | D | |||
| K | R | A | F | T | S | I | N | G | L | E | S | |||
| M | I | M | I | T | H | C | E | Y | E | |||||
| A | M | A | L | F | I | E | A | T | S | B | A | M | ||
| S | A | L | T | I | N | E | C | R | A | C | K | E | R | S |
| A | X | E | E | C | R | U | B | O | I | L | E | R | ||
| M | I | L | I | R | A | S | L | A | P | |||||
| K | L | O | N | D | I | K | E | B | A | R | S | |||
| N | U | D | I | S | T | B | A | E | S | H | E | |||
| I | C | E | D | S | Q | U | A | R | E | M | E | A | L | |
| F | A | L | L | O | U | R | O | S | C | A | R | S | ||
| E | S | S | E | K | E | N | N | E | S | T | E | A |
When I first started making puzzles, I thought rebuses were unbelievably cool so I made a list of potential rebus revealers. Many of them involved the word "square." I tried to make a version of this with meals as rebuses. It did not go well.
Then I got into other kinds of visual puzzles and tried to make a version of this with meals laid out in square shapes in the grid. It did not go well.
Then I gave up, which seems to be a key part of my puzzle-making process.
I don't remember when it occurred to me that some foods are just square shaped. Perhaps while eating a mint-flavored 51-Across. Hope you all enjoy this puzzle as much as I enjoy those! Also, I really like putting actors (especially theater actors) whose work I love into puzzles, and 6-Down is one of my absolute faves!
| H | A | M | P | O | B | O | Y | G | S | P | O | T | ||
| U | F | O | S | H | O | V | E | R | A | I | M | I | ||
| B | R | I | T | I | S | P | E | N | O | T | T | E | R | |
| S | O | R | E | N | P | R | D | W | A | Y | N | E | ||
| S | A | S | H | A | S | C | O | T | T | |||||
| L | I | P | E | U | P | H | O | R | I | A | ||||
| I | D | T | A | G | H | E | R | E | S | P | I | N | G | |
| A | A | H | H | O | Y | E | S | P | F | O | E | |||
| G | R | A | S | S | P | P | E | R | U | B | E | N | D | |
| O | N | T | I | P | T | O | E | P | R | O | ||||
| L | I | E | S | L | S | T | O | R | K | |||||
| A | C | C | O | R | D | R | O | E | K | E | Y | S | ||
| T | O | R | I | I | P | O | P | U | P | S | H | O | P | |
| I | C | A | N | T | G | L | A | D | E | A | T | E | ||
| T | O | N | G | S | A | L | L | O | T | B | O | W |
I tried and failed to make this puzzle quite a few times before it came to be. I had thought of the revealer but couldn't figure out how to implement it — considered having synonyms for shop pop up, or types of shops, or specific brands, but nothing worked. And then I decided to try the simplest version, and here we are!
I am not a shopper, but I am a walker, and I love when pop-ups pop up and change the landscape of a familiar street. I also love pop-up Halloween stores and holiday markets.
Shoutout to the Roll The Dice puzzle from 2020, which I loved and was the first time I remember seeing this mechanic. Also, shoutout to the editorial team — they changed a ton of clues this time, and it's fun to have a puzzle that feels so collaborative and to learn new things (like 15-Across or 12-Down!) from my own puzzle. Hope you enjoy!
| V | A | N | S | P | A | L | E | A | D | C | A | R | ||
| C | H | E | A | P | E | N | A | B | R | E | A | S | T | |
| R | A | W | S | I | L | K | P | A | R | A | B | L | E | |
| F | E | E | L | E | Y | E | D | |||||||
| O | R | C | A | S | E | E | L | T | O | W | E | D | ||
| B | O | A | R | T | A | M | A | N | E | R | O | |||
| S | O | L | A | C | E | R | I | D | E | I | A | N | ||
| M | U | S | I | C | A | L | C | H | A | I | R | S | ||
| A | I | M | O | H | I | O | D | U | M | D | U | M | ||
| Y | E | N | S | O | R | B | S | P | A | R | E | |||
| N | S | Y | N | C | P | E | A | A | L | L | E | N | ||
| O | H | N | O | Y | O | L | O | |||||||
| S | P | A | C | I | E | R | S | W | A | D | D | L | E | |
| Y | O | G | A | M | A | T | H | E | R | E | I | A | M | |
| N | E | O | P | E | T | S | I | S | M | N | G | O |
As a (non-musical) actor and avid musical theater fan who first discovered crossword puzzles as a backstage activity, this puzzle combines two of my absolute favorite things. It's very near and dear to my heart.
I made this puzzle just over a year ago when theater was shut down, and I missed it terribly. I could not be happier for it to be coming out at a time when there are so many incredible live shows up and rocking.
Shout out to any fellow theater folks solving backstage or in the booth and to audience members solving at intermission!
| L | A | S | S | O | G | R | E | B | O | A | R | I | T | S | O | U | T | |||
| A | U | T | O | R | O | A | D | A | R | L | O | G | R | U | N | G | E | |||
| P | R | E | G | N | A | N | C | Y | B | R | A | I | N | N | I | N | T | H | S | |
| P | A | T | O | O | T | I | E | S | O | L | I | D | F | O | O | D | ||||
| O | N | E | G | E | I | N | O | U | R | A | N | I | N | |||||||
| G | L | A | D | E | H | O | W | D | E | D | O | N | A | M | E | O | N | E | ||
| L | O | L | S | T | R | E | E | T | S | M | A | R | T | S | M | F | A | |||
| E | V | I | C | T | I | N | G | L | I | Q | U | I | D | D | I | E | T | |||
| N | E | G | R | O | N | I | A | D | T | T | I | N | O | U | N | C | E | |||
| S | Y | N | O | D | G | O | F | A | R | A | S | S | E | T | S | |||||
| M | O | T | H | E | R | W | I | T | A | M | Y | T | E | S | T | |||||
| D | R | E | W | I | T | D | G | A | S | G | I | A | N | T | S | |||||
| R | E | S | E | T | S | G | A | U | D | Y | R | O | S | I | E | |||||
| A | M | P | L | E | L | I | E | E | R | Y | T | H | E | F | E | D | S | |||
| P | O | O | L | N | O | O | D | L | E | S | H | U | F | F | L | E | S | |||
| E | D | U | P | L | A | S | M | A | S | C | R | E | E | N | M | A | I | |||
| R | E | S | U | M | E | D | O | N | T | O | P | O | F | S | T | A | L | E | ||
| Y | L | E | M | A | E | R | A | N | G | O | A | H | U | |||||||
| P | A | N | D | E | R | I | N | G | F | U | R | I | K | A | K | E | ||||
| R | E | W | I | N | D | M | I | N | D | O | V | E | R | M | A | T | T | E | R | |
| H | E | A | R | Y | E | I | C | E | T | O | T | T | O | U | R | N | S | |||
| O | K | D | E | A | R | T | A | Z | O | L | A | H | R | K | A | T | E |
AIMEE: I was really happy with how this puzzle turned out. This is one of those puzzles that happened reveal-first, and when someone — either me or Ella, I can't remember who — said "has there ever been a Mind Over Matter puzzle done with stacks?" we realized this *had* to be a puzzle. It was pretty darn impossible to fill cleanly because those stacks nearly murdered us, but I'm pleased with the result! And those two long downs that cross three themers??? *chef's kiss*
| A | D | D | L | E | L | O | L | Z | A | D | S | T | E | S | T | |||||
| T | R | A | I | T | S | A | P | I | A | F | R | O | U | N | C | U | T | |||
| W | I | R | E | T | A | P | P | I | N | G | L | O | U | D | M | O | U | T | H | |
| O | N | E | F | A | C | E | D | E | A | R | P | R | O | M | L | E | A | |||
| O | K | D | S | S | R | U | T | E | R | I | N | I | B | L | E | T | ||||
| D | I | N | A | K | P | O | P | N | O | T | A | T | E | D | ||||||
| N | O | T | I | F | I | E | S | W | E | B | D | A | S | A | N | I | ||||
| T | W | O | L | E | T | T | E | R | W | O | R | D | S | Y | O | G | A | |||
| O | N | O | R | T | I | S | O | A | K | I | N | N | ||||||||
| E | V | E | R | S | O | S | P | A | T | B | L | M | I | S | I | T | ||||
| S | A | N | S | D | O | U | B | L | E | C | R | O | S | S | P | E | T | E | ||
| S | L | I | T | R | R | S | O | A | R | S | T | E | A | S | E | D | ||||
| A | I | G | I | C | E | B | F | F | J | I | N | N | ||||||||
| Y | U | M | A | T | H | R | E | E | F | E | E | T | U | N | D | E | R | |||
| M | A | L | A | W | I | M | D | S | C | U | S | T | O | M | E | R | ||||
| B | I | O | D | O | M | E | M | O | T | T | A | P | E | S | ||||||
| L | A | M | A | R | R | N | A | C | H | O | W | H | A | E | A | P | ||||
| A | L | A | I | K | E | A | K | I | T | F | O | U | R | B | A | L | L | |||
| S | T | O | N | E | S | O | U | P | P | O | P | A | W | H | E | E | L | I | E | |
| H | A | R | E | S | N | T | H | T | W | I | T | S | N | E | E | Z | E | |||
| R | I | O | T | S | O | D | O | N | C | E | A | R | D | E | N |
AIMEE: Ella and I first wanted to make this a Thursday puzzle, and we tried really hard to get this to fit in a 15x. But the themers were so constrained, and it's so hard to do a puzzle where themers cross each other, that we ended up needing to go big with a Sunday-sized puzzle to make it work. Which ended up being good because this is my first Sunday-sized NYT puzzle!
ELLA: Aimee and I both really loved Andrew Kingsley's 2020 RED CROSS puzzle and were intrigued by the idea of doing a similar type of transformation. We landed on this revealer because we thought the phrase itself was super fun and liked the theme answers it allowed for (I was especially excited to include 85-Across, which is one of my favorite shows of all time).
Initially, we also wanted to include an answer where the "real" answer and the gridded answer both had zero because we both thought that was a fun, weird edge case, but alas, there didn't end up being enough space in the grid.
| E | N | D | S | O | C | H | O | M | O | B | S | |||
| B | A | R | N | A | H | A | B | A | G | U | E | |||
| B | R | E | A | K | F | A | S | T | R | O | L | L | S | |
| W | I | K | I | T | H | A | I | E | L | S | A | |||
| O | H | D | E | A | R | T | I | N | T | D | I | P | ||
| B | A | E | S | T | R | A | N | G | E | L | O | O | P | |
| I | L | L | S | E | E | G | S | I | G | N | S | |||
| T | B | S | P | A | R | T | S | |||||||
| A | W | G | E | E | A | L | E | A | C | C | T | |||
| T | H | E | W | E | S | T | W | I | N | G | A | H | A | |
| T | A | T | R | O | W | E | T | A | C | T | I | C | ||
| A | T | O | I | L | E | E | K | M | A | L | L | |||
| I | N | S | I | D | E | B | A | S | E | B | A | L | L | |
| F | I | L | M | Z | I | N | E | A | D | I | A | |||
| S | T | E | P | E | T | T | A | L | Y | N | X |
AIMEE: Ella and I had a lot of fun filling this puzzle together, particularly the big corners. It's not super common for early-week puzzles to have such big open corners, but the lengths of the themers we had required it for this one, so we tried to make the most of it. I think my favorites may be WHAT IFS, GET ON IT, CAT LADY, NARWHAL, and DREIDEL.
ELLA: This was the very first puzzle Aimee and I ever made together. It was a great puzzle to learn on because the corners were a perfect canvas for experimentation and iteration. And we definitely had fun with the clues! Hope you enjoy solving this one as much as we enjoyed making it!
| A | W | O | L | P | O | L | E | S | C | H | U | B | ||
| L | A | N | E | A | B | U | S | E | A | O | N | E | ||
| A | S | I | A | G | A | T | O | R | M | O | W | S | ||
| S | O | S | U | E | M | E | F | A | E | R | I | E | ||
| W | A | N | T | S | A | S | A | B | L | A | S | T | ||
| H | I | D | A | B | S | T | S | O | Y | E | S | |||
| O | L | I | V | I | A | P | O | T | U | S | ||||
| S | P | I | N | T | H | E | B | O | T | T | L | E | ||
| A | B | H | O | R | I | N | L | O | V | E | ||||
| A | O | C | O | S | O | A | C | E | S | A | T | |||
| D | R | O | O | L | T | L | C | S | E | E | P | S | ||
| H | I | H | A | T | S | I | T | S | S | A | F | E | ||
| E | G | O | S | C | U | B | I | T | T | A | R | E | ||
| R | I | S | E | A | K | R | O | N | E | C | O | N | ||
| E | N | T | S | T | E | E | N | S | R | E | N | D |
ELLA: Aimee and I have been real-life friends for years and, as an avid crossword solver, I always thought she was the coolest person ever because she made puzzles (among many other reasons!).
In quarantine, I finally took her up on her offer to teach me. Within a week of riffing, we'd made our first puzzle together. Since then, we've made 6 (?) more, three of which have run in AVCX.
Puzzling together online has been such a fun way to hang out even though we can't see each other in person. I love collaborating with Aimee because we push each other to keep playing around with grids and ideas until they finally click in a way we both love. We've also got extremely similar taste and crossword quirks.
This puzzle was a total collaboration where I have no idea whose idea any part of it was — we both loved the revealer from the beginning but wanted to figure out the most fun way to spin it, and landed on this one. There is also a version of this puzzle on our computers with totally different themers because neither of us noticed we'd forgotten to include the revealer until we were about to clue. Oops.
When I'm not puzzling, I'm an actress — mostly theater and mostly in NYC and the Bay Area!
AIMEE: Ella and I have been real-life friends for several years now, when she moved to The Bay Area from New York. But between the pandemic and her moving back to New York in early 2020, we haven't seen each other in person in a while. But the funny thing is that, now that she lives across the country from me, she's actually the person I "see" the most these days.
And that's thanks almost entirely to crossword puzzles.
I had never really collaborated much on crosswords before this year, but something about the pandemic has made me crave the collaboration process. Plus, the puzzles Ella and I come up with always seem to be better than what either of us is capable of making on our own. Or at least, I know she makes me a better constructor. I mean, she was the one who realized we hadn't included the reveal in this puzzle's first draft! If it had just been me, I probably would have sent this off without its key ingredient!
Here's to many more, Ella!