Francesca Goldston author page
1 puzzle by Francesca Goldston
with Constructor comments
See the 5 answer words debuted by Francesca Goldston.
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FRANCESCA: I'm so happy to finally have a puzzle published in the NYT.
I've been solving and constructing puzzles since I was a teenager, and when I retired, I decided to focus on getting them published. I was intimidated when I first reached out for help in this endeavor, but I was pleasantly surprised by the generosity and affability of the puzzle community, and the gracious (and helpful) rejections from the editors and staff of the publications. I'm not sure why I thought they'd be snooty — maybe because they are celebrities in my eyes.
Apart from Jeff, I've also been mentored by Vic Fleming and David Steinberg. They both patiently walked me through the dos and don'ts of crossword construction a few years ago. As a result, I published puzzles in the Orange County Register, the LA Times, and Mega crosswords, among others.
I came up with the basis for this theme well over a year ago and went in search of a collaborator. I was directed to Jeff Chen. He tightened up the theme and guided me patiently via 100's (I swear) of emails to this final crossword.
Thank you, Jeff, and thank you to the crossword community.