Jack Murtagh author page
3 puzzles by Jack Murtagh
with Constructor comments
| G | E | A | R | S | S | T | E | N | O | A | H | A | ||
| A | L | L | A | H | A | R | C | H | A | N | G | E | L | |
| H | O | L | D | I | N | C | A | U | L | F | I | E | L | D |
| I | N | U | R | N | S | T | O | L | I | |||||
| K | E | V | I | N | B | A | K | I | N | P | U | N | S | |
| A | L | E | Y | S | L | D | O | R | I | T | O | S | ||
| T | E | R | M | G | O | T | A | C | ||||||
| A | B | R | A | H | A | M | L | I | N | K | I | N | ||
| F | R | O | N | T | Y | E | A | H | ||||||
| S | P | A | R | E | M | E | A | F | L | D | N | A | ||
| A | R | I | E | O | W | I | N | W | I | L | S | O | N | |
| V | O | L | E | S | N | T | I | L | E | |||||
| E | L | I | Z | A | B | E | T | H | W | A | R | R | I | N |
| M | O | N | E | Y | T | R | E | E | C | O | M | M | A | |
| E | G | G | S | W | A | R | M | S | Y | S | O | P |
This theme began with Kevin bakin'. The image of Kevin Bacon holding a fresh batch of brownies made me happy so I looked for other famous people whose names could fit the pattern and the puzzle came together quickly from there.
I found the grid surprisingly difficult to fill cleanly, which resulted in a lot of entries I'm not proud of. I'd list them but you already know what they are. I tried to compensate with interesting longer/mid-length entries (32-Down being my favorite). This puzzle was originally slated for a Tuesday but was moved to Wednesday, perhaps because of some of the tougher fill.
Some other possible theme entries that I considered: rowin' Atkinson, ravin' Symoné, and Clay achin'. Thanks for solving!
| G | A | P | S | S | A | Y | A | H | P | T | A | |||
| O | K | O | K | S | O | M | A | L | I | I | O | N | ||
| S | I | L | I | C | O | N | C | H | I | P | N | O | T | |
| E | T | A | O | N | T | L | E | T | S | |||||
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| O | X | Y | G | E | N | S | U | P | P | L | Y | |||
| C | Y | S | T | A | U | D | I | P | E | A | ||||
| P | O | M | I | R | O | N | M | A | N | L | S | D | ||
| A | G | E | M | A | R | C | M | E | S | A | ||||
| S | I | L | V | E | R | B | U | L | L | E | T | |||
| B | L | A | D | E | T | A | L | K | S | H | O | P | ||
| J | E | T | T | B | A | E | A | M | I | |||||
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| M | R | S | C | H | U | R | R | O | M | E | G | A | ||
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My New York Times debut was only about a month ago, and it's great to be back so soon! Thursday is my favorite crossword day. I love tricky themes and tough clues. I hope today's puzzle wasn't too… elementary.
I originally submitted this puzzle with the following theme set:
[Cape] = CARBON COPY
[Aground] = SILVER BULLET
[Female] = IRON MAN
[Oration] = OXYGEN SUPPLY
[Curing] = COPPERTONE
but the editing team pointed out that ring = tone was not a very precise association and asked if I had any replacements. It took a fair amount of back and forth to land on the final set, and I'm grateful for Will and Sam's patience through that process.
Swapping in SILICON CHIP and CARBON DATED required remaking the entire grid, but I think it turned out better than the original. I got an unofficial thumbs up from Will on the revised grid (pending clues) the morning after my wedding, 9/2/19. It was my first NYT acceptance and one of the best wedding gifts I received. On our honeymoon in Aruba, my wife read books like a normal sunbather while I brought my laptop to the beach to write clues.
| D | U | B | W | I | G | S | P | A | V | E | S | |||
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| E | A | S | Y | M | O | N | E | Y | R | O | A | C | H | |
| O | T | T | E | R | S | S | L | A | T | E | ||||
| F | R | I | T | I | E | I | C | Y | B | L | U | E | ||
| F | E | L | T | N | A | P | C | H | A | I | N | S | ||
| E | L | I | S | Z | E | S | T | A | B | O | P | |||
| E | M | P | T | Y | N | E | S | T | E | R | ||||
| P | H | D | I | H | E | A | R | S | W | A | P | |||
| B | E | A | U | T | Y | L | I | P | E | R | R | S | ||
| A | N | Y | T | I | M | E | F | A | A | Y | A | O | ||
| U | T | E | R | O | P | L | A | C | I | D | ||||
| A | S | T | R | O | E | S | P | Y | A | W | A | R | D | |
| K | E | A | N | U | C | H | A | R | E | R | I | E | ||
| A | N | G | S | T | T | A | X | I | D | E | N |
I'm thrilled to have a puzzle in the New York Times! Crosswords are in my blood - my grandparents were avid solvers, my dad submitted a puzzle to Eugene Maleska, and I caught the bug in 2013 and have been a daily solver ever since. This is actually the second crossword of mine to be accepted by the NYT but the first to appear in print, so you haven't seen the last of me.
This idea excited me because I enjoy themes where each theme clue feels like a small self-contained puzzle. There are not as many candidate phrases for this one as you might think. A handful of words sound like two letters (e.g., IVY, EXCEL, CAGEY), fewer of those words begin legitimate 2-word phrases (e.g., IVY LEAGUE), and fewer yet can be clued in this theme's format (is there an example of a league that starts with V?). Another entry I considered was SEEDY BAR but, while Cheers is a well-known "C" bar, I wasn't satisfied with the recognizability of any "D" bars.
I was pleased to see many of my clues survive the editing process, including a nod to my alma mater at 67-Down.
Many thanks to my wife Maheen for helping me workshop ideas, my dad for getting me into crosswords, and my mom and sister for being ridiculously supportive of every move I make. Thanks, Will, Sam, and the rest of the editing team, for doing a wonderful job sprucing up the puzzle. I adore crossword puzzles, and it means a lot to me to provide a (hopefully pleasant) diversion for New York Times solvers today.