Jerry Miccolis author page

You can thank Eddie, my grand-nephew, for this puzzle. As a precocious 5-year-old, he would ask Uncle Jerry for periodic "challenges." These were often math and science related, but were sometimes pure word puzzles (his favorite type? — crossword puzzles, bless his heart). One of the challenges I gave him used the gimmick behind this puzzle's theme, but in narrative form. He solved it in no time flat and then challenged me to incorporate it into a crossword. I promised him I'd try.

My first attempt was conditionally accepted by Will, if I could freshen up some of the fill. After my several failed attempts at that, Will suggested that I get some help from a collaborator. Jeff had helped me with my very first puzzle the year prior and graciously declined any co-authorship credit back then. I saw this as an opportunity to both reconnect with Jeff and proudly share a byline. His remedial work on this was, unsurprisingly, masterful, and we received prompt acceptance. Thank you, once again, Jeff!

This is my last crossword, at least for quite a while. After an unexpected run of beginner's luck, during which four of my first eight submissions were accepted (three by the NYT), I promptly went 0-for-my-next-9. I suspect I may have shot my load. More importantly though, after having lots of fun with this for a good 18 months, I felt it was time to focus on another of my post-retirement bucket list items: writing a book. I've been hard at work drafting, and hope to publish next year, a "competition documentary" memoir about senior softball. Who knows, it may even include a baseball-themed crossword or two that were casualties of that 0-for-9 streak — I'll get them in print one way or another!

In any event, I hope you enjoy solving this one.

I've long been fascinated with self-referential stuff, from the mildly amusing (e.g., the Liar's Paradox, "This statement is false"), to the visually dazzling (Escher's "Drawing Hands," "Print Gallery," etc.), to the deeply troubling (Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem and its mathematical foundation-rattling), to the cosmically profound (Wheeler's Participatory Anthropic Principle of the universe, and the like).

While on the amusing side, I had stumbled upon self-referencing acronyms — so-called "apronyms," or "aptonyms." It recently occurred to me, "What great fodder for a crossword!" My first submission had five of them, including a few that Will wasn't that crazy about (e.g., ENERGETIC LITTLE FELLOW). But he and Joel were sufficiently intrigued that they offered to workshop the idea with me.

I shared a bunch more of my favorites, culled over time from various sources and my own addled brain. With Will and Joel adding their deft touches to a couple (A TOME LOCATING A STREET became AID TO LOCATE A STREET, for example), we ultimately landed on the six you see. Squeezing in six of such length made it challenging to keep the fill lively, and meant having to lose payoff entries such as the four-theme-word-crossing SELF-REFERENTIAL (and thus settling for the more subtle reveal in 69- and 120-Across), but I was very pleased with the final result and hope you had fun with it.

Once again, it was a huge pleasure working with Will and Joel. I was happy to see so many of my clues survive their expert and uncompromising editor's scalpel. It was also gratifying to sneak in a reference to our youngest grandniece, ABIGAIL, who I hope will appreciate the "tribute" when she learns to read.

Overall, I was sufficiently encouraged by the almost simultaneous acceptance of this and a not-yet-published weekday puzzle submission, after a disappointingly steady run of (however gracious and constructive) rejections following my "beginner's luck" first submission last year, that I think I'll stick with this new-found hobby/budding passion of mine for a while longer and see how it goes. Besides, Beebo (Abby) has quite a few siblings and cousins who may demand equal time.

Talk about beginner's luck! This was the very first puzzle I ever constructed or submitted, anywhere, and I thought I'd swing for the fences and go straight for the Sunday NYT. Why not, right? I was more than pleasantly surprised, a few months later, to have it accepted! Having since had two subsequent puzzles rejected (followed by a less-than-stellar performance at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament), I'm now suitably humbled, and fear that I might be a one-shot wonder at this. But I do plan to keep swinging!

When I first got the idea for DOUBLE FEATURES and asked Will some pretty naïve questions about how to turn it into a NYT-worthy puzzle, he very helpfully referred me to cruciverb.com. I was amazed how much free advice was out there, much of it from Nancy Salomon who, it turns out, likes to mentor first-time constructors. I contacted Nancy, and she gave me some excellent pointers. With respect to the specific theme, however, she felt she was not the best arbiter of popular movies, so she referred me to Jeff Chen.

Jeff proved to be a tough sounding board, but incredibly generous and patient. While the themers, grid, fill, and clues (pre Will's expert editing, anyway) were ultimately all mine, Jeff guided me through each step of the proper, systematic way to construct a puzzle. He was so thoughtful and instructive, particularly in the way he critiqued some of my early attempts, that I offered him co-authorship credit, which he graciously declined.

So thanks again to Nancy and Jeff, and I hope you enjoy this puzzle about one of my (other) favorite pastimes.