Joe Deeney, of Melrose, Mass., is a supply chain director for Philips, a health technology company based in Amsterdam.
C | A | T | C | A | F | E | U | N | C | A | G | E | Z | E | S | T | S | |||
A | D | A | S | T | R | A | S | E | A | S | O | N | P | A | N | E | R | A | ||
C | O | R | N | I | E | R | S | T | O | R | I | E | S | U | N | S | E | A | L | |
A | R | G | Y | L | E | W | E | P | T | R | U | G | B | Y | W | V | A | |||
O | N | E | T | W | E | E | N | E | R | S | E | E | L | S | H | E | D | |||
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L | I | P | S | T | E | A | M | I | E | R | C | L | A | I | M | P | O | O | ||
E | A | S | E | A | E | R | R | E | B | A | D | O | O | M | E | R | S | |||
N | O | G | G | U | I | S | E | E | R | E | B | I | N | G | E | |||||
D | R | I | P | P | A | N | T | A | X | I | B | I | A | S | E | S | ||||
H | Y | E | N | A | I | D | S | T | U | M | U | L | T | |||||||
W | A | I | T | E | R | M | E | T | I | E | R | D | O | T | A | P | P | |||
H | U | N | S | T | O | P | G | R | E | W | I | N | T | O | O | O | F | |||
A | L | B | K | I | W | I | S | R | I | A | N | O | P | T | I | M | A | |||
T | A | L | K | I | E | P | L | I | A | N | T | G | E | N | I | U | S | E | S | |
I | G | U | E | S | S | E | A | R | N | I | T | S | U | N | B | E | L | T | ||
F | E | E | L | S | N | Y | L | O | N | S | S | P | E | E | D | O | S |
A | R | E | A | S | L | O | S | S | B | I | Z | |||
R | E | A | D | E | T | E | N | T | H | O | D | E | ||
T | O | T | H | E | C | A | M | E | R | A | R | O | D | |
S | O | Y | U | Z | P | A | Y | I | N | T | O | |||
A | R | C | C | O | S | L | O | W | N | E | O | N | ||
T | O | R | U | P | W | I | T | H | A | B | O | O | K | |
A | L | O | E | H | U | M | A | N | A | |||||
D | O | W | N | B | O | Y | E | T | I | C | K | E | T | |
M | A | L | A | G | A | K | E | T | O | |||||
A | T | W | I | N | D | M | I | L | L | S | I | O | U | |
M | O | E | T | M | I | N | I | T | I | S | N | T | ||
P | L | A | Y | D | O | H | S | M | A | R | T | |||
S | I | R | O | N | E | S | P | O | C | K | E | T | S | |
U | F | O | S | E | R | I | F | H | E | R | O | N | ||
P | E | N | E | Y | E | S | E | D | S | E | L |
A | G | L | E | T | S | O | A | P | Y | V | O | W | ||
B | O | O | T | H | U | L | N | A | S | R | N | A | ||
R | U | S | S | I | A | N | D | O | L | L | H | E | R | |
A | D | E | S | L | O | E | B | E | A | M | ||||
A | R | A | B | I | C | N | U | M | E | R | A | L | S | |
V | E | T | O | T | A | X | E | D | ||||||
A | C | M | E | T | A | K | E | A | S | I | P | |||
C | H | I | N | E | S | E | C | H | E | C | K | E | R | S |
H | O | N | G | C | H | A | U | S | T | A | Y | |||
D | E | C | O | R | S | A | R | I | ||||||
H | E | B | R | E | W | N | A | T | I | O | N | A | L | |
A | L | L | S | G | A | R | B | D | O | S | ||||
I | D | O | G | R | E | E | K | Y | O | G | U | R | T | |
K | E | W | A | T | O | N | E | T | I | L | D | A | ||
U | R | N | P | E | S | T | S | S | A | T | Y | R |
P | O | P | E | C | O | P | A | Y | R | I | C | H | ||
O | W | E | N | I | N | D | I | E | A | L | L | A | ||
U | N | P | C | T | E | T | R | A | T | O | U | R | ||
N | E | P | A | L | I | S | C | R | U | I | S | E | D | |
D | R | A | M | A | I | P | A | A | N | T | S | Y | ||
P | O | W | D | E | R | K | E | G | ||||||
I | N | K | S | H | E | L | G | A | S | O | U | P | ||
R | O | E | H | A | D | S | O | M | E | P | S | I | ||
A | R | E | N | O | T | P | O | K | E | A | T | |||
P | O | E | T | S | C | O | R | N | E | R | ||||
B | C | C | S | H | O | O | H | A | Y | A | M | S | ||
U | R | L | H | E | Y | M | R | D | J | S | A | W | ||
R | O | O | M | Y | D | E | A | E | C | O | L | I | ||
N | A | S | I | M | O | U | T | F | C | L | E | F | ||
S | T | E | I | N | G | P | S | F | R | O | S | T |
B | I | T | S | A | I | N | G | E | A | T | M | S | ||
O | T | O | H | S | N | A | R | L | R | O | I | L | ||
O | P | P | O | T | O | G | A | S | C | A | N | E | ||
T | E | R | R | A | I | N | N | A | M | A | S | T | E | |
C | O | A | T | S | E | T | D | O | N | T | O | P | ||
A | P | N | E | A | G | I | A | B | E | E | R | S | ||
M | L | K | T | O | A | D | S | R | E | I | ||||
P | E | S | A | C | H | P | U | T | S | O | N | |||
B | L | E | U | S | O | N | S | |||||||
T | O | M | C | A | T | S | T | O | W | A | R | D | S | |
A | N | A | D | A | S | H | I | K | I | O | W | E | ||
R | I | C | C | I | C | A | L | S | A | T | A | N | ||
T | O | R | O | N | T | O | B | L | U | E | J | A | Y | S |
A | N | O | N | A | L | I | E | N | A | R | N | E | ||
N | Y | S | E | R | E | T | R | O | R | Y | E | S |
I guess I can consider myself a published poet now?
One version of this puzzle included several more theme answers, though ultimately, I think it was a good choice to pare it down a bit.
S | C | R | A | M | S | P | E | C | I | O | T | A | S | ||
T | H | E | S | O | C | I | A | L | N | E | T | W | O | R | K |
J | U | S | T | I | N | T | I | M | B | E | R | L | A | K | E |
O | N | T | I | L | T | R | I | C | K | Y | M | A | E | ||
E | K | E | S | O | L | O | S | F | O | N | Z | ||||
S | Y | D | W | A | F | T | S | L | O | U | S | Y | |||
S | E | E | S | F | I | T | O | S | S | A | |||||
C | H | E | E | R | S | I | R | I | S | E | S | ||||
R | O | I | L | E | O | N | L | I | N | E | |||||
N | E | O | N | S | S | P | I | L | T | I | R | L | |||
B | A | L | E | I | C | E | U | P | G | E | E | ||||
A | M | I | L | I | A | N | E | A | R | E | N | A | S | ||
J | A | G | G | E | D | L | I | T | T | L | E | P | I | L | L |
A | L | A | N | I | S | M | O | R | I | S | S | E | T | T | E |
M | E | N | U | S | A | N | Y | A | S | E | E | Y | A |
When my daughter, now almost 3, was an infant, I'd pace around our house rocking here to sleep, singing whatever popped into my mind. While singing "You Learn", I realized ALANIS MORISSETTE and JAGGED LITTLE PILL were both 16 letters long and stacked pretty well. Onto the idea list that one went where it sat for a while. Eventually I decided to look for a similar duo to build a full puzzle around –- IMDB has data files available that I was able to mine for this. I'm sure the cool kids would have used Python, but I must admit to using a combination of Excel and SQL. Other candidates that popped up, for those interested:
Quentin Tarantino / From Dusk Till Dawn
Jennifer Connelly / Requiem for a Dream
Stephanie Beatriz / Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Yvonne Strahovski / The Handmaids Tale
Michael Stuhlbarg / Call Me by Your Name
Reginald Gardiner / The Great Dictator
Maureen O'Sullivan / Tarzan and His Mate
Erich von Stroheim / La Grande Illusion
H | O | R | S | Y | S | C | R | A | M | S | W | R | I | N | G | ||||
A | B | A | T | E | T | H | E | N | I | L | E | M | A | R | T | Y | R | ||
L | O | V | E | T | R | I | A | N | G | L | E | S | O | N | S | A | L | E | |
T | E | E | M | A | N | T | E | L | A | T | I | O | N | L | O | G | |||
S | A | C | K | P | R | I | Z | E | D | R | A | W | I | N | G | ||||
P | B | R | R | E | E | S | E | Y | E | S | B | O | A | S | |||||
D | R | E | A | M | Y | O | L | K | S | S | E | W | N | ||||||
F | A | N | C | Y | R | E | S | T | A | U | R | A | N | T | S | H | A | S | |
S | E | T | T | L | E | T | E | E | D | U | P | H | E | L | P | ||||
S | I | E | G | E | S | M | A | D | D | S | O | R | T | A | |||||
G | E | T | O | F | F | O | N | T | H | E | R | I | G | H | T | F | O | O | T |
E | N | S | U | E | I | D | E | A | S | N | E | E | R | S | |||||
N | Y | E | T | S | N | A | P | T | O | W | A | T | S | O | N | ||||
T | A | T | D | I | G | T | H | E | I | R | O | W | N | G | R | A | V | E | |
S | U | E | T | S | L | O | T | H | G | A | L | E | S | ||||||
G | E | N | A | C | P | U | A | T | A | L | L | T | N | T | |||||
G | O | F | O | R | T | H | E | G | O | L | D | T | I | E | S | ||||
E | S | L | J | A | I | A | L | A | I | A | N | N | E | D | G | E | |||
S | P | I | G | O | T | L | I | K | E | C | L | O | C | K | W | O | R | K | |
S | E | E | T | H | E | S | E | E | T | O | I | T | E | E | R | I | E | ||
O | L | S | O | N | S | N | O | O | T | S | G | R | A | N | D |
I'm very excited to finally have a Sunday puzzle in the Times and to compete a day of the week cycle.
I was trying to fashion a puzzle around the Hokey Pokey and GET OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT ended up on the list as a potential answer. [Dextropodophile] popped into my head as a funny was to clue that answer and this puzzle took off from there.
I was quite happy with run of clues 73-, 75-, and 76-Down, which I had originally clued as [Pizza dough ingredient], [Pizza dough ingredient], and [Pizza dough destination], as I was making pizza the day I wrote the clue, but I think the editing team was probably right to generalize them a bit.
I | B | M | P | R | O | D | L | P | G | A | |||
P | O | I | L | E | O | I | C | O | H | A | N | ||
A | S | T | R | O | P | H | Y | S | I | C | I | S | T |
S | C | R | A | W | L | E | V | I | L | ||||
S | H | E | S | Y | A | N | N | I | I | C | E | ||
P | L | A | Y | E | D | C | U | P | I | D | |||
C | R | U | S | L | E | W | R | P | G | S | |||
R | U | P | A | U | L | I | V | L | I | N | E | ||
A | N | T | I | M | I | C | A | C | A | L | |||
Z | O | O | M | E | D | A | L | O | N | G | |||
E | N | S | R | A | V | E | N | E | T | A | S | ||
P | U | R | R | C | I | A | R | D | I | ||||
E | Y | E | S | O | N | T | H | E | P | R | I | Z | E |
S | T | E | E | R | S | O | D | A | K | E | G | ||
O | D | D | S | A | G | E | D | E | S | E |
I wanted to include JULIA WARD HOWE in the middle but could not make that into a workable grid.
Fun to have two skinny mid-week puzzles in short succession; it's a bit of an unexplored space — by my count, 15x16 and 16x15 puzzles are ~10 times more common than 15x14 and 14x15 puzzles.
M | E | N | I | M | A | C | S | P | A | M | S | ||
U | N | O | N | A | S | A | C | A | D | E | T | ||
T | V | D | I | N | N | E | R | A | N | I | S | E | |
E | Y | E | S | C | A | W | R | E | E | S | E | ||
O | S | U | I | V | F | L | U | I | D | ||||
A | V | C | L | U | B | N | E | S | S | ||||
L | E | A | D | S | I | D | I | T | B | D | |||
F | I | V | E | S | E | C | O | N | D | R | U | L | E |
A | L | E | L | A | W | M | I | N | U | S | |||
I | M | I | N | R | V | P | A | R | K | ||||
J | V | S | Q | U | A | D | A | S | P | ||||
C | O | A | T | S | R | U | N | L | O | W | S | ||
R | I | T | E | S | E | V | C | R | E | D | I | T | |
E | L | I | S | E | A | E | O | N | D | R | Y | ||
W | A | N | T | S | M | A | R | S | S | E | X |
First draft of this puzzle was a vowel progression; unfortunately O. V. WRIGHT ended up on the cutting room floor in the final version.
The consonant crunch at the intersection of 45-Across and 45-Down is my favorite part of this puzzle.
S | T | A | T | S | G | P | S | H | A | R | M | |||
O | W | L | E | T | R | E | E | F | O | R | E | O | ||
S | O | L | A | R | P | A | N | E | L | W | O | N | T | |
M | E | A | N | D | M | Y | M | O | U | T | H | |||
N | O | S | G | I | T | S | R | I | N | S | E | S | ||
E | A | T | S | I | N | N | O | N | E | E | D | |||
W | H | A | T | S | T | H | E | I | D | E | A | |||
T | U | B | A | O | W | N | R | B | I | S | ||||
Y | O | U | O | W | E | M | E | T | I | M | E | |||
A | B | O | U | N | D | E | T | H | A | N | E | |||
S | T | E | N | T | S | H | O | R | A | S | O | D | ||
T | H | A | T | S | A | V | E | R | Y | I | F | |||
R | O | M | A | I | L | L | A | L | L | O | W | I | T | |
A | M | E | S | D | O | L | L | E | C | O | L | I | ||
P | E | R | K | G | O | B | R | I | N | K | S |
Here's hoping this puzzle is a big hit with everyone!
Though not direct inspiration, this puzzle owes a bit of a spiritual debt to Sandy Ganzell's March 23, 2017 puzzle. I'm always excited at puzzles that find a way to use the grid itself as the revealer. It can be risky to construct such a puzzle with so much solving being completed in apps and constrained by the electronic format — hopefully this one translates well.
I originally designed the grid in Excel — normal squares were 15 cells by 15 cells, while the big squares were 17 by 17, about 28% bigger in area. I centered along the middle of each "big" answer, which led to some of the down answers being a bit of a zig-zag. The editorial team's grid is much nicer. I suspect the uniqueness of this grid and deciding what to do electronically is part of why this puzzle spent 20 months in the acceptance queue before its publish date.
With four theme answers of the same length, I recall exploring all 24 permutations of the order the answers appear in this grid to see which gave the best bonus fill.
Favorite clues from the editorial team: 2-Down (how did I miss the opportunity to clue it like that myself?), 6-Down, 17-Across. Favorite of mine that survived: 13-Across.
B | L | A | C | K | C | O | D | S | A | S | H | ||||
R | O | L | L | E | R | B | A | G | T | H | R | E | A | D | |
A | S | T | E | R | I | S | K | S | H | U | S | T | L | E | |
K | E | A | I | M | E | A | N | T | I | T | O | F | F | ||
E | R | R | I | S | R | O | R | I | O | N | S | ||||
T | U | N | S | M | O | S | T | O | F | I | T | ||||
P | H | A | R | M | A | A | I | N | T | L | I | Z | A | ||
E | E | Q | U | A | L | S | M | C | S | Q | U | A | R | E | D |
G | L | U | E | R | A | I | D | U | N | L | E | S | S | ||
G | L | A | S | S | E | Y | E | L | E | I | A | ||||
A | Z | T | E | C | S | T | A | N | S | T | R | ||||
E | C | U | M | O | O | J | U | I | C | E | W | E | E | ||
R | O | M | P | E | R | O | L | D | H | A | V | A | N | A | |
G | O | B | A | L | D | B | I | T | E | S | I | Z | E | D | |
L | A | T | E | P | O | R | T | C | I | T | Y |
Happy New Year everyone! If ever there was a time to celebrate putting a year behind us, it is certainly now.
I expect 36-Across might receive a bit of a divided reaction. I know some folks don't love having symbols written out — to me, the strange letter combinations and multiples Q's made it a great entry to try to make a puzzle around. I'm especially glad to see my clues for 42-Across and 12-Down survived.
A | Z | I | Z | S | P | F | L | A | M | A | Z | E | ||
L | O | N | E | K | A | L | A | L | O | M | A | R | ||
I | O | W | A | C | I | T | Y | K | A | T | A | N | A | |
M | A | L | L | E | T | R | E | M | L | I | S | |||
B | I | N | I | R | I | S | H | C | O | F | F | E | E | |
A | N | T | I | A | M | O | A | I | R | S | ||||
L | O | O | S | E | E | N | A | M | E | L | ||||
I | N | F | O | R | M | E | D | C | O | N | S | E | N | T |
G | R | A | Y | L | Y | D | I | X | O | N | ||||
V | I | N | O | C | O | O | E | T | T | U | ||||
I | R | O | N | C | U | R | T | A | I | N | R | A | T | |
Z | A | C | E | S | E | S | L | O | V | A | K | |||
S | Q | U | A | R | E | C | O | L | D | O | P | E | N | |
L | I | T | T | E | R | A | N | G | N | A | R | Y | ||
A | S | S | E | S | S | L | E | O | N | Y | S | E |
This is the first of my puzzles to run in the New York Times since the birth of my daughter. My last NYT puzzle ran on April 3, which was also her due date, but she stubbornly waited an extra week and didn't join us until April 10. I did that day's great NYT puzzle by Byron Walden in the hospital in the wee hours of that morning, awaiting her arrival, and had quite a laugh when 18-Across [Shot in the back] turned out to be EPIDURAL. Funny how crosswords mirror real life.
I'm pretty happy with this grid, especially the 6x6 corners in the NE and SW. In hindsight, I probably created a puzzle with a Monday/Tuesday theme and Thursday/Friday fill, but I'd like to think there is room for puzzles like that occasionally. GRAYLY is a bit of a clunker, but I think most of the rest of the long fill is fun.
I can't take credit for great clue at 36-Down (an improvement over what I submitted, "Non-PC types").
S | A | R | A | S | E | E | S | T | S | W | I | T | |||
P | L | E | B | C | O | R | N | E | R | S | T | O | N | E | |
A | L | A | I | U | P | S | E | T | A | L | E | R | T | S | |
M | O | N | T | A | G | U | E | C | A | P | L | E | T | ||
S | W | I | M | C | A | P | L | E | T | S | D | R | Y | ||
M | U | T | T | I | T | I | S | ||||||||
I | M | A | C | S | T | W | I | T | T | Y | M | P | G | ||
W | I | T | H | O | R | W | I | T | H | O | U | T | Y | O | U |
O | D | E | N | O | E | L | L | E | T | A | S | E | S | ||
P | E | L | E | B | A | S | H | ||||||||
C | A | P | U | L | E | T | M | O | N | T | A | G | E | ||
A | L | L | N | E | W | G | I | N | G | E | R | E | D | ||
P | I | E | C | E | O | F | C | A | K | E | S | O | L | I | |
R | E | A | L | T | R | O | O | P | E | R | O | N | I | T | |
A | N | T | E | K | E | Y | E | D | F | A | D | S |
I hope everyone is staying as safe and healthy as possible during this strange and difficult time.
I made this puzzle in autumn 2018, and it was accepted in early January 2019. I had the idea to use WITH OR WITHOUT YOU as a revealer without knowing exactly what that would reveal. I used Excel to develop a list of words from my list that remain valid words when removing a "U". I revisited the list several times over a month or so trying to figure out what exactly the puzzle would be until I noticed both MONTAGUE and CAPULET were on the list. That seemed a little light on theme, so I tried to build a colorful 73-word grid in case the team might want to run it on a Friday.
My original manuscript didn't include *s in the clues or revealer language in 34-Across, leaving noticing the connection as an exercise for the solver. Looks like the team thought this was too opaque — good construction learning for me.
One clue I was sorry to see go (but understand why) was for 15-Across: [One getting laid as part of a ceremony].
B | A | R | O | B | A | M | A | R | S | V | P | |||
O | L | E | G | A | L | I | A | S | I | C | E | E | ||
U | P | L | 8 | H | U | N | C | H | P | H | E | W | ||
T | H | E | F | O | U | R | T | H | E | S | T | 8 | ||
S | A | T | U | P | P | O | L | L | S | |||||
P | A | T | T | I | P | A | R | D | O | N | ||||
P | A | W | H | 8 | R | S | G | O | N | N | A | H | 8 | |
I | S | H | S | A | L | U | T | Z | A | P | ||||
T | A | I | L | G | 8 | P | A | R | T | Y | E | N | S | |
A | D | R | I | A | N | M | U | S | I | C | ||||
S | A | L | E | M | P | L | O | W | S | |||||
P | I | E | C | E | S | O | F | E | I | G | H | T | ||
X | R | 8 | D | O | N | A | D | 8 | C | R | 8 | R | ||
F | I | L | L | V | I | G | I | L | K | E | P | I | ||
L | O | S | E | E | D | E | N | S | S | I | P |
I had the idea for this revealer while driving home from work in November 2018. It's not the best place to get ideas as they can't be written down immediately, but thankfully I was able to hold on to this one. I built the puzzle on and off through November and December. Submitted in January 2019, accepted in May.
To make the puzzle, I created a word list that replaced all instances of "ATE" and "OO" with 8. I placed the revealer and H8RSGONNAH8 in the grid as if I were building a themeless and tried to build the puzzle from there. There was a bit of a challenge to evenly distribute eight 8's in the grid while ensuring the horizontal 8's were all replacing ATE and pronounced like 8 while ensuring the vertical eights were all replacing OO. Because I didn't have a set of theme answers in mind, the provided some freedom to try to make the fill as interesting and clean as possible.
Overall, I'm happy with the result. KEPI and OLEG aren't great entries, but they don't make me go YIPE either. This is my first Thursday puzzle in the Times and probably the tricksiest themed puzzle I've had published anywhere to date. I'm curious to read what everyone's thoughts are on it.
A | R | T | C | L | A | S | S | D | A | B | A | T | ||
Z | E | R | O | E | S | O | U | T | I | F | O | L | D | |
T | E | A | R | A | P | A | R | T | S | T | R | O | P | |
E | S | C | A | P | E | K | E | Y | H | E | N | N | A | |
C | E | Y | L | O | N | L | A | E | R | T | E | S | ||
U | S | E | R | A | S | C | O | T | S | |||||
P | H | A | T | D | E | A | R | A | R | I | E | |||
A | E | O | N | J | A | M | U | P | R | U | M | S | ||
D | A | W | N | E | M | I | R | B | E | N | E | |||
A | R | G | U | E | D | T | A | T | A | |||||
M | J | O | L | N | I | R | E | N | R | O | B | E | ||
S | U | E | M | E | E | S | T | A | T | E | L | A | W | |
R | I | S | E | R | A | L | O | T | A | L | I | K | E | |
I | C | I | N | G | D | A | T | A | M | I | N | E | R | |
B | E | T | T | Y | B | O | X | S | T | E | R | S |
I suppose one could say that this grid is in the same "grid family" as my New York Times puzzle published June 22, 2019, though shifting some black squares has left this grid devoid of any three-letter answers. I seeded this with MJOLNIR, which is a fun collection of letters that has pop culture relevance because of the Marvel movies, and built the corners from there in a clockwise direction.
I can't take credit for the fantastic clues for 1-Across, 19-Across, or 52-Across, though I liked my clue for that last one well enough, [Rules with force of will?]
E | S | P | N | A | S | A | P | H | A | I | K | U | ||
L | U | R | E | G | O | G | O | D | A | N | C | E | R | |
K | N | O | W | S | O | N | E | S | O | N | I | O | N | S |
D | O | G | S | E | N | G | N | S | A | |||||
N | O | A | H | D | U | N | S | T | ||||||
L | O | N | D | O | N | M | A | R | A | T | H | O | N | |
I | C | E | S | T | A | R | E | X | C | E | L | |||
F | A | N | T | H | R | E | E | O | N | T | R | Y | ||
E | R | I | C | A | N | O | R | P | A | U | L | |||
B | L | O | N | D | E | O | N | B | L | O | N | D | E | |
P | L | A | I | T | I | K | E | A | ||||||
I | R | A | I | N | G | A | B | L | E | |||||
S | E | C | O | N | D | H | O | N | E | Y | M | O | O | N |
T | U | R | K | E | Y | T | R | O | T | O | N | L | Y | |
O | P | E | D | S | Y | E | N | S | N | O | D | E |
Hope you find this puzzle ON point!
I remember debating whether to go with the theme pairing BLONDE ON BLONDE / LONDON MARATHON or MONSOON SEASON / LONDON, ONTARIO - it's a bit inelegant that the second ON in BLONDE ON BLONDE is "on." Ultimately I decided to go with what I thought were the more colorful entries, though I'm still a bit torn on that.
It also would have been nicer if the bigram "ON" only appeared in the theme answers and not the fill. Were I making this today I think I would have tried to make that work.
C | R | A | S | H | P | A | D | S | P | E | C | |||
D | O | C | T | O | R | D | O | O | M | M | O | M | A | |
S | O | M | E | T | I | M | E | S | Y | A | L | E | S | |
S | E | T | T | L | E | S | O | N | M | O | R | T | ||
I | O | N | A | R | A | M | I | S | ||||||
W | R | A | P | S | H | A | S | A | B | A | L | L | ||
S | H | E | S | E | V | I | L | J | E | L | L | O | ||
K | I | C | K | C | O | R | F | U | A | L | I | T | ||
I | L | I | A | D | T | E | A | R | R | E | V | S | ||
P | E | T | N | A | M | E | S | B | A | S | T | E | ||
I | S | A | Y | N | O | S | A | G | ||||||
N | A | T | O | T | I | P | O | N | E | I | L | L | ||
T | W | I | N | O | V | E | R | A | N | D | O | U | T | |
R | A | V | E | R | E | S | T | R | A | I | N | T | S | |
O | Y | E | S | T | A | T | S | G | E | E | K |
I'm pumped to have another puzzle published in the Times!
Glad to see my clues for 40-Across and 15-Down survived. I was amused to see how 29-Across and 53-Across were linked in the final version — I wish I'd thought of that.
Having 45-Across and 46-Across have the same clue comes at the price of 43-Down being AGENAS. 45-Across could have been TAR, making 43-Down ARENAS. I do like the fun of the repeated clue, but if I had this to do over again, I'd probably go with TAR/ARENAS/TORTA over SAG/AGENAS/SORTA.
P | L | U | S | G | M | A | N | B | R | A | N | D | ||
E | A | R | T | H | R | I | S | E | M | A | T | E | O | |
E | S | S | A | Y | E | X | A | M | W | I | K | I | S | |
L | E | A | F | P | E | E | P | E | R | S | I | L | T | |
F | E | N | S | A | I | R | I | N | G | |||||
D | J | S | S | T | I | R | B | O | N | S | A | I | ||
I | O | W | A | A | T | A | D | L | E | D | I | N | ||
T | H | E | L | U | X | U | R | Y | O | F | T | I | M | E |
K | N | E | L | T | P | E | N | N | S | E | A | R | ||
A | C | T | I | N | G | D | A | R | T | T | N | T | ||
L | O | S | E | I | T | M | E | A | D | |||||
S | E | N | T | T | U | L | I | P | M | A | N | I | A | |
K | E | I | R | A | G | O | T | O | P | R | E | S | S | |
I | S | O | U | T | O | V | E | R | S | L | E | E | P | |
T | E | N | E | T | N | E | S | T | A | D | E | S |
It's very exciting to have another puzzle published in the New York Times! This was the first themeless puzzle I had accepted for any venue; by fun coincidence, I also constructed today [4/27]'s themeless LA Times puzzle. Double puzzle day!
Two years ago or so, I tried making a few themeless puzzles when I couldn't come up with any good themes. After a couple encouraging "near miss" rejections, I decided to take a more serious and systematic approach to making a themeless puzzle. I made this puzzle fourteen months ago; I've made several themeless puzzles since then (a few of which are in the queue for future Fridays and Saturdays) and I've learned a lot in the process.
A couple of entries in this grid would not pass muster with me today. ROLF in particular, but RARED and NEMEA are entries I'd prefer to avoid as well. I'm also not sure I'd include ALL IS TRUE now, for fear it's too niche. I originally clued it as [Alternate title for Shakespeare's "Henry VIII" (honestly!)] to give a bit of a parenthetical hint to the solver.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of my clues were kept. I'm particular happy that the clues for GO TO PRESS and OVER SLEEP made it through. Two that aren't mine are [Dawn of the Space Age?] and [Major thing in the heavens?] - I guess I need to work on my astronomy cluing.
A | D | M | I | T | B | D | A | Y | I | Q | S | |||
P | I | A | N | O | I | O | N | E | A | B | U | T | ||
P | A | R | K | I | N | G | L | O | T | W | E | R | E | |
S | L | Y | L | O | A | M | A | L | A | N | ||||
L | E | O | P | A | R | D | P | R | I | N | T | |||
L | E | T | I | T | B | E | H | O | R | D | E | |||
A | R | E | A | R | E | L | O | V | E | T | ||||
C | O | M | M | E | R | C | I | A | L | B | R | E | A | K |
E | S | P | D | E | A | D | I | S | T | O | ||||
A | I | D | E | S | A | T | A | L | O | S | S | |||
D | O | G | G | Y | D | A | Y | C | A | R | E | |||
A | X | E | L | E | T | T | A | H | I | M | ||||
R | E | N | O | T | E | A | S | E | R | V | I | C | E | |
T | Y | C | O | O | K | R | A | A | C | H | E | D | ||
H | E | Y | P | E | N | S | T | R | O | T | S |
Thanks for solving! It's very exciting to have a puzzle run in the New York Times again.
In the original submission, the wording of each theme clue was "Spot's spot," and BENCH PRESS appeared in place of TEA SERVICE. In Will and team's reply, they suggested "It has spots" would be a better clue and asked for a replacement for BENCH PRESS since that wouldn't quite fit. I brainstormed a few ideas, and they liked TEA SERVICE the best. After some back-and-forth on the grid, this was accepted in September. Their only request I couldn't make work was removing DOLMA from the grid; all the alternatives I came up with had bigger problems. Hopefully not too many folks will be concerned to see that pop up on a Tuesday, they're so tasty after all.
W | E | B | C | Y | A | N | T | I | R | A | D | E | ||
I | L | L | H | A | R | E | O | N | E | M | A | N | ||
R | O | D | C | A | R | E | W | R | A | V | I | N | G | |
E | I | G | H | T | D | A | Y | S | A | W | E | E | K | |
A | S | S | O | T | H | E | R | |||||||
E | A | R | B | R | A | S | N | A | G | |||||
L | A | S | T | W | E | E | K | T | O | N | I | G | H | T |
E | T | C | A | T | L | I | S | O | R | O | O | |||
A | M | O | N | T | H | O | F | S | U | N | D | A | Y | S |
F | E | T | A | V | A | T | U | M | S | |||||
I | N | K | E | R | O | F | F | |||||||
C | A | L | E | N | D | A | R | R | E | F | O | R | M | |
T | O | N | G | U | E | W | A | G | E | S | W | A | R | |
M | A | T | U | R | E | A | T | A | D | I | I | I | ||
S | T | E | N | O | S | Y | E | N | S | E | D | S |
I'm very excited to have my first puzzle published in the NEWYORK Times!
This started out as a puzzle about satirical news — that idea hit a SNAG and didn't end go anywhere, but I liked LASTWEEKTONIGHT as a grid-spanning entry and thought this could be another way to use it if I could identify additional theme entries. EIGHTDAYSAWEEK came easy, AMONTHOFSUNDAYS was less forthcoming.
This puzzle was submitted in February 2017 and accepted in June 2017 after being edited ATAD in the middle-right for the quality of the fill. Will and team further changed the bottom right corner from OWEN/RARE/MRED to OWIE/RAID/MRIS. About 15% of my clues survived intact and another 25% with some wording changes — looks like my clue-writing skills still need to MATURE. I very much appreciate the improvements from the EDS, particularly to the wording of the revealer.