John Hawksley author page

Hi all! Here are a few words about how this puzzle was constructed.

For this kind of grid, you start by using software (i.e., brute force) to fill the center region only. But with ten connected slots, it's a real test of wordlist quality. You need a wordlist that's both very large and very precise (ideally > 95% usable, otherwise the chance that ten random entries are *all* usable vanishes quickly).

I spent a month improving my wordlist for 11-letter entries specifically, after which an exhaustive search still took several months. This resulted in four usable centers and two final puzzles — this one and a puzzle published in AVCX last month.

TELESCOPIUM is maybe the main weakness of the center stack. I have a vague memory that I considered removing this from my list in my pass through the 11-letter entries but decided to keep it because it's essentially gettable (even if not really interesting). It's funny how that works!

CAWCAWED is a case of finding something that works, with the pattern CAW????? being shockingly constrained. I'm thankful for the editors' clue on this one, which took something contrived and made it very cute!

Thank you for solving, and for reading!

The word MANDUCATING was the genesis of this theme, after noticing the similarity to MANSPLAINING. I thought it could be fun to clue difficult words both "rightly" and "wrongly".

Actually, MANDUCATING became the odd one out, since it's a fake portmanteau and the other theme entries are misreadings of single root words. (It also got changed to MANDUCATES for symmetry reasons.)

I did have RAPTORIAL = [Predatory.. NOT an introductory hip-hop lesson] as a second fake portmanteau option, but the editorial team felt the real definition was too familiar.

METROLOGY is the one I personally was most familiar with — it's quite important in science and engineering, particularly in advanced manufacturing.

ICI is a good example of a weaker 3-letter entry holding together a corner.

My clue for PLATED was [Arranged, like food at a fancy restaurant] but it got changed due to similarity to a recent clue for the same word!

My clue for AGE GAP was [Subject of the so-called "divide by 2 and add 7" rule] — but I'm not surprised this one got cut!

I focus more on themeless puzzles, and also tend to prefer simpler, non-groundbreaking themes but with relatively open grids and cool fill. Hopefully a bit of that comes across today — thank you for solving!

I really like this kind of themeless grid, with the 4x9s and boxy corners. I've wanted to make one since May 2020 after seeing a similar puzzle by Patrick Berry.

An older draft had THE APOLLO, HALLOWEEN, EVIL PLANS, and RADIO EDIT in the top-left corner, but the fill wasn't as clean. Editors also — surprisingly to me — flagged EVIL PLANS ("Contents of a villain's notebook") as too contrived. After that, things were stuck until I injected a black square above ACT I (originally, CACTI). This opened up a host of new options.

TOMATO BASE and SEVENTH SON are two entries worth highlighting, I think. As marquee entries go, neither one is particularly current or flashy. But both felt off the beaten track in a way that I found interesting.

Two editorial changes went in opposite directions on the spectrum of "original vs. accessible":

• My clue for OGDEN was [Humorist Nash], which became [First permanent settlement by people of European descent in what is now Utah].
• My clue for LIM was [Sleight of hand master Shin ___], which became [Abbr. in calculus].

In hindsight, maybe [Las Vegas headliner Shin ___] would have carried more gravitas and made the cut!

I hope you enjoy it!

This puzzle started with another grid, with a third (!) central 3x15 stack. Here, I found the HATERS GONNA HATE stack, but with ugly downs like HANA and ITER. Luckily, I saw that the grid could be opened up to GHANA and LITER while creating the four longer down entries. I'm happy with the result!

The puzzle is a pangram, mostly an accident. It came down to JQA // AQUAS, SAX // XES at the very end, which I thought was the best fill, regardless of style points.

Quick hits:

• FUN SIZE is my favorite debut entry. The term comes from tiny chocolate bars, but I've heard it used cutely for any diminutive thing, including people.
• GTA is an interesting debut, in that GTE, GTI, and GTO have all been used before, despite being far less familiar to me.
• My wife Hanh and I ate CHILI VERDE for the first time in Santa Fe while road-tripping across the country this year.
• I wrote the clue for HOT TO. I had recently watched the reality show in question. This is also why I was happy to keep the long partial in the grid.
• The editors wrote the clue for AKA, my biggest surprise in the final proof. The list of AKA sisters is a real who's who that includes Kamala Harris, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison.
• Apropos of the MOTHERS DAY / DAD JOKE crossing in the puzzle, I'm doing some "long-distance calling" today.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the puzzle!