John Martz author page
1 puzzle by John Martz
with Constructor comments
John Martz is a cartoonist, illustrator and book designer in Toronto, Ontario, who specializes in picture books and graphic novels for kids.
| B | U | G | S | S | A | T | A | T | U | R | D | U | C | R | A | B | ||||
| O | T | O | E | S | P | L | A | S | H | G | O | E | S | H | A | L | T | |||
| N | A | T | E | S | A | L | U | T | E | H | O | M | E | P | A | G | E | S | ||
| G | H | O | S | T | W | R | I | T | I | N | G | A | R | E | P | A | ||||
| P | I | A | T | E | L | A | S | S | N | S | E | M | I | S | ||||||
| P | I | N | K | L | A | D | Y | F | L | U | I | D | V | O | L | U | M | E | ||
| P | R | E | T | E | E | N | T | R | A | I | N | E | E | S | F | E | N | |||
| S | E | C | O | N | D | S | T | O | R | Y | T | E | D | X | M | F | A | S | ||
| A | G | E | O | M | A | P | E | W | P | O | I | S | E | |||||||
| S | O | S | A | K | E | T | A | N | J | I | O | N | I | O | N | Y | ||||
| P | R | I | S | O | N | S | E | N | T | E | N | C | E | S | ||||||
| A | S | S | U | R | E | I | N | P | O | W | E | R | E | T | N | A | ||||
| C | R | U | E | T | P | A | T | A | D | E | B | O | N | |||||||
| S | I | B | S | S | T | E | M | A | D | D | R | E | S | S | B | O | O | K | ||
| P | A | S | L | O | O | T | B | A | G | S | R | I | H | A | N | N | A | |||
| A | N | I | M | A | L | P | R | I | N | T | B | A | R | C | O | D | E | S | ||
| N | A | D | A | L | F | A | T | E | A | M | A | R | V | S | ||||||
| I | T | A | L | O | W | O | R | K | I | N | G | T | I | T | L | E | ||||
| B | U | Z | Z | W | O | R | D | S | C | I | E | N | T | O | B | E | E | P | ||
| O | R | E | O | A | T | O | P | H | A | R | O | L | D | E | A | V | E | |||
| O | L | D | S | N | Y | N | Y | S | A | S | S | Y | S | K | Y | E |
It's fitting that this puzzle is running on Christmas Day. I make kid's books, both as an author/illustrator and a book designer for Tundra Books, a children's publisher in Toronto. For the past few years, I've created a holiday crossword for my coworkers, with themes playing on the titles of the books we publish. After creating last year's holiday puzzle, I thought its theme had the potential for a broader audience if I clued it with the titles of famous novels.
Big thanks to the editing team for their thoughtful edit, and especially for acquiescing when I pushed to keep my favorite bit of wordplay in the puzzle — the clue for T-BONE STEAK. Additional favorite clues that made the edit include those for MOOSE, SUBSIDIZED, BAD VIBES, I'M EASY, and the 1-Across/1-Down combo of BUGS and BONG.
Working in children's books, I'm also glad to have snuck in a few extra kidlit entries with HAROLD, ROO, and TOTO.
Some theme entries from the puzzle that inspired this one but that I couldn't make work here include COUNTERNARRATIVE for a book about an abacus and FROZEN ACCOUNT for a book about snow.
On that note, happy holidays!