John Westwig author page
9 puzzles by John Westwig
with Editor comments
John Westwig is a software engineer in Seattle.
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| E | B | B | S | C | O | T | E | G | O | F | L | I | P | S | O | N | ||||
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John Westwig is a software engineer in Seattle. This is his ninth crossword for The Times. His first one appeared in 2015 when he was 17.
John says, "I think I got into constructing because, when I was done solving a puzzle, I would look at the answer grid and wonder how someone could possibly have created such a thing!" Note the long answers at 16- and 50-Down, each crossing three theme entries. Very elegant.
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| H | O | W | D | E | D | O | I | S | L | E | I | S | A | I | D | N | O | |||
| I | N | O | U | T | I | N | G | S | H | O | R | T | L | O | N | G | I | N | G | |
| N | Y | K | A | U | T | O | S | A | P | R | I | L | T | H | E | E | ||||
| D | I | M | O | U | T | S | O | A | K | I | E | S | T | |||||||
| S | T | E | A | L | P | R | O | C | O | N | N | I | N | G | S | N | I | P | ||
| T | H | A | L | I | A | D | O | R | F | F | O | A | M | I | N | G | ||||
| R | E | S | E | N | D | S | L | E | A | N | H | O | T | P | A | C | K | S | ||
| I | C | Y | G | O | O | F | E | L | O | P | E | R | I | R | E | |||||
| N | A | H | L | A | B | A | N | I | M | A | L | A | N | T | M | A | N | |||
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| S | E | G | O | O | D | D | E | V | E | N | I | N | G | T | I | G | E | R | ||
| M | I | N | G | E | R | A | D | E | C | A | P | O | D | |||||||
| T | T | Y | L | L | E | O | N | A | S | H | I | L | O | P | S | A | ||||
| W | H | O | L | E | P | A | R | T | I | N | G | O | N | O | F | F | I | N | G | |
| S | E | M | A | N | A | S | I | S | T | O | S | W | E | E | T | I | E | |||
| J | A | B | B | E | R | S | C | H | I | P | S | W | E | A | T | S |
John Westwig is a software engineer in Seattle. He got into crosswords when he was very young, solving Games magazine on car trips with his family. Constructing came soon after. He sold his first puzzle to The Times in 2015, when he was 17.
This is his eighth (and first Sunday). "Lots of friends do the Times puzzle," John writes, "but most complain that mine are too hard."
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| G | E | N | E | N | U | T | ||||||||
| H | A | R | R | I | S | O | N | S | F | O | R | D | ||
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| C | I | T | E | P | I | C | O | T | B | A | B | E | ||
| A | T | E | L | E | D | A | C | O | R | A | L | |||
| I | C | H | I | R | O | S | S | U | Z | U | K | I | ||
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| S | W | A | B | S | A | C | R | E | E | N | Z | O | ||
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| A | K | I | O | M | O | R | I | T | A | H | U | G | E | |
| M | E | E | K | V | O | L | T | F | A | T | ||||
| P | U | C | E | A | N | D | Y | M | U | R | R | A | Y | |
| S | P | E | N | T | A | R | R | I | V | E | ||||
| I | F | I | M | A | Y | I | N | O | N | |||||
| M | O | R | N | I | N | G | P | E | R | S | O | N | ||
| P | A | L | O | R | O | M | E | R | O | |||||
| T | I | D | B | I | T | W | A | R | D | S | ||||
| A | L | M | I | C | H | A | E | L | S | G | E | E | K | |
| O | N | E | G | L | E | E | E | A | S | E | ||||
| M | E | N | S | A | L | I | M | A | C | G | R | A | W | |
| O | R | E | O | B | O | Z | O | L | A | U | D | E | ||
| B | R | Y | N | S | W | A | N | U | P | P | E | R |
As John indicates, we spent a lot of time working to get the best set of 10-letter names of famous people with the initials A.M. Ethnic diversity and gender balance were serious considerations, as always, but other factors are just as important.
ANNE MURRAY was on our short list for this puzzle, but we didn't consider her to be nearly as famous as ANDY MURRAY. Anne Murray's last hit was in 1981, 34 years ago, whereas Andy Murray is a current tennis player who won Wimbledon as recently at 2013. ALICE MUNRO was also considered — but for a Monday puzzle we judged Andy Murray to be the best known.
Also, as a general matter it has to be acknowledged that there are a lot more famous men than famous women. In the "Noted Personalities" section of the World Almanac, for example, men outnumber women by more than 5 to 1. So naturally themes based on famous people's names are likely to have more men than women.
My main goal in a puzzle like today's is to have a broad range of generally familiar names, and I think today's set achieves that. To expect 50/50 gender balance is unrealistic, and insisting on such a balance in every puzzle would lead to inferior work.