Kathryn Ladner author page
3 puzzles by Kathryn Ladner
with Constructor comments
| A | R | C | H | I | V | E | O | V | E | R | R | A | N | |
| B | A | H | A | M | E | N | B | E | L | I | E | V | E | |
| S | I | A | M | E | S | E | I | N | A | F | L | A | T | |
| P | L | A | T | I | N | F | O | |||||||
| A | L | L | E | N | P | E | Z | D | E | C | C | A | ||
| C | O | A | T | A | S | N | A | P | D | A | R | E | ||
| A | N | I | U | P | A | T | R | E | E | T | O | R | ||
| I | G | N | I | T | E | S | A | R | T | D | E | C | O | |
| V | A | X | T | A | U | |||||||||
| R | A | J | A | H | A | N | D | L | E | T | E | M | ||
| I | M | O | N | F | L | E | E | T | L | A | V | A | ||
| N | O | I | C | R | E | W | C | U | T | T | I | C | ||
| G | E | N | E | R | I | C | A | D | E | P | T | L | Y | |
| O | B | E | L | I | S | K | M | O | R | A | L | E | S | |
| A | D | O | B | E | S | P | R | I | M | E | R |
| L | I | T | E | R | A | L | A | C | A | C | I | A | ||
| A | C | H | I | E | V | E | P | R | O | B | I | N | G | |
| B | E | A | G | L | E | S | E | M | B | A | R | G | O | |
| T | H | Y | C | A | L | R | O | N | ||||||
| G | I | S | T | F | R | A | T | E | R | N | I | T | Y | |
| A | M | A | A | U | G | T | A | O | ||||||
| M | A | L | A | R | K | E | Y | D | I | L | L | S | ||
| U | N | I | F | I | E | D | S | T | A | R | E | A | T | |
| T | I | E | O | N | L | A | W | R | E | N | C | E | ||
| U | G | H | A | N | I | T | E | A | ||||||
| B | A | L | L | O | O | N | I | S | T | B | A | S | K | |
| A | L | E | R | E | D | E | I | N | ||||||
| L | I | M | E | A | D | E | R | E | G | R | E | T | S | |
| S | C | O | W | L | E | D | I | N | A | D | A | Z | E | |
| A | E | N | E | A | S | M | E | N | S | R | E | A |
| A | C | H | Y | S | C | O | T | S | A | M | M | O | ||
| S | M | E | E | A | L | B | U | M | W | I | S | H | ||
| G | I | S | T | B | O | O | M | E | R | A | N | G | S | |
| A | N | T | I | D | O | T | E | L | O | K | I | |||
| R | O | I | I | R | S | A | L | L | E | G | E | D | ||
| D | R | A | F | T | P | L | I | E | O | X | O | |||
| A | C | H | R | A | E | A | L | I | T | |||||
| B | E | E | T | H | O | V | E | N | S | F | I | F | T | H |
| U | R | G | E | N | E | G | T | E | D | |||||
| F | I | G | G | O | G | O | T | A | M | I | L | |||
| F | E | R | R | E | R | A | M | O | A | A | C | U | ||
| O | O | N | A | D | E | F | L | A | T | E | D | |||
| W | I | L | D | E | B | E | E | S | T | F | L | A | W | |
| I | D | L | E | L | E | A | S | E | R | I | G | I | ||
| S | O | S | O | E | L | F | I | N | O | N | E | G |
I'm thrilled to make my NY Times debut with a puzzle dedicated to one of my favorite composers. I play piccolo and flute in the Houston Symphony and Beethoven's music is always a joy to perform. (When I'm not performing I can often be found backstage hunched over a crossword with a few colleagues). Beethoven's Fifth is extra special to me because it was the first symphony to feature the piccolo! If you've only heard the first movement I encourage you to listen to the whole thing — it's a true masterpiece. The opening four notes are said to represent fate "knocking at the door" and the entire symphony plays out as an epic struggle between darkness and light.
I grew up doing crossword puzzles with my dad, a devoted daily solver despite being a terrible speller. We still do puzzles together and now he is the beta-tester for my creations (additional thanks to my mom, sister, Matthew and Ian!) I started constructing puzzles about 2 years ago after doing a lot of diagramless crosswords. Those got me interested in the structure and symmetry of crosswords and led me to try creating my own.
The hardest part for me is coming up with a clever theme, so I was excited when I got the idea to embed the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth in a puzzle. I wanted the placement of the "notes" to make sense musically as well. If you draw a line through the rows starting at 20-, 28-, 36-, 44- and 55-across, you'll create a 5-line musical staff with the notes falling on the correct line (in treble clef) - transforming the puzzle into a piece of sheet music.
It was a delight to be edited by Will Shortz, who took this puzzle's clues to the next level. I can't take credit for most of the really good ones, especially 58-across which cracked me up!
Happy 250th Ludwig!