Laura Taylor Kinnel author page

I hope everyone finds something to enjoy here and doesn't find the cost of ANAT, ATANY, EYER, etc., too high. My husband is the baker in our family, and I do wish his especially excellent molasses cookie could have been among the offerings!

Most of the words clued at last New Year's Eve Zoom party (see Will's notes) vanished from the puzzle as I worked with the editing team through several revisions, but the clue for 65-Down is Geoff's, and the clue for 110-Down is Eva's. Cluing participation trophies go to Kevin, Lynn, and Oren. (The only COOKIE CUTTER lost in the editing process was a ball, replaced by the elf.)

Though fans of 54-Across often find it impossible to fathom, my favorite is 107-Across. Here's my grandmother's recipe:

• Cream together 1c. each brown sugar, white sugar, and margarine with 2 eggs and 1 tsp. of vanilla.
• Combine 2 c. flour, 3 c. OATMEAL, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 1 tsp. salt.
• Mix into the creamed ingredients and stir in 2 c. RAISINs.
• Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and flatten with a glass BUTTERed on the bottom and dipped in cinnamon sugar.
• Bake for 10 minutes at 350 DEGREES.

I love the long entries across the middle row of this puzzle. Fun to debut 69-Across! And back when I submitted the puzzle in January, I had no idea how relevant the question mark at the end of the clue for 66-Across would prove to be.

My daughter Eva was among those who graduated from high school in this unusual year, and at about noon on what was to have been the day of her 66-Across (which she was letting pass without comment), it occurred to me wonder aloud what she'd think of a do-it-yourself version. She loved the idea, and her would-be date—the one person outside of the family who had recently visited after weeks of isolation—was also game, so Eva and I started hanging up lights while her older sister planned a menu, went to the grocery store, and began cooking. Eventually, we all dressed up in finery from previous events, Eva's date appeared bearing irises from the family garden, and friends and family joined via Zoom as we served the honored guests at a card table and did the Cupid Shuffle together in the living room.

I envisioned an answer key as has been produced, but had not planned to include any visual cues in the puzzle itself, so those of you grateful for the extra help provided by the squares within squares can thank the editorial team!

Finally, although 45-Down is not well known in the US, his appearance today is timely as he's celebrated with a national holiday in the Czech Republic on July 6.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is about sacrifice, not for you or me, but for the greater good." — 35-ACROSS

I suppose we might all consider ourselves part of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division right now. A crazed 28-ACROSS screaming, "All right, people are dying. It is your job to save their lives" would sort of fit right in. I'm deeply grateful for all the medical professionals and first responders who don't need 28-ACROSS to tell them this. It might help the rest of us to realize that her message is at least as much for us: If you're not doing something that people need to subsist, just stay home. That's our job. That and whatever other job we're trying to do from home (assuming we're lucky enough to have such a job).

I'll never be nearly as put-together as 45-ACROSS, but I'll do my best to look presentable when, coincidentally, I connect with my students by video for the first time on the day this puzzle is published. (Shout out to all the students, teachers, and school administrators who are learning so much so quickly about how to teach and learn in unfamiliar circumstances.)

And, finally, a bit of advice for our times from 17-ACROSS: "Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well."

I am always grateful for spring.

In an effort to reference both the periodic table and the dining table, I had titled this "On the Table," but I love the editors' more playful choice! I also like how "What's Shaking?" echoes an early theme entry idea, namely, Jimmy Buffet's "lost shaker of salt." As I worked to cobble together a set of appropriate length theme entries though, this fatefully morphed into "long lost shaker of salt" (which--I'm just saying--will turn up for you if you Google "Margaritaville"). Upon test-solving the first version of the puzzle, my spouse said he didn't think "long" was part of the lyric, but I ignored him, foolishly choosing to believe the internet instead. I'm grateful to the editors for their careful fact checking, which put them squarely on my spouse's side. Happily, they liked the theme enough that I had a chance to try again.

The down themers ended up getting substantially more revision than the across ones in the remake. Entries that had to go included SARANAC LAKE and CHINA CLOSET. Though I had hoped to work in TORN ACL, it wasn't to be, and I don't much like that I couldn't find a better option than 80-Down, but there were some difficult symmetry constraints there. On the plus side, I'm quite happy with 35-Down, and it's nice to see a few of my favorite clues (55-Across, 86-Across, and 118-Across) in the final puzzle.

Last, but far from least, it's great to be part of this week of women!

It's particularly fun to debut on the Sunday before Christmas since my crossword creation habit began exactly a year ago when I decided to make a year-in-review crossword for our annual family letter!

In the process of figuring out how to construct that first puzzle, I was thrilled to discover the plentiful online resources for aspiring constructors. I was amazed by the enthusiastic encouragement of beginners from experienced constructors and in Wordplay's How to Make a Crossword Puzzle. Together, the resources and encouragement got me thinking that maybe I could make a publishable crossword. Later, the specific, gently-delivered feedback from Times editors on three rejected submissions helped me know what to focus on improving. (Imagine if educators were to trade the "weeding out" mentality for an "encourage and provide targeted feedback" approach . . . )

This puzzle evolved from the idea of doing something numerical with 39-Across. The happy discovery that its central letter was also the start of 41-Down inspired me to learn the tiny bit of RegEx (thanks, Jim, Jeff, and XWord Info!) needed to find other pairs. Then came the revelation that the words which ended up in the central column could fit there so nicely, and the idea for the block design followed. I had begun working on the fill when one of Jeff's XWord Info notes sparked the idea of leaving out T's. The title came after I'd finished everything else.

About half my clues or lightly edited versions thereof remain. Of these, about a quarter are interesting/original. I like how the editors re-clued 114-Across, 22-Down, and 41-Down for the season! The only clue I was sad to lose, particularly given the timing of the puzzle's appearance, was "Nativity scene?" for 60-Down.

Thanks to my known test solvers, cousin Don and spouse Geoff, and to all — known and unknown — who have helped bring this to fruition!