Lisa Senzel author page
2 puzzles by Lisa Senzel
with Constructor comments
See the 11 answer words debuted by Lisa Senzel.
| L | I | T | E | R | A | T | I | P | A | D | K | I | N | G | S | T | O | N | ||
| L | E | A | V | E | S | T | O | A | N | A | A | D | O | R | A | B | L | E | ||
| A | D | D | I | T | I | O | N | N | T | H | B | Y | P | A | S | S | E | S | ||
| T | R | A | P | A | D | E | L | E | L | E | N | S | ||||||||
| M | A | T | E | O | E | R | A | S | I | N | G | D | Y | L | A | N | ||||
| A | H | A | G | R | A | P | E | S | A | G | E | G | A | P | O | B | E | |||
| N | E | U | T | R | I | N | O | R | I | D | I | C | U | L | E | |||||
| I | M | T | O | A | S | T | P | A | N | E | L | S | M | A | R | T | E | D | ||
| O | D | E | A | L | E | V | E | I | N | A | ||||||||||
| A | T | E | L | E | S | S | C | A | D | E | T | I | R | O | N | M | E | N | ||
| R | O | T | S | T | O | P | I | C | N | E | R | V | E | E | A | S | T | |||
| A | N | Y | S | O | N | O | F | A | B | R | A | N | D | O | N | S | A | |||
| K | E | M | A | L | S | T | I | R | E | R | S | E | N | I | G | E | L | |||
| D | O | O | R | S | S | E | T | T | I | T | R | A | M | E | N | |||||
| P | O | L | K | O | C | H | R | E | S | P | A | D | E | O | R | C | S | |||
| T | W | O | O | C | H | O | M | E | A | L | S | E | C | |||||||
| A | N | G | D | R | O | P | L | E | A | F | T | A | B | L | E | C | S | I | ||
| I | D | E | A | S | E | A | L | I | O | N | I | S | L | E | ||||||
| R | I | C | O | T | T | A | A | R | T | O | O | A | S | H | A | N | T | I | ||
| P | L | A | T | T | E | R | P | L | A | N | T | E | T | A | G | E | R | E | ||
| A | L | L | E | S | T | S | Y | R | A | H | S | S | N | S | I | S |
LISA: Inspired by the bio of an 82-year-old constructor and his mentor, Will Nediger, I reached out and got my start. I was mentored by Will N., Jeff, Christina Iverson, Jake Halperin, Andrea Carla Michaels, and recently, AVCX editor Ben Tausig. Crossword people are generous, funny, great people.
My husband took over some of our special needs son's care during the pandemic, which lightened my "mental load" so I could begin this pursuit. Based on my idea, Jeff wrote a program, designed the grid, and guided me through the fill. The idea came out of another idea that I'm still trying to pitch to Jeff.
I would like to offer solvers an alternate clue for 33-Down: "Breakdancing model Jakub Josef Orlinski, for one."
| G | A | B | S | B | A | Y | O | U | B | A | R | T | ||
| U | V | E | A | A | L | U | M | S | E | V | E | R | ||
| M | C | A | T | K | O | R | A | N | N | E | V | E | ||
| B | L | T | N | E | U | T | R | A | L | N | O | M | ||
| O | U | T | D | O | I | R | U | L | E | |||||
| B | O | U | R | B | O | N | S | T | R | E | E | T | ||
| M | A | R | D | I | G | R | A | S | ||||||
| P | E | E | P | B | A | T | T | Y | I | L | K | S | ||
| V | E | T | O | Y | E | S | D | I | O | N | ||||
| C | L | O | U | D | S | D | R | E | V | I | L | |||
| U | T | E | R | I | G | O | O | S | E | |||||
| D | E | F | B | I | G | E | A | S | Y | J | F | K | ||
| U | P | F | O | R | L | A | P | A | L | A | I | N | ||
| S | E | E | Y | A | O | R | E | L | I | Z | Z | O | ||
| K | E | E | L | O | L | D | B | Z | Z | T |
Lisa: I pictured a grid with a big E and Z, similar to That's a Big IF, filled with EZ Pass, Eazy-E, Yeezy, and lots of Z's like Snoozefest, with New Orleans as the revealer. Jeff suggested we bring our theme city to life, and he designed the grid. As many have noted, Jeff is great to work with. If you haven't done his December 2021 NYT Mega Puzzle, it's amazing.
I've had wonderful crossword mentors; thank you so much, Will Nediger, Christina Iverson, and Jake Halperin.
I clued NORA as Nora McInerny, host of Terrible, Thanks for Asking, my favorite podcast (2 million downloads a month, not all by me).
My photo shows the giant ‘90s crossword that I brought in from my garage when the pandemic started. I've survived the onslaught of Tsetses and Tsars, and I'm almost done… I hope the pandemic is, too.