Morton J. Mendelson author page

I started this puzzle simply thinking about breaking the constraints of the 15x15 grid and looking for expressions that would motivate doing that. OUTSIDE THE BOX was an obvious possibility, but I couldn't figure out where to take it. OVER THE EDGE was also obvious, and I considered using expressions with OVER dangling over the edge. It was simple enough finding possibilities ending in OVER that don't carry the meaning of OVER — e.g., FOUR-LEAF CLOVER — but the same isn't true for expressions that start with OVER. So I dropped the idea and let it simmer in the background. Then, one day during my walk to the gym, when I was mulling over OVER THE EDGE, I had an aha moment — actually more like a forehead-slapping duh moment: I could use GOES OVER THE EDGE to motivate words and expressions that begin or end with GO hanging over the edge.

Of course, there isn't necessarily a direct route from an idea to seeing one's puzzle in print. My first submission included GOES OVER THE EDGE as the reveal, which I liked, because it has 15 letters and captures the idea that there is more than one GO over the edge. But Will saw it differently and thought GO OVER THE EDGE would be "much more elegant." Although I didn't fully agree, I wasn't in a position to argue with "much more elegant," so I completely redid the puzzle, resubmitted it, tweaked it a bit more, and finally hit the mark.

I hope the puzzle doesn't send anyone over any edges, other than ones in the 15 x 15 grid.

Although this is my second puzzle appearing in the NYT, it was my first accepted. I had previously submitted twelve puzzles. Some elicited an encouraging remark — e.g., "clever idea" or "appreciated the creativity" — but they were all rejected, typically because the theme or vocabulary didn't excite or interest Will quite enough.

One day, exploring XWord Info, I came across uniclue puzzles. Although I didn't have a new twist on the genre, I decided to try to construct one like Larry Shearer's of Nov. 1, 2007. I looked for pairs of words with the same initial letter and the same clue, quickly finding several, such as BOOB / BOZO (Doofus), MONEY / MOOLAH (Scratch), and ZEST / ZEAL (Zip). I realized the last pair could be tweaked to ZEST / ZILCH (Zip) — i.e., unrelated words with the same clue. Aha, I had a new twist!

I designed a grid based on ZEST / ZILCH in the NW corner. Using cheater squares to the left of 25 and above 58, I was able to include nine uniclue pairs, which seemed like a respectable number and which was more tractable than an earlier grid that had eleven pairs, eight of which overlapped with other pairs. I then looked for pairs to fill the grid, a harder task than I anticipated, given how easily I fell upon ZEST / ZILCH, and I had to keep changing pairs when I encountered difficulties with the fill. But I sentimentally held onto ZEST / ZILCH.

When I completed the puzzle, I was optimistic it would, if not excite, at least interest Will quite enough. Indeed, my lucky 13th submission (July 13, 2015) got the nod, but I did encounter a bit of bad luck with it. I didn't see the email (Oct. 15, 2015) telling me the puzzle might be acceptable until I inquired about it (Dec. 3, 2015). At that point, the puzzle still needed work, including two new pairs, but Will and Joel Fagliano patiently helped me iron out the wrinkles in what I consider my debut puzzle.

When I retired from McGill University, where I had held academic and administrative positions for almost 40 years, I set myself a goal of having a crossword puzzle published in the Sunday NYT. I had never constructed a puzzle before, so as you might expect, my first two efforts at Sunday puzzles didn't make the grade. But crossword construction was as engaging as I had anticipated, and, although I switched to weekday puzzles, I didn't let multiple rejections otherwise deter me. My lucky 13th submission got the nod from Will, as did my 14th, which is the one appearing today.

As a solver, I like the gradual reveal of humorous crossword quips and the change they offer from standard puzzles. I came up with the idea for today's quip while reading a list of cooking metaphors. It took quite a while to get the language right, but I knew I had it when I laughed out loud at my own joke. Unfortunately, the 67-character quip seriously constrained the fill, so compromises led to more names in the puzzle than I would have preferred.

I have to thank Will and Joel for their enormous help and seemingly endless patience. Although they enjoyed my humor, my initial submission was far from acceptable. Many entries fell short, and the middle line of the quip was off-center, a departure from crossword-theme symmetry that was a show stopper. I revised both the grid and the entries — twice. Finally, I submitted two alternatives and, with changes suggested by Joel, we settled on a grid, which I then clued. Given other constructors' comments, I wasn't surprised that quite a number of my clues were changed, in several cases making them more contemporary, but I was pleased that some of them survived and I'm delighted to see my first puzzle in the NYT — my first puzzle published anywhere.

This whole process has convinced me that retirement is a great stage in life for starting something new. It affords the time to develop and hone novel skills, so I'm still hopeful that I will eventually see one of my puzzles in the Sunday NYT.