Owen Travis author page
2 puzzles by Owen Travis
with Constructor comments
See the 10 answer words debuted by Owen Travis.
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| R | O | S | H | A | C | I | D | O | A | S | I | S | ||
| A | U | T | O | K | A | N | E | F | L | I | R | T | ||
| W | R | I | T | T | E | N | I | N | S | T | O | N | E | |
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| C | U | R | B | E | D | V | I | S | A | R | P | S | ||
| O | H | I | O | O | P | E | R | A | C | L | O | A | K | |
| M | A | G | M | A | A | G | O | O | O | M | P | A | ||
| B | U | B | B | L | E | W | A | N | D | S | E | A | T | |
| S | L | Y | L | A | S | S | O | L | E | O | L | E | ||
| E | S | C | A | N | O | S | ||||||||
| D | E | A | T | H | L | Y | H | A | L | L | O | W | S | |
| D | E | L | T | A | I | M | E | T | E | V | I | L | ||
| E | E | L | E | R | A | C | M | E | E | A | S | E | ||
| S | P | A | N | S | M | A | S | S | P | L | E | D |
It's a pleasure to be back in the Times! Way back when, I almost scrapped this theme because I feared the editors would think it too niche — good thing I listened to my childhood-Harry-Potter-fan self! Even then, I did my best to include fun stuff elsewhere in the grid so that those unfamiliar with the DEATHLY HALLOWS would (hopefully) still enjoy.
My favorite clues are [Spoil a shot, in a way] and [What not to do over something out of your control].
Big thanks to the editorial team and everyone who test-solved this puzzle. Also, I'd like to briefly plug the Daily Princetonian's crossword section, where I am an editor. We have a team of 20 contributors, collectively publishing twice a week. We got started this past semester and have had a blast learning and constructing together. Hope you'll check us out!
| C | R | I | C | K | R | B | I | S | B | B | C | |||
| N | I | T | R | O | M | O | O | L | A | O | E | R | ||
| N | O | S | I | R | A | T | O | L | L | I | M | O | ||
| S | E | T | T | H | E | B | A | R | L | O | W | |||
| B | I | T | P | A | R | T | R | E | D | H | E | A | D | |
| O | B | O | E | A | H | A | S | F | E | R | N | S | ||
| B | E | N | D | O | V | E | R | S | O | A | P | |||
| A | T | E | N | E | W | U | S | E | R | L | E | E | ||
| D | E | A | L | B | A | C | K | W | A | R | D | |||
| G | R | I | D | S | R | A | G | U | A | T | O | I | ||
| L | E | T | I | T | B | E | G | R | A | V | E | S | T | |
| U | N | D | E | R | A | C | H | I | E | V | E | |||
| T | O | O | E | S | T | E | E | A | D | M | A | N | ||
| E | W | W | A | R | O | A | R | I | H | O | P | E | ||
| I | N | N | K | A | R | T | L | I | M | B | O |
OWEN: It's crazy to me that last Friday marks one year since I cold emailed Jeff to see if he would be interested in co-constructing. As a long-time solver, I had tried my hand at making puzzles only a couple of times before, mostly for fun. Collaborating with an experienced constructor was a great way to learn, and I'm so grateful to Jeff for helping me think through my many theme ideas. He and I worked on a couple of puzzles together, eventually getting this one accepted last summer. As a first-year engineering student in the middle of finals week, I'm thrilled and honored to be making my debut today.
This theme came to me while I was living in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and it went through several iterations before becoming the set you see today. We initially considered DO THE LIMBO as a revealer, but going with LIMBO allowed us to open up the grid a bit more. It was fun to go down to 72 words and include so many long bonuses like 9D, 24D, and 31D. I'm happy to see that some of my clues made the final cut, especially the ones for 22D and 39A. I'm also very grateful to the editorial staff for their many edits and improvements.
Thanks so much to Jeff for his insight and expertise, and to everyone who encouraged me with this endeavor. Hope you enjoy!