Peter Koetters author page
5 puzzles by Peter Koetters
with Constructor comments
| D | O | M | P | A | R | T | S | L | O | T | S | T | A | M | B | A | ||||
| U | N | I | C | O | D | E | I | H | O | P | E | H | U | R | R | I | E | D | ||
| G | A | M | E | L | A | N | B | E | R | R | A | O | N | E | A | C | R | E | ||
| U | I | E | S | M | O | V | I | E | C | A | M | E | R | A | O | R | E | L | ||
| P | R | O | A | M | W | H | A | T | A | H | O | O | T | Q | U | O | T | E | ||
| G | R | A | I | N | S | N | O | P | U | L | P | |||||||||
| M | E | R | R | N | S | A | S | S | T | S | F | O | E | H | E | N | ||||
| I | V | A | N | I | V | I | M | I | T | A | T | E | W | E | L | O | S | T | ||
| R | E | P | I | N | E | N | O | D | U | L | A | R | E | R | E | N | O | W | ||
| A | S | H | C | A | N | C | R | E | D | I | T | S | R | E | T | E | S | T | ||
| O | R | T | S | A | N | I | S | E | S | P | Y | S | ||||||||
| Y | O | P | L | A | I | T | L | O | O | M | S | P | L | E | A | T | E | D | ||
| A | S | H | E | O | O | P | T | E | A | K | I | A | T | H | A | I | ||||
| W | H | O | O | N | C | E | E | R | N | E | R | N | O | O | V | A | ||||
| S | A | N | D | U | S | K | Y | S | A | S | P | I | T | C | H | M | E | N | ||
| O | A | R | T | O | N | O | T | T | T | O | A | |||||||||
| S | I | G | N | S | I | T | E | S | O | P | H | E | S | T | E | |||||
| N | O | R | L | A | C | E | U | P | T | I | N | H | A | T | A | R | M | |||
| I | N | A | F | U | N | K | T | U | T | O | R | O | V | E | R | L | I | E | ||
| P | I | P | E | T | T | E | E | M | O | J | I | N | O | C | O | V | E | R | ||
| S | C | H | M | E | A | R | R | A | M | O | S | E | C | S | T | A | S | Y |
| S | W | U | N | G | D | O | H | A | P | O | P | E | ||
| P | A | T | I | O | R | I | O | S | E | L | A | L | ||
| C | R | A | C | K | F | A | L | L | S | C | R | A | C | K |
| A | T | H | E | A | R | T | D | E | R | I | V | E | S | |
| N | R | A | A | U | T | O | S | |||||||
| S | H | E | E | T | S | L | I | P | S | S | H | E | E | T |
| P | A | D | S | E | E | R | S | E | R | V | E | |||
| R | I | D | S | R | E | H | A | B | D | O | E | R | ||
| E | R | I | C | S | O | H | I | O | D | R | S | |||
| E | Y | E | H | I | T | S | R | I | G | H | T | E | Y | E |
| E | T | H | A | N | B | M | W | |||||||
| P | R | I | M | A | R | Y | K | E | Y | E | D | U | P | |
| L | I | N | E | R | E | A | D | I | N | G | L | I | N | E |
| U | S | S | R | E | A | R | N | O | V | O | I | D | ||
| M | E | T | S | S | H | E | D | D | E | N | T | S |
Still straining from the rejection of my crossword tour de force entitled "Carpe B.M.," I devoted myself in the last year to only writing puzzles about stuff stuck inside other things. I was finally forced to abandon the construction of a grid resembling a ship lodged in the Suez Canal when the Ever Given was released, and the news cycle moved on.
Resorting to visual puns, the last harbor of a desperate cruciverbalist's mind, I threw together the puzzle you find before you. Please don't blame me that it has nothing to do with Christmas. I had a puzzle about people in Santa suits stuck in chimneys, but the editors thought it could frighten too many children. As if children are all doing the New York Times crossword.
In any case, do enjoy a sandwich with this stodgy offering on National Sangria Day.
| J | A | I | L | F | I | V | E | M | O | R | A | Y | ||
| A | L | D | A | E | D | E | N | A | C | U | T | E | ||
| N | E | I | G | H | B | O | R | S | R | E | N | E | W | |
| E | X | O | O | R | L | Y | V | I | A | |||||
| T | A | M | A | L | E | S | M | E | A | N | J | O | E | |
| P | E | Z | C | A | E | N | U | N | A | |||||
| J | A | G | R | E | A | S | Y | A | S | N | E | R | ||
| U | L | E | E | S | U | P | A | S | E | T | I | N | ||
| L | O | T | S | A | G | O | N | G | P | A | L | S | ||
| E | F | T | I | M | I | T | L | E | I | |||||
| S | T | O | O | L | I | E | N | O | M | A | D | I | C | |
| C | F | O | L | O | R | I | E | M | U | |||||
| H | A | I | T | I | L | E | V | I | T | I | C | U | S | |
| A | G | N | E | S | O | G | E | E | P | O | S | H | ||
| M | O | N | T | H | G | O | L | D | A | R | T | Y |
I sat frozen with bated breath as the months marched by. Will Shortz and friends clearly were fawning over my previous puzzle submission — a masterpiece worthy of a genius grant featuring the names of the Three Stooges hidden in feminine hygiene brands — and must have forgotten in their reverie to get back to me. I decided to commemorate the hiatus by constructing a puzzle based on the calendar.
I hate our Gregorian calendar. It is an illogical, maddening relic that only gives the impression of symmetry. Hmm. Crossword puzzle, anyone? Well, unless you can convince the UN to consider calendar reform, please suffer through my roughly symmetric jumble of months. Oh, and don't blame me for the ugly shaded parts. They call it "editorial license," whatever that means. Please use the same thought process to apply to any clues you dislike.
| C | H | A | P | S | S | W | A | M | I | V | E | T | ||
| R | A | J | A | H | T | A | M | E | R | I | S | H | ||
| A | L | A | M | O | P | R | A | D | A | J | A | Y | ||
| M | O | R | E | T | H | A | N | J | U | N | E | A | U | |
| L | O | O | T | L | I | L | Y | |||||||
| C | A | R | A | F | E | M | A | L | A | Y | S | I | A | |
| A | L | A | F | R | E | E | L | A | N | S | I | N | G | |
| S | E | N | T | L | O | T | E | N | T | O | ||||
| A | U | G | U | S | T | A | W | I | N | D | G | E | N | |
| S | T | E | R | N | U | M | S | A | R | C | H | L | Y | |
| R | I | O | T | O | R | A | L | |||||||
| C | O | N | C | O | R | D | M | Y | F | E | A | R | S | |
| L | A | V | O | R | I | O | N | T | A | C | I | T | ||
| A | G | E | N | E | G | R | I | E | N | E | M | Y | ||
| P | E | R | E | D | A | M | S | E | S | S | E | X |
HEAD DOVER HEELS? BOISE GONNA BE MAD? ANNAPOLIS TASTY? HELENA HANDBASKET? A LINCOLN THE CHAIN? RALEIGH FINGERS? RICHMOND POORMAN?
All rejected ideas for my "capital punishment" puzzle. Yes, that would have been the title. Maybe it's best there are no titles in a weekday puzzle as there are enough groaners here already. I do like HELENA HANDBASKET, but it has too many letters, sadly.
Only my second time in the New York Times, and I am already resorting to puns. Sad but true. As for state capitals, Mrs. Wickersham, my fifth-grade teacher, would be pleased. I can still remember studying with Emily Williams who, every time the word "Harrisburg" was uttered would cry out "Harrisburg to you too!" It made no sense at all, but somehow I still remember the capital of Pennsylvania that way. Nonsensical word associations of that ilk, when puns were unavailable, got me through all the memorization I had to do to survive medical school. Thank you, Emily, and Harrisburg to you too!
| S | R | T | A | S | E | M | U | D | E | F | O | G | ||
| Q | U | O | T | H | L | A | N | E | L | E | C | T | ||
| U | N | S | H | A | C | K | L | E | E | L | A | T | E | |
| A | L | S | L | O | E | W | S | P | A | R | ||||
| R | E | T | O | L | D | A | C | T | S | S | A | L | ||
| E | T | O | N | G | R | O | U | P | I | N | G | S | ||
| E | P | P | I | E | R | A | N | O | U | T | ||||
| A | S | P | I | R | I | N | I | N | C | I | T | E | S | |
| S | P | E | D | U | P | I | N | S | E | T | ||||
| I | R | R | A | D | I | A | T | E | I | S | P | S | ||
| S | Y | S | I | T | E | S | S | P | O | T | O | N | ||
| E | H | S | R | O | O | T | S | A | R | A | ||||
| I | S | I | A | H | A | N | D | R | E | O | T | T | I | |
| M | E | D | A | L | T | M | I | U | S | U | A | L | ||
| S | A | S | S | Y | E | E | N | D | U | E | L | S |
This puzzle was a long time in the making, with the first pass attempted in March 2010 and over nine complete redo's before settling on the right layout (and the right vegetables).
The "square roots" vegetable idea was simple enough, but turned out to be really difficult to execute. After failed attempts at 4-letter root squares, I settled on 8-letter wraparound "square roots." The big problem was the strange letter combinations one gets when words are spelled backwards! Just think about (_ _ _ PSP_ _ _) and (_ _ _ RSN _ _) near each other, or anything to fill (_ _ _ _ EOT _ _). Anyway, with the help of DEEP SPACE and FEARS NOT, and the infamous Italian ex-prime minister ANDREOTTI, it came together in the end to mark my New York Times debut.
In short, I predict won't be doing any more wraparounds.