Rich Katz author page
5 puzzles by Rich Katz
with Constructor comments
See the 27 answer words debuted by Rich Katz.
Rich Katz, of Park City, Utah, does freelance work in corporate restructuring, with a focus on financially challenged companies.
| I | R | O | C | P | E | C | K | S | K | I | N | |||
| T | O | O | T | H | I | M | H | O | P | I | C | O | ||
| O | N | T | O | E | N | A | U | S | E | A | T | E | D | |
| R | I | G | H | T | Y | T | I | G | H | T | Y | |||
| T | A | U | A | O | L | E | R | S | A | T | Z | |||
| E | N | T | R | A | P | I | R | E | W | I | I | |||
| E | L | A | T | E | D | H | A | N | G | |||||
| L | E | F | T | Y | L | O | O | S | E | Y | ||||
| L | E | A | F | K | I | L | L | E | D | |||||
| S | R | I | A | B | E | D | A | Y | S | P | A | |||
| D | A | N | U | B | E | T | I | E | C | U | E | |||
| S | C | R | E | W | D | R | I | V | E | R | S | |||
| D | A | R | E | D | E | V | I | L | L | O | N | G | O | |
| E | M | I | R | T | I | N | E | S | L | E | E | P | ||
| L | I | P | S | S | L | E | D | A | T | V | S |
| A | D | D | F | A | T | A | L | B | T | S | ||||
| V | E | R | B | A | M | O | R | E | S | L | A | W | ||
| E | R | I | E | D | I | M | E | D | C | O | K | E | ||
| R | I | P | L | E | N | Y | E | C | U | S | E | D | ||
| S | E | E | I | N | T | O | L | I | S | S | O | M | E | |
| E | N | D | E | A | R | A | P | E | M | E | N | |||
| B | U | N | A | G | O | |||||||||
| D | O | U | B | L | E | O | R | N | O | T | H | I | N | G |
| A | R | G | U | E | F | O | G | S | I | N | A | I | ||
| T | A | L | C | S | E | U | S | S | M | O | P | S | ||
| A | L | I | S | K | E | E | T | E | R | N | E | T | ||
| E | P | I | A | I | D | |||||||||
| L | O | N | G | O | D | S | F | E | L | I | N | G | S | |
| S | N | O | O | K | E | R | O | L | E | S | T | R | A | |
| D | O | T | T | E | D | I | P | S | Y | C | H | E | D |
| H | E | M | M | E | D | T | R | O | U | P | E | D | I | D | O | K | ||||
| A | D | S | A | L | E | A | R | O | U | S | A | L | S | E | V | E | R | E | ||
| J | U | N | K | I | N | T | H | E | T | R | U | N | K | K | E | E | N | E | N | |
| E | S | S | A | Y | S | S | R | I | R | O | D | A | G | O | ||||||
| M | A | R | G | E | M | E | S | A | E | N | T | E | R | S | L | O | B | |||
| A | L | O | O | A | S | S | S | T | R | I | N | G | B | I | K | I | N | I | ||
| D | A | B | O | M | B | O | P | I | T | I | A | R | A | |||||||
| A | M | I | D | A | L | A | V | I | R | A | L | F | R | A | T | B | R | O | ||
| M | O | T | T | U | C | K | E | R | E | D | O | U | T | T | E | E | U | P | ||
| U | P | S | S | T | O | R | E | D | O | T | E | R | A | S | E | |||||
| A | P | S | O | H | I | N | T | S | E | A | L | A | C | E | D | |||||
| H | E | S | S | E | D | U | A | V | E | R | M | O | U | T | H | |||||
| E | D | I | T | S | C | O | R | O | N | A | T | I | O | N | S | H | E | P | ||
| M | I | N | U | T | I | A | E | L | O | P | E | S | E | P | H | O | R | A | ||
| R | E | T | R | O | T | I | A | L | S | D | T | A | B | |||||||
| S | U | P | E | R | B | O | W | L | W | I | N | S | P | Y | V | E | T | S | ||
| I | P | A | D | A | L | L | A | H | G | E | N | A | P | I | L | O | T | |||
| E | T | C | I | N | S | D | I | P | G | A | P | P | E | D | ||||||
| S | O | K | I | N | D | K | I | N | D | E | R | G | A | R | T | E | N | E | R | |
| T | W | E | R | K | S | I | D | E | A | T | E | S | E | R | O | I | C | A | ||
| A | N | T | S | Y | P | A | S | S | A | T | P | I | S | T | O | N |
| M | I | D | I | S | I | T | C | O | M | S | J | U | N | I | P | E | R | S | ||
| U | D | O | N | S | C | I | A | T | I | C | O | P | E | N | A | R | E | A | ||
| R | O | W | S | N | I | C | H | O | L | A | S | N | I | C | K | L | E | B | Y | |
| A | N | N | U | S | N | O | N | H | E | R | O | C | I | A | ||||||
| L | O | W | L | I | F | E | S | C | O | M | M | O | N | C | O | L | D | |||
| T | A | T | E | R | S | A | R | M | E | N | I | A | E | P | E | E | ||||
| R | E | G | I | S | T | R | A | R | D | U | M | A | T | A | N | |||||
| L | I | D | D | E | D | O | F | F | I | C | I | A | L | O | R | D | E | R | S | |
| O | D | D | D | A | W | N | S | U | P | S | T | I | E | D | Y | E | ||||
| C | L | O | D | Y | E | N | A | T | T | A | D | E | A | L | ||||||
| K | E | G | E | L | B | E | S | T | B | U | D | D | Y | L | A | T | K | E | ||
| L | A | P | S | H | A | S | P | E | A | R | Y | A | N | K | ||||||
| A | R | C | H | I | E | A | I | L | T | V | D | A | D | B | E | E | ||||
| G | A | L | I | L | E | O | G | A | L | I | L | E | I | P | E | A | L | E | D | |
| A | D | A | A | L | D | O | K | I | L | L | S | T | I | M | E | |||||
| S | I | R | S | E | N | D | W | E | L | L | P | O | S | I | T | S | ||||
| P | O | O | L | P | L | A | Y | E | R | F | I | R | T | R | E | E | S | |||
| I | I | I | R | E | A | D | O | R | N | S | I | N | C | E | ||||||
| M | I | D | D | L | E | M | A | N | A | G | E | M | E | N | T | G | N | A | W | |
| U | N | A | B | A | T | E | D | T | R | E | A | D | E | D | H | I | D | E | ||
| M | A | N | Y | F | O | L | D | H | O | R | R | O | R | S | T | S | A | R |
This theme took shape when I was creating a different grid that included the entry ENMESH, and I idly noted that the word might be punnily repurposed to clue something like NETTING. I came up with a few other things like that, such as [Jaywalk?] cluing JAUNT, [Embalm?] cluing MOISTURIZER, and [Eye level?] cluing INTERMEDIATE. I sent the bunch of them to XWord Info's Jeff Chen to ask if he had ever seen a puzzle with a set like that before. He reminded me that one-word theme entries weren't optimal, so I asked my coding-rockstar son Teddy to help me filter my word list for things like what you see here.
Fun entries that didn't make the final cut included [Beekeeper?] = BLOOD BANK, [Empress?] = MAD MAGAZINE, [Describe?] = DANIEL DEFOE, [Teabag?] = TRAVEL TOTE, [Eye exam?] = INTERNAL INVESTIGATION, [Detest?] = DOCTORAL DISSERTATION, [Jaybird?] = JUMBO JET, and [Behead?] = BRONZE BUST.
Special thanks to Teddy, who helps me this way in many of my grids. I hope you'll all keep a lookout for a Thursday puzzle he and I coauthored, soon to be appearing in the New York Times.
| M | A | P | S | B | O | S | U | N | M | A | H | O | M | E | S | |||||
| B | E | E | R | Y | S | E | A | T | R | I | P | I | S | O | L | A | T | E | ||
| A | D | I | O | S | L | A | S | A | G | N | A | S | P | R | A | Y | O | N | ||
| L | O | O | M | O | V | E | R | R | E | E | L | D | E | S | A | N | T | |||
| K | C | U | P | P | O | D | M | C | S | Z | O | N | E | S | ||||||
| O | S | O | M | E | H | C | G | I | T | S | A | P | R | E | ||||||
| B | O | D | S | M | O | A | N | A | B | O | U | T | R | E | L | A | Y | S | ||
| I | H | E | A | R | N | E | U | R | O | N | S | S | E | N | O | R | E | S | ||
| O | N | A | L | E | R | T | T | L | C | D | O | E | S | O | K | |||||
| G | E | T | S | A | B | I | T | E | S | U | G | A | R | E | N | A | M | I | ||
| A | A | H | S | P | A | C | E | T | R | A | V | E | L | V | A | N | ||||
| S | T | E | E | R | T | R | O | P | E | R | E | F | A | S | T | E | N | S | ||
| A | L | I | S | O | N | I | R | E | E | N | T | E | N | T | E | |||||
| F | A | T | I | G | U | E | E | L | E | V | A | T | E | P | A | U | L | A | ||
| A | L | E | T | A | P | G | O | O | D | E | A | R | T | H | S | E | E | M | ||
| D | A | R | E | M | E | E | N | G | N | A | Y | E | K | E | ||||||
| S | A | R | A | N | B | T | S | R | F | I | D | T | A | G | ||||||
| S | I | M | R | B | I | L | I | L | A | C | A | T | C | H | A | I | R | |||
| I | N | A | M | O | O | D | C | O | O | L | M | O | M | K | A | R | M | A | ||
| R | O | Y | A | L | W | E | D | U | A | L | I | P | A | M | I | T | E | S | ||
| S | N | I | V | E | L | S | S | T | Y | L | E | E | R | S | E |
Professionally, I deal with messy corporate bankruptcies and reorganizations. Away from those messes, I live with my wife and dog in Park City, Utah, where I ski, hike, and stare intently and incessantly at Crossword Compiler screens. My wife says my behavior is puzzling.
Fun fact about me: I performed with a mime troupe in college. As you can see, I still struggle with words.
I got the idea for this puzzle after idly noticing that DUALIPA could be parsed as either a pop star (normally) or a complex beer (comically), and I decided to look for more such strings. At first I was focused only on people and didn't get very far. (Was the musician HERB ALPERT sufficiently well-known to be recharacterized as a fragrant shampoo? I thought not.) So I turned to technology and sent my word list to my programming-whiz son Teddy to do some filtering of it. Many awesome options came out of that; the proverbial cutting-room floor is littered with the likes of NASCAR NATION [Flower for a rapper?], MAIN EVENT [Breezeway in Bangor?], ONE ALARM [What Shaq has up his sleeve?], BOWL OVER [Either character in an iconic "Titanic" scene?] and START OUT [Celeb recommendation?].