Simon Marotte author page

TRENT: As the author of several children's novels featuring puzzles and riddles, I might reasonably be assumed to be a long-time fan of crosswords, but my love for them came late — only a few years ago, really, when Simon first began constructing. Our conversations about the process revealed similarities between what he was doing and I was doing — the wordplay, the misdirection, the pleasure in creating something satisfying to solve — and we agreed it would be fun to collaborate on a puzzle one day.

We made no definite plan, but occasionally I'd have an idea about a theme and ask Simon if anyone had done one like it. If the idea was promising, it inevitably had been done. If it weren't promising (or even feasible), Simon would diplomatically explain why. But eventually, I had an idea with potential, Simon said he'd tinker around with it, and the next thing I knew, we were cluing the puzzle. It was great fun to work on, and I'm delighted to see our first collaboration appear in the NYT.

SIMON: Since they didn't make the cut, I recommend solving to the Talking Heads' This Must Be the Place.

It is such a joy to be making my NYT debut! I am a 16-year-old from Conway, Arkansas, and I am actually pretty new to the crossword scene — I started solving at the beginning of quarantine last year. I began constructing in the summer after stumbling upon a mind-blowing instructional video by David Kwong. Without a doubt, my decision to reach out to Judge Vic Fleming, an experienced NYT constructor in my area, catalyzed my path to success due to his invaluable mentorship and advice. I would highly encourage new constructors to pursue a mentorship, as it was so helpful to me. Mentorship resources can be found at the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory on Facebook or the Crossword-related Discord Server. And, of course, the practice of solving every day and reading great crossword blogs (Wordplay, XWord Info, Rex Parker, Crossword Fiend, etc.) has certainly made me a better constructor.

The idea for this theme came to me while I was half asleep, surprisingly, and after waking up, I reached for my phone and quickly began researching car brands that could be reversed and fit into phrases. While I made my way through the list of brands, I eliminated the ones that obviously wouldn't work (I'm looking at you ZNEB-SEDECREM) and avoided brands that aren't as common on the road. Filling the grid was a bit tough considering the constraints of the revealer, so it was difficult to really open up the grid and allow for some sparkly long downs. Nevertheless, I'm pretty happy with the result, especially with 1-Across to kick things off.

Thanks to the NYT Editing Team for the cluing changes, and thanks to all who have supported me in my puzzling efforts!

Hope you enjoy it!