Zachary David Levy author page
6 puzzles by Zachary David Levy
with Constructor comments
| Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 6/30/2020 | 12/10/2023 | 2 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
|---|---|---|
| 1.63 | 29 | 29% |
See the 29 answer words debuted by Zachary David Levy.
Zachary David Levy is an assistant professor of neurosurgery and emergency medicine at Hofstra's Zucker School of Medicine on Long Island.
| M | U | D | C | A | T | C | A | R | D | I | O | O | V | U | M | |||||
| A | C | R | O | N | Y | M | S | A | W | B | U | C | K | O | B | E | S | E | ||
| A | L | O | N | G | P | A | R | T | Y | L | I | N | E | S | N | O | N | O | S | |
| M | A | P | S | O | S | H | A | S | P | A | A | E | T | N | A | |||||
| N | U | B | H | O | T | B | U | T | T | O | N | I | S | S | U | E | S | |||
| C | L | A | M | O | R | A | R | I | P | A | S | T | O | R | ||||||
| L | A | M | E | D | U | C | K | B | I | L | L | S | P | A | L | E | S | T | ||
| I | R | E | B | O | O | R | E | B | B | R | O | D | E | O | ||||||
| C | A | S | I | O | M | O | I | U | P | L | O | A | D | O | U | R | ||||
| S | P | E | A | K | E | R | S | O | F | T | H | E | H | O | U | S | E | |||
| B | R | I | T | A | E | E | L | K | E | N | T | S | ||||||||
| G | R | A | S | S | R | O | O | T | S | M | O | V | E | M | E | N | T | |||
| L | U | C | P | A | L | A | T | E | E | L | I | S | O | P | O | R | ||||
| A | N | I | M | A | T | E | L | G | O | N | G | I | D | O | ||||||
| M | O | N | A | M | I | C | A | M | P | A | I | G | N | C | H | A | I | R | ||
| G | R | O | V | E | S | B | R | A | C | R | A | N | N | Y | ||||||
| C | A | B | I | N | E | T | P | O | S | I | T | I | O | N | U | Z | O | |||
| A | G | I | N | G | R | I | M | F | R | O | S | A | S | I | A | |||||
| B | A | K | E | S | A | N | A | C | T | O | F | C | O | N | G | R | E | S | S | |
| A | V | E | R | T | D | E | N | S | E | L | Y | B | I | O | D | A | T | A | ||
| L | E | S | S | E | D | I | T | E | D | P | O | S | T | O | P |
| G | R | A | M | P | A | A | M | I | D | B | R | R | ||
| P | I | L | E | O | N | K | I | L | O | L | I | U | ||
| A | M | A | Z | O | N | B | A | S | I | N | O | T | S | |
| C | L | U | E | H | A | N | G | O | U | T | ||||
| I | K | E | A | M | E | T | A | C | A | R | P | A | L | |
| V | I | L | L | A | T | A | P | I | S | L | E | |||
| S | N | L | P | A | L | M | Y | U | M | |||||
| A | P | P | L | E | P | E | E | L | E | R | ||||
| E | S | P | E | L | A | N | A | W | E | |||||
| N | A | D | A | A | R | E | A | S | K | E | W | |||
| U | B | E | R | M | E | N | S | C | H | C | E | D | E | |
| D | I | P | L | O | M | A | T | A | C | O | ||||
| I | D | O | T | E | C | H | S | T | A | R | T | U | P | |
| S | E | T | E | R | I | E | E | V | E | N | S | O | ||
| M | D | S | L | Y | N | X | R | E | S | T | E | D |
| J | A | P | E | L | A | S | E | R | B | C | C | S | ||
| C | R | A | W | E | L | O | P | E | R | O | O | K | ||
| R | O | Y | A | L | F | L | U | S | H | A | C | L | U | |
| E | A | T | S | I | T | S | O | A | K | O | I | L | ||
| W | R | O | T | E | F | A | N | N | Y | P | A | C | K | |
| E | N | Y | A | G | O | O | P | |||||||
| L | A | B | O | N | I | T | T | O | U | G | H | |||
| S | T | A | R | B | U | C | K | S | C | O | F | F | E | E |
| U | L | N | A | R | Y | E | L | P | F | O | X | |||
| K | N | O | T | O | R | E | S | |||||||
| A | N | G | K | O | R | W | A | T | T | O | T | E | M | |
| N | Y | U | D | I | A | L | X | A | N | A | D | U | ||
| G | L | A | M | S | T | A | T | E | L | I | N | E | S | |
| L | O | R | D | H | E | M | A | N | C | I | N | E | ||
| E | N | D | S | A | R | O | M | A | S | A | S | S |
I wanted to create a puzzle that invoked the same sort of road trip-y state-to-state movement that has defined so many of our family vacations over the years. In the initial draft that I submitted, I created a vertical design element in the center of each theme answer so that the STATE LINES were literally represented, separating each of the postal codes. It doesn't look like my little doodles made it into the final copy, but that's okay — I still had a blast making the puzzle.
I was a little hesitant about ANGK(OR) (WA)T being a distraction, as none of the other theme entries are actual places, but the NYTXW crew apparently didn't share my hesitation (which is a good thing because I did not have a viable back-up at the ready!).
| N | A | S | A | D | E | B | T | A | L | A | S | |||
| C | A | M | P | S | O | M | A | R | S | A | F | E | ||
| H | Y | P | O | T | E | N | U | S | E | P | Y | R | E | |
| A | S | S | O | R | T | I | N | S | T | O | M | |||
| F | A | S | T | A | N | D | L | O | O | S | E | |||
| T | O | S | S | A | B | S | Y | A | W | |||||
| A | C | T | B | A | R | E | I | N | H | A | L | F | ||
| C | H | O | C | O | L | A | T | E | M | O | U | S | S | E |
| T | O | O | H | O | T | T | R | O | D | T | A | T | ||
| D | A | S | D | E | I | B | E | T | E | |||||
| W | H | A | T | T | H | E | D | E | U | C | E | |||
| H | A | S | S | I | B | M | A | M | M | A | L | |||
| A | V | I | D | J | A | M | B | A | J | U | I | C | E | |
| C | E | D | E | A | T | T | A | U | S | E | R | S | ||
| K | N | E | W | B | E | V | Y | N | E | N | E |
KATIE: Zach and I had been trying to come up with a fun theme together for a while, but nothing was quite landing. One evening, I was taking my 6 year old through some of her spelling words, which were all -OOSE words that week. I find a lot of inspiration through helping my kids with their homework because seeing things written out in different ways can sometimes trigger an idea or connection that I may not have thought of before. So constructors who have kids, I highly recommend this as an extra incentive to check their homework!
We originally had POOR EXCUSE in the theme set, but Zach (rightly) thought twice about that one because of the Y-sound on USE, and he redid the grid beautifully with HYPOTENUSE instead. Hope you all enjoy the puzzle!
ZACHARY: Katie and I were actually working on a different puzzle when she proposed the -OOS ending concept. I'm happy with the current theme answers; we also tried to work ZEUS into the set, but TEMPLE OF ZEUS and BLOOD OF ZEUS are not particularly idiomatic. We also would have liked to use a revealer — Katie floated END USE, but I thought that focused too much on the long U sound. I also thought we might be able to create a starting OO- theme set with the revealer PRIMORDIAL OOZE, but that didn't quite work out either.
| N | A | S | A | A | N | K | A | S | H | A | M | E | ||
| A | P | E | X | G | E | A | R | H | O | G | A | N | ||
| P | O | L | E | V | A | U | L | T | O | V | E | R | T | |
| S | P | F | A | I | R | C | R | E | O | L | E | |||
| P | E | N | N | A | N | D | T | E | L | L | E | R | ||
| L | E | I | F | L | U | I | S | D | Y | S | ||||
| A | T | T | I | L | A | T | A | C | O | S | ||||
| D | A | Y | L | I | G | H | T | S | A | V | I | N | G | S |
| E | D | G | A | R | N | O | N | F | A | T | ||||
| O | R | S | I | N | E | S | A | L | L | Y | ||||
| B | O | T | T | L | E | D | E | P | O | S | I | T | ||
| S | T | A | R | E | S | I | C | E | E | G | O | |||
| E | A | T | I | T | I | N | T | H | E | B | A | N | K | |
| S | T | E | P | H | L | E | E | R | E | M | U | S | ||
| S | E | N | S | E | L | O | D | E | E | S | S | O |
A few months ago, the Times ran a Mario Brothers themed crossword, and it was pretty clear that the impetus for the puzzle was Muriel BOWSER. Here the credit goes to Ray TELLER, with POLE VAULT running a close second.
In the interest of preempting criticism, DAYLIGHT SAVINGS and BOTTLE DEPOSIT don't quite change the meaning of the last word to the same extent, though they're colorful enough and were necessary to make the symmetry work. Another nit to pick would be that the more idiomatic phrase is "money in the bank", though that obviously wouldn't land as a revealer.
I'd love to take the credit for premiering PENN AND TELLER, but both Byron Walden and Frank Longo beat me to it with "X and Y" themed puzzles in the past — though I'll say that this is officially the first time that Teller is the main event. As an aside, Teller wrote and narrated an off-Broadway horror-themed magic show titled "Play Dead", which happened to be one of the first dates for me and my (then future) wife back in 2010. Things took a turn when she was pulled on stage by Todd Robbins and briefly disappeared, but we got her back in one piece at the end of the night.
Speaking of Broadway, it's back! So go get vaccinated and show the theater crowd some love.
| P | R | E | A | M | B | L | E | V | I | D | E | O | S | |
| R | U | N | S | R | I | O | T | I | M | E | L | D | A | |
| O | N | T | H | E | B | A | S | I | S | O | F | S | E | X |
| S | U | R | E | D | I | D | S | T | U | |||||
| I | P | A | S | F | L | A | T | B | U | S | H | |||
| T | S | P | T | A | B | L | E | S | O | S | L | O | ||
| S | O | C | I | O | B | O | S | O | N | |||||
| T | H | E | N | O | T | O | R | I | O | U | S | R | B | G |
| R | I | V | A | L | I | C | A | N | T | |||||
| A | L | I | F | A | L | D | E | R | S | R | A | G | ||
| C | O | L | U | M | B | I | A | S | E | L | A | |||
| A | S | K | P | O | P | O | P | E | N | |||||
| J | U | S | T | I | C | E | G | I | N | S | B | U | R | G |
| A | S | I | A | N | A | A | N | I | S | E | T | T | E | |
| R | E | A | D | E | M | M | A | T | T | R | E | S | S |
Like most of us (I think), I'm constantly turning over phrases in my head to see what can be parsed into 15 letter entries, and when ON THE BASIS OF SEX came out in 2018, I had to make this puzzle. I already knew that THE NOTORIOUS RBG was 15 letters, based on a previous (failed) unthemed submission, so I recycled it for this tribute puzzle. The only wrinkle is that the obvious revealer, RUTH BADER GINSBURG, is 17 characters. So, I could either:
- make it an oversized 17x with the other two themers offset, which would have almost certainly been rejected, or
- use JUSTICE GINSBURG as the revealer and hope that the solver getting the "R" and "B" from the second theme entry was good enough for Will.
And it was! I also want to give a special shout out to Jeff Chen for a fill assist in the NW corner, which I had a hard time cracking.
This puzzle also has some family significance. In June of 1994, less than a year after Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, she toured PS 238 in Brooklyn, where she herself had attended school in the 1940s. While there, she took questions from the students live on C-SPAN; one question came from Anna Levy (nee Taran), a recently emigrated 11-year old girl from Ukraine, who asked her about how to ensure that "women are treated equally before the law." (I tracked down the clip from C-SPAN, check out the 43:38 mark.) Anna was inspired.
Twenty-six years later (exactly to the day, as I write this), that girl has gone on to become an oncologist with a bustling practice at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute, where an RBG action figure currently graces her desk. She also happens to be my brilliant and beautiful wife, and the do-it-all mother to our son Elijah. Although this puzzle is ostensibly a tribute to RBG, it is equally dedicated to my wife Anna, and all of the other women out there simultaneously raising families, building careers, and fighting for what is right.