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My first NY Times puzzle. I had been making them for TV Guide for years. Don't know what specifically prompted me to submit to Will, though we knew each other from the early 80s through Games Magazine where I did a lot of word game puzzles. I was an avid solver and then had an idea for one for the Times. This remains my favorite puzzle, though it didn't turn out in print (or on computer) as I hoped.

The idea was simple: EARTHQUAKE, SANANDREASFAULT, AFTERSHOCK I asked Will if there was a way to put a "tear" through the middle of the puzzle so that it would look like an earthquake had ruptured the puzzle. I envisioned it being torn down half way through. He ingeniously nudged up a few squares 1/3 of the way, the next few rows down a bit and the last ones up again. Problem was, unsolved in the paper it looked like something was amiss so folks didn't solve it, as though there was a printing problem. Years later when reprinted in books the computer printed it without the squares going up and down, just a regular grid, so all the cleverness was lost. Just three themes 10, 15, 10.

But I loved that AFTERSHOCK was below. And the whole impetus for SANANDREASFAULT is that a) I live in California and b) TV Guide never gave us bylines so I thought I'd sneak my name smack dab in the middle of the puzzle! (I later did those secret shoutouts with ACME or putting in a Beatles clue. In TV Guide, I put in "The Streets of ___ Francisco" whenever I could so friends would know it was one of my puzzles. As I said, we had no bylines and the Times had just started using them, under Will, but they were tiny, 1/4 size underneath the puzzle, so almost impossible to see.)

I still think this is an issue. Most people still think the puzzles are made by computer or by Will Shortz. And this was my first experience having a puzzle in a book with no residuals, no warning, not even a copy of the book! This has been a burning issue for me going on 15 years now, I'm almost at acceptance, but not fully!

I framed this puzzle, as it was my first, but it's ironic that there were computer issues with replicating it online more than a decade ago! On the other hand, it prompted a compliment from Manny Nosowsky, who recalled the puzzle and said he remembered it because it was literally thinking outside the box! It would be three years before I submitted another!

– puzzle by Andrea C. Michaels