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I constructed this puzzle in September 2013, a time when I was experimenting with numerous themeless grids with low word counts. My first task in constructing this puzzle (after designing the grid, of course) was filling the center; I soon realized that filling this section was so challenging that even running my construction software for hours on end would be futile!

Remembering a construction trick I picked up during my quad stack phase, the next tactic I tried was seeding entries with friendly letter patterns into the bottom slot of the center stack before letting the construction software grind away at the rest of the grid. From a constructor's perspective, my intuition was to seed the stack with an S-heavy word, such as LAWLESSNESS; switching to my perspective as a longtime solver, however, I decided that such an entry would be dull and somewhat inelegant. Thus, my job was to come up with an entry that would both be lively and likely to lead to a fill for the center stack.

After many failed attempts, I came up with MINESWEEPER, a term with a more contemporary cluing angle that has appeared in just one other Shortz-era New York Times crossword. Although W and P are not ideal in terms of serving as ends to five-letter entries, S, E, and R are particularly nice; before long, I ended up with a center that was surprisingly junk-free! The clean center inspired me to make the rest of the puzzle as comparably smooth as possible; overall, I was (and still am) very satisfied with the final product, even though the grid is rather closed off.

Will/Joel changed fewer clues than they have in some of my older puzzles — as usual, though, they found ways to inject even more misdirection! My favorite new clue is "There's not much interest in them nowadays" for CDS, and my favorite original clue that made the cut is "It might change color" for RIPENER. I was a little disappointed to see that "Being . . . or not being" for IN EXISTENCE (which can also be read as INEXISTENCE) was rewritten, though I realize this clue was a bit of a stretch. I hope you enjoy solving this puzzle, and Happy 2015!

– puzzle by David Steinberg

From a constructor's standpoint, it's always interesting to look at a puzzle that you haven't touched in seemingly forever. The one published today was constructed over 2 years ago, when I was in my novice stages of puzzlemaking...and as happy as I am with its acceptance and publication, I can see parts of the fill that I know I would have reworked, had I constructed this puzzle more recently.

For instance, the top-right doesn't feel like my normal work, with ELUL / VALS / ENL right next to each other, and nothing in the stack of 9's really sparkling. But hey, Will accepted this, so I must have done something right! The more fascinating part about looking at this puzzle now is noticing the development of clues over time. When I sent this puzzle in, I had SKYY VODKA clued as [Liquor with the slogan "Passion for perfection"]. Well, not only did another constructor debut this entry before me in a 2012 NYT puzzle (grr!), but the slogan in the clue was updated to "West of Expected," which I assume happened because the original one became outdated. Hence, as time flies, clue tweaks become necessary! Unless, of course, I had the slogan all wrong to begin with ...

Enough with my lamenting and scrutiny. What'd I like about this puzzle? Well, I like MOZZARELLA STICK, my seed entry. I like BRAIN GAME (for which Will made a nice clue). And I like the way this puzzle "talks" to the solver, with "OH, I FORGOT" and "SAYS ME" and "HOLD ON A SEC." Coming up with LIVE RADAR while constructing helped me out of a real bind in the bottom-right. Pleased with all the clue saves Will made for crosswordese-y bits. Most of all, I'm just grateful to be constructing for the Times, and I can promise many more puzzle in the future! Thank you all, and enjoy!

P.S.: If you're interested in solving more of my work, feel free to check out my "indie" blog, The Grid Kid. New puzzle every Monday with some zippy stuff!

– puzzle by Sam Ezersky

Unsurprisingly, the "Frozen" song was the seed here. I was brainstorming contemporary entries that might span a 21x grid, and my disappointment at finding it was three letters too long turned to opportunity when I decided just to make the extra MAN the theme. (This thought process happened on a canoe trip, so my original title was "Man Overboard.") Although five themers is a bit below average for a Times Sunday puzzle, the corresponding down answers containing "MAN" added a lot of constraints, especially as I tried to use the string M-A-N in contexts not meaning "man."

The SE corner was a bear to fill, and when Will accepted the puzzle he graciously gave me the chance to re-fill and re-clue it — twice! (Once on my own, a second time with an assist from Frank Longo, who found ALE GLASS as the silver bullet that allowed a clean escape from that corner.) I was surprised Will nixed my original NEYMAR at 105D, but he OK'd TALISA Stark, who's not even in the books, so go figure!

I'm pleased to be able to clue JACOBS as my idol Jane for the first time in the Times, and to debut BRUNCH for the first time since the Farrar era. Enjoy!

– puzzle by Finn Vigeland

This is a revision of the first crossword I ever constructed. The original version's theme answers were PINTZCRYSTAL, HAROLDCUPER, OCGILLATION and HALFMEASURES. After polite rejection letters from several publications, it sat untouched for nearly a year until I thought to rework it into a rebus. Keeping QUARTZCRYSTAL in the new grid was a challenge, and I ended up using LIVINGQUARTERS instead ... not ideal, since QUART and QUARTERS share a root, but (I reasoned) less obviously so than something like STRINGQUARTETS.

For those who struggled with GILL, I'll confess that I had no idea the half-cup measure(ment) even had a name until I looked it up while working on this puzzle, though that triggered a dim memory of a "Simpsons" episode where a sneaky gifted student offers to trade Bart "1000 picoliters of my milk for 4 gills of yours."

Favorite answers: the sepia-toned pairing of MRTOAD and TENTSHOW. RIPINTWO was also a fun challenge to clue without using any form of the word "half" (already used in the revealer).

– puzzle by Jacob Stulberg

My last revision of this puzzle was submitted almost two years prior to the publication date, so when I sat down to solve this final edit I had long forgotten the fill, and Will had vastly livened up most of the clues. Hence, this would be as unbiased a solving experience as I could contrive for myself. For me, I had to confirm that a "No-Google" solver could indeed complete it, and I am happy to report that I did ... completely Google-free.

I consider the "No-Google" solvers to be one critical audience for a puzzle, and the best way to ensure their satisfaction is to minimize the density of unfamiliar content. My greatest concern during construction must have been the proximity of CHEROOT and REYNOSA in the Northeast and the crossing of TCCHEN with HSIA in the West, but they were only minor obstacles for my own solving experience. So, I'm satisfied with the way the puzzle turned out.

Just in case anyone was wondering, here are some of my own missteps while solving:

• 13-A NOMADIC
• 26-A MIS
• 28-A DEY
• 34-A SCALE
• 50-A IDO
• 54-A ONICE
• 57-A ALEUTIANISLANDS
• 3-D MARINEENGINEERS
• 12-D PROGRAMDIRECTOR
• 14-D CEDAR
• 59-D CES

I'll be interested in seeing whether the regular solvers had a similar experience.

– puzzle by Joe Krozel

I knew I was taking a chance with this puzzle, since the core concept — repurposing an initial S in someone's last name as a possessive S added to his/her first name — had been done before (for instance, see 9/14/2009). I was hoping that the added twist of cluing the answers in a fill-in-the-blank manner with two possible interpretations would sufficiently distinguish this puzzle from its predecessors. I also like the fact that one S (in BOBBY'S HER MAN) is repurposed as a contraction, and that three of the last names can be parsed into an S and two words (HER MAN, TALL ONE, and TAN DISH).

This puzzle rose from the ashes of a failed puzzle I wrote about a year ago. The theme-revealer in that one was BOAT PEOPLE. It featured the names of several people whose last names ended in a nautical term (Rhoda MorganSTERN, Tim TeBOW, etc). One of the entries was BEN STILLER. I noticed that one could interpret that name as "Ben's tiller", and I was off and running. Alas, poor Ben. Even though he inspired this puzzle, he didn't make the final cut. He's like one of those young geniuses that create a successful start-up company only to be voted out once the venture goes public.

Other names that didn't make the cut included BRITNEY SPEARS, ISAAC STERN, ROBERT STACK, LEON SPINKS, and KATEY SAGAL.

I did a little clue analysis on this puzzle, which I've never done before. I went through clue-by-clue and rated each clue Exact (if it was the same as my clue, with a possible tiny modification), Almost (if the gist was nearly the same, but the wording significantly different), or Different (if the clue went in a completely different direction from mine). Of the 140 clues in the puzzle, I rated 86 (61%) Exact, 15 (11%) Almost, and 39 (28%) Different.

– puzzle by Peter A. Collins

I find that a theme idea often has to percolate for a while and undergo many changes before it's good enough to work on. This puzzle is a great example. The seed came from reading "Bleak House" and encountering the phrase "from pillar to post" (I had to look that one up in the dictionary!).

This started me thinking about a puzzle containing interesting phrases of the form "from x to y" (of which there are certainly a lot). But, after enumerating theme possibilities, the original idea felt too loose and the most interesting entries were just a bit too obscure.

So, the idea sat for a while until I noticed that several of the phrases denoted completeness from some perspective: a much tighter theme possibility! This led to today's grid, with the "from" dropping out due to grid/symmetry constraints. However, in my submission, I clued the theme entries too literally; e.g., CRADLE TO GRAVE was "all, from a lifetime's perspective".

In editing, Will and Joel made another big improvement by introducing more wordplay; e.g., changing the above to "... for a life insurance agent". So, that's a further theme evolution I should have made. They also toned down the difficulty to Monday-level by changing a relatively large percentage of the clues (lesson learned, hopefully).

All in all, I'm happy how this one turned out. I like that it has a pair of long downs (THE SCREAM and PSYCHOTIC) that fit well together despite the need to cross a lot of theme entries. I hope it starts your puzzling week off on the right foot.

– puzzle by Jason Flinn

I'm not too good at either pop culture or sports, and this NICKELBACK theme owes much to serendipity. I was in a gym locker room, trying to tune out the football commentary on the TV, when I thought I heard someone say "nickelback" and I figured it was some defensive lineman or something. But then I got to thinking about the word, and quickly realized it had the same number of letters as MONTICELLO. Thanks to Google, I learned it's actually a Canadian rock group. And after looking at images of nickels, I happened on the coincidental symmetry of AMERICAN BISON and E PLURIBUS UNUM.

It's a pleasure to see the final version in the NYT and compare my clues as submitted to what Will published. As Manny Nosowsky (the first cruciverbalist I ever met!) told me years ago, despite the pride-of-ownership howls from constructors, Will almost always improves on the original clues. This was certainly true in this puzzle. I love "Run out of rhythm?" for AEIOU. I had "Plains buffalo, more correctly" for AMERICAN BISON, and I think it's much better to avoid the word "buffalo." Best of all was the clue for 25-Down, which brings together the Canadian and the coin concepts: "Image on the reverse of a Canadian quarter" for CARIBOU. Wow — and it runs right down through the center. Don't I wish I'd thought of that!

– puzzle by Michael Blake

I am thrilled to make my NY Times crossword debut today. I live on beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

Crosswords have been a part of my life for a long time now but only recently have I taken a more serious approach to puzzle construction. There are three women who I want to thank: my mom for buying crossword books and letting me fill in a few, Jenni for introducing me to "Wordplay" and suffering through my early constructions, and Nancy Salomon for mentoring my first few submissions.

Today's theme came about while I was cluing my first accepted crossword (that first "Crossword — Yes!" email put a grin on my face for days). I wasn't too sure if Will would accept a quote puzzle but I loved the quote and its required punctuation (with an emphasis on 'pun'). And as luck would have it, it split perfectly into 4 long symmetrical entries.

Fortunately, Will liked it too but asked me to revise the fill since it had quite a few undesirable entries. I like that he works with constructors to improve the fill if he likes the theme. My original crossword had the author's name split over 2 entries and it was suggested to remove the name to allow for cleaner fill. After a few email exchanges, Will gave his grid approval and okay to clue. The final result is so much better than my original grid.

This has been quite the learning experience and I am grateful to Will and Joel (and Paula and Anna) for their feedback on accepted and rejected puzzles. This may be my first puzzle in print but it won't be my last.

And you can quote me on that!

– puzzle by Herre Schouwerwou

I first constructed crossword puzzles in the late 1960s, using pencil and graph paper. To cut down on erasing, I set portions of grids with letter cubes — dice with letters on all six sides. I sold several puzzles to Master and Quality puzzle magazines. Considering the time it took I was earning about 50 cents an hour. I gave up until the 2000s, when I discovered Crossword Compiler.

I have a varied publication history:

• For several months I constructed the daily crossword puzzle in Metro, Canada's largest independent newspaper.
• I have a collection at Puzzazz, "Crosswords, Eh?," Canadian-themed puzzles — Canadian spelling and usage in entries and clues.
• I did 20 puzzles for "The Everything Crossword Challenge Book."
• For four years I constructed a monthly poker-themed puzzle for Poker Player Newspaper.
• For five years I did a monthly crossword for PokerPages.com.
• For two years I was the crossword constructor for Advance for Nurses and for three for LA Direct.
• For five years I contributed several crosswords a month to the online portal Puzzle Planet.

I have also been a columnist for Card Player magazine, the best-known poker publication and online poker portal, since its inception in 1988. I have written seven books on computers and on gambling, most of which can be found on Amazon.

As for this puzzle, I've used this grid before. I chose it again because it's particularly hard to fill cleanly and I like a challenge. I maintain a list of fresh words, phrases, and expressions that I hear in conversation and on TV and that I see in my reading, entries that I think may not have previously appeared in mainstream puzzles. I try to fill my grids with as many of these I can. While I am using Crossword Compiler to fill the grid, as words suggested by the app pop into place that I feel are less than sparkly, I lower their scores such that they are less likely to appear again or even that they will never appear in my puzzles. I constructed six variations of this puzzle before I felt it was good enough to submit.

– puzzle by Michael Wiesenberg

On Wordplay I said that the clue (not mine) for APP was the puzzle's best, inveigling solvers into confidently entering SPY (and never questioning it afterwards). What I failed to mention is that the shared P between APP and SPY makes the clue way more treacherous, as the solver will be able to solve 6d despite an incorrect crossing. Crossword jargon is not a strong suit—are these duplicitous letters called false friends? Or am I making that up? It'll be interesting to see if the shared P of two seven-letter planets gives anyone similar problems, especially since PEEL is the easiest crossing off 1d.

Although Hercules ended up performing twelve labors in total, his original sentence only called for ten.

Angered by Zeus's innumerable infidelities, Hera drove her stepson Hercules mad, leading him to murder his wife and children. As atonement, the Oracle of Delphi advised Hercules to submit himself King Eurystheus, performing whatever services Eurystheus named.

Hercules' second task, the slaying of the Lernean Hydra, proved difficult. The Hydra, a multi-headed serpent who lived in a mephitic swamp, regrew two heads every time one was cut off. But Hercules' nephew Iolaus, who accompanied him on several of his labors, carried a torch and cauterized the stump of each neck as soon as Hercules had decapitated its head. After dispatching the mortal heads, Hercules buried the Hydra's single immortal head beneath a great rock.

The cleaning of the Augean Stables was designed to be an exercise in humility rather than strength. These stables, which held a massive herd of cattle, hadn't been cleaned in decades, and were overrun with waste. Confident that he was making an impossible offer, King Augeas wagered Hercules a tenth of the cattle if he could complete the task in one day. Hercules, not one to admit defeat, diverted two nearby rivers through the stables themselves, washing away the filth. Thus did Hercules accomplish his task in a single day, and so won the bet.

Despite completing Eurystheus' ten tasks, the King royally shafted Hercules by ruling that the Hydra and the Stables did not count. The Hydra, because Iolaus had aided Hercules; and the Stables, because Hercules had received payment for his work. He instructed Hercules to perform two replacement labors: retrieve the Apples of the Hesperides; and capture Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, unarmed.

Unjustly enriching oneself off the sweat and skill of underpaid athletic labor, and then harshly punishing said laborers for violating a petty, Byzantine regulatory system and accepting side payment? This must be where the NCAA got its business model from.

P.S. Most of the moons of JUPITER, of which there are 67, are named for the lovers or conquests of Zeus. So maybe Hera's jealousy was understandable, even if her revenge was misdirected, and slightly over the top.

– puzzle by Timothy Polin

I'm pretty sure that my inspiration for this puzzle was the 11/12/2012 offering by Randall J. Hartman. If you see him around, could you tell him that I NODDED in appreciation towards his work? His contribution to crosswords MERITS at least that much.

There's no doubt that there were many a CELEB to choose from for the "-MONROE" entry. Despite the fact that gentlemen prefer BLONDEs, I naturally found the ultimate choice to have a better ring to it than MARILYN. (Confession: I just now noticed the DUMB BLONDE crossing. No offense intended.)

Probably had the most trouble with the "–ROT" entry. Every attempt to make ROSS PEROT a possible candidate was met with resistance left and right. For motivation, I turned to the musings of a wise, French philosopher: "There are things I can't force. I must adjust." In the end, DENIS DIDEROT won by a landslide.

And so with that, painful as it is, I must take my LEAVE. Parting is… hard to do. Hope to see you all again soon.

– puzzle by James Tuttle