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GOOGOLPLEX and GOOGLEPLEX were the seeds for this puzzle. My first attempt at pairing these seeds symmetrically in a puzzle used a different grid pattern with the seeds at 1-across and the last-across. That puzzle's submission resulted in a rejection from Will Shortz, but with feedback saying he liked the the pairing of these seeds. So, I decided to try again using a different grid pattern, which was subsequently accepted. I constructed this particular puzzle in December 2013, at that time neither seed had appeared in a NYT puzzle. The puzzle was accepted in April 2014.

– puzzle by Barry C. Silk

Drop-a-letter and add-a-letter themes have been done so often that it's tough to get traction with editors for this type of puzzle. Consequently, I don't construct many of them. I made the exception here because a) I liked that the title is a little tricky (it's meant to be parsed as "No 'N' starters") and b) I liked all the theme answers, with a couple (A NOOK OF THE NORTH and OISE POLLUTION) that particularly cracked me up.

On this admittedly flimsy foundation, I invested the many requisite evening and weekend hours it takes me to make a Sunday puzzle, and was thrilled when it was accepted for the New York Times. I hope solvers enjoy it.

– puzzle by Dan Schoenholz

This puzzle theme arose naturally when I was looking back at my June 4, 2009 collaboration with Pete Collins. I pondered: What things go in cycles? The answer that immediately came to me included three of the 6-letter words featured diagonally in today's grid ... and a 4-letter word in FALL.

(Good thing I pondered it a little longer)!

Given my experience filling the aforementioned puzzle, I had a straightforward task on my hands.

– puzzle by Joe Krozel

A few random thoughts:

• 1A was the seed answer and got scooped in other puzzles before publication. Eh, that'll happen.
• With the pattern $c$v$c$vN $cOWELL (where "$c" stands for a consonant and "$v" stands for a vowel), 12D could have been Colin Powell. Love when grid flexibility pops up like that.
• I've used this basic shell for other themeless puzzles, and I highly recommend it for new themeless constructors. No themeless construction is "easy," but this 72/29 is pretty doable.

Hope solvers like this one!

– puzzle by Ian Livengood

The seed entries for this one were 1-, 17-, and 58-Across along with 12- and 31-Down. I wasn't sure if 31-Down would pass muster, but I gave it a shot, and Will was okay with it. I wanted to get 58-Across into a puzzle for a little while since my boys are big fans of the show, and they begged me to try to work it into a grid, so I was pleased when I was able to get it into this puzzle.

I really like the mini-theme in the upper right side of the puzzle as well; 11-Down crossing 29-Across was a happy accident, so when I moved to the center, I decided to take it a step further by getting 42-Across in there, too.

I had a lot of fun making this puzzle.

– puzzle by Kristian House

The idea for this puzzle may, just may, have evolved during a quieter day at the office. Sometimes you don't have to look too far for inspiration, I guess.

What's hopefully fun about this one is the sense of motion it implies. I'm particularly excited though about the graphical elements introduced in 48-Across; nothing wrong with good ol' reliable circles and shaded grey squares, but I'm very happy that Will Shortz was up for something different here.

Originally KNOBANDTUBE, as in the old style of electrical wiring, was the first theme entry in this puzzle but that was deemed too obscure. Anybody overly disappointed to see it go? (If you've ever had to replace knob and tube wiring for real, you probably weren't disappointed at all to see it go).

Enjoy the puzzle, but kids, don't try this at home.

– puzzle by Paul Hunsberger

I've made a few tribute puzzles. Although I thought they would be straightforward to construct, I've learned that they come with certain specialized issues. First, is the honoree famous enough? Then, which day of the week will the birthday fall on? It is most practical for a simple New York Times weekday tribute to occur from Monday to Wednesday, to avoid the trickery of Thursday or (in general) the totally themeless format of Friday and Saturday.

For Orson Welles, the Wednesday placement allowed a middle-ground of construction. The theme answers are basic enough: film titles, a famous character, and Welles himself. To make things a bit more complex, I included seven theme entries and stacked three of them at the center. This also allowed for some open areas with long Downs in the NW and SE.

– puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler

The grid had to look exuberant. Wouldn't anything fewer than 10 HA's, split four ways, look too polite to be an outburst? I wanted to match the revealer in spirit and not simply in meaning. So: 12, because 10 would lack symmetry. They had to intersect — children from large families must sometimes share beds — but I was otherwise content to keep the theme entries random. HAIRY LEGS notwithstanding, the resulting grid isn't exactly my idea of sexy; given the constraints, I'm not sure it needed to be. HAIRY LEGS, GOD NO, ART BRUT, ETAGERE, HALCYON, TOP KNOT, and the ARAL SEA are enough for me.

– puzzle by Kameron Austin Collins

A couple of clue edits caught my eye. For 1-Down (DRUG CZAR), I had [Coke head?]. I would have gone with [Pot head?] but for 1-Across. As such, the clue felt a little crass to me. I love the edited version, which works the same kind of joke in a much subtler fashion. (Jeff: [Highest officer in his field, ironically]; "Highest" — get it?)

For 8-Down, I had the somewhat rococo [Teddy Roosevelt's third-party endorsement?]. It interests me that my version made the first part of the entry easier to find, where the edited version gives a big hint for getting the end of the clue. It might be an easier clue that makes the puzzle harder, since the top of the entry is one of only two ways into the NE section. Fortunately, the baseball trivia at 20-Across is well-known to many, and easily findable for anyone else who gets really stuck getting into that corner.

– puzzle by Byron Walden

I originally titled this puzzle "Multitasking" because certain words serve more than one purpose and the individual tasks would overlap — much as they seem to do when one is multitasking. But alas, not everything survives the edit.

At any rate, it's a complex theme idea today ... one which took many more hours to flesh out than a simple rebus or letter subtraction would. (Just try to create your own string of three overlapping tasks: PUSH A BUTTON, BUTTON A SHIRT ... oops I'm stuck). Plus, I don't particularly enjoy solving those "conventional" forms I mentioned — and that's just me — so I never make them. Instead, I push really hard for something new and unexpected — the sort of theme I myself would most enjoy solving. Lets hope that's what solvers got today.

– puzzle by Joe Krozel

I created my first puzzle while house-sitting for my daughter in San Francisco in 1996. I thought it would be a fun time-filler. I had no computer program, no computer and, of all things, no dictionary — I would drop in to the San Francisco library from time to time to look up a word. I drew the grid with a ruler and pencil and began filling it and erasing and erasing until the paper was in shreds. I was elated to get a conditional reject in the mail from Will Shortz who coached me through several reworks. What a guy!

The yellowing puzzle is framed on my office wall. I try to maneuver visitors over there hoping they'll ask me about it.

– puzzle by Gene Newman

When I first saw this puzzle's edited version, 57-Across (PIESPIESPIES) had me genuinely stumped until I figured out the twist Will had added. (My clue: "Movie sequel in which a shipwrecked boy catches sight of baked goods?".)

Also new and welcome was the "Simpsons" reference in the clue for 33-Across (ABELABELABEL), originally the rather nonsensical "President Lincoln, put a nametag on Cain's brother!'?".

For the record, I briefly considered another sitcom-themed answer: IDERIDERIDER (Motto for one heckling "Boy Meets World" actor Strong?).

– puzzle by Jacob Stulberg

This one went through the submission-rejection cycle a few times before it was deemed ready for prime time. The last snafu was due to my not noticing that I had DEBAR as one of my fill answers. Needless to say, with BAR being an integral part of the theme, that was a bit inelegant.

Having five instances of BAR on top of ??? constrained the fill to some degree. Does anyone like to start off with a partial phrase fill-in-the-blank at 1-Across on a Thursday? Maybe. I guess it does give a quick toehold. There were few other options given that 1-Down was ??BR.

I didn't like resorting to the prefix BARO- as one of my BARs, but that left-center section gave me few other choices, and the others (I forget what they were now) resulted in even more tortured fill. I recall that at one point I thought I'd solved the problem only to discover that I had ERASED crossing ERASED. Such is the life of a constructor.

– puzzle by Peter A. Collins

With the bar for freestyles currently so high, I feel the need to go beyond building a grid around a single seed entry. HATCHETJOB is a solid phrase for sure, but it really wouldn't be a complete puzzle unless I could stack it with two other quality entries and have their crossings up to par.

Of course, the challenge is to pull that feat off several times in one grid. On top of that, cleanly bridging between the "seed stacks" is often as tough as filling those open white spaces!

– puzzle by Peter Wentz

This is just a puzzle conceived while listening to the song, with its repetitive use of LOVE. I hope Andrea (Carla Michaels) in particular gets a kick out of it!

– puzzle by Gareth Bain

This theme came about while I was on lunch duty (one of the less glamorous aspects of teaching in a middle school). While daydreaming, I decided I wanted to give crossword construction a shot and was determined to create a theme before the lunch period was over. Immediately thereafter, a student playfully accused another of stealing her friend's bag of chips: "Katie did it!" she said. Katie defended herself in the third person: "No! Katie didn't!" Beginner's luck for me. It's proven much more difficult since to devise solid themes.

Nancy Salomon was gracious enough to mentor me through the process of construction. I am so grateful for her sharing her expertise and for the incredible amount of time she has spent communicating with me.

– puzzle by Jim Quinlan

The concept for this one tumbled out of a brainstorming session with an up-and-coming constructor; it sprung out as an offshoot from another idea we had been discussing. He declined my offer to co-construct, but I'd never have come up with this one if it hadn't been for him spurring me on. So, I thought I'd at the very least I'd acknowledge him:

Be on the lookout for Lars V. (55-Down)!

– puzzle by Jeff Chen