Thumbnails
Puzzles for July, 2021
with Constructor comments
| S | T | A | T | S | G | P | S | H | A | R | M | |||
| O | W | L | E | T | R | E | E | F | O | R | E | O | ||
| S | O | L | A | R | P | A | N | E | L | W | O | N | T | |
| M | E | A | N | D | M | Y | M | O | U | T | H | |||
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| E | A | T | S | I | N | N | O | N | E | E | D | |||
| W | H | A | T | S | T | H | E | I | D | E | A | |||
| T | U | B | A | O | W | N | R | B | I | S | ||||
| Y | O | U | O | W | E | M | E | T | I | M | E | |||
| A | B | O | U | N | D | E | T | H | A | N | E | |||
| S | T | E | N | T | S | H | O | R | A | S | O | D | ||
| T | H | A | T | S | A | V | E | R | Y | I | F | |||
| R | O | M | A | I | L | L | A | L | L | O | W | I | T | |
| A | M | E | S | D | O | L | L | E | C | O | L | I | ||
| P | E | R | K | G | O | B | R | I | N | K | S |
Here's hoping this puzzle is a big hit with everyone!
Though not direct inspiration, this puzzle owes a bit of a spiritual debt to Sandy Ganzell's March 23, 2017 puzzle. I'm always excited at puzzles that find a way to use the grid itself as the revealer. It can be risky to construct such a puzzle with so much solving being completed in apps and constrained by the electronic format — hopefully this one translates well.
I originally designed the grid in Excel — normal squares were 15 cells by 15 cells, while the big squares were 17 by 17, about 28% bigger in area. I centered along the middle of each "big" answer, which led to some of the down answers being a bit of a zig-zag. The editorial team's grid is much nicer. I suspect the uniqueness of this grid and deciding what to do electronically is part of why this puzzle spent 20 months in the acceptance queue before its publish date.
With four theme answers of the same length, I recall exploring all 24 permutations of the order the answers appear in this grid to see which gave the best bonus fill.
Favorite clues from the editorial team: 2-Down (how did I miss the opportunity to clue it like that myself?), 6-Down, 17-Across. Favorite of mine that survived: 13-Across.
| P | E | A | K | S | O | R | B | B | R | A | T | |||
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| G | O | O | G | L | E | T | R | A | N | S | L | A | T | E |
| S | S | N | M | E | A | N | E | L | L | Y | ||||
| G | N | O | M | E | F | U | E | L | ||||||
| A | C | T | I | V | E | L | I | F | E | S | T | Y | L | E |
| C | H | I | K | A | D | R | I | E | S | S | E | T | ||
| H | O | M | E | A | R | A | B | S | G | O | T | H | ||
| E | K | E | P | L | U | T | O | C | A | M | E | O | ||
| S | E | C | R | E | T | M | E | N | U | I | T | E | M | S |
| O | H | N | O | A | S | S | E | T | ||||||
| A | M | E | N | S | E | C | T | H | A | I | ||||
| N | O | I | S | E | C | A | N | C | E | L | L | I | N | G |
| I | N | N | U | D | I | V | I | N | G | I | N | T | O | |
| L | E | G | S | S | L | Y | A | N | G | E | R |
ADA: I am so excited to be sharing a New York Times byline with THE Brooke Husic. She is one of my favourite themeless constructors in the game right now, she's co-hosting Lollapuzzoola 14, and she's a huge inspiration to me and to many other puzzlers. I'm so honoured for her to be my first NYT collab! The fifteen interlock was her idea, and being able to be a part of her construction process was super fun.
Also: If you liked this puzzle, I also run a themeless subscription service called luckystreak xwords+! I have an exclusive deal for NYT solvers (plus a free themeless!) so check it out! It means the world to me being able to consistently do something I love, and any support is much appreciated. Thank you!!
BROOKE: Ada consistently blows my mind with grid geometries and cluing angles, so when I asked her to collaborate it was 100% because I wanted to do something epic geometrically together (and also 100% because Ada is an awesome human — we made this puzzle over zoom on opposite sides of the Atlantic and it was extremely fun). All this is to say: if the last Ada Nicolle puzzle you solved was her NYT debut then you have been *missing* *out*. Luckily you can atone by checking out her blog and all-bangers-no-skips subscription service.
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| O | M | E | L | E | T | T | E | E | P | P | I | E | ||
| G | I | V | E | A | T | R | Y | M | A | R | I | S | T | |
| S | T | E | N | C | I | L | H | A | T | T | A | N | ||
| S | T | A | H | L | T | O | K | E | I | C | U | |||
| H | A | M | O | P | E | R | A | T | O | R | ||||
| T | H | O | U | A | H | E | M | N | O | U | S | |||
| C | R | E | A | T | U | R | E | F | E | A | T | U | R | E |
| A | I | N | T | S | I | L | O | L | I | T | T | |||
| M | A | S | S | G | E | N | E | R | A | L | ||||
| B | L | T | O | R | E | N | D | E | E | T | S | |||
| O | R | E | F | I | R | R | O | Y | C | O | H | N | ||
| D | U | E | L | E | D | Z | I | R | C | O | N | I | A | |
| I | N | T | E | R | I | D | E | A | L | I | S | M | ||
| A | S | H | E | P | A | S | T | I | C | H | E |
| R | A | T | E | D | R | T | U | B | M | A | N | R | A | B | I | D | ||||
| B | O | B | A | T | E | A | A | P | R | I | C | O | T | E | L | O | P | E | ||
| G | U | A | R | D | E | D | O | P | T | I | M | I | S | M | L | O | T | S | A | |
| A | S | T | O | P | I | U | O | M | E | N | C | L | A | P | T | O | N | |||
| M | E | E | T | C | A | T | E | L | O | C | H | A | X | E | L | |||||
| E | D | S | C | U | L | T | U | R | E | S | H | O | C | K | C | E | C | E | ||
| P | A | T | O | L | A | Y | T | E | E | N | I | D | O | L | ||||||
| B | B | G | U | N | T | W | O | S | G | O | O | D | S | A | U | N | A | |||
| Y | U | R | T | S | H | I | G | H | A | N | X | I | E | T | Y | P | A | N | ||
| E | G | O | T | Z | A | N | Y | W | A | I | L | A | N | W | A | R | ||||
| S | W | E | D | E | N | T | O | W | D | O | C | E | N | T | ||||||
| B | I | D | E | N | N | O | O | K | A | M | E | S | T | G | I | F | ||||
| D | U | N | C | O | M | I | C | R | E | L | I | E | F | O | B | E | S | E | ||
| A | N | G | L | O | I | N | T | O | O | R | G | Y | B | A | R | T | Y | |||
| U | N | C | A | R | I | N | G | A | L | B | A | H | E | R | ||||||
| B | Y | O | B | U | N | B | R | I | D | L | E | D | J | O | Y | V | A | T | ||
| N | E | R | D | O | E | N | O | D | O | U | R | D | I | V | A | |||||
| N | O | C | L | A | S | S | S | F | P | D | S | I | M | A | G | E | S | |||
| O | B | E | L | I | C | R | E | A | T | U | R | E | C | O | M | F | O | R | T | |
| M | I | R | E | D | I | P | A | N | E | M | A | E | N | R | O | U | T | E | ||
| S | E | N | D | S | I | T | T | E | A | M | D | E | T | E | R | S |
I thought of the BOTTLED UP ANGER connection during a drive, but not really as a puzzle entry until a bit later, when I started thinking about double-meanings in emotion-related phrases. Since there isn't really a hidden trick or revealer, I especially try to make the non-theme parts of the puzzle fun and quirky.
If this is a bit too easy or not tricky enough for you, I understand completely — but also remember that many of us (that don't read puzzle sites and blogs) are also regular solvers who want a challenging but satisyfing experience, so I try to take everyone who attempts the Sunday into account — it may be their first try! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!
| B | A | D | P | R | M | A | J | O | R | B | B | B | ||
| A | T | R | I | A | O | L | I | V | A | E | A | U | ||
| S | E | A | C | U | C | U | M | B | E | R | A | R | C | |
| S | I | P | N | A | S | A | R | E | P | A | C | K | ||
| O | N | E | A | C | R | E | C | A | B | A | R | E | T | |
| W | H | Y | Y | O | U | L | I | T | T | L | E | |||
| H | A | R | R | Y | W | E | L | T | H | O | E | |||
| O | B | E | Y | G | O | L | D | S | B | U | N | T | ||
| T | I | A | C | O | P | E | T | O | R | A | H | |||
| E | L | L | I | B | E | R | T | A | D | O | R | |||
| L | I | N | D | S | A | Y | T | O | Y | O | T | A | S | |
| S | T | A | I | N | S | S | O | N | S | A | N | T | ||
| A | I | M | E | Y | E | I | N | T | H | E | S | K | Y | |
| F | E | E | W | O | L | F | E | O | D | E | L | L | ||
| E | S | S | S | N | I | T | S | P | U | R | E | E |
Leftover theme answers:
BEE BALM
JAY JOHNSTON
KAY KYSER
PEA PODS
TEE TOTAL
YOU UNDERSTAND?
and the double: [Question to a potential presidential candidate]
ARE YOU RUNNING?
| I | R | A | N | G | A | P | S | T | I | P | S | Y | ||
| B | O | N | Y | A | B | I | T | O | M | A | H | A | ||
| M | O | N | E | Y | M | O | N | E | Y | M | O | N | E | Y |
| S | T | A | T | U | E | K | N | E | E | T | E | M | ||
| M | R | C | O | O | L | M | O | P | E | |||||
| H | O | T | B | A | T | H | P | R | A | M | ||||
| A | L | O | U | A | R | G | O | A | X | I | O | M | ||
| G | I | M | M | E | G | I | M | M | E | G | I | M | M | E |
| S | N | A | P | E | S | T | E | M | N | E | N | A | ||
| T | E | L | L | G | I | V | E | S | I | N | ||||
| A | R | O | D | E | L | P | A | S | O | |||||
| L | E | S | S | T | Y | E | S | I | N | B | A | D | ||
| I | D | O | I | D | O | I | D | O | I | D | O | I | D | O |
| N | O | U | N | S | N | A | N | O | T | B | A | R | ||
| E | S | P | N | U | G | L | E | N | A | B | B | A |
I'm really pleased to have my solo debut in the Times today! This was one of the first puzzles I made after I met Christina Iverson, my mentor. She helped me redo the grid to get some nice long fill. I couldn't have done any of this without her, and I'm so grateful to her.
This puzzle came to me when my daughters were obsessed with ABBA. They listened to it all the time, on repeat. It still makes me smile to think about the 3-year-old trying to figure out how to speak clearly enough for Alexa to play Money, Money, Money. It occurred to me that a lot of Abba's titles are repeated words, so I wrote out all of the ones that fit the pattern, and lo, there were three with 15 letters each.
Originally, I had different clues for the themers, which were changed by the editors as mine were deemed a bit too obscure for a Tuesday. Here are my originals:
- MONEY MONEY MONEY: Triple crown?
- GIMME GIMME GIMME: Excess demand?
- I DO I DO I DO I DO I DO: Vow renewal?
They also asked for an edit on SDSU/ESPNU crossing, but in the end, they liked the original version you see here the best.
I'm glad that my living through a few weeks of these earworms paid off in the end with this puzzle. I hope you enjoy it. Sorry if these get stuck in your head on repeat too!
| T | A | D | A | O | H | M | B | R | E | R | ||||
| S | L | O | P | B | E | A | U | R | A | V | E | L | ||
| A | P | O | P | S | A | D | R | O | M | E | G | A | ||
| R | E | F | T | A | K | E | S | A | N | A | P | |||
| D | E | B | A | R | M | E | L | S | I | S | ||||
| U | S | E | L | E | S | S | L | E | G | B | O | N | E | |
| G | A | L | E | C | T | O | C | R | O | |||||
| S | L | O | W | A | N | D | S | T | E | A | D | Y | ||
| R | A | P | D | O | R | M | I | O | C | |||||
| O | H | D | R | Y | U | P | P | A | L | O | O | K | A | |
| N | B | A | L | A | G | I | N | N | E | R | ||||
| L | O | S | E | S | A | B | E | T | N | A | Y | |||
| S | N | A | G | S | S | T | E | P | P | S | A | S | ||
| D | O | N | O | T | T | A | C | O | A | I | R | E | ||
| W | I | N | S | T | H | E | R | A | C | E |
This puzzle had its start last spring. I was out for a run at my usual pace (imagine a snail dragging the anchor from the USS Constitution) when a much younger runner flew past me. The Tortoise & the Hare immediately came to mind. While still on the run, I realized that the 8-letter word TORTOISE could be spaced out perfectly, corner to corner, within the confines of a 15x15 grid. At that point, I was off to the races — so to speak.
TAKES A NAP and LOSES A BET are a bit loose as crossworthy phrases go. Where does it end? READS A BOOK? EATS A PEACH? TIES A BOW? But I hope that the fact that my two phrases are thematic will make it easier for solvers to afford me a little leeway.
I'm pleased that the terminal E in TORTOISE and SLOW AND STEADY/WINS/THE/RACE share the final square in the puzzle.
Anyway, I'd like to believe that maybe — just maybe — while out for that run, I reached my finish line before that young hare reached his. But alas, not all tales have fabulous endings.
| B | O | O | B | O | O | B | I | O | S | O | R | B | ||
| E | N | F | O | L | D | O | B | I | E | V | E | E | ||
| A | L | A | O | D | E | W | E | L | L | W | E | L | L | |
| C | O | I | N | S | T | I | A | A | R | I | A | |||
| O | A | K | A | N | N | S | E | A | G | L | E | |||
| N | N | E | L | E | O | T | A | R | D | O | V | A | ||
| S | T | A | T | U | S | E | R | R | E | D | ||||
| T | H | A | I | R | A | D | I | O | A | D | D | S | ||
| W | O | R | T | H | T | E | A | B | A | G | ||||
| A | T | E | A | V | E | N | G | E | R | W | O | W | ||
| P | A | U | L | A | T | O | R | T | O | U | R | |||
| M | A | M | M | A | I | A | S | O | L | T | I | |||
| I | N | A | P | A | N | I | C | Y | O | G | A | A | T | |
| S | T | P | S | E | R | A | E | N | L | A | C | E | ||
| S | S | S | T | R | E | Y | A | G | E | N | T | S |
The AM/FM radio will soon be a thing of the past if it isn't so already, but it's still fodder for a challenging Thursday gimmick. The editorial team commented that although they seldom accept two-way rebuses, the concept here was entirely appropriate so they gave my RADIO transmission a warm reception and suggested some fine-tuning. As submitted, my grid had circles in the rebus squares (radio buttons) and easier clues which would have made the solve a bit easier, Wednesday level say. I applaud the changes and thank Will and company for the sharp editing.
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| O | H | I | O | P | A | R | S | E | R | E | I | N | ||
| G | O | L | D | M | E | D | A | L | S | O | S | L | O | |
| E | Y | E | C | A | N | D | Y | C | L | O | S | E | R | |
| A | X | E | L | M | E | E | K | E | S | T | ||||
| B | E | D | S | I | D | E | M | A | N | N | E | R | ||
| R | O | O | T | S | B | Y | R | D | S | E | P | A | ||
| I | N | N | S | C | O | R | K | S | S | V | E | N | ||
| E | S | T | G | L | A | R | E | P | O | I | S | E | ||
| G | O | W | I | T | H | T | H | E | F | L | O | W | ||
| E | P | I | P | E | N | S | P | E | R | T | ||||
| D | I | V | I | N | G | F | R | E | E | S | P | I | N | |
| I | D | E | A | S | N | A | I | L | S | P | A | C | E | |
| T | A | U | T | T | W | I | C | E | O | P | E | C | ||
| H | Y | P | E | O | A | R | E | D | T | A | S | K |
Hello solvers! Hope everyone is having a good summer so far. Here's a Friday puzzle to kick off the weekend.
Not too much to say here other than to give credit where credit is due—I absolutely adore the clues for PI DAY and OPEC, neither of which I wrote. But I guess it's a little like playing tennis against a better opponent… you improve your game by learning from stronger players. Seeing such simple yet clever clues inspires me to up my game the next time around.
| C | A | R | E | L | E | S | S | M | I | S | T | A | K | E |
| A | N | A | N | S | I | T | H | E | S | P | I | D | E | R |
| C | O | M | M | U | N | I | O | N | W | A | F | E | R | S |
| H | U | M | E | E | R | O | D | E | F | L | O | |||
| E | T | E | S | T | S | A | R | A | S | P | ||||
| D | H | A | R | M | A | R | A | P | I | E | R | |||
| R | O | U | T | E | G | O | D | N | O | |||||
| A | C | C | O | R | D | S | D | I | G | D | E | E | P | |
| R | H | O | D | E | T | E | N | S | E | |||||
| C | E | R | E | A | L | L | A | P | D | O | G | |||
| S | S | N | R | O | O | M | D | I | C | E | ||||
| H | E | R | S | A | T | Y | R | A | V | I | A | |||
| S | I | L | E | N | T | T | R | E | A | T | M | E | N | T |
| P | R | I | V | A | T | E | E | N | T | R | A | N | C | E |
| F | E | A | S | T | O | N | E | S | E | Y | E | S | O | N |
Given that I'm drawn to puzzles that are architectural feats of construction, it's probably not a huge surprise that I've long been an admirer of puzzles with triple-stacked (and quadruple-stacked) 15s. This admiration only grew when I tried my hand at it myself: the top stack here was my first successful attempt at a triple-stack, back in 2018, but finding a symmetrical stack to mesh with it proved particularly challenging. As such, it took almost two more years (and quite a bit of assistance from my friend Crossword Compiler) to come up with a completed grid.
I started the top stack with ANANSI THE SPIDER, which seemed like an interesting, original 15-letter answer, and had promising letters for a second-row entry. I was pleased to find that it fit nicely between two more lively answers, both of which are also appearing here for the first time in the NYT puzzle. I originally had ANOUK at 2-Down, crossing EKES, but was concerned that the crossing of ANOUK and ANANSI at the N could be very challenging to many (especially with HUME up there too). I didn't notice the possibility of using AN OUT instead until I had completed the grid, and though the inelegance of that answer bothers me a bit, I decided (after much deliberation) that I wanted the crossings for the stack to be as unambiguous as possible, especially as the rest of the fill felt very clean for a triple-stack puzzle.
Though there wasn't a whole lot of room for longer answers apart from the triple-stacks, I think the two pairs of 8s are nice, and was glad I could also squeeze in some interesting 6s and 7s, like DHARMA, LAP DOG, RAPIER, I SWEAR, DIG DEEP, and ELM TREE. I thought ["Seriously!"] was a fun clue for "I SWEAR!", as it works for both meanings of the phrase, conveying either earnestness or frustration. I'm also glad to see my clue of [Hosts] for COMMUNION WAFERS survived, as I thought it was a nice, Saturday-worthy misdirection, and the editorial team even came up with the [Goof] clue for CARELESS MISTAKE to complement it.
It's a pleasure to have my 30th puzzle in the Times (and my 10th Saturday!) I hope it was enjoyable, and that the triple-stacks gave you something to feast your eyes on! :)
| D | R | E | S | S | A | G | E | M | Y | B | A | D | N | A | P | L | E | S | ||
| R | E | S | T | A | T | E | D | C | O | U | L | D | O | M | E | A | R | A | ||
| U | N | P | O | I | S | E | D | B | U | R | D | E | N | O | F | P | O | O | F | |
| G | O | O | P | D | Y | N | A | M | I | C | S | E | N | M | A | S | S | E | ||
| S | M | A | E | T | A | P | E | T | E | R | ||||||||||
| O | D | D | J | O | B | B | R | E | N | D | A | N | R | A | M | P | E | D | ||
| T | E | R | I | O | D | E | S | T | I | L | T | S | D | R | A | C | O | |||
| I | A | M | M | A | L | A | L | A | H | E | A | R | T | I | M | R | A | N | ||
| S | L | O | M | O | M | I | L | W | A | U | K | E | E | B | O | O | E | R | S | |
| S | M | O | K | E | E | V | E | N | E | E | L | J | E | D | ||||||
| R | I | C | K | A | D | D | E | R | P | O | P | O | ||||||||
| S | S | R | I | T | O | L | O | A | F | T | O | R | S | O | ||||||
| T | A | M | I | N | G | O | F | T | H | E | S | H | O | O | L | I | T | H | E | |
| A | R | I | S | E | W | Y | A | T | T | M | I | N | U | S | S | I | G | N | ||
| R | A | Z | O | R | N | O | R | T | H | S | L | O | N | I | C | E | R | |||
| T | H | E | N | F | L | R | E | P | E | A | L | S | D | O | N | K | E | Y | ||
| B | A | R | E | S | T | M | I | S | E | N | ||||||||||
| I | M | I | T | A | T | E | B | O | O | T | S | T | R | E | N | G | T | H | ||
| P | E | N | E | L | O | P | E | C | O | O | S | E | U | P | H | O | R | I | A | |
| S | A | G | E | L | Y | S | O | R | T | A | E | M | A | I | L | I | N | G | ||
| O | D | E | S | S | A | O | P | A | H | S | N | P | R | T | O | T | E | S |
The seed entry came to me at the dentist's but the simplicity of this letter/sound deletion theme did not inspire. Until I wondered if I could run the rest of the themers through the central entry. And maybe doing so would free up some grid real estate and create a themeless feel elsewhere in the puzzle.
After multiple mostly-meh drafts with 132 words, I shifted my focus to the 36- and 40 Down region. Finding the BOOERS & SHOO combo which could accommodate the anagram pair was a sign that this was worth expanding to 136 words and submitting. With IAMMALALA sliding in, the final grid took shape. Finding a reasonable set of theme entries that could intersect TOOTH in the bottom half of the puzzle did create some problems.
Immense thanks to the NYT Editorial Team for working through several iterations. They gave SHOO (the weakest entry) a pass and found BOOTSTRENGTH, to replace the original DOOBARRYMORE. DOO was another weak entry — difficult to clue in any meaningful way — but one I was loath to lose because I wanted all themers to have different consonants.
The NYT team also provided most of the clever clues, Île be there? (MER) and Bands you might listen to in a car? (AMFMRADIO) being my top two! I am grateful they kept the groan-inducing Total-itarian? (ADDER) and Eaglelike? (UNDERPAR — did anyone drop in AQUILINE?), as well as my long IAMMALALA clue.
Hope solvers enjoy this traditional fare, with some K-Town kimchi, palak paneer and samosas thrown in for good measure!
| A | R | C | A | N | E | T | O | F | U | A | M | P | ||
| C | A | R | W | A | X | A | R | A | B | P | O | I | ||
| I | M | A | L | I | T | T | L | E | T | E | A | P | O | T |
| D | I | M | L | O | O | K | R | U | S | T | Y | |||
| B | A | R | T | H | E | I | R | |||||||
| A | L | B | E | R | T | O | G | O | N | Z | A | L | E | S |
| T | A | I | N | T | O | P | I | E | O | V | A | |||
| B | U | T | T | J | I | B | E | D | H | U | E | Y | ||
| A | G | E | T | O | N | I | L | O | I | N | S | |||
| T | H | R | O | W | I | N | G | A | B | O | N | E | T | O |
| P | E | N | S | G | A | W | K | |||||||
| S | O | B | E | R | B | U | L | L | N | O | D | |||
| C | H | I | C | K | E | N | Y | A | K | I | T | O | R | I |
| O | I | L | E | D | I | T | A | F | R | I | C | A | ||
| T | O | E | D | U | P | E | N | E | U | R | A | L |
This puzzle started as a collaboration with Gareth Bain. I came up with three of the four theme answers. Gareth came up with ALBERTO GONZALES, so thank you Gareth for that.
I wanted to finish the puzzle as a collaboration with Gareth, but he dropped out. Gareth is a vet in South Africa, and he was working a lot of long hours at the time we started working on this, so he ended up dropping out, and I built the grid and clued it myself.
Once I decided to place AFRICA as an across in the lower right, I tried all twenty-four options for how to do it. There are four possibilities for 43-Across, three possibilities for 56-Across, AFRICA can be at either 62- or 65-Across, and 4 * 3 * 2 = 24.
Once I'd placed THROWING A BONE TO at 43-Across and CHICKEN YAKITORI at 56-Across, there were two ways to place the other two theme answers. I put I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT at 17-Across and ALBERTO GONZALES at 26-Across because that made it possible to put UBERIZE at 10-Down, which is an entry that I really liked, and TOTO at 18-Down, which didn't have to be in the grid, but it was fun to include that as an extra little theme tie bonus.
I have a 17-year-old daughter named Kate. "Africa" is one of her favorite songs, and she and I have seen Toto in concert together. I love you, Kate.
| M | O | R | P | H | R | E | M | I | T | S | I | B | S | ||
| A | W | A | R | E | E | L | I | S | E | E | N | Y | A | ||
| C | O | V | E | R | A | L | L | T | H | E | B | A | S | E | S |
| E | W | E | E | L | I | A | P | O | S | E | A | S | |||
| W | I | L | E | S | T | E | M | C | R | Y | |||||
| R | I | G | H | T | O | F | F | T | H | E | B | A | T | ||
| A | D | R | O | I | T | A | R | E | S | T | B | A | R | ||
| C | L | A | Y | S | S | C | A | M | B | R | I | B | E | ||
| K | E | M | O | N | A | I | F | S | E | A | T | E | D | ||
| O | U | T | O | F | L | E | F | T | F | I | E | L | D | ||
| S | U | P | I | S | E | E | L | O | A | N | |||||
| A | S | H | O | R | E | C | O | O | L | W | A | H | |||
| W | H | O | L | E | N | E | W | B | A | L | L | G | A | M | E |
| T | E | N | D | S | W | E | E | T | E | N | T | E | R | ||
| O | R | E | S | E | W | E | R | S | N | U | T | S | O |
My first attempt at this puzzle three years ago had seven theme entries, including HIT OR MISS, RAIN CHECK, and CLOSER. The editing team liked the idea but felt that some of the phrases were not specific enough to baseball. We finally whittled it down to four themers, with the idea that we might clue WHOLE NEW BALL GAME as something like "Different story, like the meaning of the starred entries vs. their meaning in America's pastime". I'm not exactly sure why that idea got nixed, but the clue is certainly a bit clunky and not completely accurate.
The hardest clue for me in this one was "Who, you??". It's easy to imagine a scene where this might be said [Bruce: "I think you're looking at the perfect constructor for this puzzle idea" ... Will, Joel, and Sam incredulously: "Who, you???"] but hard to clue it without using "who" or "you".
I like the way they slated this puzzle for the day of the MLB All-Star game. These games tend to be pitching duels, but at the Coors Field altitude there should be lots of action!
| O | F | F | S | R | A | V | E | S | S | I | P | |||
| C | A | R | T | E | E | T | A | I | L | E | S | L | ||
| C | R | Y | I | N | G | W | O | L | F | E | A | A | A | |
| A | G | E | N | D | A | L | I | F | E | B | O | A | T | |
| M | O | R | K | W | I | L | D | E | P | I | T | C | H | |
| E | L | K | S | L | S | A | T | |||||||
| W | H | E | R | E | E | L | S | E | S | E | G | A | ||
| H | E | X | E | R | E | A | D | E | R | R | E | D | ||
| O | N | T | O | Y | O | G | A | P | O | S | E | S | ||
| R | I | P | S | E | R | M | A | |||||||
| T | O | O | L | E | C | H | E | S | T | K | A | R | A | |
| U | S | V | S | T | H | E | M | H | O | L | D | I | T | |
| T | H | E | P | E | A | C | H | Y | K | E | E | N | E | |
| O | E | R | I | M | P | E | I | S | A | L | S | A | ||
| R | A | T | G | A | S | E | S | F | E | E | T |
ROSS: Neither of us is an EXTROVERT, but if you're digging our vibe, you can find more Amanda/Ross crossword content on my indie crossword site, Rossword Puzzles, as well as my biweekly Twitch stream, Cursewords Live. And if you're interested in learning how to make crosswords, feel free to slide into my Twitter DMs.
| Y | M | Y | M | I | M | T | O | O | T | I | P | ||||
| C | O | C | O | A | C | A | R | O | B | R | I | C | A | ||
| C | O | K | E | S | B | L | A | M | E | I | D | O | L | ||
| A | R | F | T | I | M | E | S | P | I | C | A | Y | N | E | |
| A | F | R | O | L | H | A | S | A | A | P | S | O | |||
| L | A | C | R | O | S | S | E | H | A | M | |||||
| A | L | T | O | N | A | S | N | E | S | T | L | E | |||
| Y | K | O | N | G | O | L | D | P | O | T | A | T | O | E | S |
| P | A | R | D | O | N | S | E | W | A | M | O | S | |||
| P | A | L | E | N | E | R | G | Y | S | E | |||||
| O | T | H | E | R | H | A | N | D | S | E | E | M | |||
| W | H | Y | Y | O | U | L | I | T | T | L | E | S | K | A | |
| L | O | D | E | N | A | C | R | E | D | R | O | I | D | ||
| E | R | R | S | C | L | E | A | N | Y | O | U | T | H | ||
| T | A | O | H | A | R | P | S | O | P | E | D |
This puzzle was simple and fun to make. I remember having the initial thought of doing a "YU" rebus as a spin on "Why you little!," then running the idea by my friend — the great Will Nediger — who was very enthusiastic, so I quickly made it and sent it in. I had to rework the grid and edit out FUNYUNS because someone hadn't heard of them.
I'm honestly surprised this is my first daily with the Times. I've been constructing since around 2008 and submitting to the Times since 2011. It's not that I was always sending them incredible work (I didn't begin using wordlists until 2017 and my earlier style was sort of a janky Something Different–esque hybrid), but still it's been a long long time coming.
Speaking of wordlists, I'm very pro the general movement of making them more accessible to beginning constructors and would love to, at some point in the future, make my wordlist publicly available for free. My main hesitation is that I've built mine up from a skeleton of a Jeff Chen list I bought years back and I can't say that the superficial research I've done on list-related copyright cases has made me confident in just brazenly posting a download link (however palimpsestic the original list's presence in mine may be after consolidating deletions, additions and rescorings). I've talked to multiple experienced constructors who similarly (i) would like to release their wordlists for free and (ii) feel somewhat barred from this by the fact that their lists are built from Chen's lists.
There's an uneasy sort of push-and-pull in the crossword world between man and machine [cue random Kraftwerk song]. There's both a tendency towards constructors optimizing puzzle quality and time spent with the help of software and databases as well as a tendency to hold onto and covet things, like private wordlists, that could be perceived to lend one's puzzles a unique stamp of human identity; with one hand we reach out to the robots, with the OTHER HAND we shield ourselves from them (and sometimes from each other). Anyway, I clearly have many thoughts on this. Feel free to drop me a line.
| F | R | A | M | E | U | P | S | P | R | I | M | P | ||
| A | E | R | O | S | M | I | T | H | D | E | C | A | L | |
| C | L | E | O | P | A | T | R | A | A | C | E | L | A | |
| T | I | N | N | Y | F | O | R | S | A | D | L | Y | ||
| I | N | D | Y | Y | A | L | T | A | P | A | R | T | ||
| S | E | T | B | U | L | L | E | T | S | N | A | E | ||
| P | U | L | L | S | R | E | A | C | T | S | ||||
| Z | I | P | T | I | E | S | H | O | L | I | E | S | T | |
| O | N | E | A | L | L | P | A | P | E | R | ||||
| O | F | T | T | O | T | I | N | O | S | T | D | S | ||
| M | O | P | S | G | R | A | D | S | O | H | I | O | ||
| B | R | E | A | D | A | N | Y | A | U | R | A | L | ||
| O | M | E | G | A | M | O | M | F | R | I | E | N | D | |
| M | A | V | E | N | P | L | A | I | N | J | A | N | E | |
| B | L | E | S | S | A | N | T | E | A | T | E | R |
SOPHIA: While bored in an online class last spring, I texted Kyra to ask for a good themeless seed entry. She suggested 33-Down, and thus this puzzle was born. We locked in the bottom half of this puzzle early on, but the top half went through several iterations before this final submission.
As usual, it was a blast to collaborate with Kyra — she's incredibly talented at both grid construction and writing clever clues, and she even puts up with my insistence on adding extraneous Disney references to all of our puzzles.
KYRA: Now that our online classes are over, Sophia and I need to find a new time to work on our collabs together! I loved making this one with her, and we're excited to do more together soon.
| S | C | O | T | U | S | G | O | S | H | N | O | |||
| P | A | P | Y | R | I | R | A | I | N | I | E | R | ||
| A | M | E | L | I | A | L | A | I | L | A | A | L | I | |
| T | I | N | E | S | B | O | G | T | U | R | T | L | E | |
| U | S | S | R | C | L | O | G | P | L | A | I | N | ||
| B | O | W | D | R | A | P | E | R | L | E | T | |||
| S | L | I | C | E | A | N | D | D | I | C | E | |||
| E | M | O | J | I | K | E | Y | B | O | A | R | D | ||
| W | A | G | E | L | A | B | O | R | E | R | S | |||
| C | A | W | S | T | O | N | E | S | D | E | A | |||
| A | G | I | L | E | T | O | D | D | G | D | A | Y | ||
| P | A | P | E | R | C | O | P | Y | B | R | I | M | S | |
| I | D | I | G | R | E | S | S | G | O | A | W | A | Y | |
| T | I | N | G | O | D | S | N | O | V | I | C | E | ||
| A | R | G | Y | L | E | C | R | Y | P | T | S |
Happy July! I'm on a retreat with my a cappella group this weekend. This is at least the third time one of my puzzles has come out on one of our retreat weekends, so it's basically a tradition at this point!
This grid was built around the intersecting triple stacks, which I thought were all fun and colorful entries. I'm a guy who prefers crunchy over smooth when it comes to themeless puzzles (both solving and constructing), so mixing in relative rarities such as 10D & 36D and a taste of socioeconomics with 33A is my cup of tea.
If you're interested in more, I also have my own indie crossword site McGrids where I post puzzles every 17th (including today!) plus whatever else I have time for.
Hope you enjoy!
| A | S | C | A | P | V | O | C | E | S | C | O | W | L | E | V | E | R | |||
| R | H | O | D | E | I | R | A | N | T | E | R | R | A | V | I | L | E | |||
| B | O | N | A | P | P | E | T | I | T | A | L | M | I | C | H | A | E | L | S | |
| O | V | E | R | P | O | W | E | R | A | T | L | A | N | T | A | F | I | E | ||
| R | E | S | N | I | K | A | N | Y | T | H | I | N | G | I | S | G | O | O | D | |
| L | E | D | E | P | A | A | O | R | T | A | ||||||||||
| R | E | A | L | L | Y | J | U | S | T | A | M | E | E | T | I | N | G | |||
| A | C | N | E | S | E | A | A | I | R | P | A | R | M | E | A | R | N | |||
| G | R | A | P | H | D | E | N | S | O | C | T | A | D | T | R | I | O | |||
| A | U | T | E | U | R | I | R | O | N | S | O | N | E | G | G | |||||
| W | H | O | S | G | O | I | N | G | T | O | K | N | O | W | ||||||
| B | O | O | S | T | A | R | T | E | D | E | R | O | I | C | A | |||||
| U | N | D | O | A | L | O | A | D | M | A | I | M | M | O | T | O | R | |||
| B | E | E | R | T | O | U | R | P | O | R | O | U | S | L | O | C | I | |||
| E | V | E | N | P | U | T | I | T | I | N | T | H | E | F | O | O | D | |||
| A | S | D | O | I | W | E | T | T | A | U | ||||||||||
| T | H | E | S | T | E | A | K | T | O | C | O | O | K | S | N | U | F | F | S | |
| H | A | T | A | X | L | R | O | S | E | F | O | R | T | U | N | A | T | E | ||
| E | M | A | I | L | A | L | E | R | T | J | U | L | I | A | C | H | I | L | D | |
| N | E | C | K | M | A | M | M | A | U | S | A | F | H | I | R | E | E | |||
| A | S | H | E | S | H | E | E | R | T | E | S | T | S | T | E | E | R |
The idea for this puzzle came while watching one of Claire Saffitz's excellent cooking videos. After making a delicious-looking Tarte Tatin, she wrapped things up with a Julia Child quote: "a party without cake is (really) just a meeting." Like most viewers, I immediately thought "aha! a crossword theme!" and set about searching for a theme set.
In choosing the quotes, I was looking for both humor (which wasn't too hard) and ones that could split into a setup/punchline pairing with no repeated words in each part. The only entry that did repeat a word was 101-Across where THE appeared in both the clue and answer. I was a little worried about that, but I found a few examples of this in published puzzles, so I let it go.
I pay special attention to the clue changes made by the editorial team. For constructors who might be interested in the stats, this puzzle had 36% of the clues rewritten, 43% kept, and 21% tweaked. Not surprisingly, the changes were excellent. I particularly liked their fresh approach to EGG. My favorite that made the cut was BOO, but of course the best clues are from Julia herself.
And now for a quick, shameless plug: If you're interested in trying your hand at construction (or you are frustrated with your existing software), please checkout Crosserville: a full-featured web app in which you can design, fill, and export puzzles in a variety of formats.
| J | A | M | S | E | L | D | E | R | C | C | E | D | ||
| E | D | A | M | G | O | U | G | E | H | O | L | Y | ||
| T | A | K | I | N | G | A | D | O | G | E | A | S | E | |
| E | M | O | T | I | O | N | A | P | E | X | E | S | ||
| T | P | S | G | F | L | A | T | |||||||
| F | A | T | E | S | C | A | R | N | A | N | A | S | ||
| E | L | A | N | N | A | M | E | D | S | H | A | R | K | |
| A | L | S | D | A | R | E | S | A | Y | D | E | I | ||
| T | O | T | H | E | B | E | A | C | H | P | E | A | R | |
| S | T | E | A | L | E | P | A | B | U | R | S | T | ||
| S | H | A | R | P | D | A | B | |||||||
| T | E | C | H | I | E | A | I | R | L | I | N | E | ||
| S | C | O | T | I | S | A | B | A | D | I | D | E | A | |
| A | R | I | A | O | I | L | E | R | S | L | O | T | ||
| R | U | N | G | U | N | I | T | Y | H | E | N | S |
Yay! Today is my NYT crossword puzzle debut! As a new constructor, I learn a lot everyday — and enjoy every minute of it. I hope my love of words comes through and makes a lot of solvers smile.
This was the second puzzle that I submitted to the NYT. The first puzzle's theme wasn't mainstream enough, but Andy Kravis took the time to give me some great advice and links to excellent resources. Thank you, Andy! I'd also like to thank David Steinberg, Mathew Stock, Will Nediger, Patti Varol, Rich Norris, Peter Gordon, Joanne Sullivan, and Tracy Bennett — you've all been so wonderful, generous, and encouraging, and I'm very grateful.
When I first constructed this puzzle, I thought it came together beautifully, with lots of relevant fill, but I didn't know what I didn't know. When the NYT got back to me and asked me to remove 10 words to make the puzzle good for a Monday, I had a bit more experience and was happy to rebuild the puzzle. (I can't believe I actually had AMATI crossing ORIYA and even worse. Embarrassing.)
I hope people will enjoy solving my puzzles as much as I love creating them.
P.S. Happy Birthday, Momma! Thanks for sharing your love of language with me and doing every puzzle that I create! OXO
| T | H | O | N | G | W | E | T | S | S | L | R | |||
| H | O | S | E | R | T | O | M | E | I | T | A | O | ||
| U | N | C | L | E | I | M | M | A | D | E | M | O | ||
| S | E | A | L | E | D | B | E | A | M | T | R | A | M | |
| R | A | K | E | I | N | E | W | E | R | S | ||||
| A | N | N | G | L | A | S | S | F | L | O | O | R | ||
| G | O | O | G | O | L | G | L | A | M | P | ||||
| E | N | D | E | D | L | Y | O | N | A | T | M | S | ||
| R | E | S | T | S | I | M | P | H | I | H | A | T | ||
| A | S | H | E | N | A | I | R | A | C | E | ||||
| I | N | T | H | E | V | A | U | L | T | T | E | M | ||
| A | P | B | I | O | S | P | L | I | T | S | ||||
| C | H | A | P | K | I | T | K | A | T | B | A | R | S | |
| T | O | M | G | E | N | I | E | B | A | L | O | O | ||
| A | T | V | P | E | R | C | Y | I | L | I | A | D | ||
| S | O | P | A | P | E | S | G | L | E | N | S |
Go Team USA!!!! Can't wait to see @Simone_Biles and #TeamUSA kick some butt at the #TokyoOlympics. This puzzle was accepted back in January of 2020, and then was delayed — along with the Tokyo Olympics — until now.
I got the idea for the puzzle while sitting at my then 3-year-old daughter's gymnastics class as I watched her rotate through the different equipment. I had previously had a NYT puzzle published with a similar interlocking theme around bowling, which was fun to construct, so I figured I'd try for it again. Voila! Thanks to Will and the team for letting me work on a revision to improve some fill. I hope the final puzzle is fun to solve and celebrates the hard work of all the gymnasts.
As for the puzzle, aside from the theme, I liked being able to include GREEK GOD in a puzzle based around the Olympics. Some other favorite entries included THAT'S A LIE and NBA MVP (Originally clued as Title for King James?). Enjoy the puzzle (and a KIT KAT BAR)!
| K | O | B | E | A | M | I | S | H | D | O | D | O | ||
| G | R | I | Z | Z | L | E | D | V | E | T | E | R | A | N |
| B | A | R | R | E | L | H | O | U | S | E | J | A | Z | Z |
| N | C | A | A | R | E | T | E | E | ||||||
| U | G | H | L | A | P | A | Z | A | C | E | D | |||
| N | E | B | S | M | O | G | S | O | T | |||||
| P | L | A | T | I | K | E | W | H | I | M | S | |||
| C | O | R | R | O | D | E | R | A | M | O | N | E | S | |
| S | K | I | N | S | C | O | T | N | E | A | T | |||
| P | V | T | O | A | H | U | M | B | A | |||||
| D | A | L | I | Z | O | N | E | S | O | R | B | |||
| B | O | N | E | D | U | T | N | E | ||||||
| O | Z | Z | I | E | A | N | D | H | A | R | R | I | E | T |
| N | E | A | P | O | L | I | T | A | N | P | I | Z | Z | A |
| O | R | C | A | P | A | S | T | Y | P | E | E | P |
I got the idea for this puzzle as I walked through Jim Horne's Grid Art gallery, where it struck me that quite a few of the grids were based around letters. Not seeing Z among them, I realized it was a prime candidate for several reasons: its symmetric shape that did not preclude full interconnectedness, its tendency to catch my eye when solving, and the possibility of the unchecked squares in its "inner pockets" not really being unchecked if filled with Z's. It was not long after that when I realized that double stacks above and below the big Z would not only let the grid breathe better, but also provide room for four "snaZZy" theme answers.
Having decided that those ten total Z's would be the only Z's in the grid so as to keep the theme tight, I struggled to find two pairs of 15's that worked well enough together. Even 15's whose Z's were not consecutive always seemed to result in at least one restrictive pattern that would also usually restrict its other crossing answers, and then filling around these pairs felt much harder than with the typical 72-worder. I was really not sure about ORANGELOS, MNEMONIZE, TRIPLE IPA, and a few others, but luckily Will Shortz didn't seem to mind them; I hope you as the solver don't either.
I dedicate this puzzle to 1-Across, his daughter Gianna, and their memory, as I played as him extensively and sometimes exclusively in my old NBA videogame... and of course, a hearty thanks to Will, his staff, and my fellow puzzlers for their feedback, in particular Judy Cole, who was one of several players kind enough to test-solve it between games of a Scrabble tournament in December 2019. Most of all, thank you for taking the time to try my puzzle, and I look forward to giving you more puzzles to solve.
| R | A | T | O | P | E | N | W | I | D | G | E | T | ||
| E | R | E | T | R | U | E | E | N | R | A | G | E | ||
| H | I | P | S | T | E | R | S | I | C | E | B | O | X | |
| H | I | P | P | O | P | O | T | A | M | U | S | E | S | |
| A | S | I | A | S | C | A | B | S | ||||||
| B | E | D | T | I | M | E | C | R | U | S | A | D | E | |
| C | O | X | A | E | S | I | L | E | X | |||||
| P | A | R | T | Y | W | H | I | P | S | Z | E | S | T | |
| I | D | E | A | S | H | I | P | W | R | E | C | K | S | |
| K | H | A | K | I | A | R | T | I | E | |||||
| A | D | R | E | N | A | L | S | M | A | S | H | E | D | |
| S | A | G | E | T | P | O | L | O | ||||||
| J | O | I | N | E | D | A | T | T | H | E | H | I | P | |
| D | E | A | D | E | N | P | I | T | A | C | H | I | P | |
| D | E | T | E | S | T | E | D | Y | S | U | T | E | ||
| T | R | Y | S | T | S | D | E | L | T | M | E | D |
I hope solvers find this an enjoyable Thursday! As I was working on the fill, I noticed COXAE came up as an option at 32-Across. Normally I'd avoid this word as fill, but it seemed to echo the theme, so I ran with it. I always second guess such decisions.
What's almost as fun as collaborating with Michael Hawkins? Having puzzles printed on successive days. Over to you, Mike!
| C | R | U | S | H | E | D | I | T | S | H | R | E | D | |
| C | O | S | T | A | R | I | C | A | N | O | I | R | E | |
| E | Y | E | O | P | E | N | E | R | L | T | D | A | N | |
| D | A | M | U | P | T | O | M | S | T | E | S | S | ||
| L | E | T | E | M | V | A | T | I | S | E | E | |||
| N | I | C | E | C | A | T | C | H | ||||||
| M | E | D | S | N | O | R | G | O | K | A | R | T | ||
| P | L | A | T | O | O | N | M | E | T | E | R | E | D | |
| H | O | B | A | R | T | D | O | M | T | E | N | S | ||
| B | R | E | A | K | R | O | O | M | ||||||
| S | E | L | F | U | N | O | M | Y | L | A | R | |||
| A | X | E | L | R | E | P | O | L | I | L | A | C | ||
| S | I | D | E | A | E | C | O | N | O | M | I | Z | E | |
| S | L | I | E | R | L | A | Z | Y | R | I | V | E | R | |
| Y | E | N | T | E | S | P | E | E | D | T | E | S | T |
This crossword marks my seventh themeless puzzle in a row, far exceeding my previous streak of one.
I like most of the editorial improvements but a few of my favorite clues got the axe, including: "Method of measuring fiber intake?" for 66-Across and "One relatively close to an actor" for 21-Down.
| W | H | I | T | E | C | L | A | W | S | T | A | T | ||
| H | O | M | E | P | H | O | N | E | R | O | A | C | H | |
| I | N | E | S | S | E | N | C | E | E | N | T | R | E | |
| P | D | A | S | M | E | H | B | I | G | T | O | E | ||
| S | A | N | E | R | R | O | S | E | N | O | P | S | ||
| R | I | G | V | I | D | C | O | O | P | |||||
| N | B | A | P | L | A | Y | E | R | O | I | L | Y | ||
| F | O | R | C | E | I | N | G | E | M | I | N | I | S | |
| E | T | A | T | T | I | M | E | S | I | N | K | S | ||
| M | E | S | S | T | M | I | T | S | K | |||||
| I | T | S | T | E | E | N | S | T | Y | P | E | S | ||
| N | A | I | L | E | R | E | K | G | D | A | N | K | ||
| I | K | E | A | S | P | R | I | E | D | I | N | T | O | |
| S | E | R | B | S | O | V | E | R | U | N | D | E | R | |
| T | R | E | S | M | A | R | I | O | K | A | R | T |
ADAM: Gotta love working with Ricky! He's got such a unique voice as a constructor (see every puzzle on his epic blog Cruzzles, and it definitely shines through here—when he casually dropped COINKYDINK as a fill option, I knew this puzzle was going somewhere. We toyed at the grid for over three months last year, starting with the top-left stack and then iterating through tons of possibilities via Twitter and Discord DMs.
Speaking of Discord, I can't stress enough how fantastic the Crossword Discord Server has been at uniting the global crossword community, and Ricky built it from the ground up! If you haven't joined, what the heck are you waiting for?
RICKY: Working with Adam was such a fun experience (you guys should definitely also check out his puzzle blog; he messaged me around early pandemic time to collab on a themeless, showing me the beautiful northwest stack. We had fun cluing this grid; the editors came up with some great clues as well. We were both stumped on how to clue FORCE IN without including "in" in the clue (go ahead and try it), and the simplicity of the edited clue blew our minds.
Since Adam plugged the Discord, I'll shout out his site Wordlisted, which is a huge asset for constructors of themed puzzles. It's basically an all-purpose search for different word patterns in a wordlist, and I can't recommend it enough.
| A | S | P | S | A | T | O | A | S | E | S | T | O | M | R | D | A | ||||
| * | P | A | D | P | R | O | A | L | E | V | E | A | N | T | W | E | R | P | ||
| L | I | B | R | A | R | Y | K | E | V | I | N | * | N | F | A | V | O | R | ||
| E | L | L | I | C | E | Y | * | E | L | D | E | U | G | E | N | E | ||||
| S | T | O | N | E | A | G | E | A | N | D | F | R | * | J | O | L | E | S | ||
| K | * | R | I | N | N | O | E | L | A | T | I | N | ||||||||
| N | O | R | I | S | A | N | D | * | E | G | A | N | O | A | T | S | ||||
| B | R | O | N | T | E | T | I | R | E | D | L | Y | I | F | F | * | E | R | ||
| C | A | T | G | U | T | I | C | A | N | S | E | E | D | A | H | L | * | A | ||
| G | R | E | E | C | E | A | D | S | I | T | E | |||||||||
| M | A | J | O | R | * | S | R | A | M | E | N | P | O | L | A | R | * | S | ||
| A | L | O | U | E | T | T | E | S | I | R | N | A | T | I | V | E | T | O | ||
| C | O | U | R | T | * | S | S | A | R | A | E | P | E | R | I | L | ||||
| A | U | L | D | G | N | A | T | L | A | N | E | N | A | N | O | |||||
| O | D | E | C | U | O | M | O | S | A | T | T | I | L | A | N | A | S | |||
| B | A | S | E | I | L | A | N | A | * | M | D | B | ||||||||
| O | D | I | U | M | * | N | C | O | G | N | I | T | O | J | O | Y | C | E | ||
| P | R | O | S | E | C | C | O | W | E | E | O | N | E | U | P | P | E | D | ||
| R | A | W | D | O | U | B | L | E | D | * | P | P | E | R | S | R | E | I | ||
| A | K | A | U | P | S | E | T | S | E | S | P | R | I | T | E | L | F | |||
| H | E | N | E | Y | E | L | E | T | S | U | S | A | N | S | S | O | Y |
Happy to be here! Sunday puzzles are my fave, so I am stoked to be making my NYT debut on one!
After seeing Jake Halperin's 13/B puzzle and Jeremy Newton's hashtag puzzle, I got to thinking about how other symbols might be able to cross. Once I settled on the X/Is as stars, I thought about constellations, with a scribble somewhere in a notebook of a grid containing the full Orion constellation. But when that seemed impossible to build, not widely recognizable, and I couldn't quite come up with an MIB-related revealer, it seemed that our friends the DOUBLE DIPPERS were the better options.
I worked hard to get the alignment of the stars as accurate as possible, while throwing in some relevant entries to add to theme content. DRINKING GOURD is on the W side of the grid, as it's associated with the Big Dipper, and WAGON OF HEAVEN on the E as it was associated with the little dipper. SEVEN OXEN was a term used for both. And, if I may flex, the North Star itself, aka POLARIS, is represented in the grid in the word POLARIS. The hint to finding POLARIS in the sky is to extend the outer line of the Big Dipper, which was important for me to represent in the grid, too.
Remember stars? Went on a pre-COVID trip to Montana and had the delightful reminder that they exist. Alas, stargazing in Boston is... lacking.
Clue I wish had made it: "Its ending was metal?" for 29-A.
The original submission was without the constellations' lines sketched in, but the editors added that in to make it a better Sunday-level puzz. I am particularly grateful to them for tightening some clues that were too vague and toying around with others that weren't vague enough. :) Thank you, team!
Shameless plug for Boswords happening today! Much love for the hometown tourney.
Cheers, y'all!
| J | A | Z | Z | F | A | N | S | Y | E | L | P | S | ||
| E | P | E | E | E | L | A | L | A | T | E | A | T | ||
| S | S | N | S | L | A | T | E | C | H | E | W | Y | ||
| T | O | O | T | H | I | S | O | W | N | H | O | R | N | |
| S | U | N | K | I | T | S | ||||||||
| C | I | S | S | E | A | L | E | G | S | S | A | M | ||
| S | N | E | A | K | I | S | H | D | I | N | O | |||
| P | U | L | L | S | O | M | E | S | T | R | I | N | G | S |
| A | R | M | S | H | A | G | A | M | U | S | E | |||
| N | E | A | N | I | C | E | J | O | B | S | T | S | ||
| F | O | O | A | B | B | A | ||||||||
| D | R | U | M | U | P | B | U | S | I | N | E | S | S | |
| A | R | O | M | A | S | A | N | E | G | A | I | L | ||
| C | A | P | E | D | A | R | T | S | U | C | L | A | ||
| A | B | Y | S | S | T | E | S | S | S | H | O | W |
I'm delighted to be making my NYT crossword debut!
I started working on this puzzle in early 2020 when I found myself taking care of my newborn daughter and stuck in a lockdown at the same time. To any new parents out there: constructing crosswords is a quiet activity that is perfect for when you're rocking a sleeping infant.
This theme started as a long list of "musical" puns — I majored in music in college, so it felt appropriate. I quickly realized that the theme needed to be trimmed down from an orchestra to a three-member combo. Hopefully, this trio can convince you to support their JAZZ SHOW!
Thanks to everyone who helped with this puzzle: the editing team (particularly for making the clues more Monday-friendly), the team at XWord Info for their invaluable resources, and my wife Ali for her early input and help polishing the fill.
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| A | L | O | E | B | E | L | I | E | O | B | O | E | ||
| R | E | V | I | T | A | L | I | Z | E | R | O | N | A | |
| E | X | E | R | O | V | E | U | N | D | E | R | |||
| S | H | Y | E | N | G | I | N | E | E | R | S | |||
| I | P | H | O | T | O | R | A | F | T | |||||
| N | E | A | L | O | N | M | O | M | A | F | D | A | ||
| F | A | C | E | R | E | C | O | G | N | I | T | I | O | N |
| O | R | K | E | R | O | S | O | T | E | L | L | O | ||
| S | L | U | M | T | H | R | E | E | S | |||||
| V | O | L | C | A | N | O | E | S | F | A | T | |||
| I | C | E | A | X | B | A | D | U | Y | I | N | |||
| S | E | A | L | A | P | O | C | A | L | Y | P | S | E | |
| T | A | P | E | L | A | N | K | Y | E | E | N | Y | ||
| A | N | T | S | E | D | Y | S | A | S | T | O |
JENNY: We are thrilled to be making our NYT debut! Victor and I are both Emergency Medicine physicians living and working together in Hawai'i. We just re-visited Hawai'i VOLCANOES National Park a few weeks ago, so we're happy that clue made the cut. We've been solving crosswords for a long time but started getting into constructing a few years ago and really started focusing on it more during quarantine. Quick shoutout to Doug Peterson for his encouragement and feedback in our early constructing phases.
VICTOR: The idea for this puzzle started with a line from the song Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex (take a listen!), and originally had BODY LANGUAGE as a revealer, with something like SYMPATHIZE, CANTONESE, and CHICAGO O'HARE. We decided that limiting it to the face made for a tighter set, and switched to ABOUT FACE as a revealer, before watching a John Oliver episode about Clearview AI and settling on FACE RECOGNITION, which felt more topical and interesting. We submitted the puzzle with high hopes and [Technology used controversially by law enforcement … ] as the original clue for the revealer. We were overjoyed when our puzzle was accepted, and we hope you enjoy it as well!
| B | F | F | S | P | E | P | S | I | S | U | M | P | ||
| O | R | E | O | A | V | I | L | A | E | P | E | E | ||
| P | E | T | U | N | I | A | P | I | G | A | T | R | A | |
| S | E | A | S | O | N | P | O | L | L | O | C | K | ||
| E | V | E | R | S | O | I | P | A | ||||||
| D | O | T | S | O | W | N | S | U | P | E | R | |||
| I | R | E | A | C | T | A | O | P | P | O | S | E | ||
| S | I | N | D | R | I | B | B | L | E | I | T | E | ||
| C | O | N | R | O | Y | B | O | A | R | N | E | D | ||
| O | N | I | O | N | O | I | L | I | T | R | Y | |||
| S | C | I | R | E | D | B | U | D | ||||||
| J | A | C | K | S | O | N | A | R | I | O | S | O | ||
| E | V | A | C | P | A | D | D | I | N | G | T | O | N | |
| L | I | M | O | A | T | E | I | T | I | T | A | L | ||
| L | A | P | D | L | E | A | P | S | T | O | R | Y |
ALEX: I'm no art expert, but Jackson Pollock's rule-breaking style seemed like a good excuse to do something different. The first idea I sent to Brad was to have P-A-I-N-Ts appearing diagonally, in random spots, going in all directions. But this was too constraining when constructing the grid. I gave up.
Then we thought about hiding D-R-I-P in some answers going down, but that wouldn't simulate his actual technique: laying the canvas on the floor horizontally, not vertically, and dribbling paint down onto it from above, so it goes in all directions. When we arrived at our final plan, I liked it because it's not common to see words hiding in multiple directions. I wrote a little code to find entries that would interlock in the right places while including P-A-I-N-T going once in each direction. (It seemed important to have each direction represented exactly once, even though doing that to show haphazardness doesn't seem very logical...)
My fantasy was to make it even MORE Pollock-like. If he created a crossword puzzle, would he arrange his theme answers symmetrically? Probably not. Maybe he'd even use a freeform grid. It was fun to think about; maybe the Jackson Pollock of crosswords could pull it off (whoever that is).
BRAD: Pollock's name was enough of a revealer, perhaps, but that 7-letter word in the middle called out for a "bonus" entry. As I recall, we tried a couple of different verbs (SPATTER?) before DRIBBLE really worked.
| U | S | S | R | P | O | S | T | W | H | I | Z | ||
| H | U | T | U | O | N | T | O | H | Y | D | E | ||
| S | E | R | B | G | E | R | I | A | P | E | D | ||
| D | I | S | P | O | S | A | L | A | R | E | A | ||
| P | R | E | S | I | D | E | N | T | S | ||||
| A | T | T | E | S | T | T | O | ||||||
| W | E | I | W | E | I | R | E | N | T | E | D | ||
| O | A | R | C | I | T | I | O | L | E | ||||
| E | R | O | S | K | N | E | E | N | U | M | B | ||
| N | E | W | S | C | A | S | T | E | R | ||||
| O | S | C | A | R | A | I | D | E | S | ||||
| F | I | L | L | I | N | T | H | E | B | L | A | N | K |
| U | M | A | S | E | R | I | A | L | T | O | E | ||
| S | O | D | T | W | E | L | V | E | E | K | E | ||
| E | N | S | S | T | Y | L | E | D | S | I | T |
I guess I don't really have a whole lot to say about this one. The theme idea probably came from seeing a fill-in-the blank clue, and wondering if there was a way to subvert that ever-ubiquitous convention. For a while only "landfill" came to mind as a possibility; the other two presented themselves to me some time later, practically simultaneously. I liked the elegance of having those two clues both be in-the-language phrases without the blanks, and Will and company agreed.
I typically go with a 16-wide grid when I need an even number of columns, but here, with a 14, 12 and two 10s, it turned out that a 14-wide grid worked much better. I didn't have too high of hopes that the arrangement you see here would work out, but I was pleasantly surprised; using NEWSCASTER instead of JOURNALIST certainly helped.
In any case, I hope you found this puzzle ful-fill-ing :)
| E | L | C | A | P | I | T | A | N | A | S | P | S | ||
| V | I | L | L | A | N | O | V | A | I | H | O | P | E | |
| A | D | U | L | T | E | R | E | R | M | O | L | A | R | |
| N | A | B | S | P | O | R | C | H | S | W | I | N | G | |
| T | I | T | T | O | O | E | C | K | O | |||||
| A | S | I | A | N | T | O | R | R | E | |||||
| T | H | I | R | D | S | T | R | I | K | E | T | A | B | |
| M | O | M | I | T | H | A | C | A | N | A | L | A | ||
| S | P | A | G | R | A | S | S | H | O | P | P | E | R | |
| G | L | O | A | T | W | R | E | C | K | |||||
| A | M | I | E | N | S | C | S | N | O | |||||
| F | I | N | A | L | D | R | A | F | T | F | U | R | S | |
| A | L | E | V | E | I | N | E | E | D | A | N | A | P | |
| R | E | S | E | T | C | O | M | E | A | N | D | G | O | |
| S | O | S | O | H | E | A | R | M | E | O | U | T |
I'm excited to be back in the Times with my first themeless puzzle. I started constructing it in the southeast corner, which I think is quite fun. I'm happy with the rest of the puzzle except LIDA and ITHACAN. I'm very impressed with other constructors who are able to build grids without fill like this. My favorite clue is [It's found around a crime scene] because it's tricky until you figure it out, and then it becomes incredibly clear.
I hope you enjoyed solving!
| H | A | L | O | D | J | I | N | G | T | I | M | |||
| A | M | O | N | G | R | A | N | O | N | O | N | O | ||
| R | E | V | U | E | A | Z | T | E | C | P | R | U | ||
| D | R | E | S | S | S | I | Z | E | S | P | T | A | S | |
| A | I | D | U | L | N | A | R | J | O | H | N | S | ||
| S | K | I | N | N | Y | M | E | N | U | P | A | G | E | |
| S | A | T | E | D | A | B | S | O | L | U | T | E | ||
| W | H | A | T | A | T | R | I | P | ||||||
| F | R | E | E | P | A | S | S | E | A | R | P | S | ||
| C | L | A | R | I | O | N | S | B | A | D | A | R | T | |
| L | A | P | A | T | Y | A | W | E | D | P | E | A | ||
| A | V | I | S | O | R | D | I | N | A | R | I | L | Y | |
| M | O | D | C | H | A | O | S | M | I | N | I | S | ||
| U | R | L | E | N | T | R | E | S | T | O | M | A | ||
| P | S | Y | L | O | E | S | S | Z | E | S | T |