Kim Alswager author page

I am so excited to share my debut puzzle for NYT! I'm a choir teacher from St. Paul, Minnesota. I picked up constructing a year and a half ago, and it now takes up most of my free time. I am very thankful to my husband Andy, who is so graciously a sounding board for my constant, all-over-the-place ideas. I have learned a ton from John Kugelman, Sally Hoelscher, Zhou Zhang, and Will Eisenberg, all of whom have been so kind, helpful, and encouraging. I am also part of Lil AVCX's roster this year and loving it!

I have many fun memories and countless hours playing Nintendo and all of the various Mario games. They are a special part of my childhood (and let's be real, my adulthood).

In fact, my first ever purchase as a young kid was a Super Nintendo with Super Mario World. I remember proudly carrying my big bag of mostly coins to the store and plopping them on the counter (sorry to that cashier!)

I talk more about the development of the puzzle in my wordplay notes, but a couple other notes here about the construction:

I chose the ? items I did because they could be clued as other things, and I submitted with that option. I also originally left the solver to figure out the pipe gimmick. The editors ultimately decided to keep it all theme-centric and made the pipes a bit easier by highlighting the two halves, which I think was the right choice for a Sunday.

Constructing this puzzle was nostalgic and brought me so much joy (quick side note that constructing what brings me joy and trusting that has greatly improved my output, I think). I hope you have a fun visit to the Mushroom Kingdom today!