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Kim Alswager, of Saint Paul, Minn., is a choir director at St. Croix Preparatory Academy in Stillwater.
As a child, she often lay in bed late at night solving all kinds of word puzzles. "In 2024 I was on a long flight. To pass the time, I randomly started drawing a crossword grid and tried filling it by hand. I had so much fun. Almost all of my free time is now dedicated to constructing."
This is Kim's New York Times debut.