Mac Motz author page
1 puzzle by Mac Motz
with Constructor comments
See the 1 answer word debuted by Mac Motz.
| M | A | N | D | M | S | P | A | D | B | A | T | H | ||
| M | A | T | R | O | N | O | N | E | A | S | I | A | ||
| S | A | H | A | R | A | R | I | C | O | C | H | E | T | |
| M | A | G | I | C | M | A | R | K | E | R | S | |||
| D | E | A | L | S | H | A | D | E | S | |||||
| T | U | X | S | I | S | L | E | G | A | K | A | |||
| A | R | I | A | C | U | E | O | G | L | E | D | |||
| M | I | S | C | H | I | E | F | M | A | N | A | G | E | D |
| P | A | T | T | Y | T | O | M | D | O | P | E | |||
| A | N | S | P | D | A | U | P | S | R | I | D | |||
| S | H | A | R | E | R | A | T | E | N | |||||
| M | I | C | K | E | Y | M | A | N | T | L | E | |||
| I | L | L | I | N | O | I | S | R | I | P | S | A | W | |
| C | L | O | P | L | E | E | A | V | I | A | T | E | ||
| E | S | T | S | D | S | L | M | A | D | M | E | N |
I'm thrilled to be making my New York Times Crossword debut! I'm a Brooklyn native currently enrolled as a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, double majoring in studio art and anthropology.
After a childhood of playing Bananagrams, logging countless hours on my laptop in Myst, and crafting complex scavenger hunts for my family, making crosswords seemed like the logical next step. In high school, I began solving the Mini every day. I soon graduated to solving the 15x15, and then to creating them. In my senior year, I joined my high school's student newspaper, where I published a 15x15 crossword each month.
I capped the school year off by constructing a four-page insert I dubbed Riddle Rampage, a multipuzzle extravaganza — inspired by The Times's Puzzle Mania — made over two months. I've continued puzzle-making in college, joining the puzzle section at WashU's Student Life, where I've been contributing ever since.
This puzzle's alliterative theme came from my name: Mac Motz. I had been intrigued by puzzles with clues all beginning with the same letter, and I wanted to take it a step further by having the same letter begin words not once, but twice, in each clue. The clues were simultaneously the most difficult and most fun part of this puzzle to create. I am also proud to be, at the time of this puzzle's publication, the 66th-youngest person and the 4th WashU student to have a 15x15 in The Times!
P.S. Something not mentioned in the Wordplay column that I feel inclined to address… my birth name is, in fact, Mac Motz, and it is not an alias (thanks, Mom and Dad, for giving me a cool name)!