New York Times, Thursday, June 27, 2024

HOW TO MAKE A PIZZA:

1. Think about Evan Birnholz's False Starts puzzle, as you do once every week or so.
2. Wonder if there are other ways you can have a crossword where every Across answer has a fun/tricky property.
3. Have an idea for a puzzle where every Across answer starts with a two-letter rebus, with the revealer SHRUNKEN HEADS.
4. SHRUNKEN HEADS might not be the best thing for the breakfast test. Maybe pivot.
5. Tweak the idea into STUFFED CRUST, with the two-letter rebuses being at the beginning and end of every Across entry.
6. Run the idea by Sarah, who suggests a grid shaped like a pizza, with two-letter rebuses around the "crust".
7. Realize this makes the idea good. Go forward with a collab.

8. Go back and forth a lot about what a mushroom looks like in black square form.
9. Try to grid in Crossfire. Realize it was not designed to put 40 different 2-letter rebuses in squares according to the constructors' whims. (We were shocked to learn this; seems like a fatal design flaw.)
10. Remember the aaronson.org-linked project Swordsmith, a open-source Python-based grid filling engine that allows for more tinkering.

11. Create an ungodly hack to force the algorithm to put two letters in squares we specify. Now we're cooking with sauce!

12. Realize that without the mythical Perfectly Scored Wordlist™️, the algorithm is going to keep spitting out fill like ELODEA. There is no other solution than to create an 1100-line spreadsheet so we can iteratively collect outputs we like and Frankenstein them together by shoving them in as additional seeds.
13. Delight in the finished puzza (that's "puzzle" plus "pizza")! Send to editors. Wait a few months. (In the interim, take turns buying Adam Aaronson pizza, trusting that he'll understand the thematic resonance in due time. Realize that before that happens, you will seem weird. Roll those dice.)
14. Purchase a newspaper with today's crossword. Preheat… pen to 350°?
15. Realize a metaphor can only go so far. Forget about it and enjoy the crossword. Serves one or multiple people. Leftovers can be refrigerated.

Sarah Sinclair, a fellow Seattleite! We've never met in person, since we first communicated during covid, but one of these days, we'll make it happen. (Hopefully my covid-induced hermitage ends at some point in the near future.) I was fascinated by her knitting habit, and she was kind enough to make my wife (a NYT games fanatic) a Wordle beanie! It's hard to find presents for Jill, so it was neat to see her face light up that Christmas morning. Thanks again, Sarah!

And Paolo! Not only is he the newly-crowned 2024 ACPT champion, but he's the editor of LinkedIn's new games offerings. I'm a big fan of Pinpoint. All his hard work has led to so many well-deserved achievements.

I love staring at constructions that I can't immediately figure out. My scalp sure got a head-scratching workout today, wondering how the heck Paolo and Sarah made this happen. Some of it is straightforward — the horizontal and vertical double-rebuses can easily be simulated in crossword software. But those diagonals ... I couldn't see a way to emulate what was going on, at least without writing custom filling script. Well beyond my pay grade.

Some solvers hate rebuses, and I'm sure they'll be flaming today. I enjoy a rebus every once in a while, especially when it does something different.

I would have loved if the "crusts" were synonyms of "crust," or maybe double-letter rebuses like PPAANNKKO and TTHHIICCKK and UUPPEEEERR. Some sort of crusty bite for this crusty guy would have given the solve extra chew. Still, the evocative grid art and the wildly creative thinking makes this memorable.

P.S. Try out Squeezy, the new word game Jim and I designed! We announced a partnership with Hey Good Game just yesterday.

40 rebus squares is a lot. It's still 39 short of the record. After pizza, perhaps you'd like a cookie for dessert. Be sure to read the Constructor notes.

This Slate podcast has some interesting background on this puzzle.