New York Times, Tuesday, August 10, 2021

A little bit about me: I am a third-year law student based in Washington, D.C. I started solving crosswords regularly when I was studying for the LSAT and began constructing in 2019 before starting law school. Constructing and solving have been great outlets for me during the more stressful moments of school.

This theme came together quickly once I set my mind to it. I liked that there was a weirdly high number of phrases that fit this theme, but not an excessive number. Fitting them into the longer answers came easily as well, and from that point it was just a matter of getting the fill as clean as I could manage.

One last note, The Little Red Hen has always held a special place in my heart, and it feels apropos that my debut pays homage to it. I had a seizure when I was very little, and the first thing my mom read to me after it was The Little Red Hen to make sure I could follow along. I've always associated that story with gratitude for health and family, and this is especially true after this year. I hope if you're reading this you can take time to appreciate something in your life you're grateful for right now.

Thank you to my parents, friends, and boyfriend for being so supportive of all my hobbies over the years. I hope everyone has as much fun solving this puzzle as I had constructing it!

I'm impressed by this puzzle. At first glance, it's a "words that can follow X" theme, which Will Shortz and most other editors have put the kibosh on. However, there's always room to push boundaries.

If you asked me to fill in the blank, [Little red ___], I'd plunk down HEN. Then if you asked, are you sure? Is there another option? Maybe I'd come up with Mao's Little Red BOOK.

Perhaps if you prodded and poked me further, there's a miniscule chance I'd have landed on little red WAGON. And we have a red wagon in our garage!

Add in the quaint little red SCHOOLHOUSE, and that makes for a tidy quartet. I'd have never guessed that so many disparate nouns could fill in that blank, making for a much sharper a-ha moment than with a run-of-the-mill "words that can follow X" puzzle.

But that's not all! Finding that foursome isn't good enough, because often, there's no way to incorporate the key words into in-the-language phrases. Sure, BOOK and WAGON are easy, but SCHOOLHOUSE … ah, SCHOOLHOUSE Rock, a classic from my childhood!

And HEN does start some phrases, but what comes up in searches … HEN PARTY, HEN PECKED … ugh. Not phrases I'd strive to use in a crossword. HEN BERRIES, on the other hand, is wonderful use of fun diner lingo.

Solid grid execution, not a single entry that editors would universally call out as subpar. Some editors flag pileups of abbreviations, like ABC / BCC / FWD, but these three are all so common in my email-heavy existence that I don't mind a bit.

I think Radio RAHEEM crossing the old HAGAR the Horrible could be tricky, but they are from different walks of life, decreasing the chance that a solver won't know at least one of them.

I'd love to see Anne push herself more next time, seeing if she can incorporate an extra set of long downs — trying for another set in the NW / SE corners, for example. Overall, though, excellent debut. It's so rare to see a "words that can follow X" theme that has merit.