New York Times, Friday, September 10, 2021

Super excited to make my debut on my favorite day of the week! Though I'm a bit foggy now on the exact details of how this puzzle came about, I do remember that I created this puzzle during my first months constructing. I had strictly been practicing with themed puzzles until one day I thought to myself "It can't be that much harder to fill a 70-word puzzle". Needless to say I was VERY wrong. Once I came up with a grid design that I liked visually, the process of filling the grid led to many, many hours of wordlist curation, learning moments from trial and error, and eventually a deeper appreciation of how much work goes into creating a puzzle. I look forward to learning and constructing more in the future!

A bit about myself: I am a database/GIS specialist for a small government agency that does mosquito surveillance and control. I also moonlight as a bassist with my band Mandancing. Being a long-time solver, I decided to try constructing in late 2019, mostly as a curiosity, but then I stumbled upon one of the best communities on the internet that has kept me involved since. Fellow constructors and solvers have been some of the most welcoming and friendly people I've come across! If anyone has had any thoughts about trying out crossword construction, please reach out to the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory and the Cruciverb Facebook groups!

This bball fan had an easy pick for standout clue/entry pair. NBA REFEREE is a great entry, especially with its baffling NBAR- beginning. Riffing on "travel authority" makes it dazzle right up there with James Harden, Jason Kidd, and Magic Johnson. We all look the other way when it comes to NBA REFEREEs looking the other way when the Beard travels. Ahem.

Neat clue for MEYER LEMON, too. I love the scent of MEYER LEMONs growing on our back deck, and it was fascinating to learn that they come from China. Bonus points for anyone who can come up with a great Asian nickname for this fruit. (As brilliant as "Kung flu," but perhaps a touch less … evil.)

I'm usually not one for names in my crossword, but KAMEHAMEHA is an interesting case. I struggled with it at first, then realized that as a Hawaiian, his name would likely draw from the Hawaiian alphabet. Neat click as I was able to narrow down the options for all the letters to only A E I O U and H K L M N P W. Also reminded me of a memorable puzzle based on the Hawaiian alphabet.

70-word themelesses go up against stiff competition these days; Will Shortz's inbox flooded with them. I enjoyed much of this solid debut, but it's difficult to achieve standout sparkle when you're only working with 10 long slots (of 8+ letters). Some of the mid-length material did help to prop up the pizzazz, QUIBBLE's rare Q, THE BEAN, and SCREW IT all colorful.