New York Times, Monday, September 3, 2018

I'm thrilled to have my first puzzle published in the New York Times. One thing I have discovered while learning this craft is that the community of crossword constructors is welcoming and generous. I'd like to specifically thank Jeff Chen, Sam Ezersky, Sam Donaldson, Will Nediger, Sam Trabucco, Finn Vigeland, and Peter Broda. These talented constructors selflessly shared the benefit of their experience with a newbie, and I cannot overstate how grateful I am for that.

I'm a clinical psychologist practicing in Catonsville, MD, and I am fortunate to have found a calling that suits me and gives me the great privilege of helping others as they grow and overcome obstacles in their lives. I live in Catonsville with my wife Beth and four of our five children, all of whom were in middle school and at that AWKWARDAGE when this puzzle was constructed. My oldest is a college graduate and working in his first professional job in environmental science. In my free time, I play piano and trumpet in a local band, and Saturdays this fall I can be found cheering on my alma mater, the TCU Horned Frogs. Whether this will prove therapeutic remains to be seen as of this writing.

Crossword constructing has proven therapeutic for me, and I hope you enjoy the result of my first effort. With the benefit of more experience I look back on this puzzle and wish I had another crack at a few of the fill choices, but I'm happy with the theme, and I learned a lot from reviewing the changes Will and his team made to many of the clues.

I have more accepted puzzles in the queue, and I look forward to sharing them with you. I only began solving crosswords a couple of years ago, and I quickly discovered solving is a wonderful way to clear my mind of all the tasks and worries which might otherwise take me out of the present moment. I hope this puzzle gives you a few minutes of that same peace.

Fun imagery, someone SITTING, suddenly jumping to a STANDING position, WALKING in alarm, and then jolting to RUNNING. I'm imagining it as a Festivus miracle!

(Awesome clue for POLE for us "Seinfeld" fans.)

Let's start with the feats of strength. Great choices for themers, SITTING DUCK, STANDING ORDER, WALKING PAPERS, RUNNING JOKE all phrases I'd happily work into any crossword. SITTING DUCK is particularly colorful to me, as my two-year-old son doesn't say much yet. But man, does he QUACK like the dickens when he sees a duck!

It's cute. And a little bizarre.

I also appreciated that Trent maintained consistency in his themers: (verb in ING form) + noun every time. Some might gripe about WALKING PAPERS being the only plural, but when do you ever see a singular walking paper?

ARROWHEADS and AWKWARD AGE, both nice bonuses. The latter caused me a pause at first — AWKWARD STAGE or AWKWARD TIME felt more spot-on — but I can buy AWKWARD AGE.

(For me, that's pretty much any age.)

Now, for the airing of grievances! Not many, but OSS, ASTA, and NEHIS are stale entries, ones that constructors ought to phase out. AMOR is tough too, for newer solvers. I don't mind AERIES so much since it's a word heard on "Game of Thrones" recently, but I've heard complaints about that being esoteric too.

Nice debut, overall. Not a ton of extras outside the two long downs, but PARAGON, MAKES DO, and the Festivus EPISODE of "Seinfeld"? Good stuff, all.

Now if someone would just work THE HUMAN FUND into a crossword.