New York Times, Monday, December 6, 2021

One of the highlights of my year was when my inbox informed me that "You've Got Mail" and the enclosed message was an acceptance by the NYT for my Crossword Debut!

Who doesn't love a good '90s rom-com? And the warm and fuzzy feeling of receiving a letter from the postman? This puzzle is a breath of nostalgia for me, harkening images of the little yellow AOL man and a youthful Tom Hanks; It's a SAFE SPACE if you will. I hope that letter writing never becomes a LOST ART!

In all seriousness, I had a blast making this puzzle, and it went through many iterations and revisions before making it to this final stage. It's surreal to be making my NYT debut, and I hope solvers have as much fun with the puzzle as I had making it!

Two years ago, I moved our mailbox because the carrier would always leave it ajar, thus soaking everything in even light rain. Seemed like a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, he decreed that he would no longer deliver our mail. I spent over ten hours on the phone attempting to sort things out. I learned that 1.) moving a mailbox is a complicated procedure that requires multiple approvals, and 2.) it was ultimately up to the mail carrier, who smugly passed our house every day. I finally gave him five giant chocolate bars plus an apology for my libertarian behavior, and he relented.

YOU'VE GOT NO MAIL is not a romcom.

Neat that Emily found a tightish set, things that (most) mail carriers deliver. I couldn't think of any other major categories, only things like coupons and political flyers. Hard to hide those in common phrases.

Great job disguising the mail meanings of BILL, LETTER, PACKAGE. I wasn't familiar with LETTERPRESS so I would have loved something like LETTER OF THE LAW or LETTER GRADE, but it turns out that Seattle has a letterpress community. Also, crossword symmetry isn't always the kindest, so LETTER OF THE LAW would create alternate trade-offs.

YOU'VE GOT MAIL's length already makes construction awkward, too. Twelve-letter revealers have to go in row 12 instead of 13, thus compressing the themers together. As much fun as is it get OLIGARCHY and SAFE SPACE, it's not ideal that they come with big corners filled with "this is a word?" entries like SORORAL and AREAR.

Overall, though, fun debut delivery!

Film snobs will go on and on about how You've Got Mail is a poor remake of Ernst Lubitsch's masterpiece The Shop Around the Corner, and that Tom Hanks is no Jimmy Stewart and blah, blah, blah. So annoying.

But, yes, they're right.