New York Times, Monday, June 12, 2023

I was at my wit's end with theme ideas going absolutely nowhere, procrastinating by online shopping, when I was prompted with a "How did you hear about our product?" survey. One of the options, WORD OF MOUTH, caught my eye. As a poet, I often play with the vocabulary of the MOUTH as a motif in my writing, so it feels apt to have that reflected in my debut puzzle.

It was a great honor to be a part of the Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship! I definitely plan to continue constructing puzzles, and I have another one coming out with the LA Times on July 5th. I'm excited for everyone to play the puzzles from the other talented constructors in my cohort as well.

Thanks to the friends who brutally play-tested many a grid for me. Thanks to all the editors who provided such insightful help and fun banter. Special thank you to my mentor Christina Iverson, who provided vital encouragement, support and direction over the course of the fellowship and beyond.

ROOF, TOOTH, TONGUE, and GUM, neatly (tongue-)tied together by WORD OF MOUTH. We've had dozens of body part puzzles over the years, but I can't remember something so focused on the mouth. The crossworld's resident dentist got scooped!

BLUETOOTH does a nice job disguising TOOTH, especially since Bluetooth is tech related more to the ear, not the mouth. It is said that King Harald Bluetooth got his nickname from a bad tooth, so crossword constructors are lucky that Jim Kardach had an odd fascination with the king's runestone instead of going with "RadioWire."

Although the mouth parts are consistent in their singular forms, it's odd to talk about a mouth with only a single GUM. Since BUBBLE GUMS is a strange plural, something like GUMS UP THE WORKS might have been fun. That would cause other issues, though, like having to put all the mouth parts at the start of themers, and TOOTHSOME isn't the most toothsome entry. Extract that idea!

It never feels great to break up a theme answer into two chunks since you have to use an awkward [With 37-Across …] cross-reference, but check out that beautiful plus sign in the middle of the grid! Such a great way to help solvers subconsciously add the two halves together.

Solid gridwork, Alice working in two colorful long Downs in the usual spots, POT ROAST and GO FIGURE. Go figure why many experienced constructors have difficulty producing such a smooth product. I prefer more long bonuses, even in an early-week puzzle, but cleanliness is so much more important, and working with five themers can get tricky.

I jaw on with too much lip service. Fun debut.