New York Times, Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Hello, Howard Barkin here. When I'm not filling in these waffly grid-like things, I'm having some family time, reading, or playing league floor hockey (ice hockey rules, played without skates, and with a ball instead of a puck). I do this in a futile attempt to reassure myself that I am in the same age and physical condition as I was in college.

This puzzle started some years ago as a lunch-hour scribble on an office notepad of a list of words that could precede CHECK. I have no idea why I did this; I suppose it seemed like a good idea at the time. Much later, I tried pairing these up until a promising puzzle idea emerged. The 15-letter entries were a pleasant surprise, but were by no means a seed for the puzzle. Many puzzles with this theme type don't lend themselves to longer answers, so this was a nice bonus. After many, many versions and revisions, what you see finally came into being.

Although I have a personal preference against Roman numerals in puzzles, I unfortunately ended up including one in there anyway. It just proves what an art it is to construct smoothly, and how much I have yet to learn!

Having been on the solving side of the cruciverbal community for quite a while, it was nice to try my hand at construction. Believe me, it is a completely different perspective. The next time you have some difficulty with a particularly frustrating puzzle, try crafting your own to fully appreciate the process. This was a rather challenging grid design to work with for my level of experience, and in retrospect, perhaps some alternative designs may have worked more effectively. Live and learn!

Howard! What a pleasure to see this nicest of guys get his debut. Howard finished 3rd at the 2014 ACPT, performing admirably on a tough final puzzle. I'm not sure I would have completed it using the "B" level clues. And to solve using the "A" level clues in front of hundreds of people... impressive!

This is one of the best revealers I've seen in the "both words can follow X" type of themes. At first I didn't quite understand it. But when you look at BLANK CHECK more like: "___ CHECK" it really sings. Not only is it an apt description of the theme (BODY check, DOUBLE check, etc.) but it's a nod to the fill-in-the-blank nature of many crossword clues. Beautiful.

And to top it off, it's always fun to get some of the constructor's personality and life in the puzzle. I smiled to see BODY check in there, knowing that Howard is a hockey player. (I'm also in the "futile attempt to capture the sporting ability of my youth" stage of life.)

It's an impressive debut. The layout of the themers looks good, and generally the fill is really smooth. There's bits of ATRA and ANS and AS AN, but that's all normal stuff. Most everything else is quite well done, and the addition of a natural-feeling Q and Z in the NE is such a nice touch. Often those Scrabbly letters feel shoehorned in, but that's one beautiful, flowing corner.

TOCCATA in the center sure is a nice little piece of fill, but having a seven-letter word sandwiched in between two grid-spanners can often cause difficulty (hello AMB!). Perhaps shifting a few black squares or even going up to 78 words would have made that easier to fill. And I'm glad Howard mentioned the RRN (random Roman numeral). There's a huge range of opinions among constructors about these. I'm with Howard in that I would take almost anything else besides a RRN, but some people like the fact that they can make a devious but gettable math clue (IV * CLI anyone?).

Constructing has definitely improved my (still sorry) solving skills, because I end up looking up and debating things like which is better: DOREN or DORAS or DORAL? Looking up all these esoteric bits tends to stick in my brain and spill out when I see a clue like [R. J. Reynolds brand]. Scary to think how much constructing might improve an already elite solver's times!