New York Times, Tuesday, January 28, 2014

I'm thrilled to be a newly published NY Times crossword author, after several appearances in GAMES Magazine and the LA Times. My very first puzzle, however, was a self-published one. In 2000, I doctored an issue of GAMES Magazine to include a puzzle that featured a marriage proposal to the woman I was dating. We would usually spend our lunch hour together working on the daily crossword, so it seemed an appropriate way to pop the question. I hadn't heard of Crossword Compiler at the time and did it all the old-fashioned way, laboriously developing the fill, the clues, and the layout over a three week period. Even at the new and improved NY Times pay rate, my effort probably would have only worked out to about five cents an hour, but the eventual payoff was more than worth it. We've now been married for over a decade.

The first theme answer I developed for this puzzle is still my favorite: PHONE BILBO. ("Give a hobbit a ring?") There had been a lot of buzz in Hollywood about the filming of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, so I had Bilbo on the brain and set about looking for other -BO theme answers. The puzzle was accepted in June of 2012, six months before the premiere, so I wondered if its publication might coincide with the opening. Not the case, as it turned out. But thankfully, Mr. Jackson does love his trilogies, so it coincided with The Desolation of Smaug instead, making for a very memorable first publication for me. Thanks to Mr. Baggins for the idea, Mr. Shortz for the thumbs up, and Mrs. Katy Stillman for saying "Yes" thirteen years ago!

Debut! Nice phonetic sound change theme; I typically enjoy these more than the straightforward "add-a-letter" puzzles. Three of the themers I'm fully agreed with Will on, TWIST TAE-BO in particular gave me a chuckle. This type of theme can be awfully tricky because everyone's sense of humor is so different, so three out of four is pretty good.

STRUCK DUMBO was the only one which was a straight add-a-letter entry, so I didn't like it as much from that perspective. Plus, it seemed just kind of mean. Why not PLAYED DUMBO (Bilked a Disney elephant?) instead? I'm making myself laugh, thinking about Dumbo getting all red in the face as he selects the wrong shell every time with his trunk. This one? Are you sure? Nope! *trumpet in con man's face* Hilarious. Hilarious, I tell you!

*crickets chirping*

Ahem. Anyway, the "pinwheel" arrangement of themers often makes it difficult to incorporate good long fill, because your long fill can't be longer than the themers (otherwise solvers get mixed up as to what is theme and what is not). And especially for a debut, what a nice job Jeff does. Using eights and sevens to his advantage, PARAKEET with its fun clue, SPLIT UP, SCROLLS, INFRARED, and UNEARTH all add zing.

As for the shorter stuff, Jeff stuck with a 78-worder, the easiest of grids to fill. Not ambitious, but I'd take a clean debut than an overstretched one any day. And he obviously took care in his filling process, URGER and BAP being the only ones I questioned — pretty darn good. It's possible that some people will find BAP a super-common abbreviation, but yikes, it seems awfully fishy to me. And I bet URGER won't be heard outside the crossword world ... ever. Except for the inevitable emails I'll receive working that word in (sigh). Go ahead, you know you want to.

Anyway, very nice debut with just a few entries I didn't care for.

ADDED NOTE: Jon Markman, a trusty xwordinfo reader, suggested PUT A BOW ON IT as a revealer. Clever idea!