Novel Thinking

John Martz is a cartoonist, illustrator and book designer in Toronto, Ontario, who specializes in picture books and graphic novels for kids.

This is his first published crossword. He found that constructing it was akin to composing a page of comics. "The processes share a similar choreography of boxes and words and visual design."

In the past he's created an end-of-year crossword for co-workers. This puzzle, coincidentally, grew out of last year's.

It's fitting that this puzzle is running on Christmas Day. I make kid's books, both as an author/illustrator and a book designer for Tundra Books, a children's publisher in Toronto. For the past few years, I've created a holiday crossword for my coworkers, with themes playing on the titles of the books we publish. After creating last year's holiday puzzle, I thought its theme had the potential for a broader audience if I clued it with the titles of famous novels.

Big thanks to the editing team for their thoughtful edit, and especially for acquiescing when I pushed to keep my favorite bit of wordplay in the puzzle — the clue for T-BONE STEAK. Additional favorite clues that made the edit include those for MOOSE, SUBSIDIZED, BAD VIBES, I'M EASY, and the 1-Across/1-Down combo of BUGS and BONG.

Working in children's books, I'm also glad to have snuck in a few extra kidlit entries with HAROLD, ROO, and TOTO.

Some theme entries from the puzzle that inspired this one but that I couldn't make work here include COUNTERNARRATIVE for a book about an abacus and FROZEN ACCOUNT for a book about snow.

On that note, happy holidays!

Plays on "novel" have been done so many times in crosswords — both in titles and grid entries — that I was predisposed to ennui. HOME PAGES referring to "Little House on the Prairie" melted some ice, especially since reading The Long Winter to my kids was chillingly captivating. However, it still felt like the rest of the puzzle would be more of the same.

Good thing so many themers were so NOVEL! The sheer breath and range of terms to describe books captivated the writer in me. I probably could have come up with WRITING, VOLUME, STORY, BOOK, but there's such creativity in employing SENTENCES, PRINT, and TITLE. John is Roget in action, and then some.

I was surprised by how many puns I couldn't immediately get. Already knowing the gist of the concept, I worried that the puzzle would fall flatly into place. But "Crime and Punishment" as PRISON SENTENCES? "The Help" as a WORKING TITLE? Yes!

And the coup de grace: "If Beale Street Could Talk" works doubly as an ADDRESS BOOK — once because it refers to the Beale Street address, and once more when you think of a speech as an orator's address. That is some amazing double-talk.

If I hadn't read Will Shortz's note, I would have guessed that this 140-word grid was made by a veteran constructor. There's an average number of short, gloopy entries, but things like ASSN ESE PSAS are minor. Although this is John's debut, it's no surprise that he's worked several years at his craft.

Sometimes I put down a book within the first few pages, convinced that it's not for me. I'm so glad that I forced myself to press on today, because John imbued his work with as much subtext as The Hunt for Red October.