August Miller author page
3 puzzles by August Miller
with Constructor comments
| P | A | W | P | R | I | N | T | S | M | A | P | S | ||
| U | F | O | R | E | P | O | R | T | S | A | B | I | T | |
| M | A | K | E | S | A | D | E | A | L | C | O | C | A | |
| P | R | E | C | O | D | E | E | R | A | B | U | T | T | |
| I | A | M | S | W | E | E | T | I | E | |||||
| P | B | S | K | I | D | S | S | A | T | F | O | R | ||
| C | L | U | E | N | U | U | K | T | H | A | N | E | ||
| L | A | S | S | I | E | N | N | A | S | C | A | P | ||
| A | N | D | R | A | S | U | E | D | H | E | R | S | ||
| S | E | R | E | N | A | P | E | A | B | O | D | Y | ||
| S | T | I | C | K | U | M | T | E | L | |||||
| A | A | V | E | G | E | T | A | W | A | Y | C | A | R | |
| C | R | E | D | U | R | A | N | I | U | M | O | R | E | |
| T | I | R | E | R | I | C | K | S | T | E | V | E | S | |
| S | A | S | S | T | H | A | T | S | N | E | A | T |
| T | E | M | P | O | R | A | M | S | E | E | P | |||
| K | A | R | A | T | J | O | K | E | U | L | N | A | ||
| O | U | T | R | O | O | B | I | T | D | E | E | R | ||
| T | H | I | S | O | N | E | S | O | N | M | E | |||
| I | T | S | Y | T | E | C | O | K | A | Y | ||||
| T | O | O | B | A | D | F | O | R | Y | O | U | |||
| A | W | F | U | L | P | E | E | T | B | R | B | |||
| L | E | T | S | L | I | P | A | S | H | T | R | A | Y | |
| O | R | G | T | R | A | M | E | R | U | P | T | |||
| S | H | A | L | L | W | E | D | A | N | C | E | |||
| M | A | Y | A | B | O | A | S | O | D | S | ||||
| P | A | S | S | T | H | E | T | O | R | C | H | |||
| D | R | A | T | I | C | E | D | H | A | P | P | Y | ||
| A | C | N | E | G | R | A | Y | I | R | A | T | E | ||
| S | H | A | M | H | U | M | A | T | T | A | R |
I submitted this theme just a day or two before the Times ran an excellent Ross Trudeau puzzle with the revealer THIS TOO SHALL PASS — so I was initially quite doubtful it would be accepted. I hope enough time has passed since then that solvers are ready for a different take, and that this one feels fresh and sweet. The adage, I think, is at once timely and timeless.
If I were making this puzzle today, I would choose different fill for the upper middle region of the grid; the pileup of proper names in this version — in particular the TEC/JOSEF and PEET/REA crossings — seems far from ideal, especially for a Monday. I will also have to hope that my clue for PARTY BUS [Vehicle you can raise the roof on?] finds another home somewhere down the line.
| D | O | G | L | E | G | J | A | R | A | P | P | |||
| O | O | L | A | L | A | G | U | S | H | O | V | E | R | |
| O | Z | A | R | K | S | S | I | S | E | N | O | R | A | |
| M | E | M | E | E | A | C | H | S | U | C | K | Y | ||
| I | T | S | W | A | R | U | S | A | ||||||
| Y | E | R | A | L | O | E | S | I | M | O | ||||
| X | O | X | O | Y | E | W | S | T | O | A | D | |||
| L | O | U | A | N | N | C | R | O | A | K | S | |||
| O | U | I | S | O | P | A | L | O | R | S | O | |||
| N | T | H | G | N | O | M | E | O | P | T | ||||
| E | M | U | L | E | G | U | M | E | ||||||
| L | O | M | A | N | K | N | O | B | I | H | O | P | ||
| T | H | A | T | S | S | A | D | E | Q | U | A | T | E | |
| D | O | T | T | H | E | I | S | R | U | B | S | O | N | |
| S | H | H | Y | E | S | S | E | E | P | E | D |
Hello, puzzle people. I hope you've tolerated (maybe even enjoyed??) my first puzzle in the NYT. I live and work on a dairy farm in Western MA, and I also write publishable crosswords, apparently.
There's a lot I appreciate about this puzzle — the theme density, all of the animals that found their way into the grid, the shout-out — albeit indirect — to the USWNT. At the same time, my preferences and priorities as a constructor have evolved a lot since I wrote it, and I'd do some things differently if I were making it today. For starters, I would avoid the entry ODS (it could have been replaced here with STY, something I realized a bit too late). I'd also consider sacrificing a theme answer in exchange for a grid with fewer black squares and/or a substitute for POLKA DOTS that better conceals the string DOT.
Three things, in particular, made this grid a tough one to put together:
- at least one theme answer had to cross the revealer DOT THE I'S (at the I);
- themers with DOTs couldn't contain any I's; and
- except for the six DOTted squares, the rest of the grid had to be free of I's as well.
With all of those constraints, I'm happy things worked out as cleanly as they did.
I'll leave y'all with a few clues of mine that didn't make it into the final version:
- GLAM [Glittery kind of rock]
- ROOM [Film for which Brie Larson won an Oscar in 2016]
- LEGO [Cause of foot pain for many parents]
Happy solving :)