Bruce Haight page, Constructor comments

Total	Debut	Latest	Collabs
63	1/3/2013	12/6/2023	7

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
3	18	18	12	6	6	0

Circle	Scrab	Debut	Fresh
4	1.60	297	44%

Wed 12/6/2023
M	A	S	S		S	C	A	M		C	H	O	I	R
E	R	M	A		C	O	C	A		R	A	N	B	Y
H	E	A	V	Y	H	A	N	D		E	M	C	E	E
		R	E	V	E	R	E	D		W	H	E	T	S
K	I	T		E	M	S		A	S	N	O
A	N	Y		S	E	E		S	P	E	C	T	R	A
R	A	P						H	I	C	K	H	O	P
A	K	A		B	A	M		E	L	K		A	S	S
C	N	N		E	V	O		S	T	S		T	E	C
H	O	T	H	E	A	D						S	O	O
I	T	S	A	T	I	E		B	O	Y		S	I	R
			T	A	L	L		E	R	E		O	L	E
F	I	S	H	Y		S	T	E	W	A	R	T
O	N	E	A	L		H	I	G	H	H	O	R	S	E
P	O	L	I	O		I	D	E	A		C	U	T	S
S	T	A	R	R		P	E	E	T		K	E	E	P

Thu 12/15/2022
E	E	L	I	N	G		O	S	L	O		I	D	E	D
O	R	O	M	E	O		P	H	E	W		N	I	N	A
N	E	W	P	O	T	A	T	O	E	S		L	E	T	T
S	A	N	S		C	L	I	O			M	E	D	I	A
A	D	O		C	H	I	C	K	E	N	S	T	O	C	K
G	E	T	B	E	A	T			W	I	N		W	E	E
O	R	E	A	D			D	I	E	T		A	N	D	Y
			H	E	A	V	Y	C	R	E	A	M
B	E	S	S		L	I	E	U			B	I	B	L	E
U	N	A		P	O	E			D	E	E	D	B	O	X
S	A	U	T	E	E	D	L	E	E	K	S		Q	V	C
R	C	C	A	R			U	T	N	E		C	R	E	E
I	T	I	S		V	I	C	H	Y	S	S	O	I	S	E
D	E	N	T		A	C	R	E		B	U	L	B	E	D
E	D	G	Y		L	E	E	R		Y	E	A	S	T	S

I remember thinking that a recipe puzzle would be something unusual, and wanting to find a fairly common dish that was composed almost entirely of four ingredients. I thought it would run on a Tuesday or Wednesday, but apparently the editors felt it would play harder than that. My biggest problem with the execution was remembering how to spell vichyssoise!

When Joel Fagliano sent me the acceptance letter on this one he (more or less) promised to try vichyssoise for the first time on the day this puzzle came out — hopefully someone on the inside will hold him to that!

At one point five years ago I was submitting about 100 puzzles a year to the NYT and had 20 puzzles in the NYT queue — I only submit a few puzzles a year now, and after this one is published I'm pretty sure I will have zero in the queue. Crossword puzzles have added immensely to my life over the past ten years, and I am so thankful to all the people who helped me along the way, especially Peter A. Collins and Will Shortz.

Tue 11/1/2022
M	A	D	A	M			A	L	T	O		F	D	A
A	D	E	L	E		S	C	A	R	E		A	I	R
N	E	V	E	R	B	E	T	T	E	R		C	D	S
O	L	E		L	I	M	I	T			F	E	T	E
R	I	L	E		R	I	V	E	R	B	A	S	I	N
S	N	O	R	E	D				A	L	T	I	M	A
	E	P	I	C		V	O	L	G	A		T	E	L
			C	O	V	E	R	B	A	N	D
I	M	S		L	U	T	E	S		C	I	T	E
H	O	T	P	A	D				I	H	E	A	R	D
O	V	E	R	B	U	D	G	E	T		D	R	N	O
P	I	P	E			E	E	R	I	E		H	U	G
E	E	O		L	I	N	K	I	N	G	V	E	R	B
S	A	N		T	R	I	K	E		G	E	E	S	E
O	D	E		D	E	M	O			O	G	L	E	D

When I came across the term "linking verb," I rather doubted that those letters would fit very well between words, and throwing a bunch of V's into a puzzle tends to make the fill difficult. However, with a minor revision, this one made the cut!

I like the editors' clue "High dudgeon" for IRE — I've never heard of the word dudgeon but IRE is so common you need to stretch a bit to find something unusual. That clue has (surprisingly) been used 18 times before, but not since 2007.

Tue 8/9/2022
S	E	W			T	I	N	C	T			A	D	S
U	S	A		E	N	D	U	R	E	S		D	I	P
M	A	R		G	O	L	I	A	T	H		Z	O	O
O	U	T	V	O	T	E		T	R	A	B	E	R	T
			A	M	E	R	I	C	A	N	O
J	O	L	L	A		I	S	H		T	O	I	L	S
O	N	E	L	S		C	S	I		Y	K	N	O	W
R	I	D	E	S		H	O	T		T	O	R	T	E
G	O	T	Y	A						O	F	U	S	E
E	N	V	O	G	U	E		L	O	W	S	N	A	P
			F	E	S	S		A	N	N	A
J	O	N	E	S	E	S		Y	E	S	M	A	A	M
U	R	A	L		D	A	V	I	D		U	C	L	A
M	E	T	A		T	Y	I	N	G		E	M	I	T
P	O	S	H		O	S	A	G	E		L	E	T	S

Two months ago, I had a puzzle with biblical verb wordplay (PUBLIC TOILETH et al), now another biblical theme!

This puzzle was unusual in that the editorial team did not request any changes to the original grid submission. They said they liked the slingshot grid art and the unique grid configuration. It's wide open for a Tuesday, at 71 words, but mostly pretty accessible, I think.

I clued EN VOGUE as the "Hold On" rock group, but the editors felt they were too obscure. That entry Googles very well, probably because it is a common phrase in France.

USED TO and OF USE are dupes, but they do have pretty disparate meanings.

I like taking my grandkids to the beaches of La JOLLA!

Mon 7/4/2022
Y	S	L		F	R	E	A	K			S	W	A	M
A	T	E		B	A	N	T	A	M		M	E	R	E
P	A	S	S	I	N	G	T	H	E	T	O	R	C	H
A	R	L	O				A	L	O	E	G	E	L
T	R	I	P	L	E	C	R	O	W	N		H	I	C
	Y	E	S	I	D	O			S	T	O	O	G	E
				L	E	S	S				I	M	H	O
	A	S	P	I	R	I	N	T	A	B	L	E	T
B	T	U	S				L	E	T	O
O	B	R	I	E	N			R	O	Y	A	L	S
T	O	E		T	O	W	N	A	N	D	G	O	W	N
	T	H	A	T	T	O	O				E	R	A	S
S	T	A	T	U	E	O	F	L	I	B	E	R	T	Y
K	O	N	A		S	L	E	E	V	E		I	A	N
I	M	D	B			F	E	T	E	D		E	T	C

My first try at this puzzle had SUPPLY CHAIN as a theme entry — Lady Liberty is indeed striding over a broken chain, but it is half hidden by her clothing and difficult to see from the ground. The editors nixed that one. I would have rather used robe than gown, but we couldn't come up with any decent wordplay for robe.

I think 72 words with some difficult entries like ARC LIGHT and AT BOTTOM will be pretty challenging for a Monday, but we'll see what solvers say. I like the powder puff clue the team came up with for LILI because its proximity to EDER makes that a challenging area.

Wed 6/8/2022
A	T	B	A	T			V	A	C	A	Y		M	E	L
M	A	O	R	I	S		A	M	O	R	E		O	L	E
P	I	C	K	E	T	H	L	I	N	E	S		V	I	A
M	L	K		D	U	A	L					B	I	O	S
			P	U	B	L	I	C	T	O	I	L	E	T	H
E	C	L	I	P	S	E		H	E	A	T	E	R
T	H	I	N				A	R	T	S	C	H	O	O	L
C	A	T		F	A	D	D	I	E	T	H		L	I	E
H	O	T	E	L	B	A	R	S				G	E	N	X
		E	L	O	I	S	E		P	A	R	A	S	K	I
M	A	R	K	E	T	H	P	L	A	C	E	S
E	B	B	S					O	A	T	S		L	I	P
A	B	U		M	O	D	E	L	R	O	C	K	E	T	H
L	O	G		P	R	O	W	L		R	U	I	N	E	D
S	T	S		H	E	X	E	S			E	X	A	M	S

My first submission had the theme entries in a different order — they liked the fill and all five theme entries but not the fact that the -eth endings were at the ends on the first three and in the middle on the last two. They felt solvers would see a pattern on the first three and quickly fill in -eth on the last two and be flummoxed!

For my next try, I removed four blocks and switched entries, but they didn't like the fill as well. So I put the blocks back in and tweaked the fill and... they acceptethed it!

Obviously, PUBLIC TOILETH is the entry that got me jazzed about doing this theme in the first place.

Tue 4/5/2022
L	A	C	K	S		A	P	E	X		B	E	E	T
A	L	L	E	Y		F	L	O	E		L	A	D	E
B	L	O	W	N	G	L	A	S	S		A	R	M	S
A	T	M		C	O	A	T			I	N	S	E	T
M	O	P	S		A	C	E	P	I	T	C	H	E	R
B	L	E	E	P	S			L	O	S		O	S	U
A	D	D	T	O		A	M	A	N	A		T	E	N
			S	P	A	C	E	C	A	S	E
Z	A	G		T	I	T	H	E		I	C	E	E	S
I	R	E		A	D	O			S	N	O	C	A	P
P	O	R	K	B	A	R	R	E	L		N	O	S	H
F	U	M	E	S			O	N	U	S		T	I	E
I	S	A	Y		H	O	L	D	M	Y	B	E	E	R
L	E	N	O		I	D	E	A		M	O	U	S	E
E	D	E	N		P	E	S	T		S	O	R	T	S

I remember hearing the phrase "Hold my beer" in a sitcom a couple years ago and immediately finding a pencil and paper to see if I could come up with interesting theme entries.

My first version of this puzzle had PILL BOTTLE as one of the entries, and the editors felt that it was too similar to a beer bottle. My clue for SPACE CASE was "Resident of La la land," but they went with something a bit more direct for a Tuesday.

Hope a few people are inspired to drink a beer during or after this solve!

Mon 8/23/2021
M	A	G	M	A		B	A	G	G	Y		S	E	W	S
O	T	O	E	S		O	P	I	N	E		E	V	A	N
T	W	O	T	H	U	M	B	S	U	P		V	E	R	A
T	A	D	A		F	B	I				S	E	R	I	F
O	R	G		N	O	S	O	U	P	F	O	R	Y	O	U
		U	S	E	S			P	A	R	S	E
D	R	E	A	M		M	I	T	R	E			F	A	M
J	U	S	T	O	N	E	M	O	R	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	T	S			I	R	O	N	Y		E	A	R	N	S
			L	O	N	G	U			A	C	H	E
H	O	W	S	W	E	E	T	I	T	I	S		P	S	T
A	N	O	D	E				C	A	D		I	O	T	A
N	E	W	T		F	I	N	A	L	A	N	S	W	E	R
G	A	Z	A		C	R	O	N	E		A	L	E	R	T
S	L	A	B		C	E	N	T	S		T	E	R	N	S

My first try at this theme had HOW YOU DO'IN ("Friends"), I AM THE DANGER ("Breaking Bad"), WINTER IS COMING ("Game of Thrones"), FRIENDS DON'T LIE ("Stranger Things"), NO SOUP FOR YOU ("Seinfeld"), and SURVEY SAYS ("Family Feud"). The editors felt most of these were not well enough known to be "catchphrases," and the fill with six themers was strained, at least for the Monday puzzle they wanted this to be.

The revision was more like a total remake, and the new theme set skews quite a bit less current than the initial group. However, I think people will recognize these phrases even if they didn't see all the shows. I really wanted FINAL ANSWER to be the last theme entry, and it worked out.

I really like the seldom-seen BAGGY and PARRY as short answers, and I think entries like BOMBS and HANGS are perfectly fine with the right clues.

Tue 7/13/2021
M	O	R	P	H		R	E	M	I	T		S	I	B	S
A	W	A	R	E		E	L	I	S	E		E	N	Y	A
C	O	V	E	R	A	L	L	T	H	E	B	A	S	E	S
E	W	E		E	L	I	A			P	O	S	E	A	S
			W	I	L	E		S	T	E	M		C	R	Y
R	I	G	H	T	O	F	F	T	H	E	B	A	T
A	D	R	O	I	T		A	R	E	S		T	B	A	R
C	L	A	Y	S		S	C	A	M		B	R	I	B	E
K	E	M	O		N	A	I	F		S	E	A	T	E	D
		O	U	T	O	F	L	E	F	T	F	I	E	L	D
S	U	P		I	S	E	E		L	O	A	N
A	S	H	O	R	E			C	O	O	L		W	A	H
W	H	O	L	E	N	E	W	B	A	L	L	G	A	M	E
T	E	N	D		S	W	E	E	T		E	N	T	E	R
O	R	E	S		E	W	E	R	S		N	U	T	S	O

My first attempt at this puzzle three years ago had seven theme entries, including HIT OR MISS, RAIN CHECK, and CLOSER. The editing team liked the idea but felt that some of the phrases were not specific enough to baseball. We finally whittled it down to four themers, with the idea that we might clue WHOLE NEW BALL GAME as something like "Different story, like the meaning of the starred entries vs. their meaning in America's pastime". I'm not exactly sure why that idea got nixed, but the clue is certainly a bit clunky and not completely accurate.

The hardest clue for me in this one was "Who, you??". It's easy to imagine a scene where this might be said [Bruce: "I think you're looking at the perfect constructor for this puzzle idea" ... Will, Joel, and Sam incredulously: "Who, you???"] but hard to clue it without using "who" or "you".

I like the way they slated this puzzle for the day of the MLB All-Star game. These games tend to be pitching duels, but at the Coors Field altitude there should be lots of action!

Thu 5/7/2020
A	C	H		F	L	A	G		E	P	H	E	D	R	A
T	R	U	E	L	O	V	E		T	O	E	L	O	O	P
B	U	T	M	A	T	E	T	H	E	R	E	S	W	A	R
A	S	T	I	N			N	O	R		P	I	N	S
T	O	O	T			C	A	E	N			E	T	T	U
S	E	N	T		B	A	S	S	E	S			U	P	S
			I	C	A	N	T			C	E	D	R	I	C
	M	E	N	S	D	A	Y	W	A	R	N	I	N	G
H	U	N	G	U	P			E	R	O	D	E
U	S	S			R	A	I	L	E	D		T	T	O	P
E	T	N	A			V	O	L	S			P	I	N	E
	H	A	L	S		O	N	O			A	L	P	H	A
C	A	R	E	T	O	W	A	K	E	A	M	A	J	O	R
O	V	E	R	U	S	E		A	L	L	I	N	A	L	L
B	E	S	T	B	U	D		Y	I	P	E		R	D	S

BRUCE: This puzzle started out as a Sunday attempt named "Flips," with entries like STATE OF MY OWING, MERE DEAD WHEAT (crop circles), and HAVE ME WET BEFORE? (imagine your own clue here). Will liked the two 16-letter ones that appear today but was not keen on the rest. I spent eight or ten hours searching for one more, and with Pete's help we finally came up with one.

It didn't dawn on us until after the acceptance that Pete went to the University of Michigan, and I went to the University of Wisconsin — what a wild coincidence! I decided early on it would be nice to put M's and W's in the grid — we asked Will if he could make two of them red and white and the other two maize and blue, but he did not promise anything. We decided putting FLIPS or SPOONER in the grid was not worth the price of admission.

I always enjoy working with Pete — he and I were childhood friends growing up in the Midwest, and he mentored me when I first started constructing puzzles. As you can see, he is still mentoring me now — thanks Pete!

PETE: Bruce and I go way back. Before he started constructing, he'd occasionally send me theme ideas. Finally, I encouraged Bruce to try his hand at building puzzles himself, and he's never looked back. He's a master of using black-square art as part of his gridwork — as in today's floating Ms and Ws. Our first collaboration (another Bruce brainchild) used black squares to depict a kite and two lightning bolts.

Mon 2/10/2020
A	D	F	E	E		T	H	U	G		B	C	U	P
I	C	E	A	X		V	I	N	E		I	O	N	A
W	O	R	T	H	A	S	H	O	T		L	U	G	S
A	N	N		A	R	E	A			M	O	N	E	T
			A	L	I	T	T	L	E	E	X	T	R	A
J	A	B	B	E	D			U	S	A	I	N
A	C	R	E			S	A	R	A	N		O	U	T
C	H	I		C	R	E	W	C	U	T		S	H	O
K	E	G		H	A	R	S	H			P	E	O	N
		H	E	A	R	T			M	A	R	S	H	Y
S	E	T	T	L	E	A	S	C	O	R	E
I	T	S	O	K			H	A	I	R		F	E	Z
G	A	I	N		D	O	U	B	L	E	T	A	K	E
M	I	D	I		A	N	T	I		S	K	I	E	R
A	L	E	C		B	E	S	T		T	O	R	S	O

This puzzle was accepted just over a year ago with no revisions. I would say the most impressive thing about it is the timing, which I had nothing to do with — it comes out online at 6 pm EST Sunday, Feb. 9, and the Oscars show starts two hours later at 8 pm EST. Perfect! It would have been nice if JOKER or JOJO had randomly appeared in the grid, or if I could have worked a Q in there smoothly for the pangram. Personally, my favorite movie of the year was Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — how about you?

Wed 12/25/2019
P	S	S	T		B	A	S	K			P	I	N	A
A	C	A	I		I	S	L	A	M		O	N	E	S
L	A	N	D	H	O	H	O	H	O		O	T	I	S
O	L	D	I	E			T	L	C		L	O	L	A
	P	L	E	A	S	E	H	O	H	O	H	O	L	D
			S	L	A	P			A	T	A	D
D	E	I			S	C	A	R		O	L	E	I	C
I	T	S	H	O	H	O	H	O	P	E	L	E	S	S
S	C	O	O	T		T	H	O	R			P	H	I
		T	T	O	P			M	I	S	O
H	O	H	O	H	O	L	Y	S	M	O	K	E	S
A	V	E	R		P	E	A			S	T	R	E	P
T	U	R	N		I	M	H	O	H	O	H	O	M	E
E	L	M	O		N	O	O	S	E		E	D	I	T
R	E	S	T			N	O	U	N		N	E	S	S

This puzzle was accepted at almost exactly the same time (a year ago) as my "O Tannenbaum" puzzle that ran on 12/25/18. My initial submission here had IDAHO HO HO POTATO as the middle entry. Ha! What was I thinking? Four spoken phrases and one spud?

I clued for Monday/Tuesday so a lot of mine had to be toughened. It's always fun to try to see how many other entries can be clued to the holiday theme, and the editing team helped a lot with that. The only clue of mine that I desperately wanted the editors to keep was my clue for ASH ("All the dirt on Santa?"), and they did. I was a little worried my clue for HO HO HOLY SMOKES ("What Santa said when a kid requested cigarettes for Christmas") was over the line, and it was.

Happy Holidays!

Mon 7/29/2019
B	I	G	I	F		S	K	I	N		W	E	S	T
A	R	E	S	O		T	A	C	O		E	X	P	O
B	A	L	L	P	L	A	Y	E	R		R	E	I	N
A	N	T	E		E	R	A			T	E	R	R	E
				P	A	R	K	V	I	S	I	T	O	R
G	E	T	B	U	S	Y		E	B	A	N
A	T	A	L	L			H	E	E		L	E	A	K
T	R	I	A	L	C	O	U	R	T	J	U	D	G	E
E	E	L	S		A	S	H			I	C	A	R	E
			T	O	N	S		M	I	L	K	M	A	N
J	A	Z	Z	P	I	A	N	I	S	T
A	D	I	O	S			U	S	E		B	A	A	S
P	E	N	N		O	N	T	H	E	B	E	N	C	H
A	L	E	E		R	O	S	A		B	A	N	T	U
N	E	S	S		S	T	O	P		Q	U	E	S	T

This puzzle was accepted about a year ago. Will and the team said they liked the theme and theme entries pretty well, but what sold them was the fill. They particularly liked BIG IF, BLAST ZONES, and WE'RE IN LUCK. It's hard to come up with sparkly fill that is uniformly Monday-friendly, but I think this one does a decent job of that.

I don't remember if the clue for SHUT is mine, but I like its edginess!

Tue 7/9/2019
A	S	Y	E	T		B	E	B	O	P		E	S	T
S	E	E	M	E		O	T	O	E	S		N	T	H
P	A	S	T	H	I	S	T	O	R	Y		D	E	I
E	C	O		E	N	S	U	E			I	W	I	N
C	O	R	D	E	D			R	A	T	F	I	N	K
T	O	N	I		Y	I	N		M	A	S	S	E	S
S	K	O	S	H		N	O	Y	E	S		E	M	O
			C	A	S	H	M	O	N	E	Y
B	O	T		V	E	D	A	Y		S	E	G	A	R
I	N	A	F	O	G		D	O	G		A	R	I	E
T	A	X	I	C	A	B			E	S	H	A	R	P
E	L	S	E			Y	U	B	A	N		B	T	U
S	I	C		B	U	N	N	Y	R	A	B	B	I	T
A	N	A		I	S	O	U	T		F	R	A	M	E
T	E	M		N	E	W	M	E		U	R	G	E	D

I remember considering a puzzle about redundant phrases a couple years ago and being disappointed when it turned out the theme had been done before. However, that puzzle was on a Saturday almost twenty years ago, so I decided to give it a shot with (mostly) different phrases. This theme would certainly not be considered for a Saturday today, and it almost seems appropriate that a puzzle about redundant, repetitive, superfluous phrases is not entirely fresh!

I enjoy learning something about the history of phrases like this, so I looked them up on Google Ngram Viewer. PAST HISTORY seems to be the oldest of the group, coming in around the mid-1800's, and TAXI CAB became popular around 1920. BUNNY RABBIT took off in 1940 near the 7/27/40 debut of Bugs Bunny, and CASH MONEY came into common usage around 1945. RAT FINK took off in 1965 after Ed "Big Daddy" Roth created a "hot rod" character with that name as an anti-hero vs. Mickey Mouse.

Hope solvers enjoy the puzzle!

Fri 6/28/2019
L	E	F	T	J	A	B		A	L	L	O	W	M	E
I	S	U	R	E	D	O		P	E	E	P	E	R	S
S	P	R	E	A	D	O	N	E	S	W	I	N	G	S
S	A	R	A	N		K	I	X			E	T	R	E
O	N	I	T		D	I	N	A	R			P	E	N
M	O	E		A	R	E	A	M	A	P		R	E	C
E	L	R	O	N	D			S	N	O	C	O	N	E
			P	E	R	M			L	E	O
M	E	N	S	W	E	A	R		A	T	T	I	C	A
A	M	A			W	R	I	S	T	S		S	A	N
R	A	M	P			I	C	E	E		L	I	M	O
S	N	E	A	D		E	O	N		M	I	N	E	D
B	A	T	S	I	N	T	H	E	B	E	L	F	R	Y
A	T	A	T	R	O	T		C	A	R	L	O	A	N
R	E	G	A	T	T	A		A	D	V	E	R	S	E

BRUCE: I submitted a BATS puzzle to Will back in about 2015. He liked the grid art, but I couldn't come up with two solid 15 letter theme entries. I threw about a dozen of them at him, including CHOKE UP ON THE BAT — that's how desperate I was. I eventually sent the idea to David, since he did an amazing job of coming up with a second theme entry for our HATS puzzle of 11/24/17. David suggested SPREAD ONE'S WINGS, and the project took off from there. It would have been nice to run it on Halloween, but the next Friday Halloween is 2025.

It's always a pleasure working with David - he recently graduated from Stanford (congrats David!) and part of their commencement ceremony is a "Wacky Walk" into the stadium in costume. Here is David making the CrossWorld proud!

DAVID: Always fun to co-construct with Bruce! Squeezing in enough zippy nonthematic fill for a Friday was a challenge, given the constraints of the grid art and theme entries, but fortunately, it didn't drive us batty. I'm especially fond of Bruce's LEFT JAB/I SURE DO stack in the northwest corner.

My post-graduation plan is to continue editing the Universal Crossword, which I'll be doing in-house at Andrews McMeel Universal as their Puzzles and Games Editor starting in September. "The kid" of crosswords is now officially grown up!

Mon 5/27/2019
J	I	M		H	O	B	O	S		S	T	A	B
A	R	E		B	E	A	U	T		A	U	D	I
C	O	R	P	O	R	A	T	E	W	O	R	L	D
K	N	E	E				O	N	O		B	E	E
			W	O	R	D	F	O	R	W	O	R	D
L	E	T	S	D	I	E			N	A	B
E	C	O		O	O	M	P	H		L	O	F	T
T	O	R	O	N	T	O	R	A	P	T	O	R	S
O	N	C	D		S	N	O	R	E		S	E	A
		H	O	G			S	P	A	T	T	E	R
H	O	R	R	O	R	S	T	O	R	Y
E	V	E		B	O	A				P	S	S	T
M	U	L	T	I	P	L	E	C	H	O	I	C	E
A	L	A	S		E	E	R	I	E		T	A	R
N	E	Y	O		S	M	E	A	R		H	M	M

Ironically, in a puzzle about lots of choices, theme entry lengths of 14,14,14,11,11 left me scrambling for options to make this work. I never like dropping down to a 14x15 grid because it makes for fewer words and more short words, but that seemed to be my best option here. I tried adding REPORTS FOR WORK and going to 14x16 with six theme entries, but that was too clogged.

My original puzzle was accepted with SERBO-CROAT vertically in the upper right, but after acceptance, I played around with the three letters I had to cross and eventually came up with TURBO-BOOST, which was not in any word lists. Way more pop! I emailed the idea to Will on a Sunday evening, and he wrote back an hour later:

Thanks for the turbo-boosted version of your MULTIPLE CHOICE puzzle. I like it!

As long as you're revising the upper right, I'd suggest you also revise the upper left:

J I M

A R E

C O R P

K N E E

This avoids the weird and iffy BACO, the obscurish MARM, and the pileup of exclamations UH-OH, AHA, and OH ME. Also, to avoid the obscure GAR in the lower-right corner, I'd suggest making this TAR.

So this puzzle was partly constructed by Will Shortz! Did he use any of that new-fangled construction software? I'm betting not.....

This puzzle might be a bit crunchy for Monday solvers, both in terms of theme and vocab, but to shade or circle the ORs would totally kill the aha moment for more experienced solvers. If you had to check the reviews to find out the theme, I suspect you're not alone.

The timing of this puzzle is nice, because the Toronto Raptors are finishing their best season ever, and last week beat the 76ers (Joel Fagliano's favorite team) on a buzzer-beater in game seven of their playoff series. The final dramatic shot bounced FOUR times on the rim before dropping through. Ouch — sorry Joel.....

ADDED NOTE: The TORONTO RAPTORS just made their first NBA finals! Good timing.

Mon 4/22/2019
A	V	E	R	T		B	I	L	L		I	L	K	S
P	I	X	A	R		I	S	E	E		N	E	O	N
P	O	P	S	I	N	G	L	E	S		S	A	R	A
S	L	O	P		A	A	A			N	E	V	E	R
				G	I	M	M	E	A	B	R	E	A	K
B	A	N	A	L	L	Y		L	S	A	T
A	L	I	C	E			A	M	I		C	H	U	G
C	O	N	T	E	M	P	T	O	F	C	O	U	R	T
K	E	E	N		O	I	L			L	I	N	G	O
			A	M	O	S		S	P	O	N	G	E	S
W	H	A	T	A	R	A	C	K	E	T
H	A	M	U	P			A	I	D		O	H	M	Y
I	B	A	R		F	A	L	L	I	N	L	O	V	E
N	I	N	A		I	T	L	L		A	D	O	P	T
E	T	A	L		B	E	S	S		P	E	P	S	I

My initial submission had ROOM SERVICE as a theme entry, clued as "Paris Hilton tennis shot maybe?" I must say I really liked the misdirection where Paris Hilton could refer to a person or a hotel room. The editors, unfortunately, did not share my enthusiasm for this entry - they thought it was too far-fetched.

I think the original plan was to release this around the time of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, but I see that the WTA Stuttgart and the ATP Barcelona have both just started, so that's certainly good enough for me!

A big thanks to the editors for fine tuning the clues and keeping most of my attempts at humor. I imagine some might find my humorous clue for BIGAMY a bit edgy, but I think most would be OK with it. Hope solvers enjoy the puzzle!

Wed 1/16/2019
L	A	S	H			A	D	D	S		E	T	C	H
A	L	I	A	S		R	O	U	E		S	O	H	O
B	U	T	T	W	E	I	G	H	T		T	O	A	T
T	M	I		A	D	A	M			B	E	L	T	S
E	N	D	I	N	G		A	I	S	L	E	B	E	E
C	A	L	M	S	E	A		S	P	A		A	A	A
H	E	E	D			C	P	L	U	S		R	U	T
			B	U	Y	C	H	A	N	T	S
T	H	E		S	E	E	I	N			H	O	S	T
R	O	Y		E	T	S		D	O	L	U	N	C	H
E	W	E	G	U	I	S	E		P	A	N	E	R	A
S	T	R	A	P			L	I	A	M		Y	E	T
T	R	O	Y		C	Z	E	C	H	P	L	E	A	S
L	U	L	L		S	I	C	K		S	O	A	M	I
E	E	L	Y		I	T	T	Y			T	R	O	T

My clearest memory from this puzzle construction is sitting in a hotel on a rainy day in Peru (March 2017) trying to think of theme entries. I had three, but the last two were just not coming. Compounding the problem was the fact that I was in Cusco, at over 11,000 feet elevation, and the reduced oxygen was crippling my 63-year-old brain. My Sudoku times were running 50% over normal.

I emailed pun zen master Erik Agard (gluttonforpun.blogspot.com) and begged him to come up with two more theme entries and co-construct it. He wrote back an hour later "Sorry, dude, my brain does not work that way, but good luck!" It took me several more hours (at sea level) to come up with those last two.

A big thanks to Will and his team for smoothing out the clues, and for leaving all my theme clues untouched when they HAD to have been tempted to change one or two of them. If I were asked to pick one puzzle that speaks to me as a constructor and puts out a vibe that I would like to be remembered for, this would probably be the one. Puns are not for everyone, but would I mind being labeled as an insufferable punster? Noh whey!

Hope solvers enjoy it.

Tue 12/25/2018
D	A	I	S		I	S	P	O	S	E		T	M	C
E	D	N	A		B	E	A	R	O	N		Y	A	Y
J	U	D	Y	G	A	R	L	A	N	D		P	V	C
A	L	A		U	R	B	A	N			P	E	E	L
	T	H	I	N		S	U	G	A	R	C	A	N	E
A	H	O	K					E	R	O	S
R	O	U	E	S		S	A	M	M	Y		A	W	E
L	O	S	A	N	G	E	L	E	S	A	N	G	E	L
O	D	E		O	A	T	E	N		L	O	A	N	S
			E	R	M	A					E	R	T	E
M	O	V	I	E	S	T	A	R		A	L	P	S
S	H	I	N			E	N	E	M	Y		L	O	X
N	Y	G		O	T	A	N	N	E	N	B	A	U	M
B	O	O		Y	E	S	I	A	M		A	T	T	A
C	U	R		S	T	E	E	L	E		H	E	H	S

I submitted this puzzle just a couple of months ago, with CALIFORNIA ANGEL as the middle entry. I grew up calling them the California Angels, but I didn't get the memo that they changed the team name in 1997 and again in 2005! Will wrote to me two weeks before Christmas and said they liked the puzzle for Christmas Day but asked, basically, "is a California Angel a thing?"

He wanted me to redo it with LOS ANGELES ANGEL as the middle entry — pretty lucky it has the same number of letters, but it would have been even nicer if it was 16 letters because of the eleven-letter reveal and the need to minimize three letter words. I resisted the temptation to ask "How about a BUD LIGHT?" (as a middle entry) — who puts just one light on their Tannenbaum?

ORANGEMEN creates an interesting cluing dilemma. Do you go with the Syracuse athletes, who changed their name a few years back also? Add in the fact that any entry with "man" or "men" is going to be scrutinized for political correctness. The more you think about it, the more "Supporters of England's King William III" starts to look reasonable, even for a Tuesday. I wish I could say I cleverly planned out the southeast to have several entries that could be clued on theme, but it was all just serendipity.

Happy holidays!

POW Wed 10/31/2018
S	H	A	G		A	G	A	S	P		T	I	F	F
C	U	J	O		R	E	V	U	E		R	A	I	L
O	L	A	F		E	L	E	N	A		O	G	L	E
T	A	X	L	A	W	S		K	G	B	M	O	L	E
			A	L	E				R	A	P
N	E	S	T	E	G	G		V	A	L	E	T	E	D
E	R	E		R	O	O		I	V	S		E	L	I
A	D	A		T	O	M		D	E	A		A	F	T
R	O	S	E		D	O	W	E	L		O	B	I	T
S	C	E	N	E		R	H	O		B	R	I	N	Y
		R	O	T	A	R	Y	C	L	U	B	S
P	C	P		A	R	A	M	A	I	C		C	A	R
A	M	E	X		T	H	E	M	E		B	U	R	Y
P	O	N	Y								R	I	G	A
A	N	T	Z		C	R	Y	P	T		A	T	O	N

I remember sending a punny Halloween puzzle to the NYT about a year ago. They replied that the puzzle was OK, but they already had a Halloween puzzle in mind for 2018 - sorry, Charlie. That was disappointing but then, a couple of months later, they wrote to say this CRYPT puzzle was accepted for Halloween, and I had never even thought of that possibility. You just never know, and the pun puzzle is running today in the LA Times.

I see the editors punked my crossword FILL again, at 12-Down, calling it "Truckload at a garbage dump". On 6/7/18 they rated my FILL "Dirt in a dump truck, perhaps", so really not much improvement....

I remember with this crypt puzzle I was having a lot of trouble finding room for five theme entries and still being able to fill it cleanly. I eventually added a couple of blocks above WHY ME, and it worked out. It wasn't till I was cluing it that I noticed that I had accidentally made a cross directly above the crypt, which brought back memories of touring crypts below cathedrals in Europe a few times. For Halloween, I guess it's more like a tombstone marker over a crypt in the graveyard — at midnight, with spider webs. It's useful to have a good word list and practice your construction a lot, but sometimes luck plays a huge role in puzzle production.

My son Ryan was laid to rest in 2001, but he is remembered in a small way today, at 59-Down. More importantly, the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (introduced by Dianne Feinstein and signed by George Bush) continues to save lives.

POW Fri 10/12/2018
N	E	S	S		A	D	A	G	E		P	R	A	T
O	C	T	A		T	U	P	A	C		F	I	S	H
W	H	A	T	S	T	H	E	B	I	G	I	D	E	A
L	O	T	I	O	N				G	A	Z	E	A	T
E	B	E	R	T		M	C	S		M	E	S	S	I
T	O	M	E		P	E	O	N	S		R	H	Y	S
M	O	O		B	A	G	N	O	L	D		O	A	T
E	M	T		I	R	A	Q	W	A	R		T	S	O
S	E	T		D	E	D	U	C	T	S		G	A	S
E	R	O	S		D	E	E	R	E		J	U	B	A
E	S	S	E	X		T	S	A		F	A	N	C	Y
			L	I	G	H	T	B	U	L	B
L	A	T	I	N	O				R	O	B	U	S	T
A	V	E	N	G	E				N	A	E	N	A	E
B	A	D	A	S	S				S	T	R	O	D	E

ERIK: Can't spell "Bruce Haight" without "bright"! As a solver, I'm always excited to see this multiple Orca nominee's byline on a puzzle, so it's an honor for me to join him for his 43rd NYT crossword.

BRUCE: Erik is the reigning ACPT champion, having blown thru a super tough finals puzzle in the record time of 4 minutes 58 seconds back in March of this year. So many people wanted so badly for him to get his first win there, and for him to do it in such dramatic fashion was amazing. Also in March, he was named as one of the two crossword constructors of the year (for 2017) by Diary of a Crossword Fiend. When you work with a brilliant 25-year-old like Erik you try to stay out of his way and not embarrass yourself.

The "grid-art" here was my idea, but Erik came up with the fabulous second theme entry WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA. He also came up with about 90% of the fill on this grid — the inside of the bulb was particularly hard to fill cleanly. I wouldn't have even known how to spell MEGADETH, and since I am 65 years old, you would be right in guessing I don't have much of their music on my iPhone. The clue for 31-Across was Erik's idea also — pretty funny I think.

It was a ton of fun working with Erik, and thanks to Will and the editing team for allowing BADASS and making us fine tune the fill. I'm super pleased with the way the puzzle turned out - hope solvers enjoy it!

Tue 9/4/2018
I	M	O	F	F		S	P	U	R	N		P	U	G
S	O	L	A	R		T	A	G	U	P		I	P	O
A	L	L	T	O	G	E	T	H	E	R		A	F	T
Y	E	A		S	T	A	T				S	N	O	B
			A	T	O	M	I	C	T	H	E	O	R	Y
A	L	W	A	Y	S			R	E	A	C	T
M	O	O	R			A	S	I	A	M		U	M	A
A	I	R	P	O	R	T	T	E	R	M	I	N	A	L
S	N	L		S	E	E	P	S			N	E	I	L
		D	A	L	A	I			F	A	I	R	L	Y
A	N	C	H	O	R	T	E	N	A	N	T
C	O	L	A				B	O	N	D		M	V	P
U	S	A		T	H	E	E	I	G	H	T	I	E	S
T	I	S		S	E	A	R	S		O	A	T	E	S
E	R	S		K	N	U	T	E		W	R	E	S	T

This puzzle was accepted two years ago, but I remember working for quite a while with just EIGHTIES as a revealer and then being really happy to expand it to THE EIGHTIES.

It's interesting to think about what "the" phrases are crossworthy — for instance Jeff Chen's word list includes THE FBI, THE DEA, THE GOP, THE FAA, THE CIA, THE BBC, THE NBA, THE NFL, THE NHL, and THE USA. If you put "the abc" or "the xyz" into Google they get a lot of hits, but those are clearly not crossworthy — hard to know where to draw the line, but THE EIGHTIES is definitely a thing in my book.

I like this puzzle, but if I had it to do over again I would try to work ANKLE TATTOO and ALRIGHTY THEN in there, and I would get rid of OLLA in the northwest.

Fri 7/27/2018
A	D	S	A	L	E	S			P	A	R	T	I	I
B	R	I	N	G	O	U	T		E	T	C	E	T	C
L	I	L	A	B	N	E	R		C	O	A	R	S	E
U	N	L	I	T			A	M	O	N		M	O	B
S	K	I	S		T	O	G	A	S		R	I	P	E
H	U	E		K	U	N	I	S		G	O	N	E	R
	P	R	I	N	C	E	C	H	A	R	M	I	N	G
			D	E	C	O		A	L	O	E
C	A	P	T	A	I	N	O	B	V	I	O	U	S
O	R	E	A	D		O	S	L	I	N		N	A	M
L	A	N	G		I	N	P	E	N		R	E	N	I
U	M	A		F	O	E	R			P	E	A	R	L
M	A	N	B	U	N		E	T	H	E	L	R	E	D
N	I	C	E	S	T		Y	O	U	G	O	T	M	E
S	C	E	N	E	V			P	B	S	S	H	O	W

After about the tenth commercial I saw that starred Captain Obvious, I decided he was definitely crossworthy. I wanted to make a puzzle with four or five names like that, but I ran short. This is the only puzzle I have ever made where I thought my cluing had anything whatsoever to do with the puzzle being accepted — I had to change part of the fill, and lots of my clues got changed, but Will and his team decided to use my two theme clues word for word.

Sun 7/8/2018 PERSON / PLACE / THING
L	E	D	O	N		G	E	E	K		W	H	U	M	P		E	H	O	W
S	C	O	R	E		O	L	G	A		E	A	P	O	E		X	E	N	A
A	L	G	R	E	E	N	B	A	Y	W	I	N	D	O	W		C	A	L	L
T	A	N			Q	U	A	D		A	R	G	O	N		B	E	R	Y	L
S	T	A	Y	P	U	T			F	I	D	O			L	O	S	T	T	O
		P	A	R	I	S	H	I	L	T	O	N	H	E	A	D	S	H	O	P
			K	O	P		I	B	I	S			E	L	S	E		S	O	S
C	A	T	O			G	M	A	N		A	L	L	L	E	G	S
O	L	I	V	E	R	N	O	R	T	H	P	O	L	E	D	A	N	C	E
O	L	E		R	E	A	M	S		Y	O	Y	O				I	A	M	S
P	O	D	C	A	S	T			C	A	P			W	H	A	T	N	O	T
T	T	Y	L				S	C	A	T		S	K	O	A	L		C	R	O
	S	E	A	N	P	E	N	N	S	T	A	T	I	O	N	B	R	E	A	K
			W	I	L	D	O	N	E		T	O	O	L			A	L	P	E
C	B	S		B	A	I	O			T	H	I	S		R	A	D
R	I	C	H	L	I	T	T	L	E	R	O	C	K	M	U	S	I	C
A	G	R	E	E	D			E	X	E	S			A	B	S	O	L	U	T
S	T	E	N	T		C	H	E	C	K		O	M	N	I			A	P	U
H	O	W	L		M	A	E	W	E	S	T	B	A	N	K	H	E	I	S	T
E	D	I	E		O	N	E	A	L		V	O	T	E		M	A	M	E	T
S	O	N	Y		E	S	P	Y	S		S	E	E	R		M	U	S	T	I

I remember thinking about nouns being persons, places, or things, and wondering if I could find strings that would contain two-word phrases for all three. My first try with this theme was a weekday puzzle with four 16-letter themers. Will's team liked the theme but not the execution. For instance, they didn't like KitCarsonCityMap because Carson City was named for Kit Carson (hello!) and because the meaning of City did not change from the "place" to the "thing".

It took a lot of digging to find six themers given those constraints but the 21x sizing brought lots of new possibilities into play. The big hangup was finding two-word place names where both words were flexible.

The editor team nixed ALL LEGS initially, but they had a long discussion about it and decided it would be fine with the right clue. ONLY TOO was another borderline acceptable entry that required careful cluing.

I wanted to get some long down action into this puzzle, but the 110 letters of theme material made that difficult to pull off cleanly. I imagine this puzzle will play a little easier than the average Sunday puzzle, which would be fine with me since I'm a lousy solver. DOGNAP was my favorite entry to clue — I think "Grab some chow?" is even better than the one we used, but it had been used before.

Thu 6/7/2018
T	A	O	S		R	I	O	T		O	L	M	E	C
I	D	O	L		A	N	O	S		O	U	I	J	A
D	U	L	Y		W	I	C	K		J	A	N	E	T
E	E	E	W	I	D	T	H		C	L	U	T	C	H
		M	I	C	A		A	M	A	T		S	T	Y
B	E	N	N	E	T		M	E	R	C
D	I	S	K		A	P	P	A	L	L		B	I	B
A	N	D	S	O		E	A	R		A	M	U	S	E
Y	E	A		O	L	D	G	A	G		A	B	E	S
				C	A	A	N		I	L	L	B	E	T
F	A	R		K	Y	L	E		F	I	L	L
I	N	A	G	E	S		C	A	T	T	R	E	A	T
A	D	B	I	Z		I	L	L	S		A	S	T	I
T	R	I	B	E		M	E	M	E		T	U	R	N
S	E	D	E	R		P	R	A	T		S	P	A	S

I got the basic kernel of this theme idea from my buddy Erik Agard, but unfortunately, I was unable to talk Erik into co-construction. He and I did collaborate on another interesting puzzle currently in the NYT queue, and I can tell you he comes up with an amazing number of ingenious ideas.

I knew from the getgo I wanted four theme drinks with at least two O's (bubbles) each. I remember worrying that COKE ZERO was changing its name to Coke Zero Sugar soon, and worrying that JOLT COLA was popular too long ago (It was re-introduced late in 2017, but still is not real well known). I was determined to come up with a revealer that had no O's, and then I had to avoid O's in the rest of the puzzle.

It's always harder for me to work with vertical themers, and I knew this would be a Thursday, so I wanted a word count less than 78.

I love this weird but intriguing theme concept, and I hope solvers find it challenging but fair.

My submitted clue for FILL (at 53-Across) was not "Crossword constructor's pride" or some such thing, but still, I found it hilarious when the first draft of clues from the editors changed it to "Contents of a trash heap." I was a little disappointed that the final draft upgraded my FILL to "Dirt in a dump truck, perhaps" — too funny!

POW Mon 4/30/2018
S	H	O	T	S		T	I	P	S	Y		I	T	D
T	O	R	S	O		E	L	O	P	E		N	O	R
L	E	G	A	L	B	R	I	E	F	S		A	L	E
		A	R	I	A	N	A				E	N	D	S
O	W	N		D	I	S	C	J	O	C	K	E	Y	S
T	H	I	R	S	T			A	S	H	G	R	A	Y
S	O	S	O			H	A	M	L	E	T
	A	M	A	T	E	U	R	B	O	X	E	R	S
			D	R	A	M	A	S			S	E	L	F
A	N	T	W	E	R	P			S	E	T	F	E	E
M	O	V	I	E	S	H	O	R	T	S		E	W	W
D	O	W	N				S	U	I	T	O	R
I	D	I		C	A	S	H	D	R	A	W	E	R	S
A	L	F		F	A	K	E	D		T	E	E	N	A
L	E	E		O	H	Y	A	Y		E	S	S	A	Y

I remember driving down the freeway a year ago and hearing someone on the radio use JOCKEYS as a synonym for underwear. I think some basketball player got faked out of his or her jockeys. This was news to me, and it got me thinking that there are quite a few underwear synonyms with wordplay potential. I remember my dad being excited right away that I had an underwear puzzle accepted by the New York Times — mom, on the other hand, had a few questions ...

My food pun puzzle of 1/3/18 had the phrase RIDE UP, which has multiple possible meanings but ended up being clued as "What underwear may do, annoyingly" — I'm thinking skivvy humor may be under-appreciated, and I hope solvers have some fun with this.

Wed 4/18/2018
	B	A	M	A		S	N	O	B		R	A	T	S
S	O	D	A	S		E	I	R	E		E	N	R	Y
T	O	O	T	H	E	X	T	R	A	C	T	I	O	N
E	M	P	T	Y	O	U	T		M	O	O	M	O	O
A	I	T			U	P	I			T	R	A	P	P
K	N	E	A	D	S			N	E	S	T	L	E	S
	G	E	R	M		O	L	E	S		S	I	R	I
			M	A	T	H	E	X	A	M		A	S	S
B	A	A		J	O	Y	O	U	S	L	Y
A	S	P	S		M	E	N	S		L	O	T	S
S	T	E	P	P	E	S			B	E	W	A	I	L
E	R	R	O	L			S	T	U			C	D	E
H	O	T	T	E	A		C	O	R	N	C	H	E	X
I	P	U	T	A	S	P	E	L	L	O	N	Y	O	U
T	O	R	E		T	U	N	E		N	E	O	N	S
S	P	E	D		I	B	E	T		U	T	N	E

BRUCE: This was entirely Pete's spelling brew — I just got consulted on the fill. I had recently done a Valentine's puzzle that utilized stacked central themers in a 16-high grid, so that seemed like a great way to make this difficult construction symmetric. Even so, this was a tough grid to fill cleanly.

PETE: Yeah, I had the idea for the theme, but I had a heck of a time filling the grid. Those three HEX-on-YOU occurrences really made for some headaches. I finally threw it at Bruce who had the brilliant idea to go with a 16x15 grid. That gave it a little more breathing room (if we can all ignore EOUS — as in nausEOUS). Plus the supersizing enabled Bruce to place one HEX/YOU pairing smack dab in the center of the grid. I think that's a nice touch. So, in the end, the grid is 90% Bruce's handiwork. I think I redid one of the corners — not that I made the end product any better, but so that I could say I had a hand in filling the grid.

Mon 2/19/2018
H	E	M	S		E	L	M	O		B	A	L	D	S
A	V	E	C		M	E	A	L		C	L	A	R	K
L	I	F	E	G	U	A	R	D		C	A	S	E	Y
F	L	I	N	T		P	L	E	A			C	A	L
W	E	R	E	O	N		A	N	D	S	O	A	M	I
A	Y	S		S	E	A			S	A	D	L	O	T
Y	E	T	I		L	I	E	S		L	O	A	N
			F	I	L	M	L	O	V	E	R
	S	H	O	D		S	I	R	I		S	H	E	L
G	O	A	L	I	E			T	E	M		O	V	A
H	A	N	D	G	R	I	P		W	E	S	L	E	Y
O	K	S			A	M	O	S		R	H	I	N	E
U	S	O	F	A		P	O	L	I	C	E	D	O	G
L	U	L	U	S		E	L	A	N		B	A	N	G
S	P	O	R	K		I	S	M	S		A	Y	E	S

I did an anagrams +1 puzzle on 5/16/17 with state names, so I decided to try one with president's names. There are some sites online that do this kind of thing, but most of them only give you single word anagrams — it took me quite a bit of digging to find multiple word phrase options.

My submitted puzzle had IMPEL at 55-Down and LSTS at 72-Across. I think that latter entry did not sit well with the editors because they were willing to put I.M. PEI in there even on a Monday to get rid of it. I still think every entry in the puzzle is reasonable for a Monday.

I remember getting all done and realizing I had FORD in the grid — ouch — I found out that even when you know he needs to go, it's sometimes not that easy to remove a president!

Last time one of the reviewers (Jeff Chen) dinged me for not finding added letters that spelled something interesting. This time I went all out and came up with add-on letters (U,A,V,P,P) that anagram to "V.A. pup", which is of course closely related to a POLICE DOG. For some reason, Will left that piece of info out of the cluing...

Tue 2/13/2018
S	P	A	M		M	E	A	L	S		H	O	L	A
T	E	R	I		A	B	B	O	T		A	R	O	D
A	S	O	F		I	B	E	L	I	E	V	E	S	O
N	O	N	F	A	T			A	R	R	E	S	T	S
			S	N	A	R	F		S	I	A
O	R	G		N	I	E	L	S		C	H	A	S	M
P	E	R	S	E		B	A	T	C	H	E	D	I	T
E	R	A	T		B	O	X	E	D		A	S	T	O
R	O	M	E		R	O	S	E	S		R	A	P	S
A	L	M	A	M	A	T	E	R		A	T	L	A	S
S	L	Y	L	Y		S	E	E	M	S		E	T	A
			A	B	C		D	R	U	I	D
A	R	I	K	A	R	A			R	A	R	I	N	G
G	O	S	I	D	E	W	A	Y	S		U	S	E	R
A	R	E	S		T	E	H	E	E		M	O	R	E
R	Y	E	S		E	D	I	T	S		S	N	O	W

I remember deciding to try to find some kind of boxed thing to do a puzzle on. No new ideas were popping up on the XWord Info list, so I just went to Google and typed in "boxed" and then tried one letter after another till I got to "r" and boxed roses showed up. It didn't Google very well, but there were lots of pretty pictures of boxed roses, so it seemed commercially significant.

I was pretty lucky to be able to stack the two words, and super lucky when HAVE A HEART popped up randomly on the fill. STEAL A KISS was a great sidekick, but ARIKARA was a bitter pill to swallow. It was nice that their tribe had just "starred" in "The Revenant," but it's still pretty rough sledding for a Tuesday.

Tue 2/6/2018
D	I	N		R	A	B	B	I		E	P	I	C	S
A	N	O		A	X	I	O	M		C	A	L	L	A
D	E	C		D	E	A	T	H	V	A	L	L	E	Y
B	R	A	G			S	H	E	E	R		B	M	W
O	R	N	A	T	E			R	E	D	D	I	S	H
D	O	D	G	E	V	I	P	E	R		O	T	O	E
S	R	O		L	I	M	A				P	E	N	N
			D	E	E	P	V	O	I	C	E
S	I	L	O				E	T	N	A		A	D	O
A	H	A	S		D	A	R	T	H	V	A	D	E	R
V	O	T	E	R	I	D			D	E	N	O	V	O
E	P	I		S	N	O	O	P			S	P	I	N
D	E	M	O	V	E	R	S	I	O	N		T	O	Y
U	S	E	U	P		B	L	E	A	R		M	U	M
P	O	S	T	S		S	O	R	T	A		E	S	S

The initial spark for most of my puzzles is rather obscure, but I can say definitively that this one was born on 11/7/16. I had an NYT puzzle that day with some IC phrases (INNER CHILD, IVORY COAST, etc.) and an "I SEE" revealer. One of the online reviewers commented:

"We remain in the well-worn, hoary, ultra-basic theme-type universe, with loads of dull short fill to boot."

That was actually one of my better reviews at that site, but Loren Muse Smith took offense and fired off the first post of that day, which was very supportive of my puzzle. She then went on to list other potential phonetic theme revealers like excellency and escapee (theme recently done by CC Burnikel elsewhere) and DEVIOUS. I was grateful to Loren for her support, and even more grateful for new theme ideas! I tried to get her to co-construct this one but she begged off — however, she and I have a Valentine's Day puzzle coming up next week in the 42-Down.

Will and Joel said "nicely done, and the fill really sparkled" — I remember wishing I could do something about the crossing of DENOVO and ORONYMS, which Will said pushed this puzzle from a Monday to a Tuesday.

Wed 1/3/2018
J	A	Z	Z			S	L	A	V		F	L	A	G
A	L	E	E		O	C	A	L	A		A	U	R	A
I	T	S	N	A	C	H	O	P	R	O	B	L	E	M
L	O	T		R	T	E	S		I	N	F	U	S	E
			I	T	E	M		C	A	T	O
	L	E	T	S	T	A	C	O	B	O	U	T	I	T
S	A	L	T	Y			H	A	L		R	O	N	A
T	U	B			G	A	I	L	Y			T	O	N
A	R	O	D		E	L	M			O	P	E	N	S
Y	A	W	A	N	N	A	P	I	Z	Z	A	M	E
			T	O	E	S		T	O	A	T
R	I	D	E	U	P		G	R	O	W		S	I	P
I	C	A	N	N	O	L	I	I	M	A	G	I	N	E
P	E	R	U		O	O	Z	E	S		U	R	G	E
S	E	N	T		L	O	A	D			V	E	E	P

I was visiting a local college campus a year ago, and I saw a sign in a dorm for a student mixer at a Mexican restaurant — the teaser was "Let's taco 'bout it." I just needed to come up with three more like that with matching lengths. I had to modify "You wanna pizza me?" a little to make it work.

I find that as time goes on, I gravitate more toward puzzles that I find humorous — even if they don't get published they are just more fun to make!

If you like punny puzzles about food, consider buying Erik Agard's "Food for Thought Crosswords" available at Amazon.com. I did, and I found it very entertaining.

Mon 12/18/2017
E	A	S	E	S		A	L	G	A	E		A	L	B
S	L	O	M	O		R	E	I	G	N		N	O	R
C	L	A	U	D	E	M	O	N	E	T		O	V	A
A	M	P		A	X	O	N			O	K	I	E	S
P	A	I	L		P	R	I	D	E	M	O	N	T	H
E	L	N	I	N	O			O	R	B	I	T	A	L
D	E	G	A	S		H	A	J	I			S	P	Y
			M	A	D	E	M	O	N	E	Y
R	I	M			E	L	I	S		G	A	I	N	S
A	T	A	T	I	M	E			D	O	W	N	O	N
C	O	D	E	M	O	N	K	E	Y		N	A	T	O
E	L	D	E	R			N	A	A	N		W	O	W
F	D	A		I	N	N	E	R	D	E	M	O	N	S
A	Y	S		C	R	U	E	L		M	E	R	C	I
N	A	H		H	A	N	D	Y		O	G	D	E	N

I stumbled on INNER DEMONS as a nice revealer (albeit a bit dark), but you need some considerable luck to hide a five letter word in reasonably interesting phrases of matching lengths.

There were very few solid options. I would have never come up with CODE MONKEY without the XWord Info word list, but I needed a matching ten letter entry. I made a blank ten letter entry in a grid and tried shifting the word DEMON around in there and looking at the Wikipedia results ... et voila, I got lucky with PRIDE MONTH.

Will and Joel liked those two theme entries the best — CLAUDE MONET was not bad, but I think MADE MONEY was just decent enough to go along for the ride. Happy holidays!

Fri 11/24/2017
S	A	S	H	I	M	I		I	N	K	S	A	C	S
O	T	T	O	M	A	N		G	A	N	A	C	H	E
F	L	I	P	P	I	N	G	O	N	E	S	L	I	D
T	A	N		S	N	O	O	T		L	H	A	S	A
T	N	G			S	W	A	T	A	T		S	E	T
A	T	E			Q	A	T	A	R		I	S	L	E
C	A	R		G	U	Y			T	I	P
O	N	S	I	T	E					V	O	T	E	R
			R	E	E	N	A	C	T	S		A	X	E
P	A	P	A		Z	O	R	R	O			J	I	M
A	G	O		C	E	N	T	E	R			M	T	A
L	A	T	C	H		P	O	E	T	S		A	L	S
A	T	T	H	E	D	R	O	P	O	F	A	H	A	T
C	H	E	E	R	I	O		E	N	P	L	A	N	E
E	A	R	W	I	G	S		R	I	D	D	L	E	R

BRUCE: I first submitted this puzzle in January of 2014. Anna Shechtman wrote back : "Will is intrigued by your AT THE DROP OF A HAT mini-themed 15x, whose strange symmetry effectively makes the black squares look like "dropping" hats. Assuming this was your intention, though, Will is not certain that MEXICAN HAT DANCE makes much sense as your second theme entry".

This was a bit embarrassing, and I switched to HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT for the next couple submissions, which failed for lack of sparkling fill. I decided to bring in a hired gun, and David rode in with his big white hat and saved the day. He didn't just blindly start working on better fill though — he first suggested we switch to FLIPPING ONES LID as the second theme entry and he then talked me into adding two blocks. This made the visual slightly less dramatic than my fish puzzle of 8/8/14 but moving from 66 words to 70 made it WAY easier to come up with good fill.

David is a master grid technician, and I believe he has the most precisely scored word list on the planet, so he is an amazing person to work with. He also has interned with Will and Joel for much of the past two summers. David has a great sense of humor too, so he is just fun to work with all around.

You might think that with my age being 64 and David's age being 20 this would be close to a record for biggest gap, but he did one with Bernice Gordon when she was 100 and he was 17! David turns 21 on the day this puzzle is published, and I think he has quite a future ahead of him in the crossbiz — HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!

DAVID: Always a pleasure to work with Bruce/Mr. Grid Art. I fell in love with the hat concept at first sight, though boy, was that grid difficult to work with given the constraints of the hats and the two 15s! The final product took many back-and-forths, so even if my word list is more fine-tuned than Bruce's (which is a big if), there's no way this would've turned out as well without his input every step of the way. Keep your eye out for more from us in the coming months :).

Thu 11/9/2017
J	O	Y	S		I	N	G	R	A	M		P	S	Y
A	L	S	O		C	I	C	E	R	O		R	Y	E
W	E	L	L	B	E	T	H	G	I	R		I	R	A
			A	O	R	T	A			D	U	M	A	S
S	H	I	R	T		I	T	A	K	E	T	A	H	T
P	O	N	C	H	O			D	E	C	A	L
I	O	N	A		B	A	N	A	N	A		U	B	S
T	H	E	R	E	S	N	O	G	N	I	N	R	U	T
E	A	R		M	E	D	L	E	Y		E	G	G	O
		B	L	I	S	S			G	O	W	E	L	L
G	U	E	S	S	S	O	H	W		N	I	S	E	I
I	P	A	D	S			A	H	E	A	D
S	T	U		A	N	D	D	O	N	T	E	M	O	C
T	O	T		R	I	V	O	L	I		A	V	E	R
S	P	Y		Y	A	R	N	E	D		S	P	R	Y

"There's no turning back!" reinterpreted as THERES NO GNINRUT! Try saying that three times fast. As a mediocre solver, this is exactly why I will take my chances on a typical Friday puzzle any time over a Tricksday puzzle like this. If you are programming a computer to beat humans at crosswords, how do you teach it to both reverse a word and infer a word that is not even there? In chess, Go, and backgammon the rules are fixed, but with crosswords, constructors are allowed to change the rules dramatically as long as they do it consistently.

As a mostly early week constructor, I did enjoy being able to open up the grid a bit and throw in some difficult entries (RIVOLI, MORDECAI) without feeling guilty. I found it difficult to clue INNER BEAUTY — I came up with something like "Hidden assets," but I like "What kindness and honesty reveal" a lot better. This reminds me of an NYT puzzle a year ago when I clued INNER CHILD as "Psychoanalytic entity, " and it got changed by Will and Joel to "What might make an adult jump in a pile of leaves". Wow — way better, and it "leaves" you with a warm nostalgic feeling. Great cluing takes a ton of experience and insight.

My least favority entry is YARNED. It's in plenty of dictionaries, but I think any attempt to vindicate it would seem like it was yarned by me. Hope you enjoyed the solve!

Mon 9/25/2017
A	D	D	E	R		D	A	B		A	F	T	E	R
D	I	A	N	A		E	M	U		D	R	O	N	E
H	A	N	D	Y		B	I	L		H	O	I	T	Y
O	R	D		G	R	U	E	L		E	S	T	E	E
C	Y	Y	O	U	N	G		M	A	R	T	Y	R	S
			A	N	A		T	O	N	E
T	R	E	K	S		F	O	O	D	S	T	A	M	P
W	A	V	E		H	O	T	S	Y		W	I	R	E
O	P	E	N	H	O	U	S	E		D	I	D	I	N
				O	P	R	Y		A	I	R
S	T	D	E	N	I	S		S	C	U	L	P	T	S
I	H	O	P	E		P	O	W	E	R		A	A	H
L	O	V	E	Y		E	G	O		N	A	M	B	Y
T	R	E	E	D		E	R	R		A	M	B	L	E
S	A	Y	S	O		D	E	N		L	A	Y	E	R

I can't really take much credit for this one. Will and Joel thought this was a fun and simple Monday theme but my initial fill was horrid and all those crossing words were too much for my wordlist at that time, even at the 78 word maximum. So ... handy dandy Frank Longo got called in to clean things up and he pretty much redid the whole puzzle from the ground up. The only entry that is a little dicey for Monday is THORA, but Thora Birch has made quite a name for herself as an actress.

Frank is actually quite busy and well-respected in the crossworld, but he manages to fly low under the radar most of the time. Despite the fact that Monday is the only day Frank has not been published in the NYT he turned down multiple requests to be listed as co-constructor here. Cycle, shmycle ...

At any rate, Thank You Frank!!

Tue 9/12/2017
H	I	P	S		E	N	D	O	W		S	H	A	H
O	M	R	I		V	E	R	D	I		H	O	N	E
M	I	S	T	R	E	S	S	E	S		A	T	T	A
E	N	T		U	S	S			E	S	P	I	E	D
L	A	U	D	S			C	I	S	T	E	R	N	S
A	W	N	U	T	S		O	N	T	O		O	N	E
B	E	T	E		P	R	O	D		R	A	N	A	T
			L	I	F	E	L	I	N	E	S
S	P	A	S	M		T	E	A	R		S	L	I	M
A	R	T		H	O	A	R		C	R	E	E	P	O
V	I	E	W	I	N	G	S			U	T	A	H	N
A	V	I	A	T	E			J	A	B		D	O	O
G	Y	N	T		D	I	V	E	R	S	I	O	N	S
E	T	T	E		G	L	A	D	E		T	R	E	K
D	O	O	R		E	L	L	I	S		D	E	S	I

My first try at this puzzle got sent back for poor fill. Will really liked the northwest area, so I only had to redo 75%! I don't remember how I came up with the idea to do "words starting with two letter Roman numerals ending in I" as a theme, but I do remember watching "Dallas" episodes a lot back in the 80's and I remember thinking VIEWINGS was the best entry in this puzzle. My submitted clue was [Bobby, Pam, Ellie, Jock, Sue Ellen and JR?]

The idea that MISTRESSES could be 1001 causes of anxiety also struck me as pretty funny. That was two years ago, and now I would be more impressed with LIFELINES, since compound words and two-word phrases make better theme entries in general. MISTRESSES has some pretty common letters but I can't see where it has ever appeared in any major puzzle venue before. Happenstance or breakfast table test effect?

Wed 8/2/2017
H	O	L	D	U	P		C	O	N	T	I	N	U	E
A	R	O	U	S	E		R	E	A	R	M	O	S	T
W	E	C	O	O	L		U	N	V	E	I	L	E	D
K	O	I			E	S	S			A	G	A	R	S
			F	I	G	H	T	W	I	T	H
A	L	O	U	D		H	E	H	S		T	A	S	E
N	O	R	R	I	S		D	E	L	L		S	U	R
T	O	S	S	O	U	T		W	E	A	T	H	E	R
S	F	O		M	E	S	H		S	U	R	E	D	O
Y	A	N	G		M	A	A	M		G	O	N	E	R
			O	V	E	R	S	I	G	H	T
A	K	I	T	A			B	R	A			M	A	D
L	A	S	H	L	I	N	E		M	A	Y	I	G	O
A	M	B	I	E	N	C	E		E	R	E	N	O	W
S	A	N	C	T	I	O	N		R	E	S	I	G	N

A contronym is defined as a word or phrase which has two nearly opposite meanings. There are actually quite a few of these in our language, which certainly makes it challenging for learners. I wanted to get a lot of theme entries in this puzzle since they are fairly short, so I wasn't too surprised that my first attempt with these eight themers got sent back for weak fill. I redid the puzzle after switching to the new xwordinfo word list in Feb. 2016 and the second version was accepted. There are still more gluey bits than I would like, but Will and Joel felt that was offset by some interesting fresh entries — my favorite is "WE COOL?".

Wed 6/21/2017
O	R	I	G	A	M	I			M	A	D	A	M	E
N	A	N	O	B	O	T		R	U	B	I	T	I	N
D	I	S	R	O	B	E		I	C	E	C	O	L	D
A	N	T	E	D		M	A	C	K		K	N	E	W
T	H	O	S	E			N	A	Y			E	R	A
E	A	R			C	D	S			I	T	G	U	Y
S	T	E	M		D	A	W	G		L	O	O	N	S
			B	U	T	T	E	R	F	L	Y
O	P	R	A	H		A	R	E	A		S	W	A	K
B	R	A	S	S			K	G	B			E	V	E
L	O	Y			S	H	E			C	H	A	I	N
I	B	O	S		M	A	Y	S		A	A	R	O	N
G	O	V	I	R	A	L		H	O	T	L	I	N	E
E	N	A	M	E	L	S		I	H	A	V	E	I	T
S	O	C	I	A	L			M	O	N	A	R	C	H

I don't remember the moment when I stumbled onto the butterfly images, but I do think they look best when they are bright orange. We did go with solid bars around the edges on the final newspaper product, but we decided not to draw little "bodies" between the squares.

My first try at this puzzle had ELUSIVE as a theme entry, since "Elusive Butterfly" was a pretty big hit by Bob Lind in 1966. The melody and lyrics were very familiar to me when I listened to it, but it drew a blank for Will and Joel so they turned it down. I think I remember throwing a few more possibilities their way without success, but Pete Collins thought I should try ORIGAMI butterfly since it Googles well. If you want the full experience there is a nice video online showing you how to make one in no time flat.

Pete Collins also helped with the fill on this effort — I was hoping to be part of his 100th NYT puzzle publication but he turned down co-constructorship. He'll have to sit on 99 for a short while longer and make do with a big THANK YOU PETE!

Speaking of flying things, I am staying near Princeville on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i this week and here is a picture of me with two nene. I talked to a local Hawaiian woman who confirmed that these are them. She told me they were rare thirty years ago but not any more since they are protected. I have read that nenes are nonos in crosswords because they are so scarce but I can tell that they are not that rare!

Tue 5/16/2017
R	A	F	T		C	A	P	S	I	D		P	E	P
A	R	I	A		O	R	A	C	L	E		O	N	O
W	A	R	N	I	N	G	S	H	O	T		O	R	S
B	L	E	N	D	S			U	S	E	D	P	O	T
A	S	H	E	S		I	M	S	E	R	I	O	U	S
R	E	A	D		A	M	I	S			T	U	T	U
S	A	T		L	I	A	R		I	N	S	T	E	P
			N	O	R	M	A	L	D	A	Y
D	E	V	I	L	S		C	O	I	N		B	A	S
A	L	E	C			S	L	O	G		K	A	L	E
B	A	N	K	R	A	T	E	S		B	I	B	L	E
E	P	I	S	O	D	E			L	A	D	Y	D	I
A	S	S		A	F	R	I	C	A	N	L	I	O	N
R	E	O		S	E	N	T	U	P		I	S	N	T
S	S	N		T	E	S	T	E	D		T	H	E	O

My first attempt at this theme hid scrambled state names in phrases, but most of the states were only four letters long. Will and Joel wrote back that "hiding California in AFRICAN LION is beautiful (!), but....they were not impressed with the shorter ones.

They suggested I try to find some longish states (seven or more letters) where adding one letter and scrambling led to something interesting. That turned out to take a LOT of digging because most state names (like Illinois and Hawaii for example) don't have easy letters to anagram with — none of these five phrases had ever appeared before in the NYT, and three of them were not even in any of my word lists. They all Google well though, so I decided to give it a shot.

When I got the preview version of the puzzle last week, I needed all six crosses to get SENT UP (my memory is not great) because I had never heard this phrase used as a synonym of "parodied." There is a LOT of support for this clue in dictionaries, but I surveyed five word-nerd friends of mine, and none of them had heard of this usage. I think if I were an editor, I would have to lean toward dictionary definitions over my personal experience, but I'm sure sometimes it's a close call.

This is one of the puzzles I'm most proud of at this point because I did not think it was going to be possible and it turned out way better than I had even hoped for.

Tue 4/18/2017
S	E	E	S		E	T	T	E			L	A	S	S
T	I	L	T		R	E	A	R	S		A	R	I	A
A	R	E	A		A	S	S	A	I		R	A	T	S
R	E	A	L	I	S	T			S	T	I	L	E	S
			E	T	E	S		A	S	E	A
A	L	T	A	I	R		A	L	I	S	T	E	R
S	A	R	I	S		R	I	T	E	S		L	A	T
S	T	I	R		S	E	L	E	S		R	I	T	A
T	E	T		S	T	E	E	R		E	A	T	E	R
	R	E	T	A	I	L	S		A	T	R	E	S	T
			E	L	L	S		E	S	A	I
I	S	R	A	E	L			S	A	L	T	I	E	R
R	I	I	S		E	T	A	T	S		I	R	A	E
E	L	L	E		R	E	L	E	E		E	A	S	E
S	T	E	R			L	E	S	T		S	S	T	S

My last Sunday puzzle was titled "Uh-oh," and I'm sure some people feel that way about stunt puzzles in general. I submitted three or four of these seven letter puzzles a couple of years ago, and they all got rejected — even one I really liked that had the seven letters circled in a Big Dipper shape with the one theme entry SEVEN STARS. Will and Joel felt sorry for me and suggested I try one with anagrams.

I took this acceptance as an invitation to try a similar theme with six letters, but I've submitted three of those now with no success. The rejection letters usually include wording like "we're not sure we're ever going to like this theme...". It's not that the vocab isn't clean, it's just so repetitious.

My eight letter puzzle started a new (thankfully short-lived) club, called "The H8ers", which was a dubious honor — I'm expecting some H8 mail with this 7 one also, but I'm hoping there are others out there who find this type of puzzle interesting.

Wed 3/15/2017
E	V	E	R	Y		A	A	S		C	H	I	M	P	S
K	A	T	I	E		R	B	I		C	E	T	E	R	A
E	L	T	O	N	J	O	H	N		R	E	T	A	I	N
S	E	A	T		E	M	O		R	I	D		N	O	D
				S	T	A	R	R	E	D	E	N	T	R	Y
A	V	E	R	S	E		S	U	R	E	D	O
B	E	G	I	N	S			D	A	R		W	E	B	B
B	R	A	Y			I	S	I	N			A	R	I	Z
A	N	N	A		C	D	T			C	H	I	N	T	Z
			D	N	A	L	A	B		L	A	T	E	S	T
A	L	P	H	A	B	E	T	I	C	A	L
G	A	R		S	I	R		J	U	S		A	L	E	C
O	B	I	W	A	N		N	O	T	S	O	M	U	C	H
R	E	S	O	L	E		S	U	I		H	E	N	C	E
A	L	M	O	S	T		A	X	E		O	R	D	E	R

I was surprised to learn that these are pretty much the longest words in the English language with their letters in alphabetical order (and no repeated letters). I left out BIOPSY, for obvious reasons, and GHOSTY seemed like it was missing an L.

I originally submitted this theme two years ago with ALPHABETIC ORDER as the 15 letter reveal across the middle. Will and Joel wrote back that they liked the theme but couldn't get over the fact that it should be ALPHABETICAL ORDER. I wrote to Joel asking if they would consider a 15x17 puzzle and he said sorry, no.

However, he must have spent some time thinking about this because he came up with the current layout of the revealer phrases and told me all I needed to do was work in the six theme entries. Thank you, Joel!

BIJOUX and CHINTZ are not friendly words to squeeze into a tight grid, so there is some glue but apparently NOT SO MUCH as to be a dealbreaker. Expanding the grid to 15x16 (necessitated by IS IN) helped some.

I wanted RUMI at 26-Down, a Persian poet that Googles incredibly well, but he did not survive the final edit — I can imagine that as an editor you have to think long and hard before you allow a short two-vowel word like that because once it gets in everyone's word list you will be seeing it often.

My favorite entry is BZZT-- when I was growing up in Wisconsin they used to have big electrical bug zappers in the city park to control the mosquitos in that area, so BZZT brings back childhood memories...

Sun 2/19/2017 UH-OH!
J	A	B	B	A		C	E	D	E		H	U	L	A	S		T	W	O	S
A	L	A	R	M		R	A	U	L		I	N	E	P	T		R	A	P	T
N	O	T	E	C	R	A	C	K	E	R	S	U	I	T	E		I	K	E	A
K	N	E	W		A	W	H	E	C	K				E	V	O	K	I	N	G
Y	E	S		O	C	D		S	T	O	N	E	D	S	I	L	E	N	C	E
			A	N	K	A					I	V	O	T	E	D		G	A	S
	C	A	R	T	E	D		H	A	C	K	E	R	S			M	U	S	E
N	O	G	O	A	T	S	N	O	G	L	O	R	Y		N	E	O	P	E	T
I	C	E	U	P			O	N	I	O	N			T	I	P	S
C	O	N	N		A	R	T	I	L	Y		P	A	R	T	I		O	W	E
H	O	T	D	O	G	B	O	N	E		D	I	X	I	E	C	O	P	E	S
E	N	S		D	O	I	N	G		G	I	Z	M	O	S		H	I	L	T
			F	I	R	S			B	O	O	Z	E			D	W	A	D	E
A	T	H	E	N	A		B	R	E	A	D	A	N	D	B	O	A	T	E	R
T	O	A	D			L	O	U	R	D	E	S		E	E	R	I	E	R
A	T	V		D	W	A	Y	N	E					P	S	S	T
P	H	O	N	E	A	N	D	G	A	M	E	S		E	T	A		D	I	X
R	E	L	E	A	S	E				I	M	M	U	N	O		L	U	R	E
I	M	I	N		H	O	M	I	N	G	B	I	R	D	F	E	E	D	E	R
C	A	N	E		E	N	O	C	H		E	L	S	E		S	T	E	N	O
E	X	E	S		S	E	O	U	L		R	E	A	D		C	O	D	E	X

Eye surgery patients are always telling me that "Uh-Oh...." is a phrase they don't want to hear during their operation, but it occurred to me one day that it might make a great vowel-change-theme/ title for a Sunday puzzle. This proved to be pretty challenging because to do it right I had to change every "uh" sound in each phrase. Common words like "a" and "the" and "one" and "up" suddenly became dealbreakers.

Once I scrounged up suitable theme entries the puzzle went smoothly — I submitted it about November 1st, it was accepted December 15, and published about two months later since the Sunday queue is apparently rather short.

Will and Joel said their favorite entries were STONED SILENCE and HOT DOG BONE. I also like JANKY and "OH, WAIT!". Jeff must like those also since he gave them high scores on his XWord Info Word List.

(psst, Jeff ... how long do I have to keep promoting the word list?)

(Jeff: *passing Bruce a wad of unmarked bills*)

POW Mon 1/23/2017
P	O	O	H		M	W	A	H		T	A	P	E	D
A	C	N	E		O	H	I	O		O	H	A	R	A
R	U	M	P	R	O	A	S	T		L	A	S	E	D
A	L	I	T	O		P	L	E	A	D		T	A	B
D	A	K	O	T	A		E	L	D	O	R	A	D	O
E	R	E		I	R	A		S	O	F	A	B	E	D
			E	N	A	C	T				C	A	R	S
		S	T	I	L	T	W	A	L	K	E	R
M	A	T	H				O	P	A	L	S
I	S	R	A	E	L	I		B	Y	U		O	W	E
S	K	I	N	G	A	M	E		S	T	O	N	E	D
C	A	N		R	O	A	R	S		Z	A	L	E	S
A	W	G	E	E		F	A	I	R	Y	T	A	L	E
S	A	U	L	T		A	S	T	O		E	T	A	L
T	Y	P	O	S		N	E	S	T		R	E	D	S

My first version of this puzzle had RUMP ROAST RECIPE at the top and RUMPELSTILTSKIN at the bottom. I considered myself quite lucky that the revealer was exactly 15 letters, but I was disappointed there were not any decent 15 letter entries starting with RUMP. There is something called a "rump legislature"- some might say humorously close to a Trump legislature - but in the end I couldn't get behind that.

Will and Joel wrote back that they did not think my top entry was crossworthy and it would have been better to have something like FAIRY TALE as a revealer to make it a bit less obvious. I felt sorry for myself for a few days and then it occurred to me that RUMP ROAST and FAIRY TALE were both nine letters!

When I sent this puzzle to my 87-year-old Mom - my main puzzle tester- she wrote back that she could not figure out the theme even after filling the whole puzzle in, so I will be anxious to see if this proves to be a little tricky for early week solvers.

One of my favorite things to do in cluing is to clue an outside entry on theme, but subtly so solvers wouldn't notice until they were done with the puzzle. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, I've often found it hard to get editors to go along with this! Here, Will and Joel went along with cluing AHA (at 10-Down) as "So THAT'S the story here!", as a small bit of Easter egg humor for observant solvers.

Sun 12/4/2016 ACTION STARS
F	E	L	T	T	I	P		Z	I	P	C	A	R		S	T	A	B	L	E
L	A	Y	I	N	T	O		A	G	L	A	R	E		H	E	R	O	I	C
O	R	L	A	N	D	O	B	L	O	O	M	E	D		U	N	C	O	L	A
G	L	E	N			L	E	E	R				E	O	S			S	L	R
			A	W	R	A	T	S		H	E	L	E	N	H	U	N	T	E	D
M	B	A		H	I	R	E		D	A	R	E	M	E		N	E	E
A	R	M	B	O	N	E		A	U	G	I	E		L	S	D	T	R	I	P
J	A	M	E	S	G	A	R	N	E	R	E	D			C	E	S	S	N	A
A	G	O	G				U	G	L	I	S		S	C	A	R		H	U	G
			A	S	S	A	I	L	E	D		T	H	U	M	B		O	R	E
S	E	A	N	P	E	N	N	E	D		B	R	A	D	P	I	T	T	E	D
A	R	S		R	A	T	E	D		Q	U	A	Y	S	I	D	E
N	R	A		A	W	E	D		P	U	T	I	N				E	L	B	A
T	O	L	D	Y	A			S	H	E	L	L	E	Y	L	O	N	G	E	D
A	L	L	E	G	R	O		R	O	U	E	S		E	A	T	A	B	L	E
		G	R	U		S	H	I	N	E	R		W	A	C	O		T	A	N
G	L	E	N	N	C	L	O	S	E	D		T	E	H	E	E	D
O	A	T			R	O	O				B	A	L	I			A	P	S	E
T	R	O	P	P	O		R	U	S	S	E	L	L	B	R	A	N	D	E	D
I	G	U	E	S	S		A	S	P	I	R	E		E	C	O	T	A	G	E
T	E	T	R	I	S		Y	E	A	R	N	S		T	A	K	E	S	O	N

My first Sunday NYT crossword- Woohoo!!! This has been my biggest goal in the crossbiz for some time now, so I'm really stoked to see this come out in print. Even if I never finish "the cycle" with a Saturday puzzle I will feel like I reached the top of the mountain and basked in the sunshine for at least one magical Sunday.

My first attempt at this theme was not terribly well received — Will and Joel were not that impressed that GEOFFREY RUSHED off to a film shoot and TOM CRUISED to another Golden Globe award, and they really didn't like hearing that RAQUEL WELCHED on a film deal. I can see now that the Welch family could easily have been offended, and in fact, the entire Welsh nation might have taken umbrage — another batch of unpleasant Haight mail headed for Will's mailbox.

So this puzzle sat on my desk for months, until one day David Steinberg (who knows the inside scoop on pretty much everything) told me that the NYT was really short on Sunday puzzles. I combed thru the list of Hollywood stars and found some reasonable replacements, the puzzle was accepted a month after submission, and this publication date is just six weeks after acceptance. I really like the clue we came up with for AS ALL GET OUT ("Like you wouldn't believe"), but my favorite clue is the one for THUMB ("Something that turns up when you snap your fingers?") — I have this mental image of Will and Joel sitting around testing the idea, with Billy Joel's "The Longest Time" playing in the background ...

Mon 11/7/2016
E	T	T	A		A	T	B	A	T		E	L	L	E
M	A	H	I		V	I	O	L	A		C	A	I	N
O	P	A	L		I	N	N	E	R	C	H	I	L	D
J	O	N		M	A	C	E			I	O	T	A	S
I	N	K	C	A	R	T	R	I	D	G	E
		S	O	N	Y			M	I	S	S	O	U	T
G	U	A	R	D		S	A	G	A			D	N	A
I	S	L	A	M	I	C	C	A	L	E	N	D	A	R
L	E	O			N	O	S	Y		L	A	S	S	O
A	R	T	F	A	I	R			F	I	R	M
			I	N	T	E	R	N	E	T	C	A	F	E
S	A	T	E	D			E	A	S	E		K	A	L
I	V	O	R	Y	C	O	A	S	T		T	E	R	I
Z	I	N	C		A	N	I	T	A		A	R	C	S
E	D	G	E		B	E	R	Y	L		I	S	E	E

Considering my day job (ophthalmology) and the fact that "I SEE" is the tenth most common four letter entry in crosswords, it's a wonder it took me so long to come up with this theme idea. Four of these theme entries had never appeared in a NYT crossword and two had never appeared in ANY big name crossword, but fortunately the XWord Info Word List had all of them. Internet cafes are on the wane, but ten years ago when Wi-Fi was less available they were big.

I submitted this puzzle by snail mail on 7/7/16, four months before publication. It was accepted on July 22, mostly because David Steinberg was doing an internship with Will and Joel and blasted thru boatloads of mail. Favorite clues that ended up on the editing room floor: "Spaceship-shaped thing from Mars" for M AND M, and "You can bet that they're wrong" for ODDSMAKERS. I suggested maybe cluing I SEE as [When doubled: "Aha! The puzzle theme!"], but I was outvoted.

Tue 7/26/2016
C	A	B	S		A	L	P	S		S	O	F	A	R
O	M	A	N		D	O	I	T		I	H	O	P	E
S	I	D	E	T	A	B	L	E		T	H	R	O	W
I	D	E	A	S		S	O	N	G	T	I	T	L	E
			K	A	T		T	O	N	I		S	O	D
S	E	A	T	R	I	P			A	G	S
I	N	C	H		S	O	R	E	T	H	U	M	B	S
B	O	R	I	S		L	O	X		T	R	O	U	T
S	W	E	E	T	T	O	O	T	H		E	M	L	Y
			F	A	B			S	A	D	T	A	L	E
E	R	G		R	A	F	T		M	E	H
S	O	U	L	T	R	A	I	N		V	I	X	E	N
T	A	S	E	R		S	E	A	S	O	N	T	W	O
E	S	T	E	E		T	U	N	E		G	R	O	G
S	T	O	R	K		S	P	O	T		S	A	K	S

A bunch of "Estee" phrases — 111 letters of interlocking theme material but not the most riveting theme. I'm happy with the way this puzzle turned out, but to tell you the truth I would rather write about my recent ping pong showdown with Will Shortz:

I happened to find myself in Pleasantville recently (the city, not the state of mind), running an errand for the ACPT. Peter A. Collins and I were supposed to pick some things up from Will Shortz's house and schlep them to the tournament site in Stamford, CT . We got there early — you don't want to keep Will waiting if you are a puzzle constructor — and he told us most of the stuff was at his Ping Pong Palace — aka the Westchester Table Tennis Center. When we got there he brought out these high powered inverted dimple ping pong paddles (I was hoping for the old sandpaper surfaced ones myself) and invited us to rally with him!

Will has played ping pong 1000 or so days in a row now he says, but I am not a total slouch at the game myself. I grew up with a table in my basement and I've twice won ping pong tournaments on cruise ships — for my last "gold medal" I had to beat a crafty 75 year old Asian woman in the finals and she was sporting the dreaded penholder grip! I'm a year younger than Will and my arm span is WAY longer — I'd been dreaming of this showdown for years....

Part of my strategy (in addition to trick serves and throwing out distracting questions about anagrams) was to wear Will down by hitting a few wild shots off the table and forcing him to run them down, hopefully having to reach under davenports and such to retrieve them. This was working perfectly, sort of — I lost the first 20 or so points but he was starting to look a bit exasperated. At one point after retrieving one of my errant shots I thought I saw him clutch at his lower back a bit like I might have aggravated an old injury. Then, out of the blue, he came up with a feeble excuse about the crossword tournament starting soon and having to drive there and we had to stop the match! Here is a video excerpt, mercifully compressed to 13 seconds.

I have two pieces of advice if you are thinking you would like to play Will Shortz in ping pong. First, keep your favorite paddle in your back pocket any time you are within shouting distance of him, because you never know when you will be pressed into service to help him in his quest to enter the Guinness Book for the most consecutive days of table tennis. Secondly, don't play him for money.

Thu 2/18/2016
A	D	E	L	P	H				T	E	M	O	N	E
L	I	T	E	R	A	T		C	E	M	A	K	E	R
A	N	D	S	O	D	O		O	N	I	Z	I	N	G
S	O	S		M	A	U		C	A	L		E	E	O
			P	O	N	T		O	N	I	A
J	A	M	E	S	I				T	A	L	I	C	S
A	T	I	T		P	L	A	N	S		E	N	C	E
D	A	N				O	H	O				B	I	G
E	R	S	T		K	N	A	V	E		M	E	N	U
N	I	K	O	L	A				D	B	A	D	G	E
			G	O	T	T		L	I	E	D
W	C	S		T	R	O		O	T	A		F	E	E
H	O	T	C	H	I	L		N	I	T	S	E	L	F
O	P	E	R	A	N	D		G	N	O	R	E	I	T
S	A	M	U	R	A				G	N	I	T	E	S

My day job is ophthalmology, so you might think this "I" surgery puzzle would be right in my wheelhouse. That was not really the case, as it was a long hard process. The first version of this puzzle looked much like this version, but the only entries that used the I's were the four horizontal corner entries. Anna Shechtman (Will's assistant at the time) wrote back and said Will was not overly impressed with the four entry tie-in, but if I could do the trick with all 24 horizontal entries that touch the I's "that would be cool". This was great news, sort of, and I remember spending a minute wondering whether the lovely and talented Anna thought it would be cool, or just Will. Hmmm...

The puzzle probably seems like it would be nearly impossible to construct, but it actually was pretty easy once I realized I could utilize "heavy bars" like the ones used in the puzzle of 12/19/13, and as mentioned by David Steinberg in his constructor blurb of 1/1/16.

Will and Joel decided not to use my idea to clue BIG at 40-Across as "like two of the letters used in this puzzle", but Nancy Schuster (one of Will's testers) told me she would NOT have wanted that revealer. Hope you experienced a nice aha moment when the Big I's came into focus. Matt Ginsberg, if you are out there, I'd be interested to know how Dr. Fill (crossword solving software) did on this puzzle...

Mon 12/21/2015
U	P	D	O	S		A	T	E	A	M		T	H	O
S	L	E	P	T		M	E	N	L	O		W	E	B
C	O	N	T	R	A	P	T	I	O	N		O	Y	S
			E	E	L	S		D	E	A	D	E	Y	E
D	O	O	D	A	D					L	O	G	O	S
R	U	N		M	A	S	S		D	I	N	G	U	S
A	C	E	S			T	E	R	E	S	A
W	H	A	T	C	H	A	M	A	C	A	L	L	I	T
			A	R	A	B	I	C			D	O	S	E
W	I	D	G	E	T		S	E	A	M		N	E	S
I	N	R	E	D					G	A	D	G	E	T
S	T	U	D	I	O	S		A	U	D	I
H	I	M		T	H	I	N	G	A	M	A	J	I	G
E	M	U		O	N	R	Y	E		A	N	O	D	E
S	E	P		R	O	S	E	S		N	A	G	A	T

I was not very optimistic about this puzzle when I was constructing it, because I could not find a way to work DOOHICKEY or GIZMO into it. However, Will and Joel liked the seven theme entries and said they liked the way the words are "fun to say." I had this mental image of the two of them saying these theme entries back and forth to each other as part of the decision process, and that pretty much made my day!

I had options to get rid of some of the crosswordese (ALOE, EMU, IDA, etc.) but I wanted to stick to solid Monday vocab. It was not long ago that I was a Monday solver myself, and I was not at ALL irritated to run across the occasional overused entry or clue. My first grandson (Nolan) was born as I'm writing this — December 9 — the first thing they did when he popped out is clip a thingamajig on his whatchamacallit!

If you are a constructor and you feel like you are not getting enough of your clues accepted I have a suggestion for you: list more than one clue for the entries you really care about! The editors I have discussed that with like the idea, and I can't see any downside to it. Just put a slash/mark between them and try to pick options of varying difficulty. In this puzzle, I listed more than one clue for about half of the entries, and my "success" rate was higher on those than on the ones I only submitted one clue for. I listed two clues for MONA LISA — "Da Vinci masterpiece" and "Art subject with a famous smile" — the actual clue used was an "intriguing" blend of both those options!

By the way, those two odd clumps of blocks in the middle of the puzzle might look like cheater squares but they are actually subtle (Easter egg) grid art! The top one is a standard DOOHICKEY, and the bottom one is, of course, your classic GIZMO..... ;)

Hope you liked the puzzle!

Mon 10/26/2015
W	O	R	K	S		S	H	A	B	B	Y		S	A	W
A	D	I	E	U		O	O	L	A	L	A		U	M	A
C	I	T	Y	B	Y	T	H	E	B	A	Y		P	A	L
O	N	A	U	T	O		O	X	E	N		S	E	N	T
			P	L	U	G		A	L	C	A	T	R	A	Z
P	E	P		E	W	O	K				J	A	M
O	B	O	E		I	N	E	P	T		A	R	O	A	R
G	O	L	D	E	N	G	A	T	E	B	R	I	D	G	E
O	N	A	I	R		S	N	A	P	E		N	E	R	F
		R	B	I				S	E	A	S		L	A	S
C	A	B	L	E	C	A	R		E	M	I	T
I	S	E	E		O	R	I	G		A	T	R	A	I	N
S	K	A		S	A	N	F	R	A	N	C	I	S	C	O
C	U	R		S	T	A	L	I	N		O	B	I	E	S
O	P	S		W	I	Z	E	N	S		M	E	A	T	Y

I live in San Diego, but I've always felt that San Francisco is the most interesting city west of the Mississippi. I wouldn't call myself a liberal but you have to be impressed with San Francisco's role in the hippie counterculture, the sexual revolution, the anti-Vietnam-war peace movement, and the gay rights movement. It was certainly fortuitous that CITY BY THE BAY exactly matches SAN FRANCISCO, and the two biggest tourist attractions match also.

I knew the puzzle had to have the bridge, so I worked out a suspension to the 15x16 size. I spent quite a bit of time trying to design some grid art that looked like a bridge, but that proved to be more difficult than dogs, fish, and birds. I considered trying to work Haight-Ashbury in there somewhere, but my heart wasn't in it.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

Mon 9/21/2015
M	E	T	S		H	T	T	P		S	M	A	S	H
U	N	I	T		O	W	I	E		K	A	P	P	A
S	O	R	E	S	P	O	T	S		I	L	I	A	D
S	W	E	E	P		S	L	O	W	S	T	A	R	T
			P	C	T		E	S	A	U		N	E	O
S	E	T	S	A	I	L			G	I	S
O	R	A	L		S	E	L	L	S	T	O	C	K	S
W	A	C	O			A	A	A			U	H	O	H
S	T	O	P	S	S	H	O	R	T		L	O	L	A
			E	E	K			S	A	D	S	O	N	G
T	V	S		A	I	L	S		X	I	I
S	I	T	S	S	T	I	L	L		M	S	N	B	C
A	R	O	M	A		S	E	E	S	S	T	A	R	S
R	A	V	E	L		Z	E	N	O		E	S	A	I
S	L	E	E	T		T	K	O	S		R	A	T	S

I can't think of much to say about this interlocking SS puzzle, so I'll relate a Short Story. When I started constructing puzzles in early 2012 I was quite inspired by Will Shortz and the crossword community and I went a bit overboard. Every spare minute of my day was spent working on puzzles and I cut back from sleeping eight hours a night to only six. I was submitting two puzzles a week, most of them horrible, and often I forgot to eat !

My wife Liz noticed I had lost a few pounds and thought I had cancer. She made me get an MRI in July 2012 which indeed showed a tiny cancer on my kidney. It was a bad cell type that would have killed me in a few years, but way too small to cause weight loss — the doctors said eating and sleeping less must have been the reason I lost the weight.

The tumor was removed easily and there is no sign of it three years later, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to credit Will Shortz and the entire crossword community (and my wife of course!) with helping to save my life. Thank you!

Wed 7/15/2015
V	E	N	O	M		P	A	C	E			T	O	P
E	L	O	P	E		O	L	A	Y		S	E	R	E
R	E	P	E	R	T	O	I	R	E		U	L	E	E
A	V	E	N	G	E	R			S	A	I	L	O	R
			M	E	R		R	O	O	S	T	S
D	E	C	I		P	R	O	P	R	I	E	T	O	R
I	M	A	C	S		A	C	T	E	D		A	P	O
D	O	M		W	A	D		O	S	E		L	E	A
U	T	E		E	R	I	T	U		S	E	E	D	S
P	E	R	P	E	T	U	I	T	Y		A	S	S	T
		A	L	T	I	M	A		E	M	T
E	X	C	E	S	S			D	O	I	D	A	R	E
D	O	R	A		T	Y	P	E	W	R	I	T	E	R
E	X	E	S		R	A	I	L		E	R	T	E	S
R	O	W			Y	O	G	I		S	T	A	D	T

There is some debate about this, but most sources say the longest common words that can be typed all on one row of the keyboard are repertoire, proprietor, perpetuity, and TYPEWRITER.

The first commercially successful typewriter was invented by a Milwaukee newspaper editor named Sholes, and his initial 1868 model had the letters in two rows and in alphabetical order. Old people like me remember how the metal typebar arms would swing up and hit the inked fabric ribbon.

The two most common letter combinations are TH and ST, and their proximity on the keyboard caused frequent jamming. The Remington company (famous for sewing machines at the time) bought the typewriter rights in 1873, and their research led to the QWERTY layout we use today. Supposedly, they wanted technophobic salespeople to be able to peck out "TYPEWRITER QUOTE" from just the top row (to WOW the customers), so the arrangement was not completely based on ergonomics. Typewriters are passe now, but it seems the QWERTY keyboard is going to be a central part of our lives for the foreseeable future.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

Tue 6/2/2015
B	A	U	M		A	I	R	E	D		V	A	M	P
A	B	R	A		S	N	A	R	E		I	R	I	S
A	B	B	R		K	U	D	O	S		N	E	X	T
B	E	A	C	H	E	R	O	S	I	O	N
A	Y	N		O	W	E	N			L	Y	C	R	A
A	S	S	T	S				B	S	A		H	U	G
		P	I	T	C	H	E	R	O	F	B	E	E	R
I	N	R	E		O	A	S	E	S		A	E	R	O
L	E	A	R	N	T	H	E	R	O	P	E	S
L	A	W		A	S	A				A	Z	E	R	A
S	P	L	A	T			A	J	A	R		P	A	S
			H	E	R	O	S	A	N	D	W	I	C	H
T	I	D	E		A	G	I	N	G		E	Z	I	O
A	Q	U	A		F	R	A	I	L		E	Z	E	R
U	S	E	D		T	E	N	S	E		P	A	R	E

First of all, I'd like to give a shout-out to the "fan club" that coalesced briefly to lambast the fill on my "Eight Letter" puzzle of 4/14/15. I affectionately refer to them as the ... (drumroll) ... H8ers (rimshot).

Moving quickly along, I've often thought that hidden-word puzzles are a bit like "word sandwiches," so this was my attempt to capitalize on that notion. HAM SANDWICH, with 11 letters, would have allowed another theme entry, but a three letter word sandwich didn't seem kosher to me. I wasn't very optimistic about this puzzle since BEACH EROSION seemed less than heroic and my submitted puzzle had an awful section of dreck fill in the middle. I actually had AEDES crossing AIDER — a real bad neighborhood. However, much to my surprise, the puzzle got the green light from Will on the first go-round.

Later I tried to talk Will into "THE OLD SWITCHEROO" as an additional 16-letter theme entry thru the middle but he was not interested in that tricky little transformation. Also, I suggested adding blocks to the middle to improve the fill, but I found out Will had already had Frank Longo clean that up. He did it by moving two blocks instead of adding two blocks- much more elegant. Frank is an ace solver and does a lot of NYT puzzle work behind the scenes with little or no recognition — thank You Frank Longo (and Will and Joel), for making some of us constructors look smarter than we really are!

Tue 4/14/2015
G	A	G	A		A	I	R	E	S		T	E	E	S
A	G	E	S		G	R	E	T	A		R	A	T	E
T	H	A	T	S	G	R	E	A	T		I	S	H	E
E	A	R		H	I	E	S		T	A	S	T	E	R
			S	I	E	G		T	I	T	T	E	R	S
S	T	R	E	S	S		S	I	G	H	E	R
H	E	A	T	H		S	E	T	H	S		E	E	G
A	R	T	I		E	I	G	H	T		A	G	R	I
H	A	T		R	A	R	E	E		S	S	G	T	S
		E	R	A	S	E	R		G	E	T	S	E	T
S	T	R	E	E	T	S		T	I	T	I
T	E	R	E	S	A		H	A	R	T		A	H	S
E	R	I	S		S	T	A	R	T	E	R	S	E	T
T	R	E	E		I	R	I	S	H		A	T	R	A
S	I	R	S		A	E	G	I	S		G	R	E	G

When I first started constructing three years ago I was immediately drawn to "stunt" puzzles — one vowel only, no E's, no three or four letter words, twelve Hawaiian letters only (my son goes to UH), quadruple pangram, etc. I did develop some tricks to make it easier, but overall the puzzles tend to have compromises, making them hard to get published.

When Ray Young beat me to the punch and came up with a quadruple pangram in a 78 word 15x15 grid on 3/20/13, I abandoned that project and decided to try the other end of the spectrum. I saw that Peter Gordon and David Kahn held the record for fewest letters at ten — I doubt they even knew or cared about it. I submitted a nine letter puzzle with four long entries starting with Q but Will gave it a "nein". Will also did not like my first eight letter puzzle but he thought this second one had reasonably clean and interesting fill considering the constraints.

If you're thinking of trying to see "how low can you go" the good news is that it is definitely possible to make puzzles with fewer letters — I think five letters is doable. The bad news is that each dropped letter causes an exponential drop in available words, making the resulting puzzle rather monotonous. Will likes innovation, but he definitely does not like boring.

Hope you enjoyed these eight letters — there are a few groaners, but you have to love EASTER EGGS!

Mon 3/30/2015
		J	O	Y			W	H	O			B	B	C
	L	U	R	E		I	R	E	D		A	Y	L	A
B	I	R	D	S	O	F	A	F	E	A	T	H	E	R
B	E	Y			A	S	P			G	O	O	S	E
Q	U	O		P	R	O	P		R	E	P	O	S	E
		F	O	E			I	C	E			K	E	N
	E	Y	R	E		G	N	U	S		R	O	D	S
F	L	O	C	K	T	O	G	E	T	H	E	R
O	S	U			R	A	P			A	B	B	E	S
X	E	R		P	I	T	A		P	L	A	Y	A	T
		P	I	E			P	A	L			C	S	I
	C	E	C	E		H	E	L	I		B	R	E	R
C	L	E	A	R	F	O	R	T	A	K	E	O	F	F
A	I	R	M	A	I	L		O	N	E	H	O	U	R
R	O	S	E	T	T	A		S	T	A	R	K	L	Y

This was one of my early puzzles from 2012 and I was NOT very optimistic about it. I didn't like the asymmetry, I didn't like the fill, I didn't like the 30 (!) three letter words, and I was afraid the birds looked more like stealth bombers. I did not think a puzzle about stealth bombers would fly.

Will must have been up in the air about this one because it sat on his desk for six months — he eventually wrote me saying that he really liked the bird art, but could I clean up one corner of the fill? By that time my fill skill had improved some, and I took the opportunity to make wholesale changes, all of which were approved. Six months later I suggested more changes, some of which were approved. I still don't like AYLA, BEHR, and ABBES, particularly for a Monday, but at least Will and Joel came up with a current Beyonce clue for BEY. Long after the redos I realized this puzzle grid has diagonal symmetry like the kite puzzle I did, but the theme entries are vertically (not diagonally) symmetric.

I wanted to point out the birds pretty directly in the clues, ala the fish puzzle I did, but Will just hinted at them ("Flier in a V formation" as the clue for GOOSE). There certainly is something appealing about a little "grid art" oyster lurking in the background for the observant solver, but it surely will fly over the heads of some Monday solvers. At one point I was considering ALFRED HITCHCOCK at 49-Across — I think he might have liked this puzzle!

Tue 2/17/2015
C	A	T		B	A	G	S		G	A	B		P	O	M
H	M	O		O	O	N	A		A	C	E		Y	A	O
O	A	T		X	R	A	Y		R	C	A		R	H	O
W	H	O	L	E	T	T	H	E	D	O	G	S	O	U	T
			O	R	A		I	S	E	U	L	T
A	R	L	O				T	A	N	N	E	R	I	E	S
S	E	E	K				O	U	S	T		E	N	N	E
S	A	M	O	A	N							T	A	C	T
I	D	U	N	N	O							C	R	A	T
S	T	R	E	E	T		A	M	P	M		H	O	S	E
T	O	S	S	E	S		N	C	O	S		E	W	E	R
			B	L	O	O	D	H	O	U	N	D
P	I	P	E		B	R	E	A	D		T	O	A	S	T
U	K	E	S		A	T	A	L	L		H	U	S	K	Y
G	E	N	T		D	O	N	E	E		S	T	A	I	R

The story of this puzzle is a bit like Disneys "The Incredible Journey." The poor animal started out in San Diego, 3000 miles from Will Shortz's house, and had to doggedly find its way there — without any cats to help. It was the seventh version of this puzzle that eventually got accepted — I think Will started to feel sorry for the little pooch!

I was always optimistic about this puzzle, in spite of the 51 blocks, the asymmetry, and the rejections, because to me the grid art is super clear. I have shown this image to about a hundred people over the last year or two, and ALL of them see the dog, sometimes with a little prompting. A lot of them don't just say "dog", they say "Oh look — a Scottish Terrier!"

This grid might not look hard to fill, but 76 words in a 15x16 puzzle equates to 71 words in a normal sized puzzle, and with a lot of theme entries the fill was LABorious. The area under Scottie's chin was particulary hard to fill cleanly, and that doesn't even have any theme entries in it. Will wanted it for a Monday, but I think ISEULT at 27-Across pushed it over into a Tuesday slot. It's certainly more fun to clue for a Tuesday.

Will was kind enough to take my suggestion and publish this puzzle on the day of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show finals, but he opted not to mention the show in any clues. He also did not seem at ALL interested in possibly appearing on live TV to discuss Scottie's physical attributes with the dog show judges.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

Tue 12/23/2014
C	O	F	F	E	E	S		G	I	A	N	T	S
O	X	I	D	I	Z	E		A	L	G	E	R	I	A
R	E	A	R	L	I	T		B	L	A	Z	I	N	G
E	N	T		E	N	A	B	L	E	R		B	E	E
			T	E	E	H	E	E			N	E	W	S
E	L	F	I	N		E	A	R	T	H	Y
B	U	L	L		W	A	N		H	A	T	T	E	R
B	R	O		B	A	D	S	E	E	D		G	L	O
S	K	E	W	E	R		T	S	O		J	I	M	A
			M	A	N	I	A	C		G	O	F	O	R
S	F	P	D			S	L	A	P	A	T
A	R	E		R	A	N	K	L	E	S		N	A	B
R	E	T	R	A	C	T		L	A	S	C	A	L	A
G	E	R	A	R	D	O		O	C	E	A	N	U	S
	H	I	J	A	C	K		P	E	R	F	U	M	E

My first version of this puzzle had a self-centered string of I's going down the middle of the puzzle from top to bottom. It didn't look much like a beanstalk, and all that "I-business" caused some problems with the fill.

The second version had BEANBEANBEANBEAN down the middle (15x16 oversized grid) — Will did not see any magic in that.

For this accepted version, I put the only two vertical block groups in the middle, with BEANSTALK connecting them. I was able to "hide" the other words in bigger words ... sort of. I went with the Wikipedia spelling of FEE, FI, FO, and FUM — there were other versions out there. I considered cluing HIJACK as "Bad thing to yell to a friend on a plane," but that would have spilled the beans. Jack and the Giant are attached to the beanstalk, and I envision this as the moment when Jack has just made it down with all the loot he stole from the poor giant, and Jack is about to grab an axe and chop down the beanstalk. The bean salesman will no doubt be harping on Jack for a cut of the profits soon ...

The southwest portion of this grid was hard to fill — HIJACK is tough to work with, particularly on the bottom row. The version I submitted to Will (see right) is quite a bit different than what was published. My favorite entry in the whole puzzle was NO CAN DO at 63-Across, so I was surprised that Will replaced it with GERARDO. I assume he was not pleased with the combination of RENA, STR, ESCE, and IME — pretty bad, I must admit. I take this as a lesson that one is better off with a hard but fair long word, even for early week, than a bunch of weak short "glue."

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

Mon 11/10/2014
J	A	V	A		Q	U	E	S	T		S	T	U	B
A	V	E	R		U	N	D	U	E		T	A	R	O
D	O	N	T	M	A	K	E	M	E	L	A	U	G	H
E	N	D		A	K	I	N			U	T	T	E	R
			E	V	E	N		I	D	L	E
F	U	H	G	E	D	D	A	B	O	U	D	I	T
O	N	I	O	N			L	E	I	S		C	O	G
R	I	P	S		T	W	I	X	T		P	I	T	A
A	F	T		G	R	A	B			H	O	N	E	Y
	Y	O	U	R	E	K	I	D	D	I	N	G	M	E
			N	I	K	E		R	A	N	G
S	T	R	I	P			B	A	N	D		F	Y	I
T	H	A	T	S	R	I	D	I	C	U	L	O	U	S
O	O	Z	E		I	N	A	N	E		U	R	A	L
P	R	E	S		A	B	Y	S	S		G	E	N	E

Not too surprisingly, this puzzle started with FUHGEDDABOUDIT, and I just needed to find three more entries that meant aboud the same thing. My initial impression was that I would need to use the FUHGEDABOUDIT (one D) spelling since that is the way it appeared in Daniel Kantor's NYT puzzle of 8/7/07 (unrelated theme). I had trouble finding another 13 letter theme entry, so I looked up FUHGEDABOUDIT and was happy to find that the "preferred" Wiktionary spelling has two D's! I wasn't familiar with the term "eye dialect" — a little embarrassing since I am an ophthalmologist — but apparently this is an "eye dialect" spelling based on colloquial or dialectal speech. I have to tell you this word-nerd stuff is really fascinating to me!

My first try at this puzzle had NINE entries that Will did not like — mostly plurals like SEPTS, CDRS, GRRS, and LSTS. My impression is that Will is not really enamored with plurals or abbreviations, so plural abbreviations might be a good thing to avoid when possible. This second try at filling the puzzle has slightly harder but more interesting words, and a lot less "glue." The only clue I was sorry to see on the editing floor was "trips the light fantastic" for DANCES at 46-Down — Wikipedia attributes that phrase to a Milton poem of 1645 and says it's been hackneyed since 1908, but NO WAY! I think it's a classic.

I don't remember starting with any desire to make my first pangram, but when I got down to just the northwest corner and all I needed was a J...

Fri 8/8/2014
G	A	N	G	N	A	M		L	E	A	P	S	A	T
A	M	E	R	I	C	A		O	I	L	R	I	C	H
S	O	M	E	T	H	I	N	G	S	F	I	S	H	Y
O	R	E			E	D	Y	S		A	S	T	E	R
H	O	S				E	S	O	S		M	I	S	O
O	S	I	S		O	N	E	U	P	S		N	O	I
L	O	S	E	R	S			T	A	I	L	E	N	D
			R	O	C				N	G	O
A	L	L	T	H	A	T		S	O	N	N	E	T	S
L	E	E		E	R	I	T	U			I	N	R	E
A	T	A	N		S	T	A	N				C	A	D
M	I	N	E	D		R	U	B	E		A	L	I	A
O	N	T	H	E	W	A	T	E	R	F	R	O	N	T
D	O	O	R	M	A	T		L	O	O	K	S	E	E
E	N	S	U	I	T	E		T	O	P	S	E	E	D

First off, if you didn't see the "grid art" in this puzzle, the picture below will give you a hint. It also gives you a good idea where I got this puzzle idea, since I am a cheddarhead from Wisconsin and these are my favorite crackers.

This project started out as a themed puzzle with corner entries like MERMAID and REELSIN — that puzzle was not reeled in. Then I tried a Thursday version where you had to complete the seven letter corner entries with the word FISH — my favorite was STANDOF(FISH) clued as "Shy". Will was standoffish (my puzzle came up shy) and felt the theme entries were interfering with solid fill. He recommended a mini-themed Friday version and that managed to get accepted. I seeded the upper left with GANGNAM because it had just passed Justin Bieber as the all-time most popular YouTube video. Thankfully, with AMERICA's help, it worked out.

In case you enjoy grid art, here's another fish-related puzzle I sent Will. He felt most solvers would not figure out the image, but try to guess what it depicts and what the 17 letter middle theme entry might be. (Here's a clue and the answer.)

Hope you enjoyed the fishing expedition!

Wed 7/9/2014
D	E	P	O	T		R	A	N	G	E		B	A	L
R	A	J	A	H		U	S	E	I	N		E	T	E
J	U	S	T	A	R	R	I	V	E	D		E	O	S
			S	T	E	A	D			E	A	R	N	S
M	A	D		S	A	L	E	S	T	A	R	G	E	T
O	B	A	M	A				T	O	R	T	U	G	A
M	A	D	A	G	A	S	C	A	R			T	O	R
			C	O	S	T	A	R	I	C	A
A	D	D			W	I	S	E	C	R	A	C	K	S
S	O	R	O	R	A	L				E	A	S	E	L
T	O	U	R	I	S	T	A	R	E	A		A	G	O
A	D	M	E	N			C	O	M	T	E
R	L	S		S	T	A	R	S	T	U	D	D	E	D
T	E	E		E	S	T	E	E		R	E	A	D	Y
E	S	T		S	E	E	D	S		E	N	S	U	E

Most of my few puzzle successes have involved lots of hard work and rewrites, but this little star-trek came together in a couple hours and (startlingly) was accepted by Will without changes a couple weeks after submission. While it sat in the queue I sent Will a couple ideas to smooth out some glitches, but he thought the ideas caused new problems and went with the original version. This was one of my early puzzles — back in the day when I thought five letter partials were sort of trendy and "cute" — now I would keep one only after a long hard battle. I would still keep AS WAS, but I would find a way to get rid of USE IN (and GIE). I only intended to have four theme entries but when ASTARTE came up out of the blue I looked for a star in the east. STARE is a pretty weak co-star that also just popped up during the fill. I like the way MOM and DAD are joined by MAD and run thru OBAMA — talk about your star-crossed lovers! Hope you enjoyed the stargazing!

Mon 6/16/2014
B	U	L	B		A	S	A	P		B	A	B	A	S
I	G	O	R		B	A	B	E		U	L	T	R	A
B	L	U	E	B	E	A	R	D		G	E	E	K	Y
S	I	T	A	R		B	I	R	D	B	R	A	I	N
			K	I	M		M	O	U	E		M	N	O
B	A	R	B	E	L	L			M	A	B
A	M	O	R		B	A	N	K	B	R	A	N	C	H
R	I	L	E			H	E	N			C	I	A	O
B	E	L	A	B	A	R	T	O	K		K	N	E	E
			D	U	G			B	I	G	B	A	N	D
A	D	D		S	A	P	S		A	L	I
B	E	E	F	B	R	O	T	H		I	T	S	O	N
I	G	L	O	O		B	E	E	R	B	E	L	L	Y
D	A	I	R	Y		O	V	I	D		R	A	G	E
E	S	S	E	S		X	E	R	S		S	W	A	T

My first version of this puzzle had Bill Bixby and Bill Bailey in it, which Will felt was repetitious. It also had BARBARA at 9-Down, which was just plain lame. My second version had solid theme entries but had some fill issues — the third try was accepted. It sat in the queue for a few months and I noticed I could eliminate the one partial phrase and the word KLAN, which Will was happy to do. I had KLAN clued as "Sheetheads?" — that might not have cleared the editing desk. In this final version I notice that one of Will's assistants made a couple small changes in other parts of the grid, so this baby may not be perfect but it has been pretty well worked over. Any weakness at this point can be attributed to Monday constraints and 109 letters of theme fill, or 130 if you want to count BULB, BABE, BARB, BIBS, and BABAS. You might think the 23 B's in this puzzle would be close to a record — would you believe the record is 48? At one point Will told me to just give up on trying to work BTEAM in there, because the puzzle doesn't really need a theme revealer. However, I found a different place to wedge it in, and MNO was the only real downside. Hope you liked it!

POW Tue 3/4/2014
D	R	D	O	O	M		I	B	M	P	C
J	A	R	U	L	E		B	R	A	I	D
E	V	E	N	E	R		E	A	R	N	S
D	I	S	C	O	V	E	R	I	N	G		I	D	A
	S	S	E			D	I	N	E		E	T	A	T
A	H	I			A	W	A	Y		B	L	A	R	E
B	E	N	J	A	M	I	N		Q	U	E	L	L	S
E	D	G	E	D	I	N		F	U	R	C	O	A	T
			L	A	D		P	R	I	N	T
G	O	F	L	Y		S	H	A	D		R	O	D	S
E	U	R	O		A	M	E	N			I	B	E	T
I	T	A		S	K	U	N	K		S	C	A	L	A
S	E	N	S	E	I		O	L	D	T	I	M	E	R
H	A	C	K	I	T		M	I	S	S	T	A	T	E
A	T	E	A	S	E		S	N	L		Y	S	E	R

Bruce:

Pete Collins and I have been friends since childhood, when our families used to vacation together on a small lake in Wisconsin. He agreed to mentor me in 2012 when I got interested in constructing crosswords. I got this electricity puzzle idea when I was "block-doodling" one day on the computer and noticed I could make a pretty realistic looking kite. My wife Liz suggested I tie in Ben Franklin so I worked some lightning bolts into the grid. The first version had BEN and KEY attached to the bottom of the kite string, but that did not fly. I loved the grid art though, so I shipped the puzzle to Pete to see if he could get this project off the ground — I'll let him finish the story. Thanks for everything, Pete!

Pete:

Bruce and I share an interest in "grid art." I think this grid is particularly nice, with the kite and lightning bolts. But make no mistake — this one is Bruce's baby (I'm just the godfather). We went back and forth several times, with the kite being oriented various ways, before we settled on this arrangement. In addition to the grid art, I really like the highly unusual diagonal symmetry — and the three pairs of themed answers. And our reward for getting this puzzle published? We get three Benjamins!

Fri 2/14/2014
A	R	M	Y	C	A	M	P			U	R	G	E	S
R	E	A	D	A	B	O	O	K		T	A	U	N	T
P	I	N	S	T	R	I	P	E		T	H	E	D	A
E	N	E			A	R	S	E	N	E		S	L	Y
L	A	D	Y	S		A	T	P	A	R		T	E	C
			O	P	A		H	I	P		E	S	S	O
	L	A	K	E	P	O	E	T		F	A	T	S	O
L	O	V	E	C	O	N	Q	U	E	R	S	A	L	L
I	D	O	L	S		P	U	P	P	E	T	R	Y
L	E	I	S		R	A	E		I	T	O
L	S	D		N	U	T	S	O		S	N	O	U	T
I	T	A		Y	E	R	T	L	E			V	S	O
P	O	N	T	E		O	I	L	T	Y	C	O	O	N
U	N	C	U	T		L	O	I	T	E	R	I	N	G
T	E	E	N	S			N	E	A	T	I	D	E	A

This is only my second published puzzle — I was introduced to crossword construction by Pete Collins, who coincidentally authored the puzzle from two days ago. Thanks Pete! I've also been inspired by Manny Nosowsky — a surgeon who published his first puzzle at age 59 (like me) and went on to become a legend in the crossword industry.

My original submission for this puzzle had ITS GOOD PR for one of the entries, clued as "This will help our image". I rather liked that one myself, but Will felt it seemed "made up" as a phrase. He liked the rest though, and I was able to repair the defect with surprisingly little impact on the rest of the grid.

If I squint real hard this puzzle grid looks like a diamond ring to me, with four prongs holding the main stone (imagination needed here) and some smaller baguettes in a swirl pattern — perfect for POPS THE QUESTION. Is anyone buying it?

Bruce Haight author page

63 puzzles by Bruce Haight
with Constructor comments

M	A	S	S		S	C	A	M		C	H	O	I	R
E	R	M	A		C	O	C	A		R	A	N	B	Y
H	E	A	V	Y	H	A	N	D		E	M	C	E	E
		R	E	V	E	R	E	D		W	H	E	T	S
K	I	T		E	M	S		A	S	N	O
A	N	Y		S	E	E		S	P	E	C	T	R	A
R	A	P						H	I	C	K	H	O	P
A	K	A		B	A	M		E	L	K		A	S	S
C	N	N		E	V	O		S	T	S		T	E	C
H	O	T	H	E	A	D						S	O	O
I	T	S	A	T	I	E		B	O	Y		S	I	R
			T	A	L	L		E	R	E		O	L	E
F	I	S	H	Y		S	T	E	W	A	R	T
O	N	E	A	L		H	I	G	H	H	O	R	S	E
P	O	L	I	O		I	D	E	A		C	U	T	S
S	T	A	R	R		P	E	E	T		K	E	E	P

E	E	L	I	N	G		O	S	L	O		I	D	E	D
O	R	O	M	E	O		P	H	E	W		N	I	N	A
N	E	W	P	O	T	A	T	O	E	S		L	E	T	T
S	A	N	S		C	L	I	O			M	E	D	I	A
A	D	O		C	H	I	C	K	E	N	S	T	O	C	K
G	E	T	B	E	A	T			W	I	N		W	E	E
O	R	E	A	D			D	I	E	T		A	N	D	Y
			H	E	A	V	Y	C	R	E	A	M
B	E	S	S		L	I	E	U			B	I	B	L	E
U	N	A		P	O	E			D	E	E	D	B	O	X
S	A	U	T	E	E	D	L	E	E	K	S		Q	V	C
R	C	C	A	R			U	T	N	E		C	R	E	E
I	T	I	S		V	I	C	H	Y	S	S	O	I	S	E
D	E	N	T		A	C	R	E		B	U	L	B	E	D
E	D	G	Y		L	E	E	R		Y	E	A	S	T	S

M	A	D	A	M			A	L	T	O		F	D	A
A	D	E	L	E		S	C	A	R	E		A	I	R
N	E	V	E	R	B	E	T	T	E	R		C	D	S
O	L	E		L	I	M	I	T			F	E	T	E
R	I	L	E		R	I	V	E	R	B	A	S	I	N
S	N	O	R	E	D				A	L	T	I	M	A
	E	P	I	C		V	O	L	G	A		T	E	L
			C	O	V	E	R	B	A	N	D
I	M	S		L	U	T	E	S		C	I	T	E
H	O	T	P	A	D				I	H	E	A	R	D
O	V	E	R	B	U	D	G	E	T		D	R	N	O
P	I	P	E			E	E	R	I	E		H	U	G
E	E	O		L	I	N	K	I	N	G	V	E	R	B
S	A	N		T	R	I	K	E		G	E	E	S	E
O	D	E		D	E	M	O			O	G	L	E	D

S	E	W			T	I	N	C	T			A	D	S
U	S	A		E	N	D	U	R	E	S		D	I	P
M	A	R		G	O	L	I	A	T	H		Z	O	O
O	U	T	V	O	T	E		T	R	A	B	E	R	T
			A	M	E	R	I	C	A	N	O
J	O	L	L	A		I	S	H		T	O	I	L	S
O	N	E	L	S		C	S	I		Y	K	N	O	W
R	I	D	E	S		H	O	T		T	O	R	T	E
G	O	T	Y	A						O	F	U	S	E
E	N	V	O	G	U	E		L	O	W	S	N	A	P
			F	E	S	S		A	N	N	A
J	O	N	E	S	E	S		Y	E	S	M	A	A	M
U	R	A	L		D	A	V	I	D		U	C	L	A
M	E	T	A		T	Y	I	N	G		E	M	I	T
P	O	S	H		O	S	A	G	E		L	E	T	S

Y	S	L		F	R	E	A	K			S	W	A	M
A	T	E		B	A	N	T	A	M		M	E	R	E
P	A	S	S	I	N	G	T	H	E	T	O	R	C	H
A	R	L	O				A	L	O	E	G	E	L
T	R	I	P	L	E	C	R	O	W	N		H	I	C
	Y	E	S	I	D	O			S	T	O	O	G	E
				L	E	S	S				I	M	H	O
	A	S	P	I	R	I	N	T	A	B	L	E	T
B	T	U	S				L	E	T	O
O	B	R	I	E	N			R	O	Y	A	L	S
T	O	E		T	O	W	N	A	N	D	G	O	W	N
	T	H	A	T	T	O	O				E	R	A	S
S	T	A	T	U	E	O	F	L	I	B	E	R	T	Y
K	O	N	A		S	L	E	E	V	E		I	A	N
I	M	D	B			F	E	T	E	D		E	T	C

A	T	B	A	T			V	A	C	A	Y		M	E	L
M	A	O	R	I	S		A	M	O	R	E		O	L	E
P	I	C	K	E	T	H	L	I	N	E	S		V	I	A
M	L	K		D	U	A	L					B	I	O	S
			P	U	B	L	I	C	T	O	I	L	E	T	H
E	C	L	I	P	S	E		H	E	A	T	E	R
T	H	I	N				A	R	T	S	C	H	O	O	L
C	A	T		F	A	D	D	I	E	T	H		L	I	E
H	O	T	E	L	B	A	R	S				G	E	N	X
		E	L	O	I	S	E		P	A	R	A	S	K	I
M	A	R	K	E	T	H	P	L	A	C	E	S
E	B	B	S					O	A	T	S		L	I	P
A	B	U		M	O	D	E	L	R	O	C	K	E	T	H
L	O	G		P	R	O	W	L		R	U	I	N	E	D
S	T	S		H	E	X	E	S			E	X	A	M	S

L	A	C	K	S		A	P	E	X		B	E	E	T
A	L	L	E	Y		F	L	O	E		L	A	D	E
B	L	O	W	N	G	L	A	S	S		A	R	M	S
A	T	M		C	O	A	T			I	N	S	E	T
M	O	P	S		A	C	E	P	I	T	C	H	E	R
B	L	E	E	P	S			L	O	S		O	S	U
A	D	D	T	O		A	M	A	N	A		T	E	N
			S	P	A	C	E	C	A	S	E
Z	A	G		T	I	T	H	E		I	C	E	E	S
I	R	E		A	D	O			S	N	O	C	A	P
P	O	R	K	B	A	R	R	E	L		N	O	S	H
F	U	M	E	S			O	N	U	S		T	I	E
I	S	A	Y		H	O	L	D	M	Y	B	E	E	R
L	E	N	O		I	D	E	A		M	O	U	S	E
E	D	E	N		P	E	S	T		S	O	R	T	S

M	A	G	M	A		B	A	G	G	Y		S	E	W	S
O	T	O	E	S		O	P	I	N	E		E	V	A	N
T	W	O	T	H	U	M	B	S	U	P		V	E	R	A
T	A	D	A		F	B	I				S	E	R	I	F
O	R	G		N	O	S	O	U	P	F	O	R	Y	O	U
		U	S	E	S			P	A	R	S	E
D	R	E	A	M		M	I	T	R	E			F	A	M
J	U	S	T	O	N	E	M	O	R	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	T	S			I	R	O	N	Y		E	A	R	N	S
			L	O	N	G	U			A	C	H	E
H	O	W	S	W	E	E	T	I	T	I	S		P	S	T
A	N	O	D	E				C	A	D		I	O	T	A
N	E	W	T		F	I	N	A	L	A	N	S	W	E	R
G	A	Z	A		C	R	O	N	E		A	L	E	R	T
S	L	A	B		C	E	N	T	S		T	E	R	N	S

M	O	R	P	H		R	E	M	I	T		S	I	B	S
A	W	A	R	E		E	L	I	S	E		E	N	Y	A
C	O	V	E	R	A	L	L	T	H	E	B	A	S	E	S
E	W	E		E	L	I	A			P	O	S	E	A	S
			W	I	L	E		S	T	E	M		C	R	Y
R	I	G	H	T	O	F	F	T	H	E	B	A	T
A	D	R	O	I	T		A	R	E	S		T	B	A	R
C	L	A	Y	S		S	C	A	M		B	R	I	B	E
K	E	M	O		N	A	I	F		S	E	A	T	E	D
		O	U	T	O	F	L	E	F	T	F	I	E	L	D
S	U	P		I	S	E	E		L	O	A	N
A	S	H	O	R	E			C	O	O	L		W	A	H
W	H	O	L	E	N	E	W	B	A	L	L	G	A	M	E
T	E	N	D		S	W	E	E	T		E	N	T	E	R
O	R	E	S		E	W	E	R	S		N	U	T	S	O

A	C	H		F	L	A	G		E	P	H	E	D	R	A
T	R	U	E	L	O	V	E		T	O	E	L	O	O	P
B	U	T	M	A	T	E	T	H	E	R	E	S	W	A	R
A	S	T	I	N			N	O	R		P	I	N	S
T	O	O	T			C	A	E	N			E	T	T	U
S	E	N	T		B	A	S	S	E	S			U	P	S
			I	C	A	N	T			C	E	D	R	I	C
	M	E	N	S	D	A	Y	W	A	R	N	I	N	G
H	U	N	G	U	P			E	R	O	D	E
U	S	S			R	A	I	L	E	D		T	T	O	P
E	T	N	A			V	O	L	S			P	I	N	E
	H	A	L	S		O	N	O			A	L	P	H	A
C	A	R	E	T	O	W	A	K	E	A	M	A	J	O	R
O	V	E	R	U	S	E		A	L	L	I	N	A	L	L
B	E	S	T	B	U	D		Y	I	P	E		R	D	S

M	A	S	S		S	C	A	M		C	H	O	I	R
E	R	M	A		C	O	C	A		R	A	N	B	Y
H	E	A	V	Y	H	A	N	D		E	M	C	E	E
		R	E	V	E	R	E	D		W	H	E	T	S
K	I	T		E	M	S		A	S	N	O
A	N	Y		S	E	E		S	P	E	C	T	R	A
R	A	P						H	I	C	K	H	O	P
A	K	A		B	A	M		E	L	K		A	S	S
C	N	N		E	V	O		S	T	S		T	E	C
H	O	T	H	E	A	D						S	O	O
I	T	S	A	T	I	E		B	O	Y		S	I	R
			T	A	L	L		E	R	E		O	L	E
F	I	S	H	Y		S	T	E	W	A	R	T
O	N	E	A	L		H	I	G	H	H	O	R	S	E
P	O	L	I	O		I	D	E	A		C	U	T	S
S	T	A	R	R		P	E	E	T		K	E	E	P

E	E	L	I	N	G		O	S	L	O		I	D	E	D
O	R	O	M	E	O		P	H	E	W		N	I	N	A
N	E	W	P	O	T	A	T	O	E	S		L	E	T	T
S	A	N	S		C	L	I	O			M	E	D	I	A
A	D	O		C	H	I	C	K	E	N	S	T	O	C	K
G	E	T	B	E	A	T			W	I	N		W	E	E
O	R	E	A	D			D	I	E	T		A	N	D	Y
			H	E	A	V	Y	C	R	E	A	M
B	E	S	S		L	I	E	U			B	I	B	L	E
U	N	A		P	O	E			D	E	E	D	B	O	X
S	A	U	T	E	E	D	L	E	E	K	S		Q	V	C
R	C	C	A	R			U	T	N	E		C	R	E	E
I	T	I	S		V	I	C	H	Y	S	S	O	I	S	E
D	E	N	T		A	C	R	E		B	U	L	B	E	D
E	D	G	Y		L	E	E	R		Y	E	A	S	T	S

M	A	D	A	M			A	L	T	O		F	D	A
A	D	E	L	E		S	C	A	R	E		A	I	R
N	E	V	E	R	B	E	T	T	E	R		C	D	S
O	L	E		L	I	M	I	T			F	E	T	E
R	I	L	E		R	I	V	E	R	B	A	S	I	N
S	N	O	R	E	D				A	L	T	I	M	A
	E	P	I	C		V	O	L	G	A		T	E	L
			C	O	V	E	R	B	A	N	D
I	M	S		L	U	T	E	S		C	I	T	E
H	O	T	P	A	D				I	H	E	A	R	D
O	V	E	R	B	U	D	G	E	T		D	R	N	O
P	I	P	E			E	E	R	I	E		H	U	G
E	E	O		L	I	N	K	I	N	G	V	E	R	B
S	A	N		T	R	I	K	E		G	E	E	S	E
O	D	E		D	E	M	O			O	G	L	E	D

S	E	W			T	I	N	C	T			A	D	S
U	S	A		E	N	D	U	R	E	S		D	I	P
M	A	R		G	O	L	I	A	T	H		Z	O	O
O	U	T	V	O	T	E		T	R	A	B	E	R	T
			A	M	E	R	I	C	A	N	O
J	O	L	L	A		I	S	H		T	O	I	L	S
O	N	E	L	S		C	S	I		Y	K	N	O	W
R	I	D	E	S		H	O	T		T	O	R	T	E
G	O	T	Y	A						O	F	U	S	E
E	N	V	O	G	U	E		L	O	W	S	N	A	P
			F	E	S	S		A	N	N	A
J	O	N	E	S	E	S		Y	E	S	M	A	A	M
U	R	A	L		D	A	V	I	D		U	C	L	A
M	E	T	A		T	Y	I	N	G		E	M	I	T
P	O	S	H		O	S	A	G	E		L	E	T	S

Y	S	L		F	R	E	A	K			S	W	A	M
A	T	E		B	A	N	T	A	M		M	E	R	E
P	A	S	S	I	N	G	T	H	E	T	O	R	C	H
A	R	L	O				A	L	O	E	G	E	L
T	R	I	P	L	E	C	R	O	W	N		H	I	C
	Y	E	S	I	D	O			S	T	O	O	G	E
				L	E	S	S				I	M	H	O
	A	S	P	I	R	I	N	T	A	B	L	E	T
B	T	U	S				L	E	T	O
O	B	R	I	E	N			R	O	Y	A	L	S
T	O	E		T	O	W	N	A	N	D	G	O	W	N
	T	H	A	T	T	O	O				E	R	A	S
S	T	A	T	U	E	O	F	L	I	B	E	R	T	Y
K	O	N	A		S	L	E	E	V	E		I	A	N
I	M	D	B			F	E	T	E	D		E	T	C

A	T	B	A	T			V	A	C	A	Y		M	E	L
M	A	O	R	I	S		A	M	O	R	E		O	L	E
P	I	C	K	E	T	H	L	I	N	E	S		V	I	A
M	L	K		D	U	A	L					B	I	O	S
			P	U	B	L	I	C	T	O	I	L	E	T	H
E	C	L	I	P	S	E		H	E	A	T	E	R
T	H	I	N				A	R	T	S	C	H	O	O	L
C	A	T		F	A	D	D	I	E	T	H		L	I	E
H	O	T	E	L	B	A	R	S				G	E	N	X
		E	L	O	I	S	E		P	A	R	A	S	K	I
M	A	R	K	E	T	H	P	L	A	C	E	S
E	B	B	S					O	A	T	S		L	I	P
A	B	U		M	O	D	E	L	R	O	C	K	E	T	H
L	O	G		P	R	O	W	L		R	U	I	N	E	D
S	T	S		H	E	X	E	S			E	X	A	M	S

L	A	C	K	S		A	P	E	X		B	E	E	T
A	L	L	E	Y		F	L	O	E		L	A	D	E
B	L	O	W	N	G	L	A	S	S		A	R	M	S
A	T	M		C	O	A	T			I	N	S	E	T
M	O	P	S		A	C	E	P	I	T	C	H	E	R
B	L	E	E	P	S			L	O	S		O	S	U
A	D	D	T	O		A	M	A	N	A		T	E	N
			S	P	A	C	E	C	A	S	E
Z	A	G		T	I	T	H	E		I	C	E	E	S
I	R	E		A	D	O			S	N	O	C	A	P
P	O	R	K	B	A	R	R	E	L		N	O	S	H
F	U	M	E	S			O	N	U	S		T	I	E
I	S	A	Y		H	O	L	D	M	Y	B	E	E	R
L	E	N	O		I	D	E	A		M	O	U	S	E
E	D	E	N		P	E	S	T		S	O	R	T	S

M	A	G	M	A		B	A	G	G	Y		S	E	W	S
O	T	O	E	S		O	P	I	N	E		E	V	A	N
T	W	O	T	H	U	M	B	S	U	P		V	E	R	A
T	A	D	A		F	B	I				S	E	R	I	F
O	R	G		N	O	S	O	U	P	F	O	R	Y	O	U
		U	S	E	S			P	A	R	S	E
D	R	E	A	M		M	I	T	R	E			F	A	M
J	U	S	T	O	N	E	M	O	R	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	T	S			I	R	O	N	Y		E	A	R	N	S
			L	O	N	G	U			A	C	H	E
H	O	W	S	W	E	E	T	I	T	I	S		P	S	T
A	N	O	D	E				C	A	D		I	O	T	A
N	E	W	T		F	I	N	A	L	A	N	S	W	E	R
G	A	Z	A		C	R	O	N	E		A	L	E	R	T
S	L	A	B		C	E	N	T	S		T	E	R	N	S

M	O	R	P	H		R	E	M	I	T		S	I	B	S
A	W	A	R	E		E	L	I	S	E		E	N	Y	A
C	O	V	E	R	A	L	L	T	H	E	B	A	S	E	S
E	W	E		E	L	I	A			P	O	S	E	A	S
			W	I	L	E		S	T	E	M		C	R	Y
R	I	G	H	T	O	F	F	T	H	E	B	A	T
A	D	R	O	I	T		A	R	E	S		T	B	A	R
C	L	A	Y	S		S	C	A	M		B	R	I	B	E
K	E	M	O		N	A	I	F		S	E	A	T	E	D
		O	U	T	O	F	L	E	F	T	F	I	E	L	D
S	U	P		I	S	E	E		L	O	A	N
A	S	H	O	R	E			C	O	O	L		W	A	H
W	H	O	L	E	N	E	W	B	A	L	L	G	A	M	E
T	E	N	D		S	W	E	E	T		E	N	T	E	R
O	R	E	S		E	W	E	R	S		N	U	T	S	O

A	C	H		F	L	A	G		E	P	H	E	D	R	A
T	R	U	E	L	O	V	E		T	O	E	L	O	O	P
B	U	T	M	A	T	E	T	H	E	R	E	S	W	A	R
A	S	T	I	N			N	O	R		P	I	N	S
T	O	O	T			C	A	E	N			E	T	T	U
S	E	N	T		B	A	S	S	E	S			U	P	S
			I	C	A	N	T			C	E	D	R	I	C
	M	E	N	S	D	A	Y	W	A	R	N	I	N	G
H	U	N	G	U	P			E	R	O	D	E
U	S	S			R	A	I	L	E	D		T	T	O	P
E	T	N	A			V	O	L	S			P	I	N	E
	H	A	L	S		O	N	O			A	L	P	H	A
C	A	R	E	T	O	W	A	K	E	A	M	A	J	O	R
O	V	E	R	U	S	E		A	L	L	I	N	A	L	L
B	E	S	T	B	U	D		Y	I	P	E		R	D	S

Bruce Haight author page

63 puzzles by Bruce Haight with Constructor comments

63 puzzles by Bruce Haight
with Constructor comments

M	A	S	S		S	C	A	M		C	H	O	I	R
E	R	M	A		C	O	C	A		R	A	N	B	Y
H	E	A	V	Y	H	A	N	D		E	M	C	E	E
		R	E	V	E	R	E	D		W	H	E	T	S
K	I	T		E	M	S		A	S	N	O
A	N	Y		S	E	E		S	P	E	C	T	R	A
R	A	P						H	I	C	K	H	O	P
A	K	A		B	A	M		E	L	K		A	S	S
C	N	N		E	V	O		S	T	S		T	E	C
H	O	T	H	E	A	D						S	O	O
I	T	S	A	T	I	E		B	O	Y		S	I	R
			T	A	L	L		E	R	E		O	L	E
F	I	S	H	Y		S	T	E	W	A	R	T
O	N	E	A	L		H	I	G	H	H	O	R	S	E
P	O	L	I	O		I	D	E	A		C	U	T	S
S	T	A	R	R		P	E	E	T		K	E	E	P

E	E	L	I	N	G		O	S	L	O		I	D	E	D
O	R	O	M	E	O		P	H	E	W		N	I	N	A
N	E	W	P	O	T	A	T	O	E	S		L	E	T	T
S	A	N	S		C	L	I	O			M	E	D	I	A
A	D	O		C	H	I	C	K	E	N	S	T	O	C	K
G	E	T	B	E	A	T			W	I	N		W	E	E
O	R	E	A	D			D	I	E	T		A	N	D	Y
			H	E	A	V	Y	C	R	E	A	M
B	E	S	S		L	I	E	U			B	I	B	L	E
U	N	A		P	O	E			D	E	E	D	B	O	X
S	A	U	T	E	E	D	L	E	E	K	S		Q	V	C
R	C	C	A	R			U	T	N	E		C	R	E	E
I	T	I	S		V	I	C	H	Y	S	S	O	I	S	E
D	E	N	T		A	C	R	E		B	U	L	B	E	D
E	D	G	Y		L	E	E	R		Y	E	A	S	T	S

M	A	D	A	M			A	L	T	O		F	D	A
A	D	E	L	E		S	C	A	R	E		A	I	R
N	E	V	E	R	B	E	T	T	E	R		C	D	S
O	L	E		L	I	M	I	T			F	E	T	E
R	I	L	E		R	I	V	E	R	B	A	S	I	N
S	N	O	R	E	D				A	L	T	I	M	A
	E	P	I	C		V	O	L	G	A		T	E	L
			C	O	V	E	R	B	A	N	D
I	M	S		L	U	T	E	S		C	I	T	E
H	O	T	P	A	D				I	H	E	A	R	D
O	V	E	R	B	U	D	G	E	T		D	R	N	O
P	I	P	E			E	E	R	I	E		H	U	G
E	E	O		L	I	N	K	I	N	G	V	E	R	B
S	A	N		T	R	I	K	E		G	E	E	S	E
O	D	E		D	E	M	O			O	G	L	E	D

S	E	W			T	I	N	C	T			A	D	S
U	S	A		E	N	D	U	R	E	S		D	I	P
M	A	R		G	O	L	I	A	T	H		Z	O	O
O	U	T	V	O	T	E		T	R	A	B	E	R	T
			A	M	E	R	I	C	A	N	O
J	O	L	L	A		I	S	H		T	O	I	L	S
O	N	E	L	S		C	S	I		Y	K	N	O	W
R	I	D	E	S		H	O	T		T	O	R	T	E
G	O	T	Y	A						O	F	U	S	E
E	N	V	O	G	U	E		L	O	W	S	N	A	P
			F	E	S	S		A	N	N	A
J	O	N	E	S	E	S		Y	E	S	M	A	A	M
U	R	A	L		D	A	V	I	D		U	C	L	A
M	E	T	A		T	Y	I	N	G		E	M	I	T
P	O	S	H		O	S	A	G	E		L	E	T	S

Y	S	L		F	R	E	A	K			S	W	A	M
A	T	E		B	A	N	T	A	M		M	E	R	E
P	A	S	S	I	N	G	T	H	E	T	O	R	C	H
A	R	L	O				A	L	O	E	G	E	L
T	R	I	P	L	E	C	R	O	W	N		H	I	C
	Y	E	S	I	D	O			S	T	O	O	G	E
				L	E	S	S				I	M	H	O
	A	S	P	I	R	I	N	T	A	B	L	E	T
B	T	U	S				L	E	T	O
O	B	R	I	E	N			R	O	Y	A	L	S
T	O	E		T	O	W	N	A	N	D	G	O	W	N
	T	H	A	T	T	O	O				E	R	A	S
S	T	A	T	U	E	O	F	L	I	B	E	R	T	Y
K	O	N	A		S	L	E	E	V	E		I	A	N
I	M	D	B			F	E	T	E	D		E	T	C

A	T	B	A	T			V	A	C	A	Y		M	E	L
M	A	O	R	I	S		A	M	O	R	E		O	L	E
P	I	C	K	E	T	H	L	I	N	E	S		V	I	A
M	L	K		D	U	A	L					B	I	O	S
			P	U	B	L	I	C	T	O	I	L	E	T	H
E	C	L	I	P	S	E		H	E	A	T	E	R
T	H	I	N				A	R	T	S	C	H	O	O	L
C	A	T		F	A	D	D	I	E	T	H		L	I	E
H	O	T	E	L	B	A	R	S				G	E	N	X
		E	L	O	I	S	E		P	A	R	A	S	K	I
M	A	R	K	E	T	H	P	L	A	C	E	S
E	B	B	S					O	A	T	S		L	I	P
A	B	U		M	O	D	E	L	R	O	C	K	E	T	H
L	O	G		P	R	O	W	L		R	U	I	N	E	D
S	T	S		H	E	X	E	S			E	X	A	M	S

L	A	C	K	S		A	P	E	X		B	E	E	T
A	L	L	E	Y		F	L	O	E		L	A	D	E
B	L	O	W	N	G	L	A	S	S		A	R	M	S
A	T	M		C	O	A	T			I	N	S	E	T
M	O	P	S		A	C	E	P	I	T	C	H	E	R
B	L	E	E	P	S			L	O	S		O	S	U
A	D	D	T	O		A	M	A	N	A		T	E	N
			S	P	A	C	E	C	A	S	E
Z	A	G		T	I	T	H	E		I	C	E	E	S
I	R	E		A	D	O			S	N	O	C	A	P
P	O	R	K	B	A	R	R	E	L		N	O	S	H
F	U	M	E	S			O	N	U	S		T	I	E
I	S	A	Y		H	O	L	D	M	Y	B	E	E	R
L	E	N	O		I	D	E	A		M	O	U	S	E
E	D	E	N		P	E	S	T		S	O	R	T	S

M	A	G	M	A		B	A	G	G	Y		S	E	W	S
O	T	O	E	S		O	P	I	N	E		E	V	A	N
T	W	O	T	H	U	M	B	S	U	P		V	E	R	A
T	A	D	A		F	B	I				S	E	R	I	F
O	R	G		N	O	S	O	U	P	F	O	R	Y	O	U
		U	S	E	S			P	A	R	S	E
D	R	E	A	M		M	I	T	R	E			F	A	M
J	U	S	T	O	N	E	M	O	R	E	T	H	I	N	G
S	T	S			I	R	O	N	Y		E	A	R	N	S
			L	O	N	G	U			A	C	H	E
H	O	W	S	W	E	E	T	I	T	I	S		P	S	T
A	N	O	D	E				C	A	D		I	O	T	A
N	E	W	T		F	I	N	A	L	A	N	S	W	E	R
G	A	Z	A		C	R	O	N	E		A	L	E	R	T
S	L	A	B		C	E	N	T	S		T	E	R	N	S

M	O	R	P	H		R	E	M	I	T		S	I	B	S
A	W	A	R	E		E	L	I	S	E		E	N	Y	A
C	O	V	E	R	A	L	L	T	H	E	B	A	S	E	S
E	W	E		E	L	I	A			P	O	S	E	A	S
			W	I	L	E		S	T	E	M		C	R	Y
R	I	G	H	T	O	F	F	T	H	E	B	A	T
A	D	R	O	I	T		A	R	E	S		T	B	A	R
C	L	A	Y	S		S	C	A	M		B	R	I	B	E
K	E	M	O		N	A	I	F		S	E	A	T	E	D
		O	U	T	O	F	L	E	F	T	F	I	E	L	D
S	U	P		I	S	E	E		L	O	A	N
A	S	H	O	R	E			C	O	O	L		W	A	H
W	H	O	L	E	N	E	W	B	A	L	L	G	A	M	E
T	E	N	D		S	W	E	E	T		E	N	T	E	R
O	R	E	S		E	W	E	R	S		N	U	T	S	O

A	C	H		F	L	A	G		E	P	H	E	D	R	A
T	R	U	E	L	O	V	E		T	O	E	L	O	O	P
B	U	T	M	A	T	E	T	H	E	R	E	S	W	A	R
A	S	T	I	N			N	O	R		P	I	N	S
T	O	O	T			C	A	E	N			E	T	T	U
S	E	N	T		B	A	S	S	E	S			U	P	S
			I	C	A	N	T			C	E	D	R	I	C
	M	E	N	S	D	A	Y	W	A	R	N	I	N	G
H	U	N	G	U	P			E	R	O	D	E
U	S	S			R	A	I	L	E	D		T	T	O	P
E	T	N	A			V	O	L	S			P	I	N	E
	H	A	L	S		O	N	O			A	L	P	H	A
C	A	R	E	T	O	W	A	K	E	A	M	A	J	O	R
O	V	E	R	U	S	E		A	L	L	I	N	A	L	L
B	E	S	T	B	U	D		Y	I	P	E		R	D	S