Ethan Zou author page
1 puzzle by Ethan Zou
with Constructor comments
See the 4 answer words debuted by Ethan Zou.
| T | I | D | A | L | I | D | O | S | B | R | A | T | ||
| A | B | O | V | E | H | E | H | E | R | O | T | I | ||
| F | E | R | E | O | R | O | C | H | E | I | G | O | R | |
| T | I | M | P | U | P | A | E | B | E | E | M | E | ||
| A | S | I | A | M | F | L | Y | O | F | F | ||||
| C | R | I | B | L | O | O | S | E | N | S | ||||
| H | A | W | E | D | L | A | Y | U | P | D | A | T | ||
| A | L | E | T | B | O | X | E | R | F | E | R | Y | ||
| R | U | E | M | O | O | L | A | F | I | E | C | E | ||
| E | M | O | B | A | N | D | H | A | I | R | ||||
| V | A | C | A | Y | S | M | E | S | A | S | ||||
| A | V | E | S | E | N | O | O | B | S | P | A | Z | ||
| M | O | H | S | B | O | R | D | E | T | E | R | I | E | |
| F | R | E | E | U | S | E | D | A | M | I | N | O | ||
| M | E | E | T | T | E | S | S | S | A | L | T | S |
TOM: Ethan and I became friends when we were assigned lab partners in high school chemistry class (thank you, late-alphabet names!). Our luck continued as lab partners in physics senior year and when we got into the same college.
ETHAN: After graduation in 2020, I constructed a mini-crossword for Harvard's version of Class Notes ("The Red Book"), where I mentioned that I hoped to have a puzzle in the Times one day.
TOM: I solved Ethan's puzzle and asked him if he wanted to collaborate — very happy he said yes!
ETHAN: As a solver, my favorite themes involve simple words parsed in surprising ways, so after realizing that BOXER could be a command, I was ecstatic. We started brainstorming themers around the holidays when stacks of FERRERO ROCHER chocolates were lying around my house. I noticed that ER appeared three times, and I told Tom we had struck gold.
TOM: ROGER FEDERER is probably our favorite theme entry. Ethan and I are both tennis fans, but when we constructed this puzzle, we had no idea he would be retiring so soon. We hope the puzzle can also be a small tribute to him!