Heather Valadez author page
1 puzzle by Heather Valadez
with Constructor comments
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| E | L | E | N | A | S | N | A | P | E | S | E | X |
The second puzzle I ever made and submitted to the NYT had the theme COVERT RELATIONS with family members hidden in the theme entries, but it was not accepted for publication. So I tried again with something similar but better in this puzzle, my third submission, and it was really exciting to hear that Will liked the theme for this one! He immediately spotted some terrible entries and crosses, and we went back and forth a couple of times improving the puzzle. This process alone was so instructive. I had thought that including some bad fill would be somewhat inevitable due to the constraints of the grid. I did not realize how hard constructors work to exclude the chaff. Ripping out and remaking most of the puzzle with better fill vastly improved it. Will was impressively patient and gentle while giving excellent, targeted advice.
I have always enjoyed solving puzzles. When I was a child, my dad used to give me copies of Games magazine and let me take the first stab at the NYT Sunday crossword when I was lucky to get one or two short entries. I even recall making a cat-themed logic puzzle as a present for my mom once. I never had any idea how to make a crossword puzzle however, until a few years ago when reading an online article by Matt Gaffney that discusses some rules of construction ("It Themes Somehow Familiar"). After browsing the Cruciverb and XWord Info sites (which are both such outstanding, essential resources), I tried making my first grid. Trial and error were good teachers and confirmed the reasons typical construction methods are the way they are. Constructing, like solving, is a skill mostly learned by just doing it!
I'm thrilled to be able to contribute to something as wonderful as the NYT crossword and hope to have the free time to make more puzzles in the future!