Ian Livengood author page

I made the grid earlier this year, and like many of my completed puzzles, it sat unclued for months. When I finally got around to cluing the puzzle, I loved riffing on the conventional "Part 1, Part 2, etc." that appear in crossword clues from time to time. I also wanted the first clue's anagram to be completely natural. TRIO for TORI is a great fit since it's directly related to music.

I don't like making puzzles too difficult to solve — after all, I want the solver to finish. So, it'll be interesting to see how solvers do with this one. Depending on your fondness for anagrams, I expect a lot of DNFs.

My first entry in the grid? You guessed it — LATOYA. Once I had a grid that looked fillable, I tried to sniff out any trouble spots. The L???Y? was the only problematic area, so that went in first.

Is BASTA good fill? Probably not, but I thought Hillary Clinton's mention of it back in March gave it some modern currency. And other than the proper noun pile up in the SW corner, pretty happy how this one turned out.

Oh, and "Moral Thinking" is a much better title than my submitted title, "End Uhl Be Uhl." Haha, I really shouldn't be allowed to name things.

I submitted this puzzle with GREXIT [Greece exiting the Euro] in the NW corner. It was an entry I'd been saving for a few years and was disappointed it was eventually nixed. Oh well. The placement was strategic, though, knowing it'd be an easy fix if I had to redo that section. Maybe BREXIT in a few years?

The HATERADE / ODE TO JOY / HASHTAG SW stack is one of my favorites — something new, something old, high brow, low brow, etc. Also, I've been trying to spice up my 6-letter answers. Stuff like PEN PAL, PEBBLE, REFLEX, etc. can keep solvers engaged from start to finish.

Really happy how this one turned out. Hope solvers like it!

I almost submitted this puzzle with stacked themed 10s in the 2/3 and 13/14 rows. I actually got pretty good fill with 'em, but thought it'd be too intimidating for Monday solvers. I tried to avoid entries that had a ?AA? pattern like SAAB, PAAR, or MAAM (not that difficult) and keep things bouncy.

I don't care for ARAL and maybe CCCP, but I'm pleased with the rest of the fill. Hope solvers like it!

Not too many jaw-dropping entries today, but 35-Across (I'M UP FOR WHATEVER) and 31-Down (LEGO MOVIE) feel pretty fresh. 22-Down (BULWARK) is a cool word, too.

I'd recommend this grid pattern to aspiring themeless constructors. If you have a snappy 15 and solid 10s, the puzzle breaks into six sections without feeling too closed off.

Hope solvers like it!

I wanted to make a Wednesday puzzle, so 74 words and this theme (duh!) made sure that would happen.

I tried to squeeze SLOW CLAP at 19-Across for the longest time, but oh well. Favorite clue: 14-Across ([Side parts?] for CAMEOS).

Although 27 squares isn't a lot of theme, triple-checked letters exponentially increase the construction difficulty level. This puzzle might play like an easy themeless once solvers get the theme, but I hope the quality fill keeps ‘em interested until the end.

#mikemikemikemike

Natan Last and Finn Vigeland have taken over the J.A.S.A. crossword class reins, but I had a blast making this one back in the Spring of 2014. The theme answers originally had five asterisks (or stars) in the clues, so I'm not sure why that didn't make the final version. But otherwise pleased how this one turned out. Favorite answers include TRUE THAT and the apt SRS. Hope solvers like it!

Class member Dan Chall adds: "Ian did a great job in leading the construction of the puzzle. It was great fun to participate as we went through all aspects of the puzzle, from agreeing on the theme, to the development of theme answers, filling the grid, and completing all the clues."

A few random thoughts:

• 1A was the seed answer and got scooped in other puzzles before publication. Eh, that'll happen.
• With the pattern $c$v$c$vN $cOWELL (where "$c" stands for a consonant and "$v" stands for a vowel), 12D could have been Colin Powell. Love when grid flexibility pops up like that.
• I've used this basic shell for other themeless puzzles, and I highly recommend it for new themeless constructors. No themeless construction is "easy," but this 72/29 is pretty doable.

Hope solvers like this one!

I filled the grid around the "Q" and 22- / 26-Down (running through three theme answers). Usually 3x7 corners don't really do it for me, but I'm happy how this one turned out.

Oh, and I grew up watching 39-Across. But that was before Travolta turned into whatever creepy hug monster he is today.

Do solvers know Hieronymus Bosch outside of crosswords? I certainly don't. I do, however, celebrate Brennan Boesch's entire collection. BOSCH is a notch below some A-listers like Monet, Renoir and Picasso, but the highbrow entry should appeal to the NYT demographic, I think.

Hope solvers like it!

The synonym of "X" theme has thousands of possibilities, so the execution better be close to perfect. I tried to:

1. Pick interesting theme entries.
2. Put all the synonyms in the beginning or end of the theme answers.
3. Fill grid with Monday-level fill since, you know, it's a Monday theme. (ACH and STE are the only two meh entries.)
4. Make the synonyms one level removed from their base phrase. (This is probably what separates a puzzle like this getting accepted vs. rejected.)

Trickiest area to fill was the P??F? section. You've got PROFS, PUFFS, PUFFY, POUFS ... and that's about it. But pretty happy how this one turned out.

Although TOUCAN SAM makes for some great xword fill, Froot Loops doesn't crack our top-5 favorite breakfast cereals. Here's our unsolicited rankings:

1. Honey Nut Cheerios
2. Cheerios
3. Honey Bunches of Oats
4. Golden Grahams
5. Raisin Bran

Honorable Mention: Alpha-Bits, Kix

Also, this puzzle is dedicated to all the local fishermen around 96th St. We often run at East River Park and hash out puzzle ideas!

Cluing this puzzle was like watching paint dry. Quite literally, workmen were repainting my apartment as I monitored the progress. I credit some of the bouncy clues to the paint-induced buzz.

I wonder why BASED / DEZ (Cowboys WR Bryant) was changed to BASES / SEZ? DEZ is legit, but maybe the "Z" could be problematic crossing NIETZSCHE? I don't remember the seed entry, but ROC-A-FELLA / HOOCH / YACHT is my favorite section. Also pleased with the overall smoothness.

Hope solvers like this one!

Not my cleanest themeless construction ever, but certainly one of my favorites. Bronze my statue with that NW corner, please. I should have used NUTCAKE / POKE instead of NUT CASE / POSE to avoid the CASE / ENCASE dupe. Oh well.

Instead of locking POKER ROOM into the grid, I add POKER???? confident I can fill the SE corner with BETS, CHIP, FACE, GAME, HAND or ROOM. In the NW corner, I place ????ALARM in the grid knowing BANK, FOUR, FIVE or FIRE will probably work. All the potential answers are roughly the same quality and it ensures smooth shorter fill, too.

I'm interested to see if solvers like the mini theme answer (DATE). I didn't even notice the DATE tie-in until I clued this one up. Lucky, I guess.

Hope solvers like this easier version of Francis Heaney's great 6/13/10 puzzle!

What's better: LETO with a fresh clue {Jared of "Dallas Buyers Club"} or VETO? In a vacuum, VETO always wins — it's got the scrabbly V, it's not a proper noun and a has a number of clue possibilities. But with a new and improved LETO clue ... (Thinking) ... nah, I should have gone with VETO.

Oh, this puzzle was inspired by Sam Donaldson and Doug Peterson's wonderful 3/26/13 offering. The magic of reinterpreted spoken phrases!

Hope solvers like this one!

I saw a clue for AHA and — wait for it — the light went on in my head. The AHA MOMENT spelled out as a light bulb was the next logical step, followed by THOMAS EDISON and INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB (a 21!). I toyed with listing other Edison inventions or accomplishments, but a quote seemed more appropriate.

The construction was tricky since I couldn't have the themers running through the middle of the grid mucking up the circled answers. But aside from two or three short clunkers, I'm pleased with the fill. I paused at inserting DNA MOLECULE and OPEN CIRCUIT since they seemed too close to the Edison/electricity/science theme, but eventually decided to roll with 'em.

Hope solvers enjoy the puzzle!

How does the J.A.S.A. Crossword Class work? Well, I suggested a few seed entries for the themeless puzzle — GOOGLE GLASS and IPAD AIR — and designed a conservative 72-word grid around 'em. The class then collaborated on the fill and clues. With the exception of ATAVIST (which isn't even that bad), all the 7+ letter entries are either good to great, I think. A lot of our clues made the cut, too. I bet this puzzle plays easy if you know your tech products and almost certainly got slotted for a Saturday based on K THX BYE. Enjoy!

Prediction: In a couple hundred years, YA will replace YOU in the English language. And YOU will seem as archaic as THOU does today. Might as well get ahead of the curve on that one.

Oh, MILE HIGH CLUB was my seed entry, obviously. But there's a special place in hell for 12-letter seed words. Never again, I tell ya.

This puzzle went through several rewrites before settling on the final themeless. CALVIN AND HOBBES (my favorite entry) is the perfect answer, I think. It's well-known by multiple generations, universally beloved and evokes some really fun memories.

Big thanks to Dan, Carol and Grant (to name a few) for their help putting this one together. Dan adds: "It was a great deal of fun to participate in the creation of this puzzle (as it is every semester). Any crossword enthusiast (at least 55 years old) would find this class immensely rewarding."

I tried something different on this one. Instead of seeding the puzzle with longer entries, I locked in quality 3- and 4-letter entries (ATE, ASH, MUD, EAR, etc.). This method ensures smooth shorter fill, and, if you work at it long enough, quality longer fill, too. If you fill 3x7 or 4x7 sections the other way around, it's too easy to fall in love with one or two great answers propped up by junk. So ... yeah. FILL. It's all about the fill.

I made this puzzle after watching a couple episodes of "The Americans." Really solid show, BTW. In the last episode, Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" is prominently featured on the soundtrack. That phrase is practically begging for some Thursday theme treatment.

I guess you could say this puzzle contains [puts on sunglasses] tOP Secret information. YYYYYEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! An inside job, perhaps.

Anyhoo, I had two goals for this puzzle: 1) avoid stray O-P-S letter strings and 2) split OP/S across two words in all theme answers. So ... mission accomplished?

I was researching potential words to justify vertical theme answers. Why? Why not, I say. "Hanging" was vertically appropriate and that led to LOW HANGING FRUIT. I scrapped BLIND MELON at 38-Down since the band wasn't quite Monday-appropriate as a theme answer and, most important, the fruit grew in the ground instead of dangling from a tree. Hope solvers like this one, it's hard to make 'em any easier. Come for the SWEET TALK, stay for the CENTER CUT. Enjoy!

Oddly enough, this puzzle's seed answer — JUBA — was also one of the shortest. The South Central was the hardest part to construct, mostly because I clung to SIDESHOW BOB at 40-Across for-ev-er (pronounced Sandlot style). Also, I must have been hungry when I made this since a CHALUPA and MACNCHEESE combo is downright delicious.