Ian Livengood author page

(Mr. Shortz's detailed notes are on a separate page.)

Should a theme come with or without a revealer? To me it depends on the puzzle. Sometimes a revealer entry — one that explains what or where the puzzle's theme is — is needed for clarity. In this puzzle, though, you're on your own. You just have to notice that the starting words in the five longest Across answers are related. If you do, you get a nice aha.

Not surprisingly, Ian's puzzle is the first Times crossword ever to have the entry MILE-HIGH CLUB. The term was probably a little too racy for my predecessors. But how to clue it? Ian's clue was "Group getting some air play?" I liked the misdirection of this, but the usage of the word "play" here felt too loose — and maybe too racy for the Times audience. Another clue I considered was "Group whose membership qualifications are up in the air?" — but that felt too easy. And "Set of screws on an airplane?" was just too rude. So I finally settled on what you see here.

Twice a year for the past few years Ian Livengood has conducted a class on crossword construction for the Jewish Association Serving the Aging in New York City. (Caleb Madison started the class in 2010, but Ian took it over when Caleb went off to Yale.) As with all of Ian's constructions, the grid here is lively and superclean. I wonder how he does a collaboration like this in real time in a class.

Ian was my assistant from fall 2010 through the spring of 2011. Over the years he's turned into a crackerjack constructor. Easy, medium, or hard — any difficulty level is fine for him. Superclean constructions, too. In this grid I like MAN CAVE, MUG SHOT, USO TOUR, CROPLAND, SAM ADAMS, HOT TUB, IT WORKS, YES MA'AM, GAS MASK, and ED HELMS. And that's just in the Acrosses!

Six theme entries plus an "explainer," at 58A, all wrapped in a simple, elegant construction, make for a handsome Monday puzzle. COHIBA at 43A was new to me, but the crossings are good, and everything else seems easy enough. BTW, the Monday through Thursday puzzles this week were used at the 17th annual Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament last Friday, held for charity in my hometown of Pleasantville, NY.

The fastest solver was Glen Ryan, Taftville, CT — perfect in 2 mins. 41 secs. Dan Feyer, a tournament judge (and reigning American Crossword Puzzle Tournament champ), finished this puzzle in 2:05. He beat constructor Ian Livengood, another judge, by about half a minute...on Ian's own puzzle!

As with all of Ian's puzzles, the fill in this grid is particularly clean and lively. Also, the theme has a twist I've never seen before.

Ian worked as my assistant back in the fall of 2010 and spring of 2011. It was the first puzzle job he'd ever had, beneficial for both of us. He's now at Penny Press puzzle magazines in Connecticut. Ian's constructions are always super clean (like this one), and he's very flexible. Easy, medium or hard — he can construct an elegant puzzle at any skill level.