Jessie Trudeau author page
5 puzzles by Jessie Trudeau
with Constructor comments
| Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 12/14/2020 | 10/9/2022 | 5 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
|---|---|---|
| 1.56 | 30 | 39% |
See the 30 answer words debuted by Jessie Trudeau.
| I | N | A | C | O | M | A | H | S | W | E | E | P | S | C | O | T | ||||
| M | I | L | I | T | I | A | I | N | H | O | R | R | O | R | H | A | R | T | ||
| S | H | A | R | O | N | A | M | A | H | A | Y | A | N | A | R | U | D | Y | ||
| C | H | I | M | N | E | Y | H | D | I | E | S | E | L | |||||||
| T | A | T | A | B | E | A | T | H | C | O | M | M | A | N | D | E | R | |||
| U | V | A | C | A | M | P | H | O | N | D | A | U | S | A | ||||||
| B | E | L | A | R | B | O | R | H | P | I | C | K | E | R | S | F | O | |||
| A | R | M | O | R | E | L | I | S | H | A | E | G | E | S | T | E | D | |||
| S | U | B | M | A | R | I | N | E | H | C | A | M | O | P | I | L | E | |||
| E | D | S | E | L | G | A | H | O | V | A | A | R | T | S | ||||||
| C | L | I | M | B | S | T | H | E | L | A | D | D | E | R | ||||||
| D | I | E | U | A | R | I | H | U | B | E | N | E | W | S | ||||||
| U | S | S | R | D | C | O | N | H | R | E | P | A | I | R | M | A | N | |||
| N | I | C | E | J | O | B | C | H | O | R | A | L | A | E | S | O | P | |||
| E | T | A | C | H | E | R | R | Y | H | T | U | L | I | P | A | W | E | |||
| P | E | R | T | O | O | T | H | L | I | L | T | B | I | C | ||||||
| T | E | L | E | P | H | O | N | E | H | O | V | A | L | O | I | N | K | |||
| S | C | R | A | W | L | H | P | A | I | N | T | E | R | |||||||
| P | E | O | N | U | L | T | R | A | H | O | T | C | E | N | T | I | M | E | ||
| C | L | O | D | S | E | A | R | C | H | E | S | E | L | B | O | W | E | D | ||
| A | L | M | S | H | O | U | S | E | H | S | L | Y | N | O | D | S |
JESSIE: Ross has a long history of rocking my socks with grids that creatively deploy letters-as-pictures. He pitched me on this (ahem) word ladder in the summer of 2000, and when we found the central intersection with CLIMBS THE LADDER, we knew we had something fun.
ROSS: I love when Jessie's research agenda shows up in her puzzles, as in the clue for NAPOLI ("Mafia : Sicilia :: Camorra : ___"). She also reliably drops cute autobiographical pearls in her fill (see: ESCAPE ROOM)!
If you're interested in learning how to make your own crossword puzzles, feel free to reach out via Twitter or my personal site Rossword Puzzles.
And! I'll be live solving indie crosswords with Parker Higgins on Sunday even at 8p eastern on our Twitch stream Cursewords Live. Drop by and say hello in the chat!
| A | C | R | E | S | A | M | I | D | T | S | A | E | S | S | ||||||
| P | R | O | M | O | B | A | S | E | A | H | I | V | E | E | P | S | ||||
| H | E | R | O | W | O | R | S | H | I | P | P | E | R | E | G | R | E | T | S | |
| I | D | S | S | P | A | S | E | S | A | F | R | E | T | N | O | T | ||||
| D | O | C | K | I | M | P | U | G | N | F | R | A | G | R | A | N | C | E | ||
| H | O | E | S | I | M | O | N | S | O | I | R | S | K | A | ||||||
| T | R | A | C | E | R | K | A | R | Y | N | D | R | E | A | Y | S | L | |||
| B | I | C | H | R | O | M | E | G | L | O | B | E | E | V | A | L | ||||
| A | S | H | I | C | E | S | E | A | D | O | O | N | E | R | V | E | ||||
| R | E | C | E | C | L | A | T | N | E | R | D | T | R | I | A | L | S | |||
| A | E | R | O | D | R | O | M | E | A | R | S | E | A | N | K | H | ||||
| F | O | R | K | S | U | L | U | T | I | E | R | D | I | S | H | |||||
| Y | O | D | E | L | S | B | E | F | I | T | V | E | R | O | N | A | ||||
| I | F | S | E | T | H | A | N | F | R | O | M | E | A | Y | E | A | Y | E | ||
| B | E | A | U | A | L | E | A | C | E | V | I | V | ||||||||
| I | M | P | O | S | T | E | R | S | Y | N | D | R | O | M | E | Z | E | K | E | |
| T | E | A | C | H | S | U | M | O | G | U | Y | T | O | N | E | R | ||||
| S | T | L | E | O | D | A | W | D | L | E | S | P | R | O | U | S | T | |||
| A | L | L | R | O | A | D | S | L | E | A | D | T | O | R | O | M | E | |||
| T | I | L | E | R | S | H | E | A | D | E | L | O | P | E | ||||||
| D | I | S | C | S | D | R | Y | R | E | F | E | R |
JESSIE: Talk about sharing a byline. Today's puzzle is the first time anyone will see the name Jessie Trudeau in print — Ross and I will be saying our vows about 30 minutes after this puzzle goes live! We're so deeply, deeply grateful for the opportunity to briefly elevate the word "née" out of the realm of crosswordese.
ROSS: I love Jessie more than cake. There wasn't room in her Times Magazine bio to note her many recent accomplishments, so I'll take the opportunity here. Last week Jessie successfully defended her Harvard Ph.D. dissertation, "Machine Gun Politics," which explains how and why politicians partner with organized crime. She's starting a postdoc at Brown when we return from our honeymoon, and next fall, she'll begin her appointment as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University.
If you're interested in learning how to make your own crosswords, you can reach out to me via Twitter or my personal site, Rossword Puzzles, where I post a free, original crossword every Sunday morning.
| A | L | L | S | H | A | S | A | T | E | U | P | |||
| R | O | O | T | H | E | L | P | L | E | D | G | E | ||
| A | C | R | E | A | R | E | A | B | E | I | G | E | ||
| B | A | D | I | N | V | E | S | T | M | E | N | T | S | |
| L | I | N | E | A | A | R | C | |||||||
| A | P | T | O | N | E | W | A | Y | T | R | I | P | S | |
| C | R | O | W | A | L | I | T | A | U | D | E | N | ||
| T | I | V | O | S | I | L | T | S | S | I | R | I | ||
| A | D | E | L | A | S | L | I | T | H | O | S | T | ||
| S | E | R | V | I | C | E | A | C | E | S | T | I | S | |
| E | R | A | V | E | S | P | A | |||||||
| S | O | R | R | Y | N | O | R | E | T | U | R | N | S | |
| J | U | L | I | A | U | D | O | N | L | O | C | I | ||
| O | M | A | N | I | L | E | A | S | F | O | A | M | ||
| T | O | Y | E | D | L | S | D | A | F | T | S |
JESSIE: This is our 3rd puzzle for the Times and Ross's 102nd crossword of 2021: 49 in various print and online publications and 53 on his personal puzzle site. And on the day this puzzle goes live, Ross will be coming out of his 8th surgery related to Schwannomatosis. These figures are related.
I regularly hear people ask Ross about his crossword productivity; he generally just says he's wired for wordplay. Only I know that it is also a coping mechanism, and one can draw a pretty straight line between chronic pain and his remarkable daily output.
A couple of months ago, I suggested he write about how making puzzles became such an essential part of his life. The result was an essay that represents a touching insight into the mind and process of the puzzler I love. I encourage you to read it here.
ROSS: *gurgle*
| T | A | L | C | S | M | A | G | I | C | G | P | A | ||
| A | G | L | O | W | C | L | A | R | A | O | O | F | ||
| P | O | C | K | E | T | A | T | L | A | S | O | P | T | |
| I | D | O | T | O | O | E | D | G | E | S | ||||
| P | E | E | R | R | E | D | E | L | M | |||||
| E | S | L | A | S | T | E | R | N | E | O | ||||
| I | C | A | N | S | H | O | W | A | M | O | E | B | A | |
| R | A | N | O | N | Y | O | U | A | V | A | I | L | ||
| E | R | E | N | O | W | T | H | E | W | O | R | L | D | |
| E | T | A | I | L | O | S | T | T | E | A | ||||
| D | A | M | A | G | E | H | U | S | H | |||||
| P | Y | R | E | S | T | H | R | E | S | H | ||||
| I | C | I | P | A | L | E | B | L | U | E | D | O | T | |
| T | A | U | C | H | I | L | I | R | E | E | D | S | ||
| A | T | M | A | H | E | M | S | P | R | A | D | A |
JESSIE: I'm a political science PhD concluding a dissertation on organized crime and vote buying in Latin America, and for some time most of my crossword output centered on themes related to my research. (We'll see if my imminent arrival on the job market impacts how much I care to mix work and puzzles.) Today's theme is considerably more lighthearted in tone, which tone belies what a colossal pain in the butt it was to build out.
The neatness of how I CAN SHOW / YOU / THE WORLD resolves into a three-part, symmetrical revealer answer is what attracted me to this concept. But with a revealer occupying the central 3 rows and abutting both left and right edges, options for laying out four separate themers in a conventional way become limited. The pinwheel arrangement you see here, with PLANETARIUM and GOOGLE EARTH both intersecting the revealer, represented an elegant solution that allowed me enough flexibility to sneak a couple of fun bonus answers in SCAREDY CAT and POPE MOBILE (original clue: "Mass produced vehicle?").
ROSS: When this puzzle goes live on Monday night, Jessie and I will be sharing a romantic beachside dinner and asking one another a very important and special question... one that, incidentally, might help me correct an embarrassing oversight I made a couple of days ago over on my personal crossword site, Rossword Puzzles.
| A | B | B | A | A | B | L | Y | G | A | P | ||||
| C | A | R | L | F | R | I | E | D | N | A | B | S | ||
| C | L | U | E | L | A | M | A | R | O | T | A | Y | ||
| E | L | L | E | M | A | C | P | H | E | R | S | O | N | |
| S | E | E | A | C | E | W | E | I | R | D | S | |||
| S | T | E | E | D | S | A | N | D | R | A | O | H | ||
| R | A | T | I | C | E | D | N | A | ||||||
| S | A | M | A | N | T | H | A | B | E | E | ||||
| R | E | P | N | E | O | R | O | O | ||||||
| K | A | Y | H | A | G | A | N | A | S | S | A | M | ||
| O | R | N | A | T | E | A | B | S | H | U | E | |||
| W | O | M | E | N | O | F | L | E | T | T | E | R | S | |
| D | I | V | A | T | R | O | V | E | O | H | O | H | ||
| A | G | E | S | S | E | R | I | F | M | E | R | E | ||
| Y | S | L | S | A | N | S | B | R | A | D |
JESSIE Today's puzzle is an ode to female scholars, and I'm very excited that it's my debut grid in the Times. I'm a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard's Department of Government, and I generally strive to have my puzzles' content reflect academia and my areas of research: crime and corruption in Latin America. (Check out my puzzle in tomorrow's Universal Crossword for one such example.)
We originally clued this puzzle as a mid-week offering, so a few of our clues got nixed in favor of more straightforward fare. Some favorites:
- ["I just took a ___ test" (Lizzo lyric)] for DNA
- [Rocks with a punch?] for ICE
- [Book on invasive plants?] for SPY NOVEL
Many thanks to the Times editors for their feedback and support, as well as to Ross for sharing the joy of crossword construction with me. We've been hunkered down together all year with our bad cat Ruby, and wacky theme brainstorming — even beyond the thematic realm of political corruption — has become one of my favorite quarantine pastimes.
ROSS: I love Jessie more than cake. Today is a happy day. For more Jessie-Ross crosswords, visit my personal puzzle site.