Joe Rodini author page
1 puzzle by Joe Rodini
with Constructor comments
See the 3 answer words debuted by Joe Rodini.
| S | A | N | S | C | L | E | F | T | A | C | T | I | ||
| E | M | I | T | H | E | L | L | O | R | U | E | D | ||
| R | O | P | E | O | D | E | O | N | M | B | A | S | ||
| F | R | A | N | C | I | S | C | O | G | O | Y | A | ||
| S | E | T | T | O | D | A | M | N | ||||||
| S | E | L | M | A | N | A | S | A | L | |||||
| A | D | D | D | I | E | G | O | R | I | V | E | R | A | |
| P | R | O | P | S | T | A | R | E | Y | A | N | K | ||
| P | E | D | R | O | P | A | S | C | A | L | T | O | E | |
| S | W | O | O | N | P | A | L | A | U | |||||
| P | U | M | A | I | N | C | U | R | ||||||
| J | O | S | E | F | E | L | I | C | I | A | N | O | ||
| P | S | I | S | C | R | A | I | G | T | R | I | O | ||
| D | I | V | A | C | O | S | M | O | A | T | O | M | ||
| A | X | E | L | A | S | T | E | R | S | A | N | S |
Count me among the many cruciverbalists who were inspired by the documentary Wordplay, in particular the constructing process of Merl Reagle (RIP). I first saw the film around 2010 and started constructing myself not long thereafter. More than a decade later, it has been quite a journey to reach my New York Times debut!
The idea for this puzzle hit me while I was on vacation in California, enjoying the beauty of the San Diego waterfront. I found myself preoccupied with cities named after saints, probably because I was born and raised in the Philadelphia area (go Phillies!), where there is a conspicuous dearth of Spanish missions. Later, brainstorming theme answers, I considered Antonio Banderas, Salvador Dali, and a slew of Juans before realizing I could have a set of answers all fittingly about California locations.
A thank you to Will and team for maintaining the spirit of so many of my clues through the revision process, especially 40-Down, which was my favorite clue to write. Happy solving!