John Martz is a cartoonist, illustrator and book designer in Toronto, Ontario, who specializes in picture books and graphic novels for kids.
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It's fitting that this puzzle is running on Christmas Day. I make kid's books, both as an author/illustrator and a book designer for Tundra Books, a children's publisher in Toronto. For the past few years, I've created a holiday crossword for my coworkers, with themes playing on the titles of the books we publish. After creating last year's holiday puzzle, I thought its theme had the potential for a broader audience if I clued it with the titles of famous novels.
Big thanks to the editing team for their thoughtful edit, and especially for acquiescing when I pushed to keep my favorite bit of wordplay in the puzzle — the clue for T-BONE STEAK. Additional favorite clues that made the edit include those for MOOSE, SUBSIDIZED, BAD VIBES, I'M EASY, and the 1-Across/1-Down combo of BUGS and BONG.
Working in children's books, I'm also glad to have snuck in a few extra kidlit entries with HAROLD, ROO, and TOTO.
Some theme entries from the puzzle that inspired this one but that I couldn't make work here include COUNTERNARRATIVE for a book about an abacus and FROZEN ACCOUNT for a book about snow.
On that note, happy holidays!