Meghan Morris author page
5 puzzles by Meghan Morris
with Constructor comments
Meghan Morris is an appellate public defender in Denver.
| W | H | A | P | S | A | D | S | L | O | G | A | N | P | A | P | A | Y | A | ||
| H | E | N | R | I | C | O | P | A | P | L | E | A | E | N | A | M | E | L | ||
| A | D | D | O | N | A | M | A | T | E | U | R | S | T | A | N | D | I | N | G | |
| T | O | O | T | S | R | O | D | E | O | I | P | A | D | |||||||
| I | N | R | E | S | U | C | K | Y | S | T | O | N | E | P | I | T | ||||
| F | I | R | S | T | I | N | C | L | A | S | S | E | I | D | D | A | N | O | ||
| C | A | T | E | G | O | R | Y | L | L | A | M | A | B | R | E | R | ||||
| V | A | N | D | R | I | V | I | N | G | C | R | A | Z | Y | ||||||
| T | W | O | P | U | R | E | D | A | S | A | A | A | S | |||||||
| P | R | A | T | T | A | G | A | V | E | C | P | R | I | U | D | |||||
| G | I | V | E | I | T | T | H | E | O | L | C | O | L | L | E | G | E | T | R | Y |
| A | M | Y | M | E | H | M | O | N | A | E | O | X | I | D | E | |||||
| A | M | I | R | A | I | M | R | O | O | F | A | C | U | |||||||
| B | A | R | A | D | M | I | S | S | I | O | N | I | N | S | ||||||
| Y | U | R | T | C | O | R | F | U | V | H | S | T | A | P | E | S | ||||
| O | T | O | H | D | E | N | F | I | N | I | S | H | T | H | E | J | O | B | ||
| B | O | W | L | G | A | M | E | A | N | N | O | Y | R | E | P | O | ||||
| E | L | I | A | B | O | O | T | Y | M | A | C | H | U | |||||||
| C | E | N | T | E | N | N | I | A | L | S | T | A | T | E | A | T | T | I | C | |
| O | R | I | E | N | T | S | M | I | L | E | S | A | T | Y | E | E | S | H | ||
| D | R | E | S | S | Y | P | A | N | O | R | A | M | A | A | D | D | M | E |
| B | U | F | F | L | A | M | D | O | F | F | ||||
| I | S | L | E | N | I | V | E | A | O | T | R | A | ||
| D | E | A | D | A | G | E | N | T | G | O | O | D | ||
| B | O | U | G | H | D | O | U | G | H | |||||
| R | E | S | T | A | N | T | I | |||||||
| A | S | S | A | Y | O | T | C | E | E | N | S | Y | ||
| F | E | N | S | O | P | H | I | E | S | E | W | E | ||
| L | E | A | H | E | R | O | N | H | U | E | ||||
| A | T | F | T | H | R | O | U | G | H | R | N | S | ||
| C | O | U | G | H | A | W | S | R | O | U | G | H | ||
| O | R | S | R | I | M | |||||||||
| B | U | M | D | E | A | L | F | U | S | I | L | L | I | |
| O | N | E | N | A | M | E | A | B | S | T | A | I | N | |
| S | T | O | O | D | O | N | M | O | U | S | I | E | R | |
| C | O | W | S | A | D | E | N | E | R | U | E |
| T | W | E | R | K | B | R | A | S | B | A | B | E | C | A | T | S | ||||
| H | A | V | E | I | T | B | E | L | T | A | L | U | M | I | M | H | O | |||
| E | L | E | C | T | R | I | C | A | L | O | U | T | L | E | T | L | A | R | A | |
| Y | E | S | I | C | A | N | D | U | M | P | S | O | N | R | A | Z | O | R | ||
| T | A | C | H | E | R | A | S | F | A | K | E | N | E | W | S | |||||
| L | I | B | E | R | I | A | R | E | C | T | O | E | A | T | ||||||
| A | D | O | N | B | A | S | H | A | V | I | N | G | C | R | E | A | M | |||
| G | E | O | L | O | G | I | S | T | S | T | A | V | E | T | O | S | C | A | ||
| A | T | O | Z | T | I | O | S | E | L | F | I | N | T | R | I | |||||
| W | A | S | A | R | I | E | N | E | T | G | A | I | N | |||||||
| U | S | E | R | N | A | M | E | A | N | D | P | A | S | S | W | O | R | D | ||
| S | N | L | S | K | I | T | D | O | O | M | S | Y | D | |||||||
| A | B | A | T | A | B | O | O | C | L | E | O | L | O | A | D | |||||
| N | O | N | P | C | R | A | L | P | H | I | N | F | L | A | T | I | O | N | ||
| E | X | T | E | R | M | I | N | A | T | O | R | S | F | O | D | U | E | |||
| A | A | A | F | I | L | E | T | W | A | T | T | A | G | E | ||||||
| D | R | I | B | B | L | E | S | C | L | U | E | E | N | O | S | |||||
| W | E | A | R | S | B | O | O | K | O | N | E | G | O | T | W | I | S | E | ||
| A | L | M | A | W | O | R | K | S | W | I | T | H | O | U | T | A | N | E | T | |
| D | E | S | I | A | N | T | E | E | T | E | S | T | E | N | O | R | S | |||
| E | T | O | N | D | Y | A | D | D | E | R | N | R | A | N | B | Y |
| F | R | U | I | T | T | A | R | T | G | A | S | P | S | |
| O | O | M | P | A | H | P | A | H | A | D | O | R | E | |
| T | U | N | A | M | E | L | T | S | R | U | B | O | N | |
| O | X | O | A | P | A | T | O | R | L | E | S | S | ||
| X | R | A | Y | L | A | B | T | R | E | E | ||||
| A | P | P | E | A | L | E | L | S | A | S | ||||
| B | E | E | R | E | A | S | I | E | R | V | I | M | ||
| L | E | T | S | T | H | I | N | G | S | S | L | I | D | E |
| E | R | A | W | O | M | A | N | S | A | N | N | A | ||
| B | A | R | A | K | E | L | W | O | O | D | ||||
| J | O | E | L | S | T | E | P | D | A | D | ||||
| I | N | R | O | M | E | B | L | O | T | F | E | W | ||
| L | E | I | C | A | V | I | A | V | E | N | E | T | O | |
| T | A | C | K | Y | A | T | T | E | N | U | A | T | E | |
| S | L | A | Y | S | R | E | A | R | T | I | R | E | S |
I started constructing this puzzle just by building a grid that I thought looked nice and open. I then worked on the 15-letter entries that cross in the middle, as well as the NW and SE stacks. Once I had all that in place, I filled in the rest around it.
Looking back at the puzzle now, I particularly connect with the arc formed by 22-Across, 25-Across, and 28-Across. I [25-Across] convictions as a public defender; I have 4-year-old twins who love pretending to be [28-Across] who use magic to freeze their parents; and unfortunately, I went to a [22-Across] recently because one of those twins broke her arm. That hasn't stopped her from freezing her parents, though.
| A | S | A | D | A | W | A | N | E | D | L | E | S | ||
| L | E | M | O | N | E | R | A | S | E | I | L | K | ||
| B | E | I | N | G | O | B | T | U | S | E | F | B | I | |
| A | D | D | E | L | D | E | R | P | L | E | A | D | ||
| U | R | D | U | U | N | R | I | G | ||||||
| C | A | S | T | S | B | A | T | O | X | I | N | S | ||
| A | T | E | A | T | O | N | T | W | O | V | I | A | ||
| D | O | T | H | E | R | I | G | H | T | T | H | I | N | G |
| E | N | S | A | I | S | L | E | S | O | N | J | A | ||
| T | E | A | U | R | N | E | L | I | E | G | A | N | ||
| B | R | A | G | G | A | K | A | S | ||||||
| J | U | L | E | P | A | L | T | E | R | F | A | Q | ||
| A | N | A | A | C | U | T | E | A | C | C | E | N | T | |
| V | I | Z | R | A | Z | R | S | E | S | T | A | R | ||
| A | X | E | T | R | Y | S | T | D | I | A | L | S |
I am so excited to be making my crossword constructing debut! I have loved doing puzzles of various kinds for as long as I can remember, and I submitted my first crossword to the New York Times in 2016. It was rejected, and not long afterward I got pregnant with twins, so that derailed my crossword-constructing career for a while.
During the pandemic, I decided to take another crack at it. I got two great mentors, Caitlin Reid and Sid Sivakumar, through the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory on Facebook, and they have helped me immensely. The learning curve is big! I am an appellate public defender, so I write quite a bit, but it turns out that putting words together in an appellate brief and putting words together in a crossword are very different skills. I submitted several puzzles last year that were rejected, always with thoughtful feedback, before this one was accepted.
This puzzle started out without the visual aspect. I just had three 15-letter theme answers containing ACUTE, OBTUSE, and RIGHT, and then a 15-letter revealer: WHAT IS YOUR ANGLE. But after going through a couple of iterations of the puzzle in that form, I decided to try adding in the visual aspect to make it more interesting. That really limited the theme entries I could use — it turns out there are only a couple of common 15-letter phrases with RIGHT in the center. So, I would like to give a shout-out to Spike Lee for making this puzzle possible.