Michael B. Berg author page
1 puzzle by Michael B. Berg
with Constructor comments
| M | U | T | T | P | E | A | R | L | B | O | O | P | ||
| I | D | E | A | A | L | G | A | E | A | U | R | A | ||
| D | O | N | K | E | Y | K | O | N | G | S | T | A | R | |
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| E | B | O | N | M | O | A | T | D | I | E | G | O | ||
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| U | M | A | S | S | S | T | Y | E | S | C | O | T | ||
| P | A | C | M | A | N | H | E | D | G | E | H | O | G | |
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| R | E | N | D | A | N | G | R | Y | B | I | R | D | S | |
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| D | Y | E | R | A | R | T | S | Y | G | N | A | R |
For one glorious year of my early childhood, I went to daycare in a bowling alley. When we weren't perched on stools watching Sesame Street on the bar's TV, we got to hang out in the arcade and play all the classics.
Just a few decades later, I have my own kids and not just one, but two full-sized stand-up arcade machines in our house. This puzzle began with thoughts of Donkey Kong, one of my all-time favorites from those early days. The phrase, "over a barrel" occurred to me as a fun way to clue it, and the puzzle grew from there. Funny enough, that clue didn't even make the final cut.
Much appreciation goes out to my deeply supportive friends and family, especially my friend Dan who texts with me about the NYT crossword just about every single day. I hope that Marjorie Pedersen, who taught me crossword puzzle construction (for credit!) at Tufts University 29 years ago, will be proud of this debut.