Rafael Musa author page
13 puzzles by Rafael Musa
with Constructor comments
| Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 10/21/2022 | 8/23/2024 | 9 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| Circle | Scrab | Debut | Fresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.55 | 92 | 73% |
Rafael Musa, of San Francisco, is a software engineer at Airbnb.
| S | A | R | A | S | N | A | R | E | S | P | A | S | ||
| I | H | A | V | E | T | O | R | U | N | W | O | R | E | |
| N | O | T | E | T | O | S | E | L | F | I | L | E | X | |
| E | Y | E | D | U | P | Y | E | A | H | F | I | N | E | |
| T | H | A | D | H | O | R | N | Y | T | O | A | D | ||
| P | H | I | E | S | A | U | T | M | I | |||||
| E | E | K | S | I | N | K | S | N | E | I | N | S | ||
| C | R | E | W | T | O | I | L | S | S | N | A | P | ||
| K | E | S | H | A | I | D | E | A | S | D | N | A | ||
| O | R | C | D | E | C | O | I | C | Y | |||||
| S | H | A | K | E | O | N | I | T | L | A | S | H | ||
| C | I | N | N | A | M | O | N | W | A | R | P | E | D | |
| I | A | G | O | B | I | G | P | I | C | T | U | R | E | |
| F | L | E | W | A | R | M | W | R | E | S | T | L | E | |
| I | L | L | S | T | E | E | N | Y | Y | E | A | R |
| M | A | A | P | E | T | S | P | I | N | T | A | |||
| E | I | D | A | L | A | D | H | A | A | W | O | R | D | |
| S | N | O | W | A | N | G | E | L | T | O | T | E | D | |
| S | T | R | E | S | S | E | A | T | N | E | M | O | ||
| U | S | E | D | T | O | I | T | W | A | T | S | O | N | |
| P | O | D | U | N | E | V | E | N | B | A | R | S | ||
| B | O | T | R | I | B | T | I | P | S | |||||
| P | O | P | A | D | A | S | T | P | ||||||
| J | U | S | T | F | Y | I | L | Y | E | |||||
| R | U | S | S | I | A | N | S | P | Y | O | R | B | ||
| O | N | H | A | N | D | T | H | R | A | S | H | E | R | |
| A | K | O | N | T | R | A | I | L | A | W | A | Y | ||
| S | A | V | O | R | A | I | R | C | A | N | A | D | A | |
| T | R | E | V | I | M | C | M | A | N | S | I | O | N | |
| S | T | R | A | P | E | T | A | L | T | N | T |
| L | A | R | A | R | A | S | P | S | R | I | R | I | ||
| E | V | E | N | T | U | A | L | L | Y | A | H | E | M | |
| G | O | L | D | E | N | H | O | U | R | C | A | N | S | |
| S | W | O | O | N | S | T | O | A | D | E | T | T | E | |
| N | A | P | A | T | H | E | B | E | S | T | ||||
| C | O | M | E | N | O | W | M | I | T | T | ||||
| E | P | A | T | I | G | O | N | S | B | O | R | G | ||
| N | E | R | O | N | E | W | A | T | S | A | I | L | ||
| A | N | K | H | T | E | N | N | I | S | S | K | A | ||
| S | E | G | O | C | L | I | N | K | E | D | ||||
| R | E | T | O | R | T | S | Y | E | T | I | ||||
| H | A | R | D | B | O | I | L | T | U | G | S | O | N | |
| I | S | A | Y | S | M | A | R | T | P | H | O | N | E | |
| N | O | T | E | C | O | M | P | O | S | T | B | I | N | |
| O | N | E | S | A | N | A | I | S | S | A | T | E |
| R | C | A | H | E | R | O | N | I | T | S | I | N | ||
| P | U | S | H | O | V | E | R | S | N | O | O | N | E | |
| G | R | E | A | T | I | D | E | A | D | E | F | E | R | |
| S | T | A | R | W | A | R | S | P | E | L | T | E | D | |
| L | I | N | E | B | E | B | O | L | D | |||||
| T | U | B | E | R | W | E | R | E | T | O | A | S | T | |
| E | N | A | M | E | L | N | A | V | P | U | P | A | ||
| A | S | L | S | E | T | T | E | E | S | N | A | G | ||
| S | U | L | A | D | R | E | S | T | U | C | C | O | ||
| E | N | E | M | Y | T | U | R | F | A | S | H | E | N | |
| G | R | I | E | V | E | R | A | R | E | |||||
| C | H | I | L | L | S | D | I | R | T | R | O | A | D | |
| R | E | N | A | L | N | O | T | G | U | I | L | T | Y | |
| O | R | A | T | E | G | R | O | U | P | D | A | T | E | |
| P | O | S | E | D | O | A | S | E | S | F | A | D |
| H | I | M | I | D | L | E | E | S | S | F | E | T | A | |||||||
| A | D | A | M | E | A | N | T | S | H | A | K | A | O | R | A | L | B | |||
| H | E | R | B | I | V | O | R | E | P | O | W | E | R | B | R | O | K | E | R | |
| A | S | I | A | N | S | I | N | N | E | W | Y | E | A | R | S | E | V | E | ||
| S | T | E | L | L | A | C | A | P | U | T | O | A | L | E | A | E | R | |||
| L | O | T | I | O | N | S | R | O | B | L | A | D | S | |||||||
| P | O | P | V | I | D | T | Y | P | E | D | U | P | L | O | H | A | N | |||
| S | P | I | C | E | T | E | A | C | O | E | G | R | U | H | O | S | E | |||
| H | E | P | A | N | I | G | H | T | F | O | O | T | B | A | T | H | S | |||
| A | R | E | N | A | T | R | E | O | L | U | C | I | A | |||||||
| W | A | T | E | R | B | I | L | L | S | S | A | T | E | L | L | I | T | E | S | |
| K | A | T | I | E | O | T | B | S | L | G | A | M | E | |||||||
| T | H | A | T | S | L | I | F | E | C | A | S | A | S | G | H | E | E | |||
| M | A | Y | O | L | E | T | B | A | R | G | O | B | E | Y | O | N | D | |||
| I | N | C | U | R | S | E | R | A | P | E | S | R | A | Y | E | D | Y | |||
| A | R | A | B | D | E | L | W | E | A | S | L | E | Y | |||||||
| D | I | R | N | O | R | L | L | B | E | A | N | L | I | S | T | I | C | |||
| I | C | A | N | T | D | E | C | I | D | E | O | N | O | N | E | W | T | O | ||
| T | I | M | E | S | S | Q | U | A | R | E | A | U | T | O | G | R | A | P | H | |
| Z | E | B | R | A | S | E | N | O | R | K | A | T | S | U | I | R | E | |||
| R | A | F | T | T | P | S | L | O | O | P | N | O | N |
| K | E | N | O | A | L | I | G | A | R | S | O | N | ||
| A | R | A | L | M | A | N | O | R | E | T | R | O | ||
| N | E | R | D | F | E | S | T | S | M | E | A | N | T | |
| S | C | R | E | E | N | T | E | S | T | D | R | U | G | |
| A | T | O | N | E | P | R | I | U | S | S | R | O | ||
| N | S | W | L | E | A | P | R | O | V | I | S | O | ||
| V | I | G | G | O | N | U | D | G | E | D | ||||
| C | H | A | N | G | E | O | F | P | L | A | N | S | ||
| S | L | E | I | G | H | H | A | R | P | Y | ||||
| C | O | L | L | I | E | S | K | O | A | E | R | A | ||
| H | U | P | T | A | U | P | E | T | A | X | O | N | ||
| I | S | L | E | D | R | A | M | A | C | L | U | B | S | |
| S | E | I | K | O | E | Y | E | S | H | A | D | O | W | |
| M | A | N | E | D | T | E | A | T | M | E | T | E | ||
| S | U | E | D | E | Y | E | T | I | O | D | O | R |
| S | T | O | A | T | S | L | S | D | O | P | E | N | ||
| C | A | R | R | O | T | C | A | K | E | R | O | M | A | |
| O | X | Y | M | O | R | O | N | I | C | G | O | O | D | |
| T | I | X | B | A | B | A | R | Y | A | L | T | A | ||
| L | I | P | S | E | V | O | N | N | E | |||||
| E | C | I | G | S | P | S | E | U | D | O | ||||
| A | L | O | F | T | S | H | O | T | H | O | O | P | S | |
| P | A | L | E | O | P | O | R | A | N | D | O | R | ||
| E | N | D | O | F | R | A | N | T | D | O | L | M | A | |
| F | R | A | N | C | E | C | O | R | E | S | ||||
| B | U | D | I | C | E | D | E | N | S | |||||
| E | A | S | E | L | R | E | U | S | E | L | I | D | ||
| A | S | I | A | J | A | M | E | S | J | O | Y | C | E | |
| R | I | O | T | A | C | T | S | N | O | R | M | A | L | |
| P | E | N | H | Y | E | S | A | B | S | E | N | T |
| H | E | L | L | S | C | A | P | E | B | A | I | L | S | |
| I | L | H | A | N | O | M | A | R | U | N | L | I | T | |
| M | I | A | M | I | D | A | D | E | S | I | L | V | A | |
| O | T | S | T | E | S | T | O | Y | S | T | E | R | ||
| M | E | A | L | S | H | O | P | E | R | A | S | |||
| S | N | I | P | E | A | W | E | S | E | L | I | |||
| N | O | P | A | I | N | N | O | G | A | I | N | |||
| M | A | D | L | I | B | I | M | L | A | T | E | |||
| P | O | R | T | A | P | O | T | T | I | E | S | |||
| A | T | M | R | E | D | O | C | S | P | A | N | |||
| N | O | R | M | N | E | O | N | S | C | O | W | |||
| G | R | E | E | T | S | R | O | C | K | C | P | A | ||
| R | O | S | S | I | B | E | L | I | E | B | E | R | S | |
| A | L | T | A | R | T | A | T | T | L | E | D | O | N | |
| M | A | S | S | E | S | L | E | E | P | D | E | B | T |
One time, I was complaining about dating to Adam Wagner, and he sent me [the video below]. The (incorrect) idea is that dating is just like looking for the right porta-potty. You should sample a certain number of boyfriends/porta-potties, and then go for the first one that's better than all of those.
In spite of a multitude of serious issues with this analogy (I don't know how many boyfriends I'll be able to sample, porta-potties don't cheat on you, sampling a porta-potty is fast, and they don't change over time, you don't necessarily need different things from a porta-potty at age 20 vs. 40, no porta-potty has ever rejected me, etc.), the porta-potty thing became a bit of an inside joke between us.
Though it has not helped me find a boyfriend (yet!), the analogy inspired me to seed a puzzle with PORTAPOTTIES, and now here we are with a NYT publication (the second best thing, really). I also owe Adam for the incredible clue on that entry!
| I | N | C | H | U | P | T | E | M | P | T | S | |||
| S | E | R | A | P | E | S | I | N | A | R | E | A | ||
| O | V | E | R | D | R | A | W | G | O | C | O | L | D | |
| B | A | D | M | O | U | T | H | S | S | A | G | E | T | |
| A | D | O | S | I | O | W | A | W | A | P | O | |||
| R | A | S | L | A | N | D | A | R | T | M | O | S | ||
| P | E | C | O | N | C | A | M | E | R | A | ||||
| E | N | G | A | G | E | M | E | N | T | P | A | R | T | Y |
| G | O | R | D | I | T | A | S | I | A | N | ||||
| O | W | E | T | I | C | T | A | C | S | T | M | I | ||
| B | O | A | S | C | O | H | N | Y | A | R | N | |||
| O | N | T | O | P | S | A | K | E | B | O | M | B | S | |
| O | D | O | U | L | S | T | H | R | O | U | P | L | E | |
| S | E | N | S | E | I | S | O | L | D | O | U | T | ||
| T | R | E | A | D | S | S | T | O | N | E | S |
RAFA: Last November, I was in the car with some friends who were discussing a 57-Across they knew and I thought it would be a fun word to debut in a crossword. Soon after, I was working on this grid and saw the opportunity present itself in the bottom right corner ... I had to make it work. This grid started with the spanner, though, which felt relevant because it seems like every person I know is getting engaged these days!
Looking back, I clearly had relationships in mind while working on this one even though I was, and remain, single as a Pringle. Perhaps there is something to psychoanalyze there ... but I will leave it be! Anyhoo, Kim was an absolute pleasure to work with, and my favorite of his fill is 17D.
KIM: About eight months ago, I made a joke on Twitter about Rafa's prolific puzzle output, he DM'd me about collabing, and now here we are with our second puzzle together. All credit goes to Rafa for the grid shape and the spanner, which let us really tinker with each corner until we got it just right. My favorites of Rafa's clues are 16A and 2D.
Also, congrats to my sister, whose own 34-Across was this past weekend. Wishing you and Jon a wonderful future together.
| B | T | S | S | K | I | M | W | A | T | C | H | D | I | M | S | |||||
| U | A | E | O | N | M | E | A | N | I | T | A | R | E | C | A | L | L | |||
| T | H | E | E | L | E | P | H | A | N | T | M | A | N | A | V | E | N | U | E | |
| W | E | S | T | A | T | E | D | E | B | H | E | S | S | |||||||
| H | O | Y | A | A | R | S | T | O | L | L | B | O | O | T | H | S | ||||
| Y | E | A | R | N | E | D | P | I | R | A | T | E | S | Y | ||||||
| B | E | B | O | P | N | I | N | E | A | I | N | T | ||||||||
| T | H | U | N | B | E | R | G | O | K | R | A | T | E | E | M | S | ||||
| G | E | O | D | E | O | A | K | I | U | D | S | L | A | T | E | |||||
| A | C | T | S | N | A | P | T | I | M | E | T | U | B | E | S | A | L | |||
| S | H | Y | S | Y | M | B | O | L | I | C | L | O | G | I | C | C | U | E | ||
| P | H | O | O | T | O | E | N | B | O | R | A | N | G | |||||||
| S | U | G | A | R | S | T | P | O | O | P | M | E | R | C | Y | |||||
| B | A | N | T | U | S | L | E | D | L | A | H | D | I | D | A | H | ||||
| N | O | N | E | A | P | E | S | Y | I | E | L | D | ||||||||
| Y | O | U | F | L | A | T | T | E | R | M | E | S | N | O | W | D | A | Y | ||
| D | E | C | A | T | E | O | S | U | A | I | M | E | ||||||||
| I | N | T | L | E | T | A | I | T | S | B | E | E | N | R | E | A | L | |||
| S | T | A | F | F | S | B | I | G | S | H | O | E | S | T | O | F | I | L | L | |
| S | A | V | E | A | S | O | V | U | L | E | R | A | R | E | N | I | A | |||
| S | E | E | D | O | S | T | E | R | S | U | E | S | S | E | T |
REBECCA: What a thrill to see this puzzle in print! The revealer and concept came to me relatively easily, but after a few hours of trying to fill around the double letters by hand, I was completely stuck. Rafa's coding skills to the rescue! Once we had a promising layout, Rafa ran some code to generate a wordlist with all the possible entries that could work around the double letters. We filled the grid, and ended up deciding that the theme entries could be sparklier, so we started all over. Getting everything to work — after a few more layouts, coded wordlists, and rounds of fill — felt like a miracle. This puzzle couldn't have happened without Rafa's coding; his stack at 45- and 46-Down and signature colloquial fill at 109-Across are just the cherries on top.
RAFA: Beyond excited to be back so soon for another Sunday! I'm always in awe of Rebecca's theme brain, and I was immediately in love with this revealer when she approached me with this theme idea. It was cool to use the knowledge from my software day job to write code to make it easier to fill this grid. Stacked themers are no joke to fill around, so I'm particularly proud of the fun bonus fill we were able to squeeze into this grid, as well as the nods to our Bay Area home at 54-Across and 45-Down.
| D | U | N | B | A | R | S | L | O | G | A | N | S | |||||||
| A | R | M | O | I | R | E | C | O | L | O | N | I | E | S | |||||
| O | N | A | N | D | O | F | F | R | E | D | S | T | A | T | E | S | |||
| W | H | O | Y | O | U | I | T | I | S | S | O | S | A | L | E | ||||
| O | A | R | L | O | S | A | B | S | U | S | A | T | L | A | S | ||||
| O | R | A | N | G | E | J | U | I | C | E | S | T | E | R | O | I | D | S | |
| T | A | K | E | I | O | C | T | O | O | C | H | E | R | N | E | O | |||
| A | N | D | C | E | S | S | N | A | T | O | E | ||||||||
| D | A | R | K | R | O | O | M | Y | E | L | L | O | W | L | A | B | |||
| S | O | S | G | A | R | R | P | R | I | D | E | F | L | A | G | ||||
| F | I | T | O | W | N | M | A | I | L | G | N | C | E | R | E | ||||
| O | N | E | S | O | C | A | L | A | F | O | O | L | U | R | L | ||||
| G | R | E | E | N | T | A | P | E | C | A | S | S | E | T | T | E | |||
| A | N | O | S | L | O | T | H | S | E | R | A | ||||||||
| A | L | F | S | M | I | T | E | I | O | T | A | I | N | D | I | A | |||
| P | E | A | C | O | A | T | S | B | L | U | E | J | A | C | K | E | T | S | |
| I | D | C | A | R | D | S | P | R | E | N | A | S | P | A | T | ||||
| A | T | T | N | A | T | E | A | S | E | I | A | M | A | L | I | ||||
| V | I | O | L | E | T | R | A | Y | B | R | A | D | B | U | R | Y | |||
| S | E | T | P | I | E | C | E | A | T | H | E | I | S | T | |||||
| D | E | S | E | X | E | D | Y | E | S | S | E | S |
As Will mentioned, this puzzle is very special to me as it's being published almost exactly ten years after I first came out. My 17-year-old self had no idea what was in store for the coming decade, but a Sunday NYT crossword celebrating pride didn't even feel like a possibility.
It can take a village to make a crossword puzzle. I owe Rebecca Goldstein immensely for suggesting the 21x20 layout with the corner staircases after I'd complained about struggling to lay out 14 (!) theme entries. Adam Wagner and Michael Lieberman were great sounding boards for theme ideation. I'm lucky to have this many crossword besties to rely on.
This puzzle has the dubious honor of having the shortest longest entry of any Sunday in my recent memory, with two 11s and then no entries longer than 9. I always hope to incorporate longer bonuses, but frankly, it's miraculous this grid worked at all. The short theme entries had to be in a set order, with pairs in the same row, and rows vertically spaced as evenly as possible ... and also forced black square placements. Anywhere I tried to include PRIDE / FLAG immediately became ultraconstrained … It really was a labor of love and patience.
This one is for all my trans, gay, queer, bi, ace, lesbian, etc. baddies out there. I love you so much <3
| T | R | E | E | J | A | P | A | N | S | P | A | M | S | A | C | T | S | |||
| Y | E | N | S | A | I | O | L | I | A | E | R | I | E | L | O | I | N | |||
| R | E | C | T | A | N | G | U | L | A | R | P | R | I | S | M | E | L | M | O | |
| A | L | E | R | T | R | E | L | O | S | I | M | P | L | E | R | |||||
| L | O | V | E | W | I | L | L | T | E | A | R | U | S | A | P | A | R | T | ||
| D | R | A | G | N | O | T | E | D | O | E | S | C | O | B | ||||||
| A | I | D | E | T | W | O | S | W | I | N | G | A | T | O | P | A | ||||
| M | O | U | N | T | A | I | N | S | T | A | T | E | S | O | U | T | R | U | N | |
| E | T | S | H | I | E | P | A | R | F | I | N | E | A | R | T | |||||
| T | E | L | D | O | C | T | O | R | D | O | L | I | T | T | L | E | ||||
| A | X | I | O | M | T | O | O | K | Z | E | R | O | C | R | E | S | S | |||
| G | E | T | B | A | C | K | I | N | S | H | A | P | E | G | O | A | ||||
| I | N | S | I | G | H | T | E | R | R | S | U | R | P | A | T | |||||
| L | O | N | N | I | E | B | R | E | A | K | O | U | T | I | N | S | O | N | G | |
| E | N | O | M | A | N | U | A | L | S | N | A | N | A | S | T | I | ||||
| B | B | S | L | A | I | C | S | O | L | E | L | E | I | F | ||||||
| F | R | I | E | N | D | S | I | N | H | I | G | H | P | L | A | C | E | S | ||
| L | E | G | R | O | O | M | S | U | R | E | D | I | N | A | R | |||||
| U | R | G | E | P | I | C | T | U | R | E | I | N | P | I | C | T | U | R | E | |
| B | A | I | T | E | T | H | O | S | S | N | E | E | R | E | D | E | N | |||
| S | N | E | S | S | H | I | N | E | S | E | D | G | E | M | E | A | T |
RAFA: It's a huge honor to share a byline with two besties and crossword idols for what is undoubtedly the best NYT puzzle of 2023 so far!
Three things:
- 16D is very apt
- Pour one out for my [Myrrh-thful trio?] clue for 51D
- I was skeptical of 3D when Adam proposed that corner, but now it's one of my favorite answers in the grid!
ADAM: While we're on the subject of pouring ones out, here's to Mike's absolutely brilliant (G)O(R)ILL(A) (C)OSTUM(E) = BLESSING IN DISGUISE.
And props to Rafa for the incredible, puzzle-saving (REC)TANGU(LA)R PR(I)S(M).
My main contribution is this preposterous grid design, where every single Down crosses at least one theme answer... and over half cross more than one... including an absurd 10 entries that cross three!
This is also a full circle puzzle for me, with GET BACK IN SHAPE and PICTURE IN PICTURE echoing the revealers of my last two Sunday outings.
MIKE: In addition to the one Adam mentions above, my favorites that didn't make the puzzle (because making paired symmetry work is truly, remarkably, unimaginably frustrating) are:
- UNL(A)WFU(L) ASSEMB(L)(Y)
- TH(E) TWI(L)(I)GH(T) ZON(E)
- (M)(A)ISO(N)(E)T(T)E
- A (S)(T)RE(E)TCAR NAM(E)D DESI(R)E
(PARTNER IN CRIME, BEST IN SHOW, ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, and DRIVE IN MOVIE)
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I got into crosswords when I saw a friend post a screenshot of a sub-10 minute Friday solve. I thought I could probably do that too (hubris!) so I downloaded the NYT app and was humbled to realize even Mondays were really hard.
I persevered and, over a year later, got the elusive sub-10 Friday solve. Now, though I'm trying to PLAY IT COOL, it feels like a full-circle moment to debut with my very own Friday puzzle!
I know there's tough competition today, with Taylor Swift's album "Midnights" dropping just two hours after this puzzle, but I hope everyone can find some time to solve. I included a Taylor Swift reference in one of my original clues (can you guess which?), though sadly, it didn't make the cut.
If you'd like to discuss the puzzle or the album, follow my other puzzling pursuits, or share your own crossword origin story rooted in being overly competitive, please say hello on Twitter (@rafaxword)!