Ryan Judge author page
3 puzzles by Ryan Judge
with Constructor comments
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| R | U | L | E | O | F | T | H | U | M | B | ||||
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| P | A | R | K | A | S | O | U | R | S | F | O | B | ||
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| N | S | C | T | R | I | P | A | R | R | E | D | |||
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| H | E | I | R | S | I | M | O | N | S | A | Y | S | ||
| Y | E | N | S | G | A | L | O | S | H | E | S |
I made this puzzle in the summer of 2023 and I'm happy to finally see it out in the world.
This was originally slotted for a Friday, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was moved to a Saturday — because, of course, that means it's harder! Thanks to the editors for beefing up some of the clues (I especially liked their approach to 35-Down). I was glad that my clue for 1-Down survived, but, alas, my Latte Larry's reference for 3-Down didn't make the cut.
Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!
| A | T | L | A | S | A | N | O | R | A | K | S | |||
| S | M | O | O | C | H | N | A | N | O | B | O | T | ||
| C | H | I | L | D | H | O | O | D | M | E | M | O | R | Y |
| A | I | M | E | E | R | A | R | E | A | M | E | N | ||
| S | E | A | T | S | T | R | O | D | E | B | A | E | ||
| A | S | K | D | I | E | S | I | R | A | E | ||||
| S | T | I | P | E | N | D | D | O | S | A | S | |||
| N | A | V | E | A | S | P | I | R | E | D | ||||
| D | O | G | L | E | A | S | H | P | E | S | T | O | S | |
| E | N | T | E | R | T | A | I | N | E | R | S | N | L | |
| P | A | H | S | E | X | T | E | D | F | A | V | A | ||
| O | D | A | Y | R | E | U | P | V | I | S | I | T | ||
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| T | E | P | E | E | I | C | A | R | E |
I'm so excited to be back in the NYT! Thanks to everyone who test-solved this puzzle and made it possible.
This puzzle, like my last, was built around the crossing spanners 1-Down and 15-Across. The phrase at 1D was my primary seed entry, which I thought of one day last summer and felt would be particularly grid-worthy; I decided to try diagonal symmetry for fun, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.
Of my clues that made it into the final puzzle, my favorites were 41A, 25D, and 48D, which I was so glad the editors kept in. Of the clues they changed, I most like 19A and particularly 10D, which I thought was clever.
On a personal note, I'm turning 21 in just over a week, so I see this puzzle as an early birthday present to myself. Thanks for solving it, and I hope to be back soon!
P.S.: It was so great to meet many of you back in April at the ACPT! And don't forget to check out my blog.
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