Sheldon Polonsky author page
3 puzzles by Sheldon Polonsky
with Constructor comments
Sheldon Polonsky is a pediatrician and medical software analyst at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
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I'm very excited to have my third puzzle published! This theme idea was one of my earliest attempts, well before I had enough experience to make it work. I also had difficulty coming up with a related crossing revealer with an "e" in the center. At the time, the best I could come up with was SPEED—why couldn't ALBERT_EINSTEIN's parents have given him a middle initial? It would have been the perfect 15-letter crossing! In any case, I liked the idea, came back to it years later, and finally came up with EINSTEINIAN — a little clunky, but it worked. I know double rebuses (or maybe, in this case, one and half rebuses) are a hard sell, so I'm grateful the editors went for it.
I do have to make a very sincere apology to all the mathematically or scientifically inclined solvers today. I realized after I sent it in that since the formula is e=m(c2), not e=(mc)2, the rebus should not, strictly speaking, have the mc together in the square. Please take it as cruciverbial license, not ignorance! I hope you still enjoy the puzzle and have a RELATIVELY enjoyable experience!
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This puzzle theme is over 12 years in the making, well before I ever thought about making a crossword puzzle. The fact is, I hate anagram puzzles — I'm not good at them, and I'm annoyed by the fact that anagrams rarely, if at all, have anything to do with their base words. So, 12 years ago, I challenged myself to come up with a number of appropriate anagrams for movies that gave coherent hints about their plots (I do love movies).
I came up with a pretty long list — no computers, incidentally, just me and my Scrabble tiles — but I didn't have anything to do with them until I started writing crosswords two years ago. It took a lot of versions and permutations and some newer anagrams to finally satisfy the editors, as well as multiple grid attempts, but I finally got their blessing, and I hope you all enjoy it as well!
Two of my favorites that are too long for a crossword are Obi Wan vet irked right here (1957 — hint, not a Star Wars film) and They lampoon anything, thy lord (1975). Happy puzzling!
Others that didn't make the cut:
- Hot fedora stalker, sir!
- Fat man, leech stole
- Nag boldly, Elle!
- Enter on a USA trail
- Move it, AOL guy!
- The bunch to sue Al
- Iron threat met
- Amp and I, loony teen
- Reads: edgy Brits join
- Prim? No, sappy!
- End bent hair stiffener, OK?
- Ah, the card! I can tune a mind!
- OO spy's cut
- Need hint? Short, we saved wan SWF
- A chewy flick; or, how not to eat all candy
- Brett's honey urges it—oh, mama!
- Do the fancy vines shoot brains?
- Flee, Frodo! Help with this strong hero/elf thing!
- An inane smutty retro spoof ala Myers, in twin
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Hi everyone! I'm a pediatrician in Cincinnati by day. I'm into movies, painting, origami, literature, and theatre, as well as science and medicine, so I hope I bring an eclectic vibe to my puzzles. I've been a crossword puzzle lover as long as I can remember, but mostly solved cryptics and only discovered the joy of standard crosswords a year and a half ago when I started religiously doing the New York Times puzzles. When I found out they took open submissions, I thought, "I'm a smart guy, I can do that, how hard can it be?" After more rejections than I'd care to relate (including this puzzle initially) I discovered the answer was, "pretty darn hard".
It was a humbling experience, and gave me a new-found respect for the folks who do this on a consistent basis. Luckily, with some patience, perseverance, and practice, I got this one to clear the bar after a resubmission and some tweaks. Coincidentally, I also had my first puzzle published in the Wall Street Journal a week ago Saturday. Many thanks to Will Shortz and the editorial team for giving this one a second look, and especially to Joel Fagliano for his support and suggestions.
And, of course, thank you to my wonderful wife who put up with all those hours of me sitting on the couch solving and building crosswords with a glazed look on my face, occasionally looking up and grunting when I discovered she had been talking to me for ten minutes. Love you!
The inspiration for this puzzle came when I was trying to build a puzzle with a "musical chairs" theme. I didn't come up with anything, but the pun "musical chores" stuck in my head, which ultimately led to the rest of the theme.
As expected, lots of my original clue hints were edited. Two that I was sorry to see go were "Source of income for early Amazon entrepeneurs" (RUBBERTREE) and "People who don't do things by the book?" (NONREADERS). Hope you enjoy the puzzle!