Victor Sloan author page
1 puzzle by Victor Sloan
with Constructor comments
See the 2 answer words debuted by Victor Sloan.
| A | L | P | I | N | I | S | M | A | F | T | R | A | ||
| P | E | A | R | T | R | E | E | T | H | R | O | A | T | |
| A | I | R | S | H | O | W | S | A | I | O | L | I | S | |
| T | A | T | B | O | A | S | T | G | E | N | E | |||
| R | A | Y | O | N | U | A | R | T | S | A | ||||
| S | P | I | T | A | T | S | I | M | O | N | ||||
| M | A | D | L | Y | I | N | S | I | D | E | M | A | N | |
| O | L | G | A | G | R | A | S | S | W | I | N | Y | ||
| G | O | E | S | B | R | O | K | E | P | A | N | T | S | |
| T | R | A | N | E | C | E | R | I | S | E | ||||
| S | H | E | O | B | I | G | A | W | K | S | ||||
| W | I | C | K | S | C | I | O | N | K | O | R | |||
| A | M | O | E | B | A | C | O | A | L | M | I | N | E | |
| B | O | N | N | E | T | E | U | R | O | A | R | E | A | |
| S | M | O | T | E | S | T | Y | L | E | T | I | P |
MATT: It is so exciting to see this puzzle run on my birthday — thank you to the Times for this awesome and memorable present!
Victor wrote me after the publication of my last Times puzzle expressing his interest in learning more about crossword construction. While I struggle to devise theme ideas and prefer the later stages of filling grids and writing clues, Victor had no shortage of theme proposals and was eager to develop them further. After some exchanges in which Victor brought up phrases involving animals like "Pigs in a Blanket" or "Elephant in the Room," it occurred to us that we could represent those "___ in the ___" expressions using literal Across and Down crossings. That realization also meant we could eliminate the inconsistencies or redundancies of articles and pronouns from one phrase to another.
Since my last puzzle, I started graduate school in architecture and am currently living in Cambridge, MA, where I understand the puzzle community is strong. It's tough to balance puzzle constructing with the school schedule, but I hope to find more time for it and to branch out further in the world of puzzle people!
VICTOR: This puzzle is dedicated to the memory of my father, Gilbert Sloan, who died peacefully on May 24 at the age of 94. While he didn't get to see the puzzle in print, I did tell him it had been accepted, and he was one of our test solvers. Whenever we would visit, I would photocopy the puzzle (yes, I still solve on paper) and we would work on it side by side. We would also listen to the Sunday Puzzle on NPR (with Will Shortz) and we would race to solve it and call the other person.
I got the theme idea from a book about English language curiosities and realized there were a number of animal idioms in the form (animal) in the ____. I reached out to Matt, who graciously agreed to work with me to bring this to fruition. I learned so much in our collaboration.
My portion of the payment for this puzzle will be donated to the Newark Museum of Art's Explorers Program, which is the successor to the Junior Museum program that gave my father his first exposure to science in the 1930s.
About me: I am a rheumatologist currently working for the Peace Corps (I was a Volunteer in Cameroon from 1981-83). This October, my wife Sandra Gong and I will celebrate our 35th anniversary. We are the proud parents of 2 amazing daughters, ages 24 and 19.