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DAVID: My dad, Paul, thought of this Reducing Fractions crossword idea years ago. In Dad's proposed implementation, the theme answers were three-square rebus arrangements such as FOUR LINE EIGHT. Dad wasn't a constructor yet, but he loved the twistiness of this idea, so he urged me to use it. I quickly realized that the three-square rebuses were impossible to construct around, so I moved on.

This idea stuck in Dad's head, though: Every so often, he'd ask, "When are you constructing the Reducing Fractions puzzle?" and I'd reply, "I told you: It's impossible!" Enter my mom, Karen. In 2021, she started constructing regularly, and Dad jumped at the opportunity to revive this idea. Mom tried hard but hit the same roadblocks. One day, I realized we could do a bidirectional, two-square rebus, but because the fractions had to be in order, the number of theme sets would be very limited.

Last year, Dad was diagnosed with atypical Parkinson's, and he's now in hospice. Crosswords are no longer in his life in the same way they once were, but when Mom and I told him Reducing Fractions was running in The Times, he was very happy. This one's for you, Dad!

– puzzle by David and Karen and Paul Steinberg

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

– puzzle by Rafael Musa

Crosswords and code-breaking have a long history. The British government famously conducted a crossword contest to secretly screen for Bletchley Park recruits (they picked the top six solvers). U.S. intelligence similarly recruited William Lutwiniak — who would go on to become one of the most prolific crossword constructors of all time — based on his standing as one of the best cryptogram solvers in the country. He served as a cryptanalyst during World War II and for decades thereafter at the NSA.

Other constructors also worked in code-breaking and intelligence. Jay Spry, a constructor in the 1960s and 70s, translated Japanese codes during the war. Roberta Morse, who constructed the first rebus puzzle in the Times, served as a translator for the OSS in World War II. Among more recent constructors, Ed Salners had a career as a U.S. Navy Cryptologic Officer, and constructor Verna Suit worked at the NSA, where Lutwiniak, by then semi-retired, gave her advice on constructing. Verna's name anagrams to NSA VIRTUE, but she assured me that was just a coincidence.

With the encouragement of Jim Horne and David Steinberg, I've been researching scores of historic constructors by using genealogy techniques to locate photos and draft short bios. We've now got photos of nearly all 71 constructors in Jim's Most Prolific Authors page on XWord Info. Besides those constructors, I've also enjoyed researching other notables, like Charles Erlenkotter, the constructor of the first Times crossword; Mable Daggett, the first female Times constructor; and Jeremiah Farrell, constructor of the famed Clinton-Dole puzzle.

In addition to the legends, it's been enriching to research the everyday constructors from the past. Invariably, you learn something truly interesting. Archie Kreiling and Willard Jordan, for example, were constructors in the Farrar era who were inmates at the same prison. Martha DeWitt, a constructor from the 1960s to 90s, was a nurse who attended to servicemen injured in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The aforementioned Jay Spry was a cigar-chomping fixture in the Baltimore Sun newsroom whom David Simon included as a character in the HBO series "The Wire." And on and on.

If this sort of research interests you and you'd like to team up or compare notes, shoot me an email at flipkoski@comcast.net.

– puzzle by Philip Koski

Hi all! Here are a few words about how this puzzle was constructed.

For this kind of grid, you start by using software (i.e., brute force) to fill the center region only. But with ten connected slots, it's a real test of wordlist quality. You need a wordlist that's both very large and very precise (ideally > 95% usable, otherwise the chance that ten random entries are *all* usable vanishes quickly).

I spent a month improving my wordlist for 11-letter entries specifically, after which an exhaustive search still took several months. This resulted in four usable centers and two final puzzles — this one and a puzzle published in AVCX last month.

TELESCOPIUM is maybe the main weakness of the center stack. I have a vague memory that I considered removing this from my list in my pass through the 11-letter entries but decided to keep it because it's essentially gettable (even if not really interesting). It's funny how that works!

CAWCAWED is a case of finding something that works, with the pattern CAW????? being shockingly constrained. I'm thankful for the editors' clue on this one, which took something contrived and made it very cute!

Thank you for solving, and for reading!

– puzzle by John Hawksley

As Will notes in the Magazine blurb, this grid contains the lowest answer count (118) in Times Sunday history. (For reference, most of these 21x21 crosswords contain around 140 answers, with little variance, given their constraints and our specifications.)

All I'll say is this: I'm very excited to see the puzzle that one-ups this one. And eventually, the one beyond that. And all the other puzzles — themed and themeless — that continue to move a genre forward, try something totally new, or anything in between.

When I joined the ranks of the "Crossworld" as a high schooler in 2012, I worried I'd be late to the game, so to speak. The greats were already there, and it was a privilege to join this select community at all. It's still a privilege, of course … but over the past decade, I've gotten to witness so much outreach, collaboration, and more and more fresh faces enter the fold.

I've gone from being one of a small handful of "indie" crossword constructors to one of many editors for mainstream puzzle publications, who also get to enjoy the dozens of envelope-pushing, individually run puzzle projects and websites in their free time.

Our Crossworld is in a wonderful place, y'all.

Thanks to all the constructors whose work inspired me once upon a time. And thanks to all the constructors and solvers who continue to welcome others into this rewarding pastime.

– puzzle by Sam Ezersky

I was at my wit's end with theme ideas going absolutely nowhere, procrastinating by online shopping, when I was prompted with a "How did you hear about our product?" survey. One of the options, WORD OF MOUTH, caught my eye. As a poet, I often play with the vocabulary of the MOUTH as a motif in my writing, so it feels apt to have that reflected in my debut puzzle.

It was a great honor to be a part of the Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship! I definitely plan to continue constructing puzzles, and I have another one coming out with the LA Times on July 5th. I'm excited for everyone to play the puzzles from the other talented constructors in my cohort as well.

Thanks to the friends who brutally play-tested many a grid for me. Thanks to all the editors who provided such insightful help and fun banter. Special thank you to my mentor Christina Iverson, who provided vital encouragement, support and direction over the course of the fellowship and beyond.

– puzzle by Alice Liang

JULIANA: For me, this puzzle is a testament to the power of collaboration. I had the idea to make a puzzle in which the solver looks for common items one would need to leave the house. (Personally, I spend a lot of time doing just that!) However, I was really struggling with what to include and subsequently building a working theme set from those items. Talking with Wendy really helped me to find new ways to look at the possibilities, and she found fitting theme entries that completed the set. In this case, two heads were definitely better than one, and we had a great time working together to boot.

WENDY: I loved Juliana's idea for the puzzle and was thrilled that she invited me to collaborate with her on it. My favorite part of the puzzle is that two themers hint at going out on the town (WHISKEY SOUR and TAXI DRIVER). It was great working with Juliana, a brilliant constructor, and an amazing punster. Her clue, "How do you say that in Spanish?" still makes me smile. We hope you enjoy this one (and maybe even give it a second look before heading out the door).

– puzzle by Juliana Tringali Golden and Wendy L. Brandes

Shortly after I started constructing, I found myself constantly coming up with clues for words I'd encounter throughout the day. I'd see a MIME and think, "He's ‘not one to talk.'" Or I'd be driving on a CUL DE SAC when a voice would pop in my head to say, "You know, this is ‘not a through street.'" Then one day it hit me that the clues inside my head always seemed to begin with the word "not," which is when I found myself wondering if I could construct a puzzle in which all of the Across clues began with the word "not."

It wasn't easy, at least not for the beginning constructor that I was. I spent a couple hundred hours filling a least a dozen iterations of this puzzle until I came up with a version that I thought might be elegant enough for the New York Times…then the Times came back with a few notes that required me to start all over again. But all that work NOT only earned me my NYT debut, (I am pinching myself) I can confidently say it made me a better constructor.

Anyway, I'm still sad that I couldn't get CUL DE SAC to work (I really tried), but I hope my puzzle gives everyone at least a few smiles. And yes, I owe XWord Info a big thank you for a few of my "nots." (The clue search option was clutch.)

– puzzle by Jennifer Hoelzer

First solo! I was still so new for my debut collab in 2021 that my co-constructor had to do most of the heavy lifting — I've developed a bunch as a constructor since then. I've also gone into video game law & joined a competitive Only Connect fan league since then, it's been a wild few years.

A couple of puzzles have used this central themer to signal answers circling back on themselves, but the phrase "square one" feels so literal in crosswords that I kept wondering if I could make it work with a different take. My ground rules:

• Both across and down themers, each keeping direction like they emerge from a portal.
• 1A/1D should feel like complete entries, not suffixes, so the puzzle doesn't start with something gluey.
• 1A/1D have to finish lots of words without feeling repetitive or cheap, so there weren't too many viable options that started with the same letter.
• The themers shouldn't just take a suffix to make a different version of the same word, there should always be a twist.

I really like the variety of themer changes. A couple do have semantic links — VICARs stand in VICARIOUSly for higher-level clergy — but hopefully, none felt predictable. Interestingly, the submission suggested not flagging themers, but the asterisks are mildly less evil if you're into that.

Just a little look at my theme process. Come say hi @hero_complex on Twitter and suggest other fun themer pairs!

– puzzle by David Harris

I knew from the beginning that this theme would break the no-repeated-entry rule, but this construction unlocked itself when I decided that it was also okay to abandon the 15x15 grid and let the puzzle be the shape that it just naturally wanted to be. In fact, I'd spent a long time trying to make this or some other sandwich puzzle instead, in a 15x. The Reuben was particularly seductive, with its 15-letter SLICE OF RYE BREAD and the fact that its other ingredients are symmetric-length, too, but its ingredients never looked quite right when they went into a grid, and, eventually, this very classic sandwich (and the very non-classic 12x19 grid) was the winner.

It's probably surprising how much you (well, I) end up doubting things that you're pretty sure you know but can't quite figure out how to fact-check: that you don't have to use grape jelly to make a good PB&J; that the peanut butter definitely goes below the jelly/jam, not above; etc. But, happily, in the end, this puzzle ended up being the exact version of the sandwich that I remember from childhood. And I'd rather have one of these than a Reuben, anyway.

I'm thrilled to have finally cracked a Monday — I've always struggled to come up with themes that are both interesting and approachable. Finally, I have something to counterbalance my hefty pile of Monday-level rejections!

– puzzle by David Liben-Nowell

I'm not exactly sure when I came up with this theme idea, but the term FOOD CHAIN pops up a lot in my life: both because I'm an ecologist and because I do food justice-related organizing in my community.

I had no special strategy for creating the FOOD CHAIN in this puzzle. I would just start with a food and see how far I could take it. This probably wasn't the most efficient method, but it was made easier by referring to alphabetized lists of foods (which can be found on a surprisingly high number of websites).

I'm pretty happy with the final set of theme answers. I'm glad all the foods are fairly well hidden. My only complaint is that DATES is plural while all the other foods are singular. I originally had LIVE STOCK, but the editors felt STOCK wasn't a substantive enough food. Luckily, I found LIVE DATES as a replacement, which I think is a more fun answer anyway.

My payment for this puzzle is being donated to The Okra Project.

– puzzle by Jimmy Peniston

SPENCER: This puzzle came together relatively fast. I met Quiara a while back on the Crosscord Discord server, and this is our first collaborative effort together. I think it turned out pretty well! Rather than email different grid designs back and forth, we constructed the puzzle in a single sitting via a discord call. This live collaboration method allowed us to work around some of the pitfalls that collab puzzles can often fall into — those being that the grid is overly segmented to allow different constructors to work on different sections or that one constructor fills the majority of the grid while another constructor gets small outer sections that are already constrained.

In the end, I really love how the grid turned out. I know scrabbly grids (ones that use lots of high-point scrabble letters like J Q X Z) aren't everyone's cup of tea since they tend to bog down the fill, but I love them, especially when the rare letter is at the nexus of two punchy words like the Q is in our grid. The grid ended up being a pangram — the first one of 2023, in fact!

QUIARA: How exciting to be back in the NYTXW, and on my favorite day, no less. I feel most at home when making a hard themeless loaded with exotic letters, so thankfully, Spencer was picking up what I was putting down on this collaboration. We made this grid a little under a year ago — I think it was fast-tracked to run in June on account of how much they liked the PRIDE FLAGS clue — and as such, I have a pretty clear memory of our process on making this one.

We came upon this grid shape pretty quickly, but it took us a little longer to get a fun pair of stacks. Eventually, we cut out a lot of possibilities by planting an ING at the bottom of the vertical spanner here, which gave us lots of options — once we saw we could get BBQ PORK BUNS and QUIT DAYDREAMING to cross, though, it was off to the races.

Some miscellanea here:

- Since that spanner crossing that top stack has 20 of the 26 letters in it, we decided to aim for the pangram here. AJAX at 25-Across is the kind of entry that usually reads as fishing for a pangram, but in this case I really do think that gave us the best fill, and they were completely unnecessary to hit the pangram with JUDAS-crossing-JETE and FROST/NIXON elsewhere in the grid.

- WOZ is apparently a debut entry here, which I didn't expect to be the case, him being co-founder of the most valuable company in the world and all that. How often do you see a 3-letter word debut in the NYT these days? (Incidentally, shout-out to my pal Nick Wozniak, game developer of Shovel Knight fame, who is the reason I even put WOZ on my wordlist in the first place.)

- Speaking of WOZ, he was originally clued as [Jobs initiative backer, familiarly?] - a tricky clue that had its difficulty ironed out in editing, presumably because they prefer proper names to be clued more straightforwardly. Similarly, KHLOE was clued as [Rob's biggest little sis, in tabloid land], with the unstated assumption that we are all aware of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, whether we want to be or not.

- There were a bunch of other changes here, none of which are particularly tragic. Cluing YOGA PANTS as [They're not just for posers anymore!], for instance. Or cluing OBAMA as the [Central figure in 2014's "Tansuitgate"]. Or cluing BREAKDANCE in reference to the late great Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quinones, star of the Breakin' movies. (And contemporary of Toni Basil - yes, that Toni Basil - with whom he invented the pop-and-lock. Also, this is a trivia chestnut at this point, but did you know Toni Basil choreographed David Byrne's dancing in the video for "Once in a Lifetime" ?)

- One extremely specific reference of mine that did make the final cut? Cluing Malik YOBA in reference to his (rather minor) role on "God Friended Me," a very sweet show that I genuinely like despite its stupid title, and not just because its cast is an armada of dreamboats. (Seriously, why is Brandon Micheal Hall so good looking? It's unfair.)

- See if you can guess our original clue for FROST/NIXON! Hint 1: it was *hilarious.* (Hint 2: It rhymed with "picnic.")

– puzzle by Spencer Leach and Quiara Vasquez

We're excited to share a byline in The New York Times for the first (but hopefully not the last!) time. The two of us have collaborated on several other puzzles, which have appeared in The LA Times, Crosswords Club, and Universal Crosswords.

Another project we've worked on together is the Grids for Kids charity puzzle pack, for which we both volunteered as editors. We vetted themes (which are all related to parenting!) and helped edit a suite of puzzles for kids and adults. With a small donation to a kid-centered charity of your choice, you can download the puzzle pack, which consists of 17 themed puzzles, 2 cryptics, and 6 puzzles for kids. We're both parents of young children, Taylor with a 2- and 4-year-old, and Christina with a 3= and 5-year-old, so we were particularly inspired by this project.

Finally, a quick plug for Taylor's side project, Lemonade Disco, a platform for new constructors to showcase their talent in a supportive space. A new suite of puzzles is available every two months, edited by Taylor, Shannon Rapp, and Steve Mossberg.

– puzzle by Taylor Johnson and Christina Iverson

The original concept for this puzzle had MOVEMBER as the revealer; I'd already participated in the past and was reminded of it when I came across the name while putting another puzzle together. The handlebar in the center was a perfect fit, and once that lil' cutie was in place, I knew I'd have to make the rest of the puzzle work, come hell or high water. The NE was the worst to fill and was the only part that remained unscathed through revision, mainly because there was very little that could be done to fix the iffiest parts (at least, by someone of my talent level).

About me: to do our part to ensure the entropy of the universe continues to expand, our family will be welcoming our third (and final) child by this time next month. If anyone wishes to shoot the breeze on parenthood, dynasty baseball, actuarial science, or, naturally, crossword construction, feel free to drop me a line (amgxwrd@gmail.com).

Submission stats:

• Submitted: 4/24/2022
• Revision requested: 7/15/2022
• Revision submitted: 7/22/2022
• Official acceptance: 8/8/2022
• Publish date: 6/27/2023
• Unchanged clues: 23
• Clues with minor edits: 25
• Completely changed clues: 30

– puzzle by Anthony Gisonda

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 35^th anniversary. We are the proud parents of 2 amazing daughters, ages 24 and 19.

– puzzle by Matt Fuchs and Victor Sloan