Today we welcome crossword constructor and comic book collector Doug Peterson (he/him). Doug grew up in Montana and now lives in Southern California.
Doug! Thank you so much for letting us feature you in our Constructor Spotlight. Let’s start from the beginning. Please tell us about your crossword origin story!
My first crossword memories are solving puzzles in Dell crossword books with my grandmother. She would have me look up answers in her beat-up Dell crossword dictionary. It looked exactly like this!
I had no idea what a “combining form” was, but I sure found a lot of them in that dictionary. I was in my 20s before I realized that ELIA, frequently clued as [Lamb alias], had nothing to do with sheep.
[Googles ELIA… has aha moment, is much older than “in my 20s”] When did you start constructing puzzles?
I started getting serious back in 2002, and the only resource I could find online was cruciverb.com. I read and tried to absorb all the advice I could find on their website and mailing list. I also bought the Random House Puzzlemaker’s Handbook by Mel Rosen & Stan Kurzban, which was a bit outdated but still helpful. I sent a lot of my early puzzles to the L.A. Times, and then-editor Rich Norris was quite helpful with his feedback.
How do you come up with your constructing ideas?
I wish I had a formula! Coming up with themes has always been difficult for me, but going for a long walk is usually a good way to get the creative juices flowing.
These days, I tend towards easy themed puzzles because I like to share them with people who aren’t necessarily expert solvers. I try not to overload my puzzles with “Doug” things, but you’ll certainly find superhero references in many of them.
I’m a big heavy metal music fan, and listening to something like Iron Maiden or Epica puts me in a good headspace while I’m constructing grids – though not so much when writing clues.
Heavy metal and grid construction – intriguing! I’m imagining the black squares in the grid as part of their own little mosh pit as you’re deciding where to place them… 😂
When the creative juices are flowing, what tells you that something is worth your time? Do you have a spidey sense for when you’ve hit on a good idea?
I do have a spidey sense – I wish I got that tingle more often. It’s a fantastic feeling when you find just the right set of theme entries. I can also get into a nice flow state when making a grid as everything falls into place.
I’m good at deciding when a grid is “done.” I often rip out sections while I’m in the process of building the grid, but once I’m finished, I’m not one to go back and tinker. I know some constructors even go back and play around with grids on puzzles that have been accepted – that’s not for me!
You just had a Sunday in the NYT. Congrats, what a fun one!
Yeah, I made it with Gary Larson, who dreams up loads of fun themes, and I’m fortunate he shares some of them with me. He’s a retired stand-up comic, and it shows.
Where else are you published?
I’ve been published in most of the usual places, but now you can mainly find me in the L.A. Times, Puzzmo, and the Crosswords With Friends app.
Any greatest hits you’d like to share with us?
I struggle to come up with themes, so I tend to remember puzzles where I felt particularly inspired.
One of my favorites that you won’t find online appeared in the Uptown Puzzle Club. It was a 21×21 with the title “Station Identification.” Musical acts were clued in reference to imaginary radio stations. [Band heard on radio station WIND?] was AIR SUPPLY, [Singer heard on radio station KIDS?] was NEIL YOUNG, etc.
Another is my 2012 NY Times puzzle with the revealer I’M OK, YOU’RE OK. The premise, people with the initials O.K. meeting other people with the initials O.K., is a bit absurd, which I love. One of the theme answers was OLGA KURYLENKO, and in the months leading up to the puzzle I tried to put OLGA, clued as Kurylenko, in as many puzzles as I could so her name would be very familiar to solvers.
A recent favorite was one I constructed with Brooke Husic for Puzzmo. The theme entries were LAUGHING BOY (the playing card) and CRYING GIRL (the painting). Both of those entries have meaning for me, and the theme is the epitome of an “apt pair.”
What are your goals when you make a puzzle – what do you try to include and what do you avoid?
My goal is primarily a clean, interesting grid. Gridwork is by far my favorite part of the construction process. I strive to give the solver a smooth trip with a few bonuses along the way. Clues are more of a struggle for me. I’d rather start making a new grid than clue the one I just finished.
Avoid: ETE. Seriously. I’ve never used ETE in a grid. I don’t remember why exactly I decided to put ETE on the banned list, but it’s become one of my hard and fast rules – almost a superstition at this point.
What advice do you have for new constructors?
Solve, solve, solve! There are dozens of quality crosswords out there, and you can learn so much by paying attention to what you like (and don’t like) about them.
Speaking of, do you have any favorite constructors to solve?
There are so many! If I had to pick three, I’d say: Rebecca Goldstein, Erik Agard, and Francis Heaney.
Rebecca comes up with so many “I wish I’d thought of that” themes that I want to plant a bug in her house so I can steal a few. She’s amazing. Erik writes the best clues, bar none. His puzzles are always thoughtful and engaging. And Francis’s puzzles invariably contain some mind-boggling element or mechanism I’ve never seen before.
What are your favorite outlets to solve or work with?
I’m a test solver for Patti Varol at the L.A. Times, and I absolutely love working with her. She was hired as the editor in 2022 and has transformed the puzzle into a daily must-solve. I try to solve all the regular 15×15 puzzles, and the LA Times is often my favorite of the day.
I also really enjoy solving and constructing for Puzzmo. If you’re not solving their crosswords, you should be – consistently clever midis, edited and overseen by Brooke Husic. Shoutout to Alex Eaton-Salners for his numerous Puzzmo crosswords with amazing grid art. That’s one of my resolutions for 2026: construct a “grid art” midi for Puzzmo.
I am so here for a Doug grid-art Puzzmo puzzle! Can you share more about your experience being a test solver?
I used to test Patti Varol’s Crosswords Club puzzles, so it was a logical transition to start testing for the L.A. Times when she took over as editor. I test solve every puzzle, and my focus is fact checking.
We have a small team of excellent testers, and we tackle the puzzles a week at a time. Most of my job is Googling stuff, including – and maybe especially – facts I’m sure I already know. The dives into dusty corners of the internet can get very deep. It’s sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating.
Can you touch on how crosswords have impacted your life?
I’m not a particularly social or outgoing person, and being a part of the crossword community has brought so many smart, kind, and wonderful people into my life. I’ve been involved in crosswords for over 20 years now, and I can’t imagine a life without my extended crossword family.
Do you go to tournaments to connect with the community? Or are there other ways that you stay connected?
I don’t read the blogs as much as I used to, but I keep in touch with crossword buddies by text and DM. I still haven’t quite figured out Discord, but I lurk there from time to time.
I’ve been to the ACPT every year since 2008. I love the smaller tournaments too – Lollapuzzoola, Indie 500, and Westwords, to name a few. I’ve never had a bad time at a tournament. Crossword people are the best people to hang with.
You also attend Comic-Con. Tell us more about that.
This was my third year attending the New York Comic-Con. A couple of friends and I have made it a new annual tradition. My favorite part is visiting all the artists in Artist Alley. I could wander for hours checking out all the artwork, and most of the artists will draw commissions for you, so I usually buy four or five drawings.
I like putting money directly into artists’ pockets (many are paid about as well as crossword constructors), and of course I love all the original art I get to bring home. I’m in complete awe of their talent.
Is it the art that draws you to comic books, or something else?
I’ve always been a collector. As a kid, I collected stamps, coins, pins, bottle caps – almost anything I could amass and organize. Comics were a natural fit because I was fascinated with Batman and his world, and the comics themselves were so darn organizable. I’d sort them by title and number and keep lists in a spiral notebook. This was decades before spreadsheets. Keeping track of them was almost as much fun as reading them.
My collection dates back to when I was a fifth grader. (Thanks, Mom, for not throwing them away!) I was drawn to the larger-than-life stories and characters. I fell in love with Batman by watching reruns of the Adam West series. I’ve been a little obsessed ever since.
Speaking of, I made a superhero themed Bonus puzzle for the NY Times!
Most people associate comic books with superheroes. And yes, I often ask myself “What Would Batman Do?” But superheroes haven’t always been popular. Horror, western, war, and romance comic books dominated the newsstands in 1940s and 50s. I’ve been doing a deep dive into romance comics recently, and they’re so interesting.
What are your takeaways from the romance comics? Any cultural insights you’re eager to share?
What initially drew me to them was the artwork, which is often amazing. But the vast majority of these comics were written and drawn by middle-aged men. Men who were out of touch with the actual experiences and interests of their target audience: girls and young women. If you’ve been around crosswords for the past twenty years or so, you can see some parallels.
The stories are usually simplistic and innocent, featuring traditional patriarchal gender roles. For example, there was a series called “Career Girl Romances,” and the women’s “careers” were invariably secondary to their finding and keeping a man, usually the boss. The 1970s featured storylines that were a bit more progressive, but by then the genre had all but dried up. I find them to be a fascinating window into the culture of the time.
I’m happy to say that women are much more involved in comic creation now, and the comics are 1000% better (another parallel with the world of crosswords). But as with crosswords, we’ve still got a long way to go. I attended a Marvel Comics panel at New York Comic-Con earlier this month, and yes, all the panelists were dudes.
If I can recommend a current title you should be reading, it’s “Absolute Wonder Woman,” written by the award-winning Kelly Thompson. I didn’t think Wonder Woman could get much cooler, but wow.
Thank you for drawing those parallels between comics and crosswords. What a good note to (almost) end on. Just one more thing…
Rapid-Fire Round!
Batman or Robin (or one of the villains)?
Poison Ivy
Solving or constructing?
Tough one. Probably constructing.
Something readers would be surprised to learn about you?
I met Evel Knievel twice when I was a kid – once at his house. He was the biggest jerk ever! Keep EVEL out of your grids, friends.
Go-to emoji?
😂
Famous person you’d most like to meet (maybe to make up for the Evel Knievel letdown!)?
James Gunn, so I can give him some ideas for future DC Comics movies.
Comic-Con: cosplay or casual attire?
Casual. It’s hard enough to navigate the crowds without wearing extra accessories or carrying a big sword.
Three words your closest friend(s) would use to describe you?
Funny, thorough, kind
😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
This interview has been edited and condensed from a series of written survey answers and follow-up questions.
Jess Rucks is a crossword constructor and play therapist. She is happy to combine her love of learning about others with her love of crosswords for DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.