Author: Jess Rucks

This month, we talk with physicist, literature lover, and constructor Emma Oxford (she/her). Emma is from the D.C. area and currently lives in ERIE, Pennsylvania (which begs the question: Did she move there just for the letters?).

Emma! Thanks for letting us feature you in our constructor spotlight. You’re the creator of Ariadne’s Crossword Library. Can you tell us more about that?

Yes! Please go check out Ariadne’s Crossword Library (ACL), a monthly crossword contest featuring literature-themed puzzles constructed by woman-identifying constructors. Ten of the puzzles up there right now are by me, but I’m excited to be publishing more puzzles by guest constructors this year.

Each month, I give a book to a randomly selected solver who submits the correct meta answer. Sometimes the book relates to the puzzle, sometimes I mix it up. Occasionally, I’m inspired by incorrect submissions – for example, in a previous puzzle, the correct answer was “Ulysses,” but many people submitted “The Book Thief,” so I gave away “The Book Thief.”

Where did the name Ariadne come from?

I wanted the project to have an accessible acronym, so I that was a consideration in coming up with the name. Also, Ariadne is the sister of the Minotaur – she helped Theseus get through the maze on Crete. She’s associated with mazes and labyrinths, which feels appropriate for a meta crossword site.

What was your goal in starting ACL?

One motivation was to have 12 woman-constructed meta puzzles a year reviewed on Diary of a Crossword Fiend. Before I started the site, almost all the reviewed metas were made by men. I’d been solving meta crosswords regularly for several years and noticed this startling gender imbalance in metas and contest crosswords. (There’s a broader lack of diversity among constructors in that space.) I wanted to provide a forum where more constructors could create metas and have them edited – editors really do make puzzles better.

It has also been nice to provide a space where constructors who are new to making metas can receive mentorship. I didn’t initially anticipate the mentorship aspect of ACL, however it has become a large part of it. It feels like something I can provide that other outlets can’t, and I hope that there’s some value added there.

What do you enjoy about metas?

As a solver, I like the extra challenge – it adds another layer to the puzzle-solving experience compared to a standard crossword. As a constructor, there’s this satisfying payoff when solvers can crack my meta answer. I think, like a lot of people – maybe especially those who are really into crosswords – I often feel like I’m not quite on the same wavelength as the people I’m talking to in my daily life. There is something really satisfying about bringing people onto your wavelength when you make a meta that they can solve.

You construct regular crosswords as well. Will you share your crossword origin story with us?

I always get the timelines mixed up, so don’t quote me exactly on the order of things here, but at some point in 2018 or 2019 two things happened: 1) a group of crossword constructors sent an open letter to the NYT editors about the truly appalling gender gap in published crossword constructors and 2) Evan Birnholz, whose puzzles I was regularly solving, wrote about similar issues in his WaPo blog.

At the time, I was getting my PhD in physics and was primed to be irritated that my preferred hobby suffered from the same deficiency as my chosen profession. But it also occurred to me that, even though I couldn’t solve this problem, I might at least be able to help shift the balance. So, I started constructing crosswords. And it turns out I liked it!

My first puzzle was published by The Inkubator in April 2020, and my first newspaper crossword was published by Universal in August 2020.

Based on those dates, some people assume I picked this up as a “pandemic hobby.” I did not. I know it sounds minor, but I care about having my story accurately represented.

No judgment here – I feel the same way. I dislike it when people assume that’s why I started constructing. To be clear, I think it’s wonderful that people took up constructing during the pandemic. It’s a great creative outlet for a difficult time! But for me, it’s about accurately reflecting my experience – the pandemic actually reduced my free time rather than increasing it.

Where are you published?

The Inkubator (RIP), Universal, USA Today, WSJ (my first and only WSJ puzzle was published on Jan. 6, 2021… oof), LA Times, Simon & Schuster Mega series, Fireball, Apple News+, AVCX. The only major publication I haven’t appeared in (I think!) is the NYT, which is a bit ironic considering it was the gender gap in NYT constructors that started me on this path in the first place. You can also find more of my work on my Crosshare page.

Any crossword resources to shout out?

I just learned about the Crossword PDF Editor from Quiara Vasquez – thanks Quiara – game changer!

For constructing and cluing, spread the word(list) has made my puzzles so much cleaner. Adam Aaronson’s Wordlisted is great for coming up with themes. And don’t sleep on Open Source Shakespeare – need to search literally everything Shakespeare ever wrote because your grid has a weird word that would be improved by a creative cluing angle? Open Source Shakespeare to the rescue!

Clearly, you’re a big reader – any hot takes on popular books?

I really dislike Jane Eyre. People talk about how great it is and how wonderful Mr. Rochester is, and I’m like… did we read the same book?! This is the wife-locked-in-the-attic book! I don’t understand how this is a beloved feminist classic. By modern standards, it does not seem that feminist – and people seem to forget huge chunks of the book that are inconvenient to take into consideration.

Noted! I’ve never read Jane Eyre, and now I’m not sad about that. Any other hobbies?

I cross stitch a lot (I don’t know why all my hobbies start with “cross”). I also work full-time, which really gets in the way of all the crosswords I want to be constructing – and into my progress on the as yet entirely theoretical novel I’m sure I’m famous for in some parallel universe.

I currently work as a patent specialist at an intellectual property law firm. Before that, I was a patent examiner with the US Patent & Trademark Office. Before that I was in grad school earning a PhD in physics. Before that I was a librarian. It sounds like a winding path, but I promise it all made sense at the time.

Wait – what is a physicist doing in a law firm?

Patent work requires a technical background. If you want to be a patent practitioner or examiner, you must have at least an undergraduate degree in a science. There’s a pipeline there, especially for people who don’t want to go into academia. It’s a career adjacent to academic research, but you’re not working in a lab. Appealingly, there is still a fair amount of problem-solving and intellectual thinking involved.

Do crosswords engage a different part of your brain?

Yes, it’s a different part of your brain – a different skill set. I spend a lot of time thinking about other people’s ideas and inventions, so it’s nice to have something where I have creative control. I think it scratches that creative itch for me.

How do you come up with your constructing ideas?

I tend to work much better if given some constraints. “Pick any theme in the universe” is overwhelming. That’s why, when I started ACL, I limited the themes to ones with a literature- or reading-related meta answer. “Pick a theme within literature and reading” is a much less daunting starting point.

For other venues, I start by giving myself some constraints, even if they’re arbitrary ones, and then just play in that sandbox for a while to see if I can build an interesting castle.

Themed or themeless?

Themed. I’ve tried to make themeless crosswords, and it just doesn’t work for me (see note above about needing constraints). Themeless crosswords seem overwhelmingly open-ended. There are other constructors doing themeless crosswords much better than I ever could.

In my puzzles, I do make a conscious effort to keep the solving experience in mind and to make puzzles with interesting themes and strong fill – that said: If you’re going to be upset about ERIE appearing over-much in my puzzles… it’s not crosswordese if you live there!

Share some of your greatest hits with us!

I really love the contest crossword I co-constructed with Will Pfadenhauer for Fireball. I came up with the meta and the theme entries for that one (I got extremely lucky with how some of those worked out – the theme barely fought with me at all), and Will put together the grid. I’m also very proud of the four mini-meta series I have over on my Crosshare blog. I have 50 puzzles each in the CrossWordle, Off the Grid, Before & After, and Odd One Out series.

Can you talk more about those puzzle formats?

Someone else came up with CrossWordle, which uses Wordle-based color hints to guide solvers toward a single correct answer.

Off The Grid looks like a 5×5, but it’s really a 6×5 – some entries are missing a letter, and those missing letters form the final answer.

Before and After involves two entries in the grid that don’t quite match their clues. One is missing a word that goes before it, and one is missing a word that goes after it (i.e., time CARD and FACE time, where CARD and FACE are in the grid, clued as FaceTime and Timecard, so the missing answer is “time”).

Odd One Out presents a set of three to four related items (though I went up to six at the end). I would include all except one of those items in the grid or in the clues. For example, if I did earth, air, water, and fire – maybe WATER is in the grid, “earth” and “air” are in the clues somewhere, and “fire” is missing – so the answer is “fire.”

I’m not sure if I’ll try to come up with another series, or if I’ll take a break so I can focus on ACL and getting back to constructing more standard full-sized puzzles.

Are there any constructors you’ll go out of your way to solve?

There are a ton of constructors on Crosshare publishing great puzzles. Two I’m always excited to see new puzzles from are @girlcow and @acommonrose. They both publish super clever crosswords with clues that I often wish I had thought of writing.

Any advice that’s stuck with you?

“I’ve never had a solver complain that a puzzle had too many three-letter words.” –Peter Gordon.

I’m not sure Peter was intending to give this as advice, per se, but I often keep this in mind and interpret it as: Focus on what actually matters. Not all “best practices” improve a puzzle in meaningful ways, especially as related to solver experience.

What’s something that readers would be surprised to learn about you?

I’ve submitted 46 puzzles to the NYT without a single acceptance. To be fair, some of those were early puzzles that were less polished. But still, it’s a bit ironic, given how I got started!

Lastly – any pets?

I have two cats, Esmerelda and Sidewinder (my husband named him). In Erie, there are a lot of stray cats, so when we tell people we went to a shelter and adopted Sidewinder, people are like, “On purpose?!” Esmerelda, of course, hates him – and all he wants is to be her friend. He’s more overtly social. Esmerelda, however, prefers to hang out near you and pretend it’s just a coincidence.

Rapid-Fire Round:

Constructing or solving?

Constructing

Go-to emoji?

😂

Favorite food?

Smooth peanut butter

Favorite book(s)?

“The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern is my all-time favorite. I also love any Discworld book by Terry Pratchett, and anything written by Douglas Adams, especially “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” and “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.”

Three words your friends would use to describe you.

Reliable, funny, meticulous

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This interview has been edited and condensed.

Jess Rucks is a crossword constructor and play therapist. She loves combining her curiosity about people with her passion for crosswords in DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.

This month we are featuring our youngest constructor yet – WashU student Rena Cohen (she/her). Rena is studying psychology, Spanish, and applied linguistics, and she’s originally from Bloomington, IN.

Rena! Thanks so much for letting us feature you in our Constructor Spotlight. You’re the youngest constructor we’ve featured so far! Will you tell us more about your undergrad studies and any career goals?

I’m still exploring my career options. I’ve always been interested in learning about how our brains work – especially when it comes to language, language learning, and puzzles. I am very much a planner, so I would love to have a definitive career path to share here, but I’ll just have to see where my interests take me. 

You have plenty of time! You’re also involved with crosswords at Washington University, correct?

Yes, I co-founded a daily mini crossword as a freshman. It runs in the university’s newspaper, Student Life, and I am the editor of StudLife crosswords. If anyone is interested, they can read about StudLife crosswords in this article:

StudLife Games go big time

I care a lot about introducing other students to the world of crosswords and teaching them the basics of construction. My dream is to someday get a full-sized crossword published by my club, JASA-style. (Here’s a NYT article where you can learn more about JASA).

Crosswords have provided me with a wonderful community of fellow wordplay lovers here at WashU. Prior to starting the club, crosswords were always a solo thing for me. I love sharing my passion with other people my age and making an impact on campus through our puzzles.

How did you get into crosswords?

I’ve always loved puzzles and word games. I submitted my first puzzle to the Times at age nine after my dad took me to see Will Shortz give a talk at IU. Looking back, that initial submission had a long way to go, but the editors were incredibly encouraging and supportive.

At the time, Daniel Larsen held the record of being the youngest constructor ever published in the NYT – he also happened to be from Bloomington and was two grades ahead of me! For a while, I wanted to beat his record. It ended up taking me quite a bit longer, but after years of rejections, I started having some success with puzzles in the LAT and USA Today.

And now you’ve had seven puzzles in the NYT (in just over a year!), and you are constructing a puzzle for the ACPT. Can you give us a glimpse into creating a puzzle for the largest crossword tournament in the country? (Don’t worry – no spoilers!)

My ACPT puzzle was originally accepted to the New York Times as a daily puzzle, and I was honored to have it be repurposed for ACPT. It feels a little surreal seeing my name next to so many highly regarded constructors.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know a lot of people in the crossword world, but I’ve met very few of them in person. This will be my first year attending ACPT, and I’m very excited to meet other constructors and crossword enthusiasts. 

I can’t wait to solve it! Besides the NYT, where are you published?

I’m published in the Los Angeles Times, Apple News+, Universal, Science News, and more.

Did you have a mentor?

I connected with Kate Chin Park at the end of 2021 through the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory. She has been an invaluable resource for me, especially early on. She guided me through mastering the basics, and to this day she’s always willing to look at any theme ideas I have, which I’m very grateful for.

In spring 2024, I participated in the NYT DCC Fellowship. I primarily worked with Christina Iverson, who mentored me through the process of making my first NYT puzzle. Even after the fellowship, she has generously continued to give me guidance and feedback on puzzles. The fellowship was such a cool experience overall – getting to work with Christina and the other NYT editors felt like a dream come true.

How do you come up with your constructing ideas?

I wish I had a formula for how to make inspiration strike! I see wordplay as a lens through which you can see the world. If I search for a theme for long enough, I start to see connections between words and phrases that I didn’t before. This doesn’t always happen quickly, and sometimes ideas occur to me when I least expect it.

What kinds of connections are you looking for? How do you know when something has potential?

It’s different every time! Sometimes, it feels like a sudden burst of inspiration, and by the end of the night I have a full theme set. Other times, I’ll have phrases that felt like they had potential sitting in my notes app for months that never quite evolve into anything. 

Outside of crosswords, I love language translation, and some crosswords feel like translating a concept into crossword form (like my NYT debut, POLYGRAPH). For other puzzles, it’s all about unexpected groupings – like pretzel shapes (9/2/25, NYT), which was inspired by the ampersand-shaped pretzels they handed out during freshman orientation! Sometimes it’s about listening for interesting phonetics or double meanings.

It sounds like you have an ear (or an eye) for themes. Is that your favorite type of crossword to construct?

Yes – themed puzzles all the way! I’ve dabbled in themeless construction, but to me, there’s nothing as satisfying as figuring out a perfect theme set. Coming up with a new theme feels like you are uncovering a hidden connection in the world.

I also try to infuse my puzzles with references that other people my age will understand. In the past, I’ve heard peers say they think crosswords are too hard or just aren’t for them, but I am determined to show them that crosswords can be for anybody.

Share some of your greatest hits with us!

I am really proud of the themes in my NYT debut (10/3/24) and in my first NYT Sunday (1/18/26). I am also proud of my first LAT puzzle’s EGO BOOSTS theme (3/31/23) – it’s such a pleasant theme, and I always want to embed positive references in my puzzles to leave solvers feeling happy.

Any favorite clues?

Here are a couple new takes on common words I was proud of:

• [Cookies that can illustrate phases of the moon] for OREOS
• [Molecule that might be modeled with Twizzlers and gummies in biology class] for DNA

And a personal reference I was happy to include in my Family Game Night NYT bonus puzzle:

• [Midwest city that hosts Gen Con (the largest tabletop game convention in North America), familiarly] for INDY. 

What advice do you have for new constructions?

I truly believe that anyone can learn how to construct a crossword puzzle. The best thing you can do is solve other puzzles. It’s also incredibly helpful to find a mentor. In my experience, crossword constructors are very generous with their time, and having a crossword community makes the whole process much more meaningful.

Any advice you received that stuck with you?

Early in my crossword journey, I sent a grid to Kate Chin Park with a number of standout words I was really excited about. At the time, I was willing to ignore the weak fill in the rest of the grid (EOE, SAE, and DRYS, to name a few). She gave me the advice that your puzzle is only as good as its weakest words. From that point on, I started holding my grids to much higher standards, which made a big difference in my development as a constructor.

What do you like to do when you’re not crossword-ing?

I love spending time with friends and family, going on walks, and (of course) all sorts of puzzles and word games. I started my first 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle over the summer and almost finished it before going back to school. My family was kind enough to let it take up the dining room table all fall so I could finish it over winter break.

Another long-term passion of mine is Spanish and working with Spanish-speaking immigrant communities. I first got involved when I was 12 as a welcome host for a Venezuelan girl my age. This experience inspired an extensive Spanish-learning journey, and amidst continued involvement in the Spanish-speaking community I became fully English/Spanish bilingual.

In high school, I interned with the City of Bloomington’s Latino Outreach Division – a role I found extremely meaningful. I translated for clients, volunteered at food bank events in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, and organized our annual Holiday Assistance Program.

When I was a senior applying to college, I realized our district had very few Spanish-language resources about the process. I decided to create a Spanish-language guide to the college application process that we were able to send out to our district’s high schools and publish on our website. This project was super meaningful for me, as I felt I was able to use all my years of learning Spanish to help fill a gap in our community.

In college I’ve continued to pursue this passion through getting involved with the International Institute in St. Louis and volunteering at adult ESL classes.

What role do you hope Spanish will play in your future? Do you see any room for it in your crossword life?

I would love to explore creating Spanish crosswords or other Spanish word games! I don’t currently have a Spanish-language wordlist (though I am on the lookout for one), but expanding Spanish-language puzzle offerings is certainly a future goal of mine. There is a word for crosswords in Spanish – crucigramas – but I’ve found that crosswords aren’t as much of a cultural phenomenon in Spanish-speaking countries as they are in the U.S. – at least for now!

Rapid-Fire Round:

Project(s) to shout out:

My WashU crossword page (games.studlife.com) and some upcoming midi crosswords in the NYT!

Constructing or solving?

Solving for relaxation. Constructing for a satisfying brain workout.

Go-to emoji?

😅

Favorite food?

I love pesto pasta, poke bowls, and all sorts of salads. Ice cream is my go-to dessert.

Favorite Spanish media?

Podcasts: “Radio Ambulante” – and “Hola Bloomington,” our local Spanish-language podcast (I’ve been a guest a few times!) 

TV: A couple of Netflix series I’ve enjoyed recently are Machos Alfa and Paquita Salas. People always ask me if I’ve seen Money Heist. I saw a season of it, but it’s too tense for my taste!

😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Jess Rucks is a crossword constructor and play therapist. She is delighted to combine her love of learning about others with her love of crosswords for DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.

This month, we are featuring gardener, greeting card crafter, and emerging themeless guru Katie Hoody (she/her). Originally from Minnesota, Katie now lives in Kansas with her spouse.

Katie! Thanks so much for letting us feature you in our Constructor Spotlight. I’m curious, what brought you to Kansas?

Moving to Kansas was a move home for my husband so he could be close to his dad. Before that, we lived in Dallas, TX for about 11 years, so in addition to being a move home for my husband, the move to Kansas was a move closer to home for me. Maybe I’ll get back to Minnesota eventually!

Does anyone (or any pet) live with you and your husband?

It’s just the two of us – no children, no pets, though I sometimes refer to the critters in our compost pile as our pets. I don’t individually name any of the creatures in our yard, but I do enjoy getting to know more about them. Our oregano plant was in bloom and teeming with life for a couple months last summer – lots of wasps and some butterflies with striking patterns on their wings. After admiring the butterflies for several weeks, I decided to see if I could find them online and was happy to learn they were the common buckeye. They’re quite beautiful, and I hope they’ll keep coming back.

It sounds like gardening is a hobby of yours.

I’ve been gardening for over a decade, but I still feel like a novice. For me, gardening is less about choosing what I want to grow and more about learning through trial and error what seems to like to grow in our garden. For example, radishes are far from my favorite vegetable, but they love the conditions in our yard, so I grow (and eat!) lots of radishes every year.

We’ve reinforced our chain link fence with chicken wire to keep the rabbits out, but other than that we don’t do anything to deter insects and other critters from enjoying the garden. We just hope they leave some veggies for us, and they usually do. I used to worry when swallowtail caterpillars devoured our carrot greens, but the carrots underground were fine, so now I just enjoy watching them munch away.

There seems to be a letting-go of control in your approach to gardening. I wonder if there’s a parallel in crossword construction?

That is such an interesting question! I don’t usually think of myself as good at letting go of control, so I appreciate you characterizing my approach that way. I’d never thought about it before, but I do think there may be a parallel between my approach to gardening and my approach to constructing themeless crosswords. I tend to start with a grid shape rather than a seed entry, so I have no attachment to any particular entry ending up in the grid. I explore the grid to see which entries fit well together, much like experimenting to see what vegetables seem to want to grow in my garden.

Of course, I don’t fully relinquish control. If I didn’t plant seeds, add water, and pull weeds, my garden would not produce many things I would be willing to eat. And if I just clicked “auto fill” and went with whatever the construction software came up with, I would be unlikely to produce a puzzle worthy of publication. In both cases the best results come from experimenting, learning what works, and knowing when to keep pushing, let go, or say, “good enough” and step back to enjoy the fruits (and veggies!) of my labor.

How did you get into constructing?

I was a regular solver in my 20s but had recently been only an occasional solver until I took it up again as a distraction during a difficult stretch of health problems. After solving daily for a couple weeks, I decided to try making a crossword, just to see if I could do it. I was unaware of the existence of crossword construction software, so my first puzzle was a 15×15 grid constructed on a sheet of graph paper. That modest success whetted my appetite for more, and so, my adventure began.

Did you have a mentor?

For about eighteen months, I worked without a mentor, learning from studying published puzzles and from feedback in rejection letters. Early last year, after a discouraging string of rejections, I reached out to Robyn Weintraub to ask if she would be willing to look at my filled themeless grids from time to time and point out any areas of concern. We’ve had several back-and-forths about grids since then, each of which has been invaluable, not just regarding the particular puzzle in question, but also helping build general principles to apply to all my puzzles.

Around the same time, I applied for the Lil AVCX mentorship and was delighted to be invited to join their 2025 roster. Matt Luter mentored me as I created a series of midi puzzles – the experience exceeded my expectations. I highly encourage emerging constructors to consider applying for the Lil AVCX mentorship!

For those unfamiliar with Lil AVCX, can you talk a bit about it and what it’s been like for you?

Sure! Lil AVCX is the midi and mentorship branch of AVCX. Each new roster member works with a mentor to create a series of midi crosswords. There are multiple rounds of feedback from editors, test solvers, and fact checkers. It was incredibly illuminating to be involved in so many different stages of the publication process. I didn’t anticipate how much I would learn about clue writing from having several opportunities to fine tune the clues for each puzzle. The process led to a more polished finished product, and the lessons I learned along the way will stick with me.

In addition to the one-to-one mentorship, I have really benefited from being a part of the Lil AVCX Discord community. I am an introverted homebody who is quite content working independently, so before reaching out to Robyn last January and then applying for the Lil AVCX mentorship, I hadn’t had direct interactions with anyone in the crossword community other than the editors I submitted puzzles to. I was a bit intimidated by the Discord community at first, but the editors made it clear that, apart from occasional administrative matters, participation is completely optional. I gave myself time to settle into the experience and eventually started jumping in on conversations here and there that caught my interest. I’m grateful to be able to remain a part of the Lil community even though my year on the roster is done. I’m looking forward to seeing the work of the new roster of constructors this year. Readers might not have heard this yet, but there is an awesome new Lil AVCX editor named Jess Rucks!

Aw, thanks! When I reached out to see if you wanted to do this feature, I wasn’t yet part of the Lil AVCX team. Now, we both have a chance to benefit from the amazing community there (love that for us). Also, I think we have to share the many surprising other connections we discovered after talking back and forth via email and on Discord: we’re both from Minnesota; we both attended the College of Saint Benedict (at different times); we both majored in philosophy; we both cite the same professor as a major positive influence (shout-out to Steve Wagner)  – in fact, we both had him as our academic advisor; we both worked at the same coffee shop in downtown St. Joseph; and we both got into crosswords at that very same coffee shop. Holy buckets, Katie! Maybe we should visit that coffee shop and start a puzzle there together (I feel like it would be a collab blessed by the crossword gods!).

I smell a coffee-themed collaboration in our future!

Yessss. Aside from Lil AVCX, where are you published?

I’ve had puzzles published in the Modern, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, AVCX Classic, and The Atlantic.

Any other hobbies besides crosswords and gardening?

I enjoy crafting, especially making greeting cards. Before becoming a crossword constructor, my card designs included vegetables, flowers, and quirky insects made with watercolor paper cutouts. Lately, most of the cards I make feature custom crossword minis created in honor of birthdays and such. It’s lots of fun to create a puzzle tailored to one specific person, with full creative license to write clues with inside jokes and references only they would get. For example, I clued ONION as [Ingredient best left out of any recipe] in a puzzle for my brother.

What do you strive to create when you make a crossword?

At its core, my goal is to create an enjoyable experience for solvers. When I started constructing crosswords, I was motivated in part by the thought that crossword puzzles are a fun pastime that help keep minds active and sharp. I had a sense that publishing a puzzle could make a small positive contribution to the lives of many people. I don’t think I fully internalized that a puzzle might also cause a lot of frustration until I read solver comments about my first NYT puzzle. 

I have since accepted that no single puzzle will please everyone, so rather than trying to create a puzzle that every solver will enjoy, I now think more in terms of trying to provide an enjoyable experience for solvers who tend to like the type of puzzle I am trying to create.

I’ve heard the advice to create the type of puzzle you enjoy solving, and some of my favorite puzzles to solve are challenging puzzles in which the difficulty comes from tricky wordplay rather than from unfamiliar entries. As much as possible, I try to fill my grids with lively words and phrases that are familiar, have good cluing potential, and opportunities for fun misdirection. My default difficulty level seems to run high, so my puzzles tend to be rather challenging (perhaps unpleasantly so when the misdirection flops!).

I also enjoy including subtle nods to friends and family in my puzzles. I don’t specifically set out to do so, but I take opportunities when they arise as long as they don’t require significant compromises in the surrounding fill. For example, it was meaningful to me to include DAISIES in one of my NYT puzzles because my mom loved daisies. Anything related to Pokémon reminds me of my nephews, and my niece has turned me into a “Bluey” fan, so I’m on the lookout for an opportunity to include BLUEY in a puzzle.

You’re preaching to the choir about “Bluey,” best kids show ever! What advice would you give to new or aspiring constructors?

I find it tricky to give advice without knowing the particulars of someone’s situation. I’ve heard a story about a Buddhist monk describing teaching as watching students walking down a road with a ditch on each side. If he saw a student veering too much to the left, he would say, “Go right, go right!” And if he saw a student veering too much to the right, he would say, “Go left, go left!” Which is to say – advice is contextual and probably most useful when tailored to an individual’s unique situation.

Perhaps the best general advice I could give is if you’re having difficulty navigating the path you’re on, try to find someone who you think could point you in a good direction. This is ultimately why I sought mentorship last year, and I’m very glad that I did! But I’m also very glad that I played around on my own before seeking mentorship. So, I wouldn’t say every new constructor needs a mentor, but if someone is feeling stuck and discouraged, I think it’s a good thing to consider.

What’s something about you that might surprise readers?

Some readers might be surprised to learn that my husband is Fritz Juhnke, who made his NYT crossword debut last summer. He’s also the one who developed the Grid Flow metric that appears on XWord Info and Crosserville. In addition to not sharing a last name, I call him Karl rather than Fritz, so even people who have heard me mention my husband by name may not be aware of the connection between us.

Will we see any wife-and-husband collaborations in the future?!

We serve as each other’s primary sounding boards, but so far, our puzzles have been mostly individual endeavors. Maybe someday!

As we wrap up, will you tell us about constructing for the Midwest Crossword Tournament?

It was a great experience! I was honored (and nervous) to be asked to construct the final puzzle, since I’d never made a tournament puzzle or attended a tournament. Editors Christina Iverson and Tracy Bennett provided helpful tips about tournament puzzles to get me started, and I also solved and studied the puzzles from the previous Midwest Crossword Tournament and ACPT. I checked in with Christina and Tracy at several points along the way to make sure I was heading in a good direction, and I always felt confident that their editing would turn whatever I came up with into an even better finished product.

I really enjoyed volunteering at the tournament – especially getting to meet crossword folks in person and having a chance to watch top solvers work through my puzzle on the big boards on stage. That was a unique and surreal experience I will likely never forget!

Rapid-Fire Round:

Do you still drink coffee after working at Meeting Grounds? If so, favorite coffee drink?

Don’t tell my old coffee shop bosses, but I have actually never been a coffee drinker!

Veggie you wish would grow in your garden?

We transplanted a few asparagus shoots from a community garden into our garden last year, so I am eager to see if they pop up in the spring.

Philosopher who had a large impact on your life?

Albert Camus and the teachings of the Buddha

Constructing or solving?

I spend far more time constructing than solving, but I enjoy both!

Go-to emoji?

🙌 for yay! 😬for yikes!        

Three words your closest friend(s) would use to describe you.

No party animal

Dear reader, we have one more topic to talk about. If it isn’t obvious by now, one important thing Katie and I share is our Minnesotan identity. We both grew up there, and we both still think of it as home.

My heart has been heavy lately. I spend a lot of time following the news (now I watch KARE 11 out of Minnesota to get a clearer picture of what is happening there), reading firsthand accounts from friends and acquaintances, and checking in often with family and friends. Even though I’m not physically there, my heart very much is. What I’m seeing, hearing, and feeling is like a never-ending rollercoaster: each day, revealing the best and worst of humanity – cruelty, intimidation, and violence – met with a fierce unity – people bound together by shared trauma, by hope in the face of it, and by an unwavering belief in the power of community and love.

I have always been fiercely proud to be from Minnesota (every one of my tattoos is Minnesota-related), but never more so than now. When George Floyd was murdered, I felt profound grief, shame, and confusion that something like that could happen in my state. Over time, I came to recognize the privilege embedded in that surprise. What we’re experiencing now feels similar, but strangely inverted, if that makes sense? If we come out of this intact, I think it will be impossible to ignore how much resilience, grit, and collective growth Minnesota has experienced.

Katie, does any of this resonate with you?

Definitely! My friends and family throughout Minnesota are in the forefront of my mind every day, and like you, I’ve been experiencing a mix of heartbreak, worry, and Minnesota pride. One of my recent NYT puzzles included the entry AMOS. While researching a clue for it, I came across a passage in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that struck me as very powerful. He describes having initially been disappointed about being called an extremist, but later, gaining satisfaction from the label when he began to consider Jesus as an extremist for love and Amos as an extremist for justice. He writes, “So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.”

I’m grateful I happened upon this passage when writing that clue several months ago, because it has helped me feel less angry when I see the label “extremist networks” being used to characterize groups of Minnesotans banding together to support and care for each other. I think to myself, these are indeed acts of extreme compassion, extreme caring, extreme conviction, extreme courage, and in some cases devastatingly extreme sacrifice. I see reasons every day to admire and feel proud of the many ways in which Minnesotans are standing up to protect themselves, their neighbors, and their communities, and I believe that if we make it to the other side of this dark period in our country’s history, their stories will be added to the already existing collection of tales of the heroic courage of ordinary people in extraordinary times.

🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬🙌😬

If you are looking for a way to help Minnesotans, here is a link to many vetted charities and some GoFundMes. https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

Here is a link to donate to the ACLU, which also has some great resources to discover via their home page. https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Jess Rucks is a crossword constructor and play therapist. She is delighted to combine her love of learning about others with her love of crosswords for DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.

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.

Today we welcome crossword constructor, editor, games guru, and bike polo enthusiast Taylor Johnson (he/him). Taylor is a constructor behind one of the puzzles at the Midwest Crossword Tournament, and we’re excited for you to get to know him before you solve his puzzle tomorrow! Taylor is from (you guessed it) the Midwest. He recently moved to Portland, Oregon with his partner, Grace, and their two young kids.

Taylor! Thanks so much for letting us feature you in our Constructor Spotlight. You recently moved to Portland, Oregon. How has that been?

Good! We were wanting to move out of the Midwest for a while – my partner, Grace, is from LA and never cared much for the winters there. I grew up in the Midwest and was definitely done with blizzards and all that. We hadn’t planned to leave Minneapolis quite yet, but early this summer our landlord told us she wanted to sell the house – so we figured we may as well make the big move now.

Portland was on our shortlist. We knew a few folks in town through bike polo and one of Grace’s close friends had also just moved there, so it felt like the right place. Grace is a nurse, so she can work anywhere there’s a hospital, and I just need an internet connection.

We moved less than two months ago, so we’re still settling in – but we’re finding our groove! This summer was a mad scramble to get our ducks in a row for the cross-country move.

While taking care of two young kids!

Ha! Yes. But everything eventually lined up and worked out. By happy accident, the house we’re in is close to the bike polo court where they play pickup. The local club is super active, so we’ve been going there, getting to know the club, and getting to know our neighborhood. The kids like their schools. I’m not looking up directions for everywhere I go now – it’s starting to feel more like home.

Bike polo is a big part of your life. Tell us more about it!

I got into bike polo when I lived in Mankato, Minnesota. There was a really fun, active club there. We played a lot of pickup with nearby clubs – that’s actually how I met Grace. Before we had kids, we’d play and travel to tournaments all the time. Even now, clubs around the country host tournaments almost every weekend, so there is always a tournament happening if you want to go. They are half-serious competition, and half an excuse to get together and hang out. The people who play bike polo tend to be bike-misfit types and people who just want to be outside in the sun together. It’s a great way to hang out with cool people, have community, and be active.

For people who aren’t familiar with bike polo, I like to describe it as three-on-three hockey, but on bicycles. You play offense and defense, and there is no dedicated goalie (you just rotate). We play on a hard surface, like a roller hockey rink or a repurposed tennis court.

I’m imagining people just tearing it up on bikes trying to hit a ball… Is it a ball?

Yeah! You hit a hard rubber ball with a mallet that has this tube-like head. You can hit the ball or scoop it into the tube. There is a lot of bike maneuvering and bike handling because you have to speed up and stop quickly since it’s not a huge court. You get really good at handling your bike, and we have special bike polo bikes that make it easy to maneuver quickly.

Have you ever put BIKE POLO in a grid?

I haven’t (yet), but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in puzzles I’ve edited.

How did you get into crosswords?

I had been solving on and off for years. I watched Wordplay back in the spring of 2021 and decided I wanted to make my own. I was immediately hooked. I began obsessively writing crosswords and submitting – and eventually found some success!

Did you have a mentor?

Not formally. It was a lot of trial and error. David Steinberg and Amanda Rafkin at Universal were both very helpful with feedback on submissions, so that gave me a lot of guidance. I had a few co-workers who liked solving my puzzles and offered thoughts. I also collaborated with friends like Christina Iverson and Chandi Deitmer, both of whom had more experience than me, and I learned a lot from them.

Do you tend to lean towards making themeless or themed puzzles?

When I started out, I definitely leaned more toward themed puzzles, but these days it’s a pretty even split. My puzzles tend to include ‘90s cultural references – I grew up on Nickelodeon, CDs, and Goosebumps books! I also try to include fresh and modern references, lively fill, and all-around good vibes!

Where have your puzzles been published?

The New York Times, Universal, USA Today, LA Times, Apple News+, and various other publications including a few books.

Any “greatest hits” to share?

I have only written a few Sunday-sized puzzles (they’re so time consuming!), but I have had two published with Chandi Deitmer: “U-Haul” for NYT and “Double Bill” for LA Times. They were particularly fun puzzles to work on!

I ran a puzzle in Universal called “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” which I thought had quite a clever implementation.

I’d also call lemonade disco a “greatest hit.” It was a two-year project I ran with Shannon Rapp and Steve Mossberg.

Tell us more about that.

lemonade disco was my way of editing before I had a real job doing it. Also, I wanted to provide a platform for people to publish puzzles. The idea was based loosely on the storytelling prompt format from The Moth. I put out a prompt, and people submitted puzzles that were at least tangentially related to it. Shannon Rapp and Steve Mossberg eventually joined the project, and we did it for quite a while. But life got busy, and right now lemonade disco is on hiatus. I would like to do something with it or bring it back in some capacity, but I don’t know what that would look like. The website is still up – there are plenty of puzzles to go back and solve if anyone is interested.

What advice do you have for new or aspiring constructors?

Crosswords are art, so treat them that way. Be creative and expressive. Crosswords can be a tool for communication and conversation, so fill them with all the things you find interesting, important, silly, whatever!

Do you have any favorite crossword resources to shout out?

Ingrid for a free construction tool, spread the word(list) for a free wordlist, and Adam Aaronson’s Wordlisted for theme research.

Do you have any favorite outlets to solve or work with?

Not to sound like 1,000% biased, but Universal, Apple News+ and USA Today are my favorites to solve and work with. They truly have some of the most talented editors in the game!

Andrews McMeel (a media company that is affiliated with Uni, Apple, and USAT) is where you edit, correct? Tell us more about your journey into editing.

I started constructing about four-and-a-half years ago. As I got more serious, I realized editing might be a way to make a career out of crosswords – that, sounded pretty cool to me! At one point, I reached out to David, who I had formed a relationship with just by being in the Universal inbox all the time. I expressed interest in any puzzle work he may know about. Shortly after, Andrews McMeel (AMU) was working on some new games, one of which was Squared Away, a game that Amanda developed. They needed people to construct the levels so they reached out to ask if I would be interested in that. From there, I helped write test levels for Pair-a-Phrases, then eventually applied to be an editor with AMU. It snowballed from there, and now I get to edit full time!

What does your editing work look like now?

Our team at AMU is six people, and we manage a whole bunch of stuff together. At any given time, I could be doing a host of different things. Right now, I’m helping David with the Universal inbox and edits, doing some edits for Apple, and writing a ton of minis for Apple – if you’ve solved their minis recently, you’ve likely done some of mine. I am also the lead editor on six of the puzzles on the GoComics website, which is where AMU has their in-house daily puzzles. I edit for Squared Away, Overlapt, Pair-a-Phrases, Upwordly, Thematik, and ThruLine.

I imagine the constructors reading this will be upset if I don’t ask: What are you thinking about when you’re editing a puzzle – when you’re looking at a theme/grid and when you’re editing clues?

David and I look at almost every submission together. When reviewing themes and grids, we look for originality – have we seen this before? Does it have a fresh angle, fun twist, or extra layer? Is it cleanly executed? When it comes to themeless grids, we want fun, lively, vibrant longer answers. We like multi-word answers, conversational phrases, and things that are modern or relevant right now. The rest of the fill should be really smooth – words that an average person will encounter in daily life. We’re less excited about old references or obscure acronyms. It’s a balance. We get a lot of themeless submissions, so we end up being really picky. We have to say no to a lot of good themelesses.

When I’m editing clues, I do my absolute best to preserve the constructor’s voice, especially if I can tell there are specific references that seem unique to that constructor. When there are propers, I make sure that all the crossers are getable. I think about the people in the grid and check to make sure they don’t have any icky allegations or problematic behaviors or convictions. From there, it’s all about dialing in the right difficulty level.

You make it sound so effortless, but I don’t think it is!

Ha! You just have to do it a lot. I’ve edited so many Universal crosswords, I have a feel for what sorts of clues work, the right difficulty level, etc. But then I’ll go edit a tricky Sunday Apple puzzle, and Erik Agard will come back and say, “Great job… but I did have to dial-up the difficulty level a bit.” It takes practice, but it’s fun.

That said, once you become an editor, you have less time to construct. There was a time when I was bummed out about that, but I’m having fun working on the other parts of puzzles. Making minis has been a good way to scratch that itch.

You did get to construct for the upcoming Midwest Crossword Tournament. What was that like?

It was a pleasure! I worked with Christina and Tracy, who are fantastic editors. They invited me to be a part of the tournament roster, and I was honored – there are so many great constructors in the Midwest. I pitched a few ideas, they liked one, I made a grid, clued it, found a title, and we had a puzzle! No spoilers, but you’ll definitely catch some Midwest references.

I fly out Friday (today!) for the tournament and can’t wait. Tournaments are just so fun – it’s a whole weekend where you get to meet and see all these people you know from crosswords online! Hot take: I love going to tournaments and not competing. I don’t care about speed solving. I just want to go vibe and hang out with other crossword people.

Rapid-Fire Round:

Constructing, solving, or editing?

Constructing – just slightly over editing

Coffee or tea?

Coffee

Breakfast or dinner?

Breakfast

Go-to emoji?                             

Upside-Down Face and Squinting Face with Tongue

Famous person you’d most like to meet?

Haley Williams from Paramore

What CD is playing in your car if you can’t stream music?

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

Favorite classic Nickelodeon show?

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Three words to describe yourself?

Creature of habit

🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝 🙃 😝

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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.

This month’s* constructor is product manager, serial-hobbyist, and stone fruit enthusiast Kate Hawkins (she/her). Kate is from the Bay Area; and soon, she, her wife, kiddos, and cats will all be living together in New York City!

*Outside of the summer tournament season, we strive to publish one spotlight on the final Saturday of each month. Before a tournament, when possible, we like to feature a constructor whose puzzle you’re about to solve. With that in mind, please join us in getting to know Lollapuzzoola constructor Kate Hawkins!

Kate! Thanks so much for making time to connect – you and I chatted right as you were in the middle of a move and about to start a new job. We’ll get to all that, but first, let’s talk about the real reason we’re here… stone fruit.

Yes! It’s the best thing in the universe. Peaches and nectarines are amazing – they’re sweet and tart and juicy and crisp; they’re just soooo good. I could eat infinite amounts of them. Stone fruit is also very seasonal; you can trace the summer over stone fruit. I think it’s the sweet-and-tart combo, it really is the best food.

Does your family share your love of stone fruit?

They love fruit, but in fact, the other day, I had this perfect nectarine (it was like a sacrifice), and I cut it up for my daughter, Margot, and she didn’t eat it! No big deal – more for me – but I was like, “Oh you don’t even know what you’re missing!”

I feel like being a parent is just cutting fruit; it’s this act of love. No one wants to cut a melon, but I’m going to cut a melon for my kids. And my mom and dad cut melons for me.

Aw that’s so sweet – and true! And, importantly, she sees that you love her (because my guess is she doesn’t always listen… or am I projecting? 😉).

Besides stone fruit, you’re passionate about many other things. You’re a self-described serial hobbyist. Tell us more about that!

Some of my more recent hobbies (all picked up in New Hampshire, where I’ve lived for the past three years) include kayaking, cross country skiing, whittling, accordion, and sourdough bread-baking.

That’s a lot of diverse hobby-ing! How is the sourdough going?

Since we’re in the middle of a move, I don’t even have my own kitchen stuff, so… not great! All my hobby gear is back in New Hampshire. But when I was making sourdough, I loved the process – tending to it, folding it, using the discard for unexpected treats like pancakes. I like that you’re working within constraints but using intuition, too. With baking, you follow the recipe, but you also have to flex and respond to the changing world around you. You use your Spidey senses on it.

Yes! You need to know when to break the rules – and then trust yourself to do it.

That’s actually kind of crossword-y. Especially writing themelesses. It’s a lot of vibes and looking to see: Has it risen enough? Is it even throughout? Is it the right amount of my voice, wordplay, etc.?

You create themeless puzzles, but you also make plenty of themed crosswords, too.

Through absolutely no intentional effort, I think I write about 50% themed, 50% themeless puzzles. I enjoy the improvisational process of writing a themeless, but sometimes a theme hits you in the face, and I will nurture those rare instances into puzzles. You’re likely to see a lot of “in-the-language” phrases in my puzzles, things like: I DON’T HAVE ALL DAY, APOLOGY TOUR, FLAVOR OF THE WEEK, CAN I SEE SOME ID, DON’T BE A STRANGER, NO TAKEBACKS, FAST CASUAL, etc.

I put I’M NOT MAD ABOUT IT in a recent themeless because my sister says it all the time and it’s an enjoyable phrase. It’s fun to canonize these phrases and meaningful words into puzzles. Words are everywhere and language is fun!

I didn’t realize this starting out, but it is delightful having people live in my universe for a bit. I get to choose cluing angles that matter to me and can make them human and personable. The biggest compliment I can get is when someone says, “Your puzzles sound so much like you,” or “I can’t solve many puzzles, but I can solve yours.” People are solving and enjoying puzzles because of the human element, and I think the more that shines through, the more successful something is. To me, a puzzle is a conversation between the constructor and solver. And when it’s over, you move on – but you’ll have another one again later!

What was it like constructing for Lollapuzzoola?

Honestly, really fun! I enjoy it when I can collaborate with editors, and the Lolla constructing experience was very collaborative. They basically just said, “Send us all your ideas for themes with animals,” and I sent a broad range of ideas. I’d never really sat down to generate themes based on a topic before. It was clear that some of my ideas would work, and some wouldn’t, but it was nice to send a list and have a back-and-forth about them with the editors.

The puzzle I ended up writing was actually the hardest puzzle I’ve ever made. I did a lot of manual-gridding, which was a very challenging process. I wasn’t sure if I could do it – but I branched out and flexed new muscles, and I’m really proud of what I made.

I also love watching people solve my puzzles, and puzzles in general! It’s great to see people be so excited about these things created by humans for other humans. The editors kept the voice and personality of the constructors in the puzzles, which I value. So, I’m excited to see what it’ll be like to have people solve my puzzle at Lolla. I fully expect that everyone will solve it and move on, and only I will still be thinking about it – but I’m excited!

I’m also looking forward to seeing all the people I’ve gotten to know through crosswords. Crossword people are so smart, and interesting, and interested. It’s magical – like being at summer camp with all the people you got to know last year, went swimming in the lake with, and now you get to see them again!

It sounds like crosswords have impacted your life and brought you a lot of joy.

It is wildly satisfying to make things that other people enjoy. Crosswords have given me a creative and intellectual outlet – and an outlet for doing something with my late-night musings about the usage of the word MUSTER, or whatever, other than making my wife listen to me talk about nautical terminology while she’s trying to fall asleep. But by far the biggest impact crosswords have had on my life is introducing me to some of the smartest, kindest, most fun humans-cum-friends.

How did you get into crosswords?

I grew up with Games magazine (thanks to my mom, who was a subscriber), but usually only tackled the picture puzzles and easier word games.

I vividly remember making photocopies of the Monday and Tuesday NYT crosswords in my high school library… and getting called out by my English teacher for attempting to solve them behind my copy of Beowulf. In college, I would attempt to solve early-week puzzles in the dining hall, but I didn’t start completing them consistently until later in adulthood.

Huge props to the AVCX free trial, which introduced me to puzzles that felt incredibly human and highlighted the constructors’ voices in a way that felt fresh and exciting. I’ve been hooked ever since. And then I wrote my first crossword for my own wedding!

I bet that was a really lovely puzzle. Did you seek out a mentor when you started constructing more regularly?

I didn’t have a formal mentor, but I owe much of my constructing sensibility to early guidance from Erik Agard. I was feeling rather stuck with the grid-making stage, and Erik offered to get on a video call to help me get unstuck. His generosity with those fifteen minutes truly changed my life.

Erik was the USA Today editor at the time, and he gave me further support by including me on his roster of constructors, by sharing an approved theme set for me to build into one of my first published puzzles, by patiently editing me through many sub-par drafts, and by giving invaluable feedback that I still keep in mind today.

Anything that sticks out that you’d want to share with us?

Years ago, I sent Erik a draft grid with NICENE in the top center. He tactfully responded something like “is the NICENE creed important to you? Do you like that there?” It was not and I did not, so I happily rewrote that grid. I owe much of my approach to filling grids cleanly and brightly to his rigorous editing of my early work. I also appreciate that he was open to the possibility that maybe the NICENE creed was important to me instead of just something my wordlist-enabled software suggested. I think about that exchange often. I don’t spend time honing my wordlists to perfection, but I do spend a lot of time making intentional choices when gridding. Why put out work I’m not excited about?

Do you have any advice for new or aspiring constructors?

You can do it! Read Patrick Berry’s introductory book. Find a friendly mentor. Solve lots of puzzles from different venues. And look at bylines! This is just general life advice too – one of the great joys of being connected to the delightful, smart, diverse group of people creating crosswords is solving, say, a Rafa puzzle and hearing the clues in his voice. If you can, attend ACPT, Lolla, Westwords, or whatever tournament you can get to. You’re certain to find a group of welcoming, enthusiastic fellow constructors with whom you may collaborate on future puzzles or share rooms and late-night clip swaps with at Connecticut’s most in-Stamford Marriott.

Speaking of fellow constructors, whose work will you go out of your way to solve?

I will drop whatever I’m doing to solve a Paolo Pasco puzzle. Driving on the highway or shopping for dinner at the time? That’s what exit ramps and leaning over my phone in the produce section are for. I have fun with every Paolo puzzle I solve, whether it’s a 15×15 themeless, an internet-only Mario-themed interactive puzzle (iykyk), or one of his brilliant cryptics. A Paolo Pasco puzzle is a guaranteed good time. Wyna Liu writes some of my favorite clues. Robyn Weintraub makes puzzles that I think have most influenced my own.

Yes! Let’s talk about your puzzles. Please share some of your greatest hits with us.

I am particularly proud of one of my earlier puzzle forays (NYT Feb 10, 2021) with themers UMP SPEECH, EEL TRAP, RANGE BEDFELLOWS [The main characters of “Brokeback Mountain,” e.g.?], ALEMATE, and ICKY NOTES, and revealer ST-OUT [Kind of beer… or a multi-word hint to the theme]. RANGE BEDFELLOWS still makes me smile.

My mom likes to tease me for having a toilet-themed puzzle in the NYTimes (Feb 23, 2021). Definitely proud of debuting POTTY MOUTH (since reused!).

No spoilers but as I said, the upcoming puzzle for Lollapuzzoola was certainly the most ambitious gridding work I’d ever taken on (puzzle-making is so much harder without the support of wordlist-enabled software!). I’m proud of how it turned out!

Where are you published?

I’ve been lucky! I’ve had nearly 20 puzzles in the NYT and many more dozens of puzzles I’m very proud of in AVXC, USA Today, Puzzmo, Autostraddle, Defector, The Inkubator, The Atlantic, charity packs such as TPFA, a fun A24 crossword book, and more.

And now your new job has something to do with puzzles, correct? Would you mind sharing more about it?

Sure! In my new job, which is what prompted the move to New York, I’ll be helping scale and make-awesome the puzzles and games suite at Condé Nast – starting with puzzles and games for The New Yorker. My official title is Senior Product Manager of Puzzles and Games. It feels like a delightfully perfect fit.

Congratulations! What an exciting life event. Did you go to school for product management?

No, I went to Yale and majored in American Studies. I wanted to learn about literature, film, history, architecture, etc., and that interdisciplinary major let me explore it all. My base of knowledge and interests is vast, but my actual knowledge is pretty shallow. I can play a lot of instruments… badly. Enough that it’s fun to do, but not expertly. This mindset, however, is helpful in product work, because the way to be successful is to be broadly curious. It’s the same in crosswords, too – I love that you get to have references to the whole world.

Kate, you said you’re good at a lot of things but not great at any one thing. May I gently point out that you’re being interviewed because you’re a prolific, talented, engaging crossword constructor…

This is actually the one hobby I’ve stuck with long enough to be good at it. Crosswords are just a really good fit for me: the logic of constructing a good grid and the connections you make when you clue – it suits my interests and abilities.

If you could change something about the crossword landscape, what would it be?

Selfishly, I would love to see more cryptic crosswords from American outlets. Cryptics can be enjoyed in bite-sized pieces. They can be solved collaboratively. They are extremely satisfying to solve. There’s a bit of a barrier to getting started solving them, but if they were more ubiquitous, I think the world would be slightly more delightful.

I also love it when puzzles are collaborative. This summer in San Francisco, there was a city-wide scavenger hunt called SF Pursuit that was so charming. There were tons of people out on the street, touching physical objects in the world, going to restaurants, talking to people and collaborating. It’s not always apparent how communal and truly interactive puzzles can be, and watching the execution of this non-commercial, just-for-fun scavenger hunt was great.

What would DCL readers be surprised to learn about you?

For a person who makes crosswords and loves puzzles, I am terrible at names, geography, and trivia. I will join your pub trivia team, and I will be very convincing… but I will also likely be wrong. You’ve been forewarned!

Also, I have a ton of social energy and I’m always down to hang. If anyone is in the same city and you want to get together, I’m game!

Alright, time for the rapid-fire round!

Coffee or tea?

Both. All. I famously love beverages. I will have like eight of them in front of me at one time.

Sweet or savory?
Savory, especially if we’re talking about breakfast.

Favorite crossword resource?

Shoutout to my ride-or-die rhymezone.com

Favorite comfort show?

I will rewatch everything. I wouldn’t say I have a comfort show, but I’m a big “Drag Race” fan. Also “BoJack” and anything from the “30 Rock” or “Parks and Rec” universe.

Explore the deep sea or outer space?

Outer space. How could you not want to explore what’s out there!?

Go-to emoji?

Double Exclamation Mark Emoji

Three words your closest friends would use to describe you?

Sparkles, sneakers, sandwiches

‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️ ‼️

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Jess Rucks is a play therapist and crossword constructor. She is happy to combine her love of learning about others with her love of crosswords for DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.

This month’s constructor is Willa Miller, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re excited to run this feature a bit early this month so that readers can get to know Willa before solving her puzzle at Westwords tomorrow, Sunday, June 22.

Willa! Thank you for generously sharing your time with us. I know you’ve been busy — you’re expecting your second child soon after this comes out. Congratulations!

What has it been like constructing for Westwords?

It’s been awesome! The editors, Kate and Rebecca, have been great to collaborate with. Last year I attended Westwords as a participant — it was my first crossword tournament ever. I came in toward the bottom of the rankings (I’m so slow compared to these speed solvers!), but it was an absolute blast just to be there.

Right?! Crossword tournaments are so fun! So how did you get into crosswords?

I’ve been interested in puzzles throughout my whole life, but I didn’t seriously get into American-style crosswords until I was pregnant with my first daughter, Judy, and on maternity leave. I guess I needed some mental stimulation to take my mind off of “waiting for baby.”

I also had a phase where I was solving a lot of British-style (cryptic) crosswords. That began when someone at a puzzle meetup event handed me a book of cryptics. I started solving them when I got home and was soon hooked.

What kind of crosswords do you enjoy making?

Both themeless and themed puzzles are fun to create, but recently I’ve been leaning toward the themeless ones. I like the process of creating themeless crosswords because it’s more free-flowing — you can go in without a plan and let the flavors evolve. There is something very “Zen” and relaxing about that.

Do you have any goals in mind when you’re creating a puzzle?

Puzzles should be fun to solve and feel fair! I try to fill the grid with answers that a typical casual solver would be familiar with. For the clues, I aim for fresh, interesting angles that haven’t been overused.

What do you avoid in your crosswords?

Anything that would make me groan as a solver — for example, antiquated vocabulary like ETUI and ORT, or spelled-out letters like AITCH and DEE. For knowledge-based clues, I try to avoid any facts that are both obscure and boring. I also tend to stay away from scoreboard-abbreviation clues like [The Hawks, on the scoreboard] for ATL, simply because I’m not very into sports teams myself.

It seems like you make an effort to highlight pioneering women in STEM in your puzzles. Do you see that as a tribute, a push for representation, or something else?

Well, first of all, ADA Lovelace has such a perfectly crosswordable first name, so how can I resist including her? 😉 On a more serious note, I think it’s important to recognize that pioneers like Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper laid the groundwork for so much of today’s technology — they really paved the way for everyone, not just women in the field.

Amen to that! And a good segue into your day job. Will you share more about the other work you do?

In my “real life job” I’m a software engineering manager at Google, helping to build visual search. Although crosswords don’t come up often there, I did recently create a crossword as a fun activity for a team summit! I also run the annual Google Puzzle Hunt, which is an internal employee event (not specific to crosswords).

Tell us more about the Google Puzzle Hunt — it sounds intriguing!

I started the event because I knew that a ton of Google employees were big puzzle fans — in fact, I was surprised something like it didn’t already exist. Now it’s an annual tradition! The upcoming 2025 puzzle hunt will be the fifth one. Last year over 700 teams participated (solved at least one puzzle). The event is volunteer-run (shoutout to the *amazing* volunteers who make it possible), entirely online (to be inclusive of employees in different offices), and unfortunately not publicly available (anything external-facing would involve a lot more red tape). The puzzles themselves are “mystery hunt style”: a mix of word games, logic puzzles, and freeform puzzles, where figuring out how to begin is often part of the challenge.

(Quick disclaimer: the Puzzle Hunt isn’t officially endorsed by Google as a whole, and nothing I say represents Google as a company. It’s just a fun employee-led event.)

You also were behind in Mission Street Puzzles. Can you tell us more about that?

Yeah! It’s a project I started several years ago. I wanted to bring together two of my interests: puzzle-solving and exploring San Francisco. During the active “season,” I wrote and released one puzzle every Wednesday evening, and each puzzle’s answer was a local restaurant, bar, or other point of interest. Teams submitted the answers online, but were also encouraged to send selfies of themselves at the answer location. Eventually, I noticed that a lot of interest in the puzzles was coming from remote puzzlers from all over, so I expanded the project to cover a different city each season and deemphasized the in-person element. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been active since 2020 — it was *very* time-consuming — but all the previous puzzles are still online for people to enjoy!

You organized that, as well as the Google Puzzle Hunt! Wow! What motivates you to run these large puzzle events?

I’ve always been a puzzle person. I also co-founded the annual puzzle hunt at my college (Princeton PUZZLES club) when I was an undergrad there. I really had no expectation of any of these becoming “large” events, but my motivation has always been the same: to bring people the rush of delight that comes with solving a good puzzle. I love that feeling as a solver.

Where have your crosswords appeared?

I’ve been published in the New York Times, USA Today, Apple News+, and Universal syndicated papers. There are also a few crosswords in my book “Only the Hardest Puzzles” published by Callisto.

Will you share a bit more about your book with us?

This was an unconventional situation where the publisher sought me out for a specific book they had in mind — they had already decided the title (“Only the Hardest Puzzles”), target audience, types of puzzles, length, etc. Before they reached out, I’d never seriously considered writing a book before, but it sounded intriguing! I remember the timeline was quite tight, so it was hard work cranking out all those puzzles over those short weeks — but it’s a fun experience to look back on.

What a cool opportunity! Do you have any favorite crosswords to share with us?

A couple of personal favorites include:

• “Hidden Meaning” (Universal) – from March 28, 2024.
• Jan. 17, 2025 (New York Times)

Two fun ones! In your constructor notes for that NYT puzzle, you mention being a fan of “Succession.” Are there other shows or media that you’re really into? Have they made it into your puzzles or clues?

Yeah, “Succession” is great! I also love “Black Mirror” and “365: Repeat the Year.” As for movies, the Christopher Nolan films “The Prestige” and “Memento” have been my long-time favorites. I like to include references to my favorite bits of pop culture in puzzles, but I don’t think these have made it in yet! I did have the answer MEMENTO in a published puzzle, but after the editing process it was clued in the generic sense [Souvenir in a scrapbook].

Thinking back on when you first started constructing, were there any seasoned constructors who helped you find your footing?

Huge shoutout to Robyn Weintraub, who reviewed some of my early puzzles and provided invaluable feedback! I’ve also learned so much from collaborating with Matthew Stock and Erik Agard. The crossword constructor community has been incredible to work with.

Any words of wisdom that stuck with you?

Robyn encouraged me to download some expanded word lists (previously I had been relying only on my software’s default word list). This was a game changer for my themeless puzzles! The expanded word lists have a lot more long, interesting phrases that might not show up in a standard dictionary.

What advice would you give to new constructors?

Patience is essential! Constructing crosswords requires painstakingly reviewing long lists of words, hitting dead ends in the grid, tearing apart sections you thought you’d finished and starting over, and receiving many rejection emails. Embrace the process!

“Embrace the process” is a nice way to put an optimistic spin on all that! 😂

Now, for the lightening round — don’t overthink it, just go with your gut! 

Cryptics or American-style crosswords?

American-style! The barrier to entry is way lower and they’re easier to explain to friends and family who are beginners. I do love a good cryptic in private though 🙂

Constructing or solving?

Both — you have to be a solver to be a good constructor!

Solving in pencil, pen, or on a screen?

Pen… I MUCH prefer how a pen feels on paper! That said, I do also make a lot of mistakes, so in practice you’ll probably see me using a pencil, begrudgingly…

Go-to emoji?

😍

Actually, I once submitted a proposal for a new emoji to the Unicode Consortium: “Person Jumping With Arms Outstretched,” to represent the concept of jumping for joy. I never heard back, but if that had been accepted, it would probably be my go-to emoji.

Wait, you can submit emoji proposals!? That’s amazing. I wish they had accepted it — I’d totally use that one.

Sweet or savory?

Sweet! I have such a sweet tooth!

Drama or comedy (or something else)?

Drama

Best crossword tournament? 😉

Westwords — it’s the only one I’ve been to (so far!)

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

This interview has been edited and condensed from a series of written survey answers.

Jess Rucks is a therapist and crossword constructor. She is happy to combine her love of learning about others with her love of crosswords for DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.

Today we welcome constructor, teacher, and reader of every clue in a crossword, Kareem Ayas (he/him). Kareem lives in Harlem with his Siberian Husky, Kane.

Kareem! It was such a treat to meet you in person at ACPT and then to be able to chat later over Zoom. Thanks for letting me ask you so many questions! Let’s start with your move to the U.S. — you mentioned that you are Lebanese/Syrian and you came to America to attend NYU’s Tisch Writing program. Will you share more about your decision to study in the U.S. and about the writing you did/do?

It was a playwriting and dramatic writing program. I was living in Saudi Arabia at the time, but I’m from Lebanon and Syria. I applied to several different grad programs, and NYU was one that I was accepted into.

I remember in Syria, we had maybe four channels, and one of them was an American movies channel. In all the movies, the characters were always talking about NYU. Growing up, I always idolized NYU, and I was like, “One day, I’m going to go to that school.” So, when I got in, I went there.

What kind of plays do you write?

Dark and twisted; usually related to things from my culture. They’re often set in war-torn Syria or Lebanon and feature heavy topics like terrorism, abuse, family dysfunction, religion, etc.…

And now you’re a high school English literature teacher. What are some of your favorite topics to teach during the school year?

My favorite thing to teach is “The Stranger” and absurdism. I have read that book on my own and with my students twice a year for the past decade. It’s my favorite thing in the world — talking about the absurdism of our expectations of what life should be. That’s the stuff that I was really engaged with when I was in high school. I wasn’t always reading and engaged as a student, but that pulled me in. Now, I try to teach my students things that I know 16 or 17-year-old-me would have been into.

How did you get involved with crosswords?

I worked at a school in Manhattan in 2018, and during lunch we used to put up the NYT daily on the big screen and solve it together. One day we were all stuck on one clue — it was a 2019 Sam Trabucco puzzle, and the clue was [Bounce]. After literally an hour, it clicked, and so did the theme, and the rush I got was like nothing I’ve ever felt! (I won’t spoiler — you should check out that puzzle, it’s a good one.)

I genuinely don’t remember how I moved from solving to constructing, but I’ve always been into puzzly things. I build “Jeopardy!” boards for my coworkers and students; I make scavenger hunts on my friends’ birthdays. I love wordplay and often include it in my songwriting — it just felt like a natural transition.

I started submitting to the Times, and nine (very deserved) rejections later, my THESAURUS puzzle was accepted. Suddenly that rush was like nothing I’ve ever felt. I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.

Did you have a mentor?

For the first few years I was getting into crosswords just on my own — figuring out what I was doing by using a lot of trial and error without any help. But after I lucked out with a few acceptances, a handful of people started to enter my life that I owe dearly for their advisership.

Will Eisenberg – He was my editor and mentor at AVCX Lil, and was very patient and generous with his time, despite me repeatedly shooting him dumb questions about clues every day! I think all of my Lil puzzles are very good, and I owe a huge portion of that to Will’s advice.

Universal – David Steinberg and the team at Universal accepted my first themeless puzzle. I consider myself very bad at themelesses, but the Universal team’s detailed and thoughtful feedback on all the rejected ones really helped give me lasting insight into what makes certain entries fresh and spicy.

Adrian Johnson – My good buddy Adrian! Lovely constructor and lovelier person. He is always available to give me feedback on puzzles or provide advice about being in the crossword community. Working with him on Puzzles for Palestine 2 and collaborating with him on other things have been very memorable experiences.

Where are you published?

New York Times, USA Today, AVCX (only Lil, not + or Classic just yet), Wall Street Journal, Universal and Universal Sunday, Apple News+, Puzzmo, LA Times, and Boswords!

What are you thinking about when you sit down to make a puzzle?

I want to make something disruptive; something that hasn’t been done before.

Also, exposing people to my culture and exposing the people of my culture to more crosswords. Equity is very important — so I always try to include references to my identity in my puzzles. This may be something I say in the constructor notes, or it might look like choosing to include BEIRUT in my grids or making themes around my culture. I implore people to do their research and to always ask and question what you see in American media. I lived my whole life in Lebanon and Syria, and now more than ever my countries need to be represented in the right way.

I don’t know of any other Arab constructors — which is odd. We love puzzles too! When it comes to making puzzles, I may come off as overly ambitious, sometimes blindly so, but I have this enormous responsibility to represent my people as best I can in grids that may have the farthest reach.

What do you try to avoid in your crosswords?

I really try to go for cleanliness in grids, and I avoid proper names as much as possible (mostly as a reaction to comments I received from my first few, which were name-heavy, haha).

Also, I recently learned that, for some reason, “__ SOLO” entries really irked someone I know, so they’re pretty much out of my puzzles for good now!

How do you come up with your constructing ideas?

Usually, I begin by thinking of different ways to break traditional crossword rules. How can I make a puzzle with color or empty squares? How can I make a rebus more interesting? How can I include phrases that change direction or turn corners? I find something that is just weird enough, and I work backwards from there.

That’s some fearless construction! Does this boldness translate into other parts of your life?!

Yeah, I think so. When I finished my undergrad, I moved to Spain for two years, then Turkey, then a handful of other countries. I never knew where I was going to end up. Taking risks is scary, but that’s what makes life fun. Safe is boring.

I feel like that directly translates to your crosswords.

Being interesting is the most important thing – I love crosswords because I get to put that element of myself in a place where other people can see it. Also, I’d rather a solver be like, “What the [bleep] is he doing here!?” rather than say, “Oh, what a fun puzzle!”; I would rather make waves. It’s the same with playwriting – I get to be weird, and absurd, and take risks and do things that no one would expect. That’s always more interesting to me.

I love how much I can learn about someone by solving their puzzles. Speaking of … will you please share some of your greatest hits with us?

NYT “SET” Monday Crossword, Jun 10, 2024: That’s the one everyone mentions when they meet me! Weirdly enough, when I submitted it, it was because I had nothing else to send. I thought the theme was only okay and did not think that it would be accepted at all. I’m also very happy to have broken the record for most repeated answers in a puzzle!

Triple-puzzle day! (USA Today, LA Times & Universal), Jan 11, 2025: It was a pretty awesome experience to have three themeless crosswords out in one day — and those were all puzzles I really like!

Puzzles for Palestine Pack, released Jan 2025: Some of my favorite puzzles that I’ve made are in this pack (a 21×21 themed titled “My World” and 13×19 themeless titled “Mothers of Sumud”).

“Narrative Arcs” Puzzle #3 Boswords Winter Wondersolve, Feb 2, 2025: What a great experience working with John and Brad and getting to construct something for a tournament — hopefully the first of many!

Favorite published clue! [Gin or djinn, e.g.] for SPIRIT.

My most recent Sunday NYT puzzle is my favorite puzzle that I’ve made.

Yes! Please tell us more about your Sunday NYT puzzle, Course Correction. It came out the Sunday of ACPT (4/6) and was so good. Do you remember how you came up with the idea?

Not really, I was just mindlessly putting things together and then I had the idea to spin some entries around. It was a 15×15 at first, and the revealer was TURN TABLES. It had four circles with nonsense letters inside of the circles, but they spun and made other real phrases. That was rejected by the Times because the letters inside of those circles had nothing to do with TABLES. Eventually, I applied this idea to class abbreviations. This puzzle came together in pieces. The revealer, SPIN CLASSES, came after — same with the title, Course Correction. Having those pieces fall into place felt like kismet.  

What advice would you give to new or aspiring constructors?

I’ve had 50+ crosswords published and accepted so far, but easily over 250 rejections. So, my first piece of advice is: be okay with rejection! It happens more than you might think. Also, that feeling of joy for that ONE acceptance will be ten times as intense as the negative emotions brought on from those TEN rejections.

If you could change something about the crossword landscape, what would it be?

Higher representation for women and people of color — especially Arabs! I don’t know of any other Arab constructors besides myself (if you’re out there, hit me up!).

Also, you know, there are other fun ways to clue ARAB besides as a horse or part of UAE…

Are there any constructors whose crosswords you love to solve? What do you like about their puzzles?

Adam Wagner and Simeon Seigel are my favorites — they always have unique, inspirational and gnarly themes! I also vibe with them because I think their approach is similar to mine — their puzzles break rules! Adam’s “Detours Ahead” puzzle has been the inspiration for so many of my own theme ideas.

Christina Iverson – I’m a huge, huge fan of her work. I think about her 2021 “Pest Control” Sunday puzzle at least once a month!

I love a good Adrian Johnson themeless — maybe since he’s my good friend, I feel like I’m on the same wavelength when solving his work, so it makes me feel good to be able to solve a well-constructed themeless grid in under 45 minutes…

Puzzles from the twisty mind of Chandi Deitmer — I always make sure to do her puzzles, and you should too! They’re really so clever.

Do you have any favorite crossword resources to shout out?

I don’t think I’ve ever used a website more than rhymezone.com (hit me up if you work there, I know some constructors who have been trying to get some RhymeZone merch!).

Adam Aronson’s wordlisted.com has been very helpful for my last few dozen ideas.

And Ingrid software! I was a huge Crossfire guy, but Ingrid is just so intuitive (and the layout is very pretty — the light blue gives me calm when I’m ready to slam my keyboard for getting suggested TBIRD, TSLOT and TBOLT all in the same grid…)

Are there any projects or other work you do in crosswords that you’d like to highlight? Where can we find it?

Puzzles for Palestine 2. Please, please check it out — the puzzles are genuinely so good. Go to the site (https://www.puzzlesforpalestine.com/), donate and follow the steps to receive the pack. We all worked very hard on them and are very proud of the result!

How have crosswords impacted your life?

I mean… I’m being interviewed by DCL to talk about my life because I make puzzles… Who woulda thought?

What might DCL readers be surprised to learn about you?

My rejection rate, my love for musicals, the number of crosswords I thought were garbage but that turned out to be amazing, and how much time I spend on grids. I have a puzzle I’ve been working on for three and a half years — I’m not giving up on it!

What else, let’s see… Let’s get controversial:

I don’t like Taylor Swift, but I do like Nickelback. I absolutely would prefer pineapple on my pizza over pepperoni. A hot dog is a sandwich. I hate SNL and I have run out of cluing angles for it. I can’t stand speed-solving! I am so bad at it, and I don’t find it fun! I know how hard constructors and editors work on puzzles, and I find it weird to spend three minutes on something that someone spent hours and weeks (sometimes months) to make! So, when I solve, no matter what outlet and what day of the week, I always read every single clue.

This also means at ACPT, I was basically the last one in the room, and I’m not ashamed of that.

Ah, I relate so hard to this. I totally have FOMO when it comes to reading clues; I have to read them all. Also, have you ever tried pineapple with pepperoni on pizza (highly recommend)?

Yeah! I love pineapple on pizza; and pineapple with beef or pepperoni is great.

To me, controversy over food is so boring. I mean, everybody has stuff they like. People have these really strong feelings about what other people put into their body. Come on, I eat ketchup with hummus and everyone’s going to judge me for that but, “Who cares!? Let me do what I wanna do.”

As a fellow lover of pineapple on pizza, I appreciate the judgment-free food zone. Okay, to wrap up, I have a handful of rapid-fire questions for you:

Early bird or night owl?

Night owl

Go-to emoji?

Blushy-face

Solving or constructing?

Constructing

Non-fiction or fiction?

Fiction

Best play?

“Waiting for Godot”

Solve a NYT Thursday or Sunday?

Oh [tough question]. It depends on who constructed it!

Famous person, living or not, that you’d most like to meet?

Camus … oh no, wait, Voltaire.

😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Jess Rucks is a therapist and crossword constructor. She is happy to combine her love of learning about others with her love of crosswords for DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.

Today we welcome crossword constructor August Miller (he/him, they/them). August lives in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he can enjoy nature and cows.

August! Thank you for letting us learn more about you! Will you start by telling us how you got involved with crosswords?

Crosswords weren’t a part of my life until about 2017. I was in grad school, and my partner and I started solving them together over Skype. My first foray into puzzle-making actually wasn’t with crosswords, but with Split Decisions (a kind of crossword variety puzzle). I probably made a few hundred of those puzzles before trying my hand at a regular crossword, which I did for the first time in early 2020, just before the pandemic. I found it to be a lot more difficult, but also a lot more satisfying. I remember my first attempt pretty clearly — I designed it with pencil and graph paper (the only crossword I ever made like that). The revealer was BURST YOUR BUBBLE, and the theme answers were phrases like (BA)BY TOO(TH), with the bracketing letters in circles (or bubbles, I suppose). I made a whole bunch of mediocre puzzles in those first six months.

That doesn’t sound like a mediocre theme to me! But I get it, my early puzzles were pretty rough, too. Thankfully, I was hooked up with a mentor who helped me out a ton.  Did you have a mentor starting out?

No, I didn’t have a mentor. I wish I had sought one out when I was starting, because I think it would have made the learning process smoother and more enjoyable, even for someone as socially anxious as I am. As it was, I slowly and unsteadily figured things out on my own: how to build grids and write better clues, where I could send the least mediocre puzzles I was making, and what resources were available to someone taking up this very niche hobby.

You had to do a lot of the heavy lifting to learn this skill yourself! Do you have any resources you discovered along the way that you’d like to shout out?

Matthew Stock’s compilation of publication specs is hugely helpful. I refer to it constantly. Spread the word(list) is also pretty indispensable, especially if you’re just beginning. I wish it’d existed like a year earlier! But I’m still grateful. They’ve put together an extensive page of resource links as well, so it’s a great resource for resources.

Please share any other hobbies or work with us. Do they ever intersect with crosswords? If so, how?

Crosswording has definitely become my main hobby, though one of my intentions for the year is to branch out more in how I spend my free time. 😊 I’ve been working as a farmer for the last four years — dairy cows and vegetables, mainly, though I’ve also spent time with goats and sheep. From 2021-2023, I was living in community at a hybrid dairy/vegetable farm. While I was there, I made a whole bunch of puzzles for everyone and hosted a weekly-ish “collaborative solving” group where folx could come and do those puzzles together. That was really lovely, and so fun and rewarding — to directly experience people finding enjoyment in the things I was making. The puzzles were all very tailored to that community — about places and people (and dogs and cows) on the farm and filled with our own local lexicon.

Amazing! I bet people there loved that. Has any of your farming experience made its way into puzzles you’ve had published or that you’ve made for your blog?

A little bit, but so far only in small ways. I have added a lot of veg and dairy farm lingo to my wordlist over the past few years, so every so often something like that will show up — WATERING IN new seedlings, for instance. I think it would be a fun goal this year to incorporate more farm-ness into the puzzles I put out into the world. I did make a dairy cow-themed puzzle for farm friends a few years ago that I was pretty delighted with, and I’d love to rework it as a blog puzzle at some point. It was called “Strip Tease,” which is a fairly niche pun (hand-milking a small amount of milk before attaching a milking claw is called “stripping”), so any dairy farmers out there can look forward to that. 😊

Ha! Aside from that gem, will you share some of your greatest hits with us?

I’ve had a few themelesses published recently that I’m quite proud of! My first themeless for the NYT ran on 10/19/24 — a 66-word grid that was one of my first forays into corners with quad stacks. And just last month (2/7/25) I had my first puzzle with AVCX+, “The Search Goes On” — also 66 words, also quad stacks. I think the two best themed puzzles I’ve been able to publish were both with the Modern Crossword — on 12/1/23 (“Double Dose”) and 2/10/24 (“Heart of Hearts”). The Puzzle Society scrapped the Modern archive entirely but if you’d like a copy of either one, please give a shout. 😊

I also post puzzles of all shapes and sizes on a blog, lost for x words, which I set up last winter. I’m not going to try to assemble a list of all-time favorites from there, but I think the last few crosswords are pretty good! One thing I’ve been attempting lately is triple stacks of 15s, and there are a couple of those up on the blog now (#123 and #125, as of this writing, with at least one more soon to come).

What’s something that DCL readers would be surprised to learn about you?

Once upon a time I was going to be a physics PhD. I studied physics in undergrad and tried graduate school (twice), but ultimately that environment just didn’t work for me. And now I come home at night smelling of cows and hay, and it feels so much better.

Will you tell us more about that transition from physics to farming? What was it about farming that appealed to you?

It was a bit random that I ended up on a farm. After leaving grad school, I struggled for a while to find something I genuinely enjoyed and found satisfying; farming was ultimately what did it for me. Growing food for people feels important, and I enjoy the work and the people I do it with. It also helps me feel connected to the land and the natural world in a way I didn’t before.

It sounds like you made a great choice! Thank you for sharing that with us. I recently solved puzzle #127 on your blog, and it had me wondering if there was any overlap with the physics you studied — or do you also have an interest in space?

I wouldn’t say there’s an explicit connection — but I’ve always been interested in astronomy and astrophysics; a lot of the research projects I worked on as an undergrad and grad student fell under that umbrella (my undergraduate thesis was on black hole accretion, for example). I still love learning about those things, even though I don’t necessarily want to do it in an academic setting. One of the books on top of my TBR pile is The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack, which I can’t wait to get to! I’m currently in the middle of Becky Chambers’s galaxy-spanning Wayfarers series — sci-fi, but still.

Ooh sounds interesting [writes down book recommendation]. So, when you set out to construct a crossword, do you find yourself gravitating towards making a themeless puzzle or a themed one? What makes your crosswords unique?

In the past year I’ve transitioned to making more themeless than themed puzzles, though I still make and try to publish both. I’m wading very, very slowly into the world of cryptics, and every so often I’ll indulge the urge to make a spiral — something quick and different, useful for getting out of ruts. As far as distinguishing features of my puzzles, gosh, I don’t know! Anyone who makes a crossword is going to bring to it their own particular experience of the world, their own sense of humor, their own passions and obsessions, and I know I’m no exception. I reckon you’ll find more Samia and Neko Case lyrics in my puzzles than just about anywhere else.

What do you strive to create when you make a crossword? Do you have any goals in mind — like a certain experience for the solver or goals for the grid/cluing?

I feel like I am continually revising my answer to this question, even now. I’m always trying to balance several different goals, and which one(s) I prioritize depends a lot on the audience I’m making it for. I always want to make something that feels good to solve. That doesn’t mean all of it has to be easily digestible or common knowledge, but it should feel fair, and it should feel satisfying when you get to the end. And hopefully you’re amused at some point along the way. Crosswords are also just a fun way to share things with people: bizarre facts, people and media that I personally adore or that I’ve discovered and think more people should know about. But there are countless times when this desire conflicts in some way with the others. I might be tempted to clue a word as a proper name, for instance, or with a fill-in-the-blank lyric from a song that’s been looping through my head nonstop, but maybe that makes one of the crossings ambiguous for someone who doesn’t know the reference, and I really don’t wanna do that … but, like, some small slice of people who do the puzzle might really connect with it (and I really want to talk about it), so I still really do? It’s a game of never-ending tradeoffs, and I feel like I land somewhere slightly different each time.

Ah the beautiful struggle of balancing creativity, personality, and accessibility! What do you try to avoid in your crosswords?

In terms of fill, something I ask myself routinely is “Have I ever seen this outside of a crossword? Can I imagine using it in another context?” That leads me to nix some entries that might otherwise appear a lot, like ASEA or ADOS. Also, plurals of exclamations or interjections: AHS, OHS, HEHS, etc. (actually, AHS I might clue as “American Horror Story”). As a solver I hardly ever mind encountering a name I don’t know, as long as it’s clued fairly and is gettable from the crossings. So, as a constructor, I don’t really shy away from including potentially unfamiliar proper names, provided the same conditions are met.

On a more conceptual level, I try to avoid falling into the trap of believing I have an accurate idea of what “most solvers” will know or appreciate, or even that that’s an idea worth foregrounding. I’m always going to mine my own personal lode of knowledge and experience, but I’m also going to reach out toward unfamiliar corners of the world and hope that the resulting word mash is, you know, kind of interesting, kinda different, kinda fun.

Who are some of your favorite constructors to solve?

I think my two favorite constructors to solve are Brooke Husic and Will Nediger. They’re also the constructors I try the hardest to emulate, in different ways. Whenever I sit down to solve one of their puzzles, I know I’m going to learn stuff. I know I’m going to smile to myself. I know I’m going to get lovingly tripped up and spun around before coming out the other side. I know I’m going to be seriously impressed.

Where have you been published?

The NYT, the LAT, and the WSJ; Universal, the Atlantic, the Modern Crossword (R.I.P.), Apple News+, and AVCX and AVCX+. Actually, I had two themeless puzzles published in the past week — with Apple News+ on 3/22, and AVCX on Wednesday 3/26. I really like both of them; the AVCX puzzle, in particular, is one of my favorite themelesses I’ve written to date.

Do you have any favorite outlets to solve or work with?

I usually struggle mightily with favorites, but this is actually an easy question to answer! My favorite outlets to work with would have to be AVCX, Apple News+, and Universal. As a contributor I always feel respected, like the editing process is a collaboration, and like my vision for the puzzle or my intention for a particular clue has real weight. As a solver, I love the offerings from AVCX. Also, I shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to shout out Ada Nicolle’s Patreon. She’s so prolific, so fresh, and so fun to solve — I look forward to it every time.

What is your approach to collaboration?

For reasons I doubt would be interesting to anyone, I haven’t really approached collaboration up to now. But it’s something I would genuinely love to do going forward! I don’t have many close friends in the crossword community (yet — I’m crossing my fingers), and it’s always been difficult for me to reach out to people I don’t know, but chances are if you asked me to collaborate on something, you’d get an enthusiastic yes.

I hear you; it’s hard. And for me, it even feels kind of vulnerable to ask people I don’t know to join in on a creative project. Well, I can’t wait to see what new puzzles (collabs or not) you put out into the world next!

Okay, to wrap up each Constructor Spotlight, I’ve decided to include a handful of rapid-fire questions. I know crossword constructors never overthink things, but just in case you’re tempted to – don’t! Just listen to your gut! 😉

Crossword solving: pencil, pen, or on a screen?

Pen

Coffee or tea?

Tea

Early bird or night owl?

Honestly, neither. Kind of a midday bird?

Fruit or vegetables?

Yes, all the time!

Favorite comfort food?

Risotto with mushrooms, made by my friend Zoe

Go-to emoji?

❤️

Best way to listen to music?

Live in concert

Famous person, living or not, that you’d want to have dinner with?

Miranda July

Three words your closest friend(s) would use to describe you.

Not loud enough

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

This interview has been edited and condensed from a series of written survey answers.

Jess Rucks is a therapist and crossword constructor. She is happy to combine her love of learning about others with her love of crosswords for DCL’s Constructor Spotlight.