See You in Court
My NYT debut at 19: a punny Monday theme. Co-constructed with Andrea Carla Michaels.
Crosswords
Selected unpublished puzzles
Sanctuary (PDF)
Zoomusicology (PDF)
Themeless (Very Scrabbly) (PDF)
Themeless (Favorite NYT Friday Style) (PDF)
My themeless crossword construction tips
- Rescore your wordlist. I’m using LLMs to rescore a ~300,000-word list for cleaner fill.
- Start with a seed and a loose grid; play before you commit.
- Max 72 words; max 30 three- and four-letter entries.
- Make the puzzle you want to make and solve—don’t cater to what you think the NYT likes. That constrains overly open grids and builds voice.
- Never accept crappy fill for great entries.
- Ask yourself why you like a puzzle.
- Kill your darlings: all 8+ letter entries should be exciting.