Daniel Raymon author page

This is another satisfying case of a theme idea that was collecting dust until I finally found that last piece to make it all work. I had the revealer HIDDEN AGENDA and the two shorter themers for quite some time. Then one day I came upon VOLKSWAGEN DASHER, the last puzzle piece! I think nowadays the editors aren't too excited by a theme with the same exact word hidden in each themer, but I guess it's a good find when it's a six-letter word.

I had to stretch the grid width to 16 blocks and split the revealer into two parts, but we made it work! Very helpful that the two shorter themers were both 10 letters.

Something I noticed that I thought was interesting is that all three revealers include foreign (or fake) words. To find three phrases with words ending in AGEN, we needed a Hebrew word (MAGEN), a German word (VOLKSWAGEN), and a Danish-sounding word (HAAGEN).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I haven't had a daily in the NYT in almost three years! If you like wordplay, you can check out my cryptics and puns & anagrams, which have been coming out more often.

This idea sat around for a long time because I couldn't come up with a revealer. I loved that BLANKET OF SNOW, SHEET OF ICE, and BED OF ROSES went together so well (bed item + OF + something in nature), but with only those three I didn't think it was a solid enough theme. Then finally I got FIELD OF DREAMS and was good to go!

I think I first tried regular crossword symmetry, which could work since the theme answer lengths are 13, 10, 10, and 13. I don't remember if I had trouble with that or just felt like playing around, but I ended up doing mirror symmetry and making the theme answers sort of visually represent BLANKET, SHEET, and BED. I really like that extra "layer". And BED is even under some black squares that sort of look like a bed! That made me smile :)

The stickler in me loves my clue for LAY: [Word often misused in place of "lie"]. I try to avoid correcting people in real life (the struggle is real), so it was fun to throw it in here. And it's particularly fitting to mention considering the theme!

Anagrams! I've loved anagrams since I was a kid, and it shows. The first puzzle I got accepted by The New York Times was a cryptic crossword, and the first daily puzzle I got accepted also had an anagram theme. It's always a thrill for me to get some of my anagram wordplay published in The New York Times.

Finding the theme set wasn't so easy. I needed common female names that have adjective anagrams that can be used to describe a person. (I had even more trouble with male names.)

At first I had MELISSA (AIMLESS), DARLENE (LEARNED), GRETA (GREAT), and LEONA (ALONE). Will and his team thought the latter two were too short, but I couldn't find anything better, other than LAUREN (UNREAL). They then suggested STELLA (ALL SET), so I was... ALL SET! Even though ALL SET isn't one word, it's a common phrase so I was happy with it.

Hope you enjoy, and look out for more anagrams in my daily puzzles, cryptics, and puns and anagrams puzzles!

I'm super excited for everyone to see my first ever Sunday puzzle! It's been over ten years since I got my first crossword published, but the first time I tried to make a Sunday was last year. I wasn't sure I wanted to put in all the extra time and effort without even knowing how the puzzle would be received, but I finally figured I might as well try. And this is the result. Lesson learned!

I think this theme (changing the "K" sound at the starts of words to the "Q" sound) is great because the idea is very simple and the resulting phrases are... quite quirky! As Will noted regarding a previous puzzle of mine, puns with Qs are a lot of fun. I'm very surprised that this theme hadn't been done before.

I'm pleased that most of my clues were kept, and as always I appreciate the vast majority of the changes from Will and crew. A few clues I liked that didn't make it:

46-Down: Are BEINGS by definition [Sentient ones]? Would that make the expression "sentient beings" redundant? Anyway, I thought my clue was cute: [Livers?].

91-Down: I guess [Graphic opening?] doesn't pass the breakfast test, so it was replaced by [Prefix with -graphic]. Oh well.

96-Down: I think my clue was more colorful than [Bagel variety]: [Source of the headline "Area Man's Life Comes to Tragic Middle," with "The"].

Have a fun solve!

This theme lingered a while because it wasn't so easy for me to find words that turn into other words when you add a 'y' sound after the first letter... and then also to find phrases that worked after that change. I'm delighted that I did find four nice phrases, because I think this is one of my better puzzles. To me, this puzzle mainly stands out because of its pretty grid design. There are only eight short, outer lines and two central curves, making it look artistic in its simplicity. I'm also proud of the general quality of the puzzle, though I would've liked the longer fill to be more exciting.

The clues weren't changed too much, so I guess that's a good thing! I do appreciate the changes, though; solid work, Will and team! I'm happy to be the first to clue ROBYN as the Swedish singer, whose music I really enjoy. I'm also happy to be the first to clue IM PEI in a new way, as he has now reached the status of centenarian.

I think all of my theme answers and clues are quite cute, and I'm particularly happy that BEAUTY CALL made it through, as BOOTY CALL is a bit risqué and has yet to appear. Fun to push the boundaries a bit!

I'm a math guy (it was my major and I do math tutoring), so one day this theme idea dawned on me. It worked out perfectly that TRIANGLES has nine letters, which can be grouped into three sets of three, which can then form the three types of triangles shown in the puzzle. I originally had one circle in a different square: the circle on the I in ELITISM was on the I in IAN. I liked it there because then all three triangles had the same base length and their placement was more symmetrical. It was pointed out to me, though, that the top left triangle wouldn't look scalene — at least with the square dimensions published in the NYT. So that had to be changed, unfortunately.

Another thing I like about this puzzle is that it has left-right symmetry. It's always nice to be able to do something different.

I was happy to get in some nice longer fill, though nothing too exciting. I think my favorites are ROMNEY and TEXTERS because of their relative currentness. I also like the clue for 3-Down, which survived the editing process.