Kathy Lowden author page
6 puzzles by Kathy Lowden
with Constructor comments
See the 18 answer words debuted by Kathy Lowden.
| D | A | B | S | H | U | G | O | T | A | R | S | I | ||
| O | M | N | I | A | S | A | P | W | R | A | P | S | ||
| J | E | A | N | S | M | A | R | T | A | R | B | O | L | |
| A | N | I | S | E | B | I | T | O | B | O | E | |||
| T | A | Y | L | O | R | S | W | I | F | T | ||||
| I | S | M | S | W | I | E | N | I | E | |||||
| T | H | O | U | S | A | N | D | S | A | G | R | E | E | |
| C | E | C | I | L | Y | S | T | R | O | N | G | |||
| H | A | S | T | A | B | I | T | E | S | I | N | T | O | |
| K | E | R | N | E | L | M | I | S | S | |||||
| B | L | A | K | E | L | I | V | E | L | Y | ||||
| E | A | R | N | S | N | O | U | L | T | R | A | |||
| G | R | E | E | T | G | I | R | L | P | O | W | E | R | |
| O | V | A | L | S | O | C | H | O | D | I | N | E | ||
| T | A | S | T | E | N | E | O | N | E | N | D | S |
| A | T | O | P | A | I | S | L | E | K | A | V | A | ||
| S | I | N | E | L | O | C | A | L | I | G | O | R | ||
| K | N | I | C | K | K | N | A | C | K | K | N | O | C | K |
| E | G | O | H | A | S | T | Y | E | D | G | E | S | ||
| D | E | N | I | A | L | N | E | O | ||||||
| F | L | I | P | F | L | O | P | F | L | A | P | |||
| G | O | L | F | S | A | L | I | V | A | A | C | L | ||
| O | B | E | Y | S | G | I | T | T | B | O | N | E | ||
| O | V | A | U | R | A | N | U | S | A | S | E | A | ||
| P | I | N | G | P | O | N | G | P | A | N | G | |||
| A | P | E | M | E | S | S | E | S | ||||||
| A | T | A | L | L | L | A | B | O | R | E | X | T | ||
| D | I | L | L | Y | D | A | L | L | Y | D | O | L | L | Y |
| E | L | L | E | A | R | G | U | E | A | M | A | L | ||
| S | L | A | Y | B | A | A | E | D | T | A | X | I |
| C | A | B | S | B | B | A | L | L | T | H | A | T | ||
| O | N | Z | E | O | L | L | I | E | V | E | N | A | ||
| D | O | Z | E | N | S | O | F | C | O | U | S | I | N | S |
| E | N | T | R | U | S | T | S | H | R | E | K | |||
| M | E | T | A | A | D | O | ||||||||
| S | C | O | R | E | S | O | F | D | R | A | W | E | R | S |
| A | L | G | E | R | T | I | S | M | I | I | ||||
| W | A | L | D | O | R | F | P | E | P | B | A | N | D | |
| T | R | E | O | R | B | R | A | I | S | E | ||||
| O | O | D | L | E | S | O | F | P | O | O | D | L | E | S |
| I | C | E | F | I | R | M | ||||||||
| M | E | Z | Z | O | P | I | P | E | D | U | P | |||
| O | C | E | A | N | S | O | F | P | O | T | I | O | N | S |
| C | H | A | R | T | R | A | I | L | R | U | T | S | ||
| S | O | L | D | P | E | N | N | E | E | G | O | T |
| A | T | M | S | H | I | P | S | N | E | A | T | O | ||
| C | H | I | A | A | C | R | E | R | A | W | E | R | ||
| H | A | L | L | O | W | E | E | N | A | S | A | N | A | |
| T | I | K | T | O | K | S | T | S | T | R | O | T | ||
| H | E | S | O | U | T | T | H | E | R | E | ||||
| B | A | L | M | S | P | A | P | A | Y | A | ||||
| E | L | O | I | A | R | K | S | C | R | E | A | M | ||
| R | O | U | N | D | L | Y | V | I | O | L | A | T | E | |
| G | E | T | O | U | T | A | T | S | E | V | A | N | ||
| R | E | P | O | S | E | O | M | E | N | S | ||||
| D | O | N | T | L | O | O | K | N | O | W | ||||
| A | M | A | H | P | C | S | P | I | A | N | O | S | ||
| R | A | D | I | O | Y | O | U | R | E | N | E | X | T | |
| C | H | I | R | P | T | U | N | A | A | R | E | A | ||
| Y | A | R | D | S | E | T | C | H | L | O | N | G |
| S | A | F | E | S | P | R | A | T | I | S | N | T | ||
| A | F | R | O | O | R | A | L | B | N | A | A | N | ||
| B | L | U | S | H | W | I | N | E | S | L | I | S | T | |
| R | O | T | A | S | E | C | P | A | L | |||||
| E | A | T | I | T | S | H | A | D | O | W | B | O | X | |
| S | T | I | R | S | T | E | R | E | O | O | P | T | ||
| A | V | E | S | T | A | L | E | A | I | R | ||||
| L | I | S | T | E | N | S | I | C | E | D | T | E | A | |
| A | M | N | E | S | I | A | C | O | D | D | ||||
| P | H | O | P | O | L | L | E | N | I | A | M | B | ||
| P | O | W | D | E | R | K | E | G | R | E | B | A | R | |
| S | I | R | A | R | G | O | A | K | A | |||||
| P | O | U | T | L | I | N | E | R | N | O | T | E | S | |
| T | W | I | T | O | F | U | S | E | D | E | U | S | ||
| A | L | T | O | T | I | P | S | Y | E | S | P | Y |
This is my second puzzle for the Times. My first was a collaboration with my daughter, Tess Davison that appeared in January 2020. There have been many rejections in between that one and this one!
I began working on this puzzle in January 2021. I seem to remember a small controversy about a clue for the entry PAD that would be immediately obvious to most women and girls but completely puzzling to most men. Some commenters pointed out that since most puzzle constructors are men, many puzzles are very male-oriented. (I know I get hung up when a theme is sports-related.) So, as a female constructor, I decided to think of a theme that would be familiar to more women than men — and came up with makeup!
My original attempt has gone through a couple of revisions, and I'd like to give a shoutout to the Puzzles team — especially Tracy Bennett — for their help and encouragement.
| V | A | C | A | T | E | G | E | N | T | G | E | M | ||
| A | R | A | B | I | A | E | L | I | A | A | N | Y | ||
| R | U | B | I | E | S | E | M | E | R | A | L | D | S | |
| G | A | T | T | U | N | I | C | G | L | U | T | |||
| S | U | N | S | N | A | R | E | T | O | R | E | |||
| E | L | A | S | T | I | C | A | S | A | P | E | R | ||
| W | A | S | H | E | D | U | P | F | U | S | S | Y | ||
| A | M | E | T | H | Y | S | T | S | ||||||
| S | C | A | M | P | D | E | C | R | E | A | S | E | ||
| C | O | G | E | E | G | S | H | A | D | I | E | R | ||
| A | C | I | D | A | L | L | E | N | L | A | G | |||
| N | A | T | O | R | A | I | S | A | R | E | S | |||
| D | I | A | M | O | N | D | S | P | E | A | R | L | S | |
| A | N | T | W | E | L | T | P | A | N | O | U | T | ||
| L | E | E | E | D | Y | S | S | T | I | N | G | Y |
We are a mother/daughter team. Tess, the millennial, does the Times puzzle online, while Kathy, the boomer, prefers pencil and paper. This is our first published puzzle ever — but our fourth submission to the New York Times.
The theme came to Kathy in the middle of the night, when she couldn't sleep — as do many of our themes. Note to insomniacs: this is NOT a very good way to lull yourself back to sleep. Why birthstones? The only thing we can think of is that Kathy had a costume jewelry business as a teenager and so memorized the birthstone for each month. But it turns out that if you Google "birthstones," each month has four or five, which gave us a scare after we had filled in the grid. "Wait, June's birthstone is alexandrite, not pearl?"
We originally had the word "schlepps" in the southeast corner but Will Shortz and Joel Fagliano pointed out that the proper spelling of "schlepps" only has one "p" and asked that we change it. It felt like a lost cause to Kathy — what other word ends with "pps"? But Tess immediately came up with a new fill using "schnapps," requiring minimal other changes.
We're thrilled to be making our debut! Hopefully it won't be our swan song as well …