Malaika Handa author page

Some thoughts on construction:

• The seed for this puzzle was the central answer, which I thought was going to be a debut. Alas, I got scooped four months ago.
• I submitted this on December 21, 2023 and it was accepted 71 days later on March 1, 2024. It ran just over a year after that on March 7, 2025.
• There are 72 clues in this puzzle. Thirty-two (44%) were kept identical. Thirteen (18%) were updated slightly. Twenty-seven (38%) are new from the NYT editors.
• My original clue for RAFTS was [They're used during pool play?] and my original clue for DONUT SHOP was [Store selling rings?]
• My clue for REESE referenced Witherspoon, and they changed it to reference Angel. That's a nice change! When I wrote this, Angel was still four months out from even being drafted. Now it's running and she's played a (really good!) full season with the WNBA, as well as a substantial amount of a season with Unrivaled. Ah, the passage of time.

Some thoughts on construction:

• The seed for this puzzle was the central answer, which I thought was going to be a debut. Alas, I got scooped four months ago.
• I submitted this on September 7, 2023 and it was accepted 90 days later on December 6, 2023. It ran 219 days after that on July 12, 2024.
• There are 72 clues in this puzzle. Twenty-three (32%) were kept identical. Twelve (17%) were updated slightly. Thirty-seven (51%) are new from the NYT editors.
• My original clue for CRAZY STRAW was [Glass tube?] and my original clue for DIGITAL ART was [Piece of technology?]

Some thoughts on the entries:

• When I made this puzzle, neither "Tortured Poets Department" nor "Cowboy Carter" had come out, so POST MALONE got a much more generic clue. NYT added the Taylor Swift reference. I asked if they could change it to a Beyonce reference but they pointed out that "Fortnight" was a bigger hit than "Levii's Jeans"
• DIGITAL ART made by humans is more interesting than the slop that DALL-E generates. You can look at my notes on Wordplay for some cool pieces.

Hope you enjoy today's puzzle from me, my first New York Times Monday! I always think that making easy puzzles is harder than making hard ones, so I hope this was a successful attempt.

Some thoughts on the construction:

• I submitted this on October 12, 2023, and it was accepted on January 5, 2024. It ran on May 6, 2024.
• There are 76 clues in this puzzle. Twenty-nine (38%) were kept identical. Nineteen (25%) were updated slightly. Twenty-eight (37%) are new from the NYT editors.
• My original clue for POET was [Person preoccupied with a scheme?], and my original clue for PECAN was ["Yes ___" (Ben & Jerry's flavor with an image of Obama on the container)]

Other things:

• Recently I had the honor of speaking at Crossword Con, and I'm very proud of my talk, which you can listen to here.
• If you're interested in more puzzles by me, you can usually find them on Vulture magazine's site.
• Or, you can sign up for emails whenever I have a new full-sized puzzle by following this link and clicking "Ask to join the group".

things about this puzzle:

• i submitted this on may 23, 2022. grid revisions took from august 26, 2022, through september 20, 2022, and then i received an official acceptance on september 29, 2023. it ran on august 15, 2023.
• there are 74 clues in this puzzle. thirty (41%) were kept identical. eighteen (24%) were updated slightly. twenty-six (35%) are new. i'm thrilled my clue for GAYDAR made the cut, and happy that the Times improved my revealer, which was initially a convoluted/wordy reference to this fabulous but admittedly not recent article.
• my original bottom left corner was TAQUERIA / BLUNDERS / TOE SOCKS which i still slightly prefer to what was ultimately printed
• my original clue for DART was [Shooter at a dive bar?] and my original clue for FLYERS was [Gritty team?]
• i was very close to not submitting this puzzle — i've read this interview where will says he does not accept puzzles with entries that he and joel have not heard of ... a puzzle with both GODDESS LOCS and DIVA CUP seemed like it would be DOA. but either their process has changed from 2018, or they have a different frame of reference from what i imagined, because here we are!

things about me:

• i continue to be active on the dumpster fire that is twitter
• i write half of the 10x10 daily puzzles for Vulture

some stats:

• this is the first themeless puzzle that we have made together
• we submitted this puzzle on august 3, 2022. we received an acceptance on october 28, 2022, and it ran on april 28, 2023. we found this to be a surprisingly quick turnaround!
• there are 72 clues in this puzzle. thirty-eight (53%) were kept identical. ten (14%) were updated slightly. twenty-four (33%) are new.

other things:

• our original clue for CUTAWAY GAG was [Comedy scene breakout?]
• our original clue for THIRST TRAP was [Hot flash result?]
• the great clue for MOSCOW was courtesy of the Times team
• after editing but before publishing, the editors show you a draft of the "final" puzzle for you to confirm. we asked that four of their new clues be changed (e.g. SHAY, which they wanted to clue as a carriage instead of Mitchell), and they agreed. many thanks to the NYT editors for putting in the time to do last-minute back-and-forths with us, and to the constructors who pushed hard for this to become part of their process. we hope that eventually this is standard procedure at all outlets.

I got good at making crosswords through (1) making a lot of them, and (2) reading detailed constructor's notes on XWord Info. So here's my attempt to provide (2) to other constructors.

The version of this puzzle I submitted had four rebus squares, resulting in a few dud themies (MISS TEMPLE) and a layout with 26 three-letter words. I am grateful to the Times for letting me submit a revamped grid with just three rebus squares.

Here are some stats:

-- I submitted this on August 10, 2021. Grid revisions took from November 5, 2021, through December 17, 2021, and then I received an official acceptance on January 7, 2022. It ran on March 2, 2023.

-- The themed puzzles I typically write are published for USA Today, and have around 35 cells of theme content. This puzzle had 62 cells of theme content, and the gridding process was eye-wateringly painful. Four layouts went back and forth with the Times' editing team, but I went through about twenty before submitting, even experimenting with 15x16 and 21x21 grids. (Rest In Peace THE TOOTHPASTE MILLIONAIRE.)

-- There are 76 clues in this puzzle. Twenty-four (32%) were kept identical. Twenty-one (28%) were updated slightly. Thirty-one (41%) are new. I'm glad they kept my references to the Baudelaires and "Let's Talk About Sex," and I'm sad that my clues about ESTE Haim and INS Choi were cut.