5D. Several U.S. cities may have streets called [Park place?], but you can spot the clue’s misdirection in its use of a lowercase “place.” The answer is GARAGE, i.e., a place where one parks.
13D. This [Mark of literary distinction] is sneakily disguised as a common noun. It refers instead to the prolific author of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” Mark TWAIN. What a shame for us that he died over 100 years ago — never the TWAIN shall we meet.
55D. I can hardly keep pace with the slang of Generation Alpha, and I fear the day it starts stumping me in crossword clues. For now, I can simply continue to be ridiculed by the teens for using FTW, which means [“Victory is mine!,” in text shorthand] — it’s short for “for the win.” Outdated texting shorthand FTW!
Constructor Notes
I inherited my love for crosswords from my mother, Ruthie, and I’ve been a solver most of my adult life. I am retired and do a variety of puzzles every morning to make sure I still have my wits about me. In January 2023, I found myself asking, “Who makes these puzzles?” This question led me on a journey into the world of crossword construction, and what I found was an amazing community of constructors and online resources.
My first puzzles were pretty awful, full of bad puns and entries that lacked “surface sense” (i.e., discernible meaning on first read). I had no idea of the intricacies of crossword construction: themes, consistency, grid design, fill, cluing. I had to learn through research, trial and error, rejections and a lot of solving, doing four or five puzzles a day from the Times Crossword’s archives. I received boilerplate rejections initially, but then editors began to give me specific criticism and advice, leading to publication and relationships with some wonderful mentors: Patti Varol and Katie Hale at The Los Angeles Times; David Steinberg and Jared Goudsmit at Universal Crossword and the remarkable Jeff Chen, who worked with me through multiple drafts to improve my fill for this puzzle. It is incredible to have had the opportunity to work with the best in this field; their generosity cannot be overstated. Having a puzzle published in The New York Times is something I aimed for from the beginning, so making my debut today is a dream come true.
The moral of my story? It is never too late to discover a new passion and become immersed in learning. Good luck to all of you neophyte constructors out there — keep learning, keep trying and enjoy the journey!
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Improve Your Crossword Solving
Work your way through our guide, “How to Solve the New York Times Crossword.” It contains an explanation of most of the types of clues you will see in the puzzles and a practice Mini at the end of each section.
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