If there were prop bets on crossword puzzles, I wonder what the odds would have been that my 100th puzzle in The Times would have been on a Tuesday. That’s what making more than 100 puzzles (he has been published elsewhere, of course) will do for you. Walden knows when he’s got the best possible outcome for his puzzle, and while there are “crosswordese”-like entries (ADIN and EMBAR), for the most part he just dabs his paintbrush lightly around his theme.
I compare it to painters who wonder if their paintings are “finished” and keep adding to them, possibly obscuring their original intent. That’s almost always the way to wind up with junky fill, and, to be honest, it would take away from the shine of a well thought out theme like this. Walden’s puzzles is that he doesn’t try to overload his grids with “tricks.” Some new constructors might be tempted to gild such a lily by, say, filling around the theme with high Scrabble scoring letters and trying for a pangram as well. That’s a lot for a Tuesday theme, and one of the things I like about Mr. Walden managed to interlock these theme entries, with the crossing of PRESSURE COOKERS and HOME FORECLOSURE at the REC being the stand out, because it is actually in the CENTER of the puzzle, like a guiding star. It’s dark, but a question mark clue about things that are “passing” or “passed” is usually going to be about OBITS. Walden’s twisted, Zolaesque mind.Ĭongratulations, Mr. I’m entertaining myself right now by imagining that all of those 0.25 puzzles were Minis.Īnyway, 100 New York Times Crossword bylines is nothing to sneeze at, particularly when a majority of those puzzles were late week forays into Mr. This is his 100th crossword for The New York Times, made over a span of 19 years and that amounts to roughly (counts on fingers) 5.25 puzzles per year. That’s why this puzzle by Byron Walden is special.
But for many constructors, The Times is a goal unto itself. Of course, with the rise of popular indie puzzles, there are many more feathers to be had now, and they are also well-deserved and prestigious. TUESDAY PUZZLE - In the world of crossword puzzle construction, having a byline in The New York Times is considered to be a real feather in one’s cruciverbal cap.
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