All the bolded m’s were annoying. The editors should have left off the bolding and let the theme dawn on us, instead of hammering it at us.
@Sara W I disagree. I would have found hunting for the m’s boring after a while. It’s not like it was meant to be a Mystery.
@Sara W I wouldn't say I found it annoying, exactly, but that's not far off. I'd say I found it *m*es*m*erizing.
@Sara W I found the bolded M's annoying and distracting, too, and they brought nothing to how one solved the puzzle.
@Sara W I also found the bolding to be irritating and distracting. (Not the constructor's fault; that's an editorial decision.) Underlining might have been better.
@Sara W Well, it was in 1A, so it wasn’t like they were trying to hide it. But still, meh.
@Sara W Yeah I liked the puzzle overall but the bolded M's just made it hard to read the clues. I know everything is dumbed down in the modern crossword but I think people would have still figured out the theme without it.
Mamma Mia, I found the clues to be mildly maddening. But I must say it was masterfully made.
I was not a fan of today's puzzle. All the hyphenated Ms kind of gave me a headache and made it hard to focus on the clues I as trying to read. Also the main spanner of the puzzle was a very specific piece of Harry Potter trivia MISCHIEF MANAGED. Such an odd phrase you can't even really piece it together without almost all crossers, and half the crossers were weak. Weird acronyms like EDF, ICI. Then who the heck has heard of BATH, Maine? Fewer people than Natick, Mass. Getting a headache just looking at the clues combined with the major spanner being a giant Natick requiring extremely specific information that even big fans of the series might not remember. Frustrating puzzle.
@Chris hey man whats wrong with natick
@Chris, Oh boy. Hope @AudraLM doesn’t hear you.
@Chris Got MISCHIEF MANAGED immediately! No crosses needed.
@Chris Bath is a major shipbuilding town and has been for over a century.
@Chris But other than that, you liked it, right? :-) (Please excuse me, all these m's are making me mercurial. See! I did it again, I wish I could make it moot. Arg...)
@Chris ICI is not an acronym. It means "here" in French, which you'd see on a map in Marseilles. And I'm sure that many people, including me, have heard of BATH, Maine. I've even been there. It's always a riot when people comment here that "no one has ever heard of xxx." Which is not to say that I liked this puzzle. I didn't. In a big way. In fact, it's one of my most disliked puzzles in recent memory.
@Chris And I was just thinking how fortunate we were that the Potter shard was a couple of English words and not some bizarre name like Dumbledore or Snaith. I've read a few Potter books which I enjoyed but I don't think they included this datum. Still it appeared pretty quickly with a few crosses.
@Chris Seriously? You live in Boston and never heard of Bath, Maine, a pleasant weekend drive up old Rte. 1? I'll bet just about everyone in Natick has. It's good that Lin from the MIDWEST could shed a little light.
@Chris I live in Natick and am from Maine, so… 😇
Well that was annoying. Different, certainly, but just annoying. It would have been okay if it were more interesting or more clever, bit it was not. Overall puzzle play was fine but the excessive bolding came off as grade school level and there was no payoff. I quite liked the clue for Hyphen, which more than made up for the green paintery of "A Ten" (sigh). We've had worse. :)
@B As is often the case, we agree 🥰
@B That ain't green paint.
Why the heck are the comments so hatey lately? This was a lovely puzzle, and a fine debut. I have no idea what people are complaining about.
@Katie Agree to disagree! I’ve posted at most a handful of generally critical/negative comments *about puzzles* over the years…and two of them have come within the last week (first Sunday, then today). Today’s struck me as egregiously bad. I just don’t get it: why on earth would anyone care that a constructor with the initials M.M. included two words beginning with “M” in each clue? And putting the constructor’s identity aside, what does today’s “theme” add to the puzzle? For my money, it just made the clues a bit worse, without adding any upside whatsoever. I guess if you found it cute/entertaining, that would be an upside…but that’s purely a matter of taste, and it seems like lots of solvers were not entertained.
@Katie Because they can hide behind an obscure screen name and spew venom without repercussions. Yes they are entitled to their opinion but diplomacy went out the window a long time ago.
For those unhappy with MISCHIEFMANAGED (apart from those who just don’t want Harry Potter or JK Rowling in a puzzle, which I’m not getting into)—it’s not a Natick. It’s two common words making a fun phrase. You already know they start with M. If you don’t know it you can figure it out with some crosses and isn’t that the fun part of a puzzle? I did know it, but wish I didn’t, because I would have enjoyed puzzling it out, and if it were a similar phrase from popular culture that I hadn’t heard that would have been perfectly ok with me. I keep coming back to this, folks. Is your goal of solving crosswords really only to enter things you’ve already heard of?
@SP Thank you! Keep saying it. How can you 'puzzle' if you know all the answers already? Or if you don't need to use the 'cross words'?
@SP I didn't know the phrase, and at first I put in ArT for [Magician's or marionettist's performance] which led to the nonsensical MISrHIEF MANAGED, so I knew I had to change it to ACT. This is the whole point of a crossword puzzle, so it always baffles me when people complain about unknowns like that. If I was careless enough to let MISrHIEF stand, I would deserve to lose my streak and wouldn't complain.
@SP I have noticed a huge influx of people here who simply do not want to be puzzled. It is getting extremely tiresome. The NYT crossword has (had) a reputation of being very challenging. If they don't want a challenge, why are they here?
@SP I agree that it was eventually guessable from the crosses. However, it's worth pointing out that often when you're trying to guess an answer it helps a lot because you know it's going to be some sort of actual English phrase. This one worried me for awhile because I knew that sometimes Harry Potter spells are really just nonsense syllables made to look like latin, so there would be far more unusual combinations possible.
I didn’t pay attention to the constructor’s name until completing the puzzle. That gave me quite a smile. Congratulations on a marvelous, mirthful, mischievous debut, Mr. Motz. Very enjoyable.
So much fun! I was surprised to come to the comments and find people complaining. It was an easy solve for me, but I found the constraint really added to the puzzle because it made the clues a bit more deliberate rather than "this is how that fill word is always clued". I loved the fact that the theme touched every single clue, it made the whole puzzle feel very hand-crafted and coherent. So often it seems like the "theme" entries get all the love and the rest are just there because they have to be. Personally I'll be looking out for more from this constructor!
@TazTheGreat Agree! I’m also surprised by all the negativity here. I enjoyed the cleverness of it.
A note directly to Mac: I know you are reading these comments with bated breath and are probably disappointed at all the negative ones. Try to take it in stride. You took a swing at a wild and wooly (upside down m’s) theme and it was bound to hit for some and not for others. The people who didn’t like it have their legitimate points. I found it fun and refreshing, personally, but can see why the clunkier clues and the solve experience could put people off. In the meantime creating any grid like this and getting it published is no mean feat for anyone especially a young constructor such as yourself. Take it as a learning experience and continue to practice and grow in your new craft. I’m sure we will be seeing more of you! Also, my child is a Wash U alumna—Go Bears!
@SP. Very nice and well measured comment. I wish I’d thought of it.
@SP Well said, and I hope Mac heeds the wisdom.
@SP (and Mac) I left a rather critical comment. I hope it is taken in the spirit @SP describes. I, too, hope to see more from you, Mac.
@SP So glad you said this, and said it so perfectly. I hope Mr. Motz realizes that this is a tough crowd--extremely well seasoned and not afraid to express an opinion, which is what young talent needs. And a young talent he is. This was a remarkable puzzle in many ways. I for one was kind of transfixed by the effect the clues and the M's and the boldface had on me, and I'll remember the puzzle for longer because of it. I think he had a great idea and he ran with it, and I hope he gives himself the credit he deserves.
@SP Oh absolutely! It was wonderful.
@SP, Here’s another note directly to Mac: In case you didn’t know, @SP is a constructor himself, so he knows what he’s talking about.
Kudos to the constructor, but these weak-themed puzzles are barely fun. I hope they had a fun time making it, though.
@Vic Agreed. Much more fun, I’m sure, for the constructor than the solver.
I loved it! Partly because of the rigorous discipline required to make EVERY SINGLE CLUE work. Whenever I see that, I have to tip my hat. But the clincher for me, which admittedly would not do much for the vast majority of solvers, is that I grew up in Moline, Illinois. Great to see the old home town get a shout out, particularly since my primary mementos of it are shirts with the letter "M" on them! It's like when were are watching Jeopardy, and the correct response is either "What is 'Hamlet'?" or "What is 'Raleigh'?" Our two dogs, Hamlet and Raleigh, always watch Jeopardy with us. Take your pleasures where you find them If they are a little goofy, so much the better.
@DYT I grew up in Minneapolis, home of Minneapolis Moline. So I was confused that it was a state and too short 😉
@DYT Love it ! You go Moline, Illinois-er !
@DYT Deere me. How do you get to Moline? To travel to the Quad Cities you could get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island line. Here's Johnny Cash <a href="https://tinyurl.com/4nmrfnww" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/4nmrfnww</a>
@DYT Moline, Moline, Moline, Moline, I'm beggin' of you, please don't take my man
Mmmmmm…I found it tasty! Don’t forget that if your mileage varies on any given puzzle, that’s not a fault of the creator or the editors. It’s _your_ mileage that varied. Remember to be kind, y’all. Take care.
@Barb Prillaman Fully agree. So much mean spiritedness lately. Fun puzzle.
For the anti-Rowling crowd: you might have a leg to stand on if you really thought JK was making a dime off of this crossword, it was enhancing her reputation, or one extra person would read an extra book, watch one of her movies, see the play or watch the TV show as a result of the inclusion of this clue. I think that highly unlikely (or if so, probably more because you persist in commenting on it rather than its inclusion). I’ll continue to take my stance that crosswords can and should reflect the fullness of current and historical cultural events, people and phenomenon as impartially and dispassionately as possible. Otherwise we have total chaos and a paucity of human knowledge and experience. I respect that you feel strongly about this and for good reason. But if we expect the crossword to be the moral arbiter of every issue, and start eliminating every entry that could possibly be distasteful or that have connections to something anyone disagrees with, soon we will have nothing left, or at least nothing left that’s worthwhile.
@SP I did your puzzle on Crosshare a few days ago. Nice work, and not as challenging as the comments here led me to expect. (Well, except for that NW corner!) Thanks for sharing the link.
@SP Interesting that any comments critical of that woman have been deleted.
@SP I think you might be too reasonable for the internet in 2026, my friend. I appreciate it.
Well done, Mr. Motz! Congratulations on your NYT crossword puzzle debut! I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. I was unsure if I was seeing some bolded fonts or not, then realized that the clues up and down all used pairs of M’s, as revealed in 1A. Very cool how you worked Eminem into the puzzle. And I loved seeing MADMEN at the end, one of my favorite shows of all time. My favorite themer was MICKEY MANTLE, my childhood baseball idol growing up just a few miles from Commerce, Oklahoma where he grew up. One of my uncles would go to see him play semi-pro ball in Baxter Springs, KS, then again in the low minors in Joplin. He was very well known locally before hitting the big time in New York City. Don’t recall seeing his name in a puzzle before. Is this a first? Wanted to give a quick shoutout to @AudraLM, too. Loved seeing your town in the puzzle today! 😄
So... We were served essentially a themeless puzzle with a pointless, instantly gettable revealer (which revealed... What, exactly? Every clue bolded the double Ms) and awkwardly worded clues? I did not find this enjoyable, at all. Now, about A TEN. My ex ages ago once asked me how beautiful I found her on a 1-10 scale. She was quite pretty, sure, but she definitely wasn't the most beautiful girl in the world, and I have a habit of being honest and direct. She did not like my answer of seven 🤣. And this isn't even where this story ends. Shocked, she proceeded to ask me how I rated her friend, Dominika. 7,5 I said. Ouch. We didn't break up until several years later though 🤣
@Andrzej Wow! You really have no game at all, do you?
@Andrzej Why would you insult someone you love? Telling her what you thought was the "truth" didn't include everything she was.
@Andrzej brave. Very brave. So if one may ask, what do you publicly state your current partner’s score to be? 🤣
@Andrzej I've always assumed that, because you do these puzzles in a second language, you're much smarter than the rest of us. I'll have to rethink that.
@Andrzej Honesty: 10. Tact: 3.
@Andrzej Rating beauty from 1 - 10 is ridiculous and you should have considered that her feelings were more important than your misplaced idea of integrity. A better answer would have been 11, to change the question from a serious one to an intimate exchange with your ex-wife, an opportunity to reassure her that in your eyes she was beautiful. As for her friend, how about a 4?
I found the cluing to be charming, actually, because, given its two-M mandate, this was not the smooth clue set we normally get, and I do like out-of-the-ordinary. Impressive that Mac was able to come up with eight two-word clues. Then, after reading his notes, revealing his life-long passion for not only solving puzzles, but making them – all types of puzzles – it strongly reminded me of Will Shortz, who was the same way (and still is), and I had a fleeting thought that this might be the first Times puzzle by a future Times puzzle editor. You never know. Congratulations on your debut, Mac. There is much cleverness in this creation of yours, and I am eager to see more from you. This perked up my day, and thank you!
Many are moaning, or mumbling, “meh”? Meanwhile, methinks the m-centric manner of clueing made for a much munchier morning solve! Moreover, it was new and fun! Merriment, even. Merci Mac!
Yeesh. People ought to lighten tf up. I'm tired of the tudes. It's a puzzle. That's all it is. (And were it my forum, anybody ending a comment with 'do better' wpuld meet an immediate banhammer. That kind of off-the-charts condescension is just obnoxious.)
This was a lot of fun. Different. I enjoyed it, and learned some trivia, which is the point. I’m not sure why there’s always so much hate on these forums.
This puzzle was "M'm! M'm! Good!" Oh, sorry, wrong product. (I'll take M&Ms over Campbell's soup any day of the week.) Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Mac Motz! It was a very creative way to introduce yourself and I enjoyed the puzzle, though seeing so many M's Majorly Messed with my gray Matter and left me a bit woozy. For some music, I honor Marilyn Monroe on what would have been the year of her 100th birthday– <a href="https://youtu.be/ZMqimnbrjSs?is=6DYuqdI-4rQP9bta" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/ZMqimnbrjSs?is=6DYuqdI-4rQP9bta</a> About MM... Yes, she was considered A TEN, but what many missed is that she was actually a sensitive, charismatic, witty, and intelligent woman who unfortunately got pegged as just a $&X symbol, an act she put on and that didn't tell the whole story of who she was. In Arthur Miller's play "After The Fall," inspired by her, he writes, "I see you clinging to rooms, to phones, forgotten to be loved." R.I.P.
@sotto voce As usual, thanks for the very appropriate and entrancing video recommendation. Maybe the original pole dance? My sainted mother frequently reminded us that she was born the same year as Marilyn, and also Queen Elizabeth. Happy 100th, Mom!
Made me murmur, “marvelous!” Merci!
The bolded Ms in the clues were *unbelievably* distracting. The puzzle would have been so much better without them.
@John You are apparently easily distracted, and you're apparently not the only one. I don't get the outrage - I didn't even notice the bold letters after the first one.
Mayor Mamdani was right there.
@Spelling Marauder Ah, but was he Mayor when this puzzle was constructed?
Couldn't decide whether I loved it or hated it (the bolded Ms made my head hurt!). But I did get a chuckle when I noticed the constructor's name.
@Teresa Oh, cool! I missed that.
I guess I'm in the minority today, but I rather enjoyed this puzzle, because it made me think more (took me longer) than many Wednesdays do (xwstats has it as "Very Hard"). What made it so was the awkward clueing, the constraint Mac Motz put on himself. I agree, the clues didn't need the bold letters. And, it would've been better had each clue had *only* two letters M. But in this era of Great Easing, IMO any Wednesday that pushes me beyond 15 minutes is a win.
@Bill in Yokohama I agree 100%. Usually I can tell when a puzzle will generate a lot of negative comments. I'm very surprised today.
@Bill in Yokohama I enjoyed the constraints. In many ways, good crossword construction is already about working with a huge set of constraints — the grid, the theme, the difficulty of the clueing and the limits of vocabulary. So when a constructor takes on additional constraints, it’s a bravura performance, watching them do it with their eyes closed or one-handed.
Oof, I’m reading a surprising amount of hate for this, which threw me. I thought it was a fine puzzle. Not the best I’ve done, sure, but a long way from the worst. I thought the M theme was cute, though it took a while to hit me. I see some found the proliferation of Ms distracting but I confess I was a good way in before I even noticed! No observational skills? Moi?
After reading through many comments, I found similar numbers of “too easy” and “too hard”. I liked the theme and found it a little challenging. Seems like a perfect Wednesday level to me.
@Bill I don’t remember reading *any* comments today that focused mostly on difficulty, in either direction — seems like the focus today is mostly on the “theme”. On that note, putting aside the clueing aspect, this theme felt Monday-level: “a pair of words, each of which begins with M”. Of course, that was only half of the theme. But while the other half (“every clue in the puzzle includes two words that begin with M”) is basically orthogonal to difficulty…it did not endear me to the puzzle in the least.
Moribund or magnificent? Monstrous or mollifying? Methinks the masses doth protest too much ;-)
I appreciated the start of this puzzle, and I think I would have enjoyed it very much. Reaching the large center clue, however, gave me a jolt followed by a pang, and I decided to leave it unfinished. People are saying that it's no big deal, and that we should just accept that this work and this author are still a major part of pop culture, but you cannot deny that she has caused real harm to real people (including my family). If people who haven't been directly harmed could agree that the harm is real and agree to just let it all fade away without further mentions like this, it would hurt a little less.
@Beth glad you said this! From what I've been seeing, she's actively engaging in the harm still, as I'm sure you know.
@Beth I respect the fact that you feel that way. So here’s the thing, Yassir Arafat and his organization killed my wife’s friend and friend’s son back in the day in a bus explosion. Somehow I am able to accept the fact that he or the PLO may be referenced neutrally in a New York Times crossword puzzle. I am honestly trying to reconcile that to the harm you think that JK Rowlings had done to you and yours that doesn’t warrant the same acceptance—much less the fact we didn’t even reference her, but a phrase from a book she wrote long ago. I feel we have lost all sense of perspective.
6-Across: Masterfully Maniacal puzzler. Answer: Mac Motz. Haters gonna hate, I like the bold move of going unconventional. Makes a much bigger impression. Was it the smoothest solve? Who cares? It was fun and memorable.
I really liked this! It was a little easier than I expected for a Wednesday, but the theme was cute and I had fun solving it. Thank you, MM!
With respect to complaints --- and not just about this particular puzzle --- that suggest we're being made to suffer for a constructor's vanity, that they are being too clever by half, or somehow lazy for not making more of a concerted effort to be conventional, complain away, you've every right to. But I take such puzzles in a different spirit. I see constructors who have a crazy idea that sounds like fun to them and are inviting us to the party. And doing all the work! And it's a lot of work for a pittance per hour and a few of their allotted fifteen minutes of fame. An M&Ms puzzle where every clue has exactly two words starting with M? Heck yeah, I'm in, sign me up, let's go. Fun idea, thanks for making it happen and letting us get in on it. I'm down for that and ready to be delighted by the next cukoo idea and the nutty one after that. And sure, a straight forward themeless or well worn comfortable theme, if that's what's on the menu, also great. Variety is the spice of life, which is like a box of chocolates ... and all that. Not saying at all that everyone should feel like this but if you do you're not alone and to all the constructors who might want to paint outside the lines now and then, we're out here.
Nobody is having any trouble identifying the theme or seeing that the clues have m words. The bold letters are really annoying. Please refrain from this sort of thing in the future.
I’m surprised so many people didn’t like this puzzle. Because of its theme. First of all, I don’t think it’s a bad theme per se. Themes don’t have to be brilliant, and very few are. Secondly, a theme shouldn’t make or break a puzzle. It’s just something that’s there, or (on Fridays and Saturdays and two Sundays a year) isn’t. And many of the gripes (ANS is an arbitrary abbreviation for “answer”; Boston is not called THE HUB, etc.) were themselves head scratchers.
@Steve L I agree. I thought the clue phrasing added a nice twist and an additional difficulty to the puzzle that I enjoyed. I consciously had to concentrate not to add "M's" to the answers! No problem with THE HUB or ANS but I never heard Mickey Mantle referred to as the "commerce comet", but then again I'm a Sox fan
I really enjoyed this one. It seems to me that if the clues of a crossword aren't 'contrived' then .... they're not crossword clues. I find simple synonyms and general knowledge much more tedious. A clue surely should hint at, allude to, suggest, imply (there are more synonyms) the answer. Or ANS.
Maybe I missed something in the puzzle, but it delivered less than I expected. The M and Ms were plentiful throughout the clues but only showed up in a few of the answers. I was left wondering what the point was. Coming up with clues that have two words with initial Ms doesn't seem that difficult, so it wasn't like it was some great achievement, the way it might have been if all the answers had two words with initial Ms. For me, the puzzle would have been fine without the Ms in the clues that didn't lead to answers with two initial Ms. So while the bolding didn't bother me visually, it did draw my attention repeatedly to the fact that all the clues had two words with initial Ms, which again, seemed pointless. I am happy for those who loved the puzzle, but for me it fell flat.
@Renegator Pointless theme with questionable fill to boot. Definitely a miss.
Congratulations on a very clever debut, Mr. Motz! Anything that begins with M & M's is a winner in my book, I mean mouth!😋 Good luck as you begin your sophomore year -- hope we see you again soon!😊
Comment for the midi. Grew up In Boston visit relatives often. Never heard the city called The Hub. Ever.
@Laura Lived there for sixteen years, never heard it either: not before, during or since.
@Laura there used to be a restaurant in the Pru called Top of the Hub. So I do think it's real, if perhaps a little dated.
@Laura, for some reason cities tend to have nicknames that are only used by people who don't live there. :-)
@Laura Have you ever noticed how many things in Boston have "hub" as a part of their names? I've seen grocery stores, places to eat, entertainment centers, community services, sports organizations, local television shows, and even the Sports Hub radio station. It just keeps cropping up once you start to notice it.
@Laura It’s a thing, really. Probably predates you, and was out of fashion before you were around. But it’s very dated. In a similar vein, “Gotham” is a supposed nickname for NYC, but you’re not likely to hear anyone say it (although I think one of the soccer teams uses it).
It's a rather old nickname. The Hub is a shortened form of a phrase recorded by writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Hub of the Solar System. This has since developed into The Hub of the Universe. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicknames_of_Boston" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicknames_of_Boston</a>
MISCHIEF MANAGED! Minimally mindbending/mysterious? Maybe. Massively merry, mirthful moments? Mm-hmm! May many more manifest, Mac! Masterful!
Loved it! Fun sometimes to get the theme right away and then see how well it’s woven all throughout the puzzle! Great job Mr. Motz
As many of you commented, the multiple bolded ‘M’s only served to distract and did not add anything to the puzzle. Kind of a slog.
A completely vainglorious outing for the constructor. The self-imposed restriction led to clues that were vague and unspecific. The bold “M”s in the clues were a disasterous misstep from the editors. H*rry P*tter marquee answer themer dead center of the grid? Give me a break. Try again next time.
@Christian *gasp!* Crossword clues that are "vague and unspecific"! Oh, the humanity.
I feel moved to state again: I liked it, well done.
Did anyone else put in CLIP for CLOP and get a spicy answer for 58D 😳 ?
@Sue S No, but I put CLAP in, which I'm only now seeing was a really stupid guess. Thank you very much for bringing that to my attention, Sue. :-)
@Sue S No, but I had CLAP, which I see now was a truly awful guess. Thanks for making me aware of that, Sue! :-)
@Sue S Ha! It could have been clued as [Merry maker].
I always appreciate constructors trying to innovate and putting in extra effort but this did not work for me. It was a very distracting theme. Honestly, took me a while to get going. Having said that, real committment from the constructor to fit this, admittedly tough, theme in every single clue.
Thanks, Mac M., for a fun puzzle! People, your daily New York Times crossword challenge is not the end of the world—whether you think it’s fantastic or simply not your cup of tea. There’s plenty more to worry about than whether you were challenged in precisely your preferred way on a particular day. I always marvel that anyone can construct a crossword puzzle, let alone one with a theme. For someone still in high school or college, it’s an especially impressive feat! And this puzzle was unusual in carrying its double-M theme through both the answers and the clues. I’m glad The Times encourages new constructors. I could never create a crossword puzzle in my lifetime, but I love having a range of puzzles each morning—some I can whiz through and others I can’t finish at all. I’m also glad that talented young constructors are coming along to keep the tradition alive. May The New York Times crossword continue well beyond the lifetime of every current reader!
@Stephanie Don’t sell yourself short! There are free online construction tools like Ingrid and Crosserville that make it easy to get started. The incomparable Patrick Berry has a great e-book called the Crossword Constructor’s Handbook that walks you through every step of the construction process. (I’ve had a few puzzles published and hope to have more someday.) Give it a shot!
@Stephanie I feel exactly the same way. I’m amazed at the constructors’ minds!
The Wordplay column says: "7D. Notwithstanding the fact that New York City apartment buildings rarely include a PORCH, I concede it may be [Many a mailbox locale]." FWIW, there are some residences in New York City that are *not* apartment buildings. New York City has five boroughs (also called counties). They all have homes with porches, although some more than others. For me, I'm still a newbie, so I'm glad to say that this one was one and done, no lookups, gold star, etc. I even figured out MISCHIEFMANAGED even though I haven't read any of Harry Potter. A coincidence for me. I watched a favorite movie for the third time yesterday: "Trouble With the Curve." It's about a baseball scout and his daughter (Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams) and there's a reference to MICKEYMANTLE. Spoiler alert: he named her MICKEY, just plain MICKEY. After MANTLE, of course. Great movie. Worth a watch. The ending is great!
@lucky13 Trouble with the Curve is a gem!