zhousephine
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Hi Wordplay community—Zhou (co-constructor) here. In honor of Isa (notable rescuer of three-legged cats), Kevin (co-constructor and cat person who won’t let me get a dog) and I are donating the money from this puzzle to the Camano Animal Shelter Association: <a href="https://www.camanoanimalshelter.org/donate" target="_blank">https://www.camanoanimalshelter.org/donate</a>. Please consider donating to Casa (or to a cause close to your own heart, if three-legged cats aren’t your thing). Thanks for being a bright spot in this wild world.
I (like many others, I imagine) read Wordplay and the comments as part of my morning ritual. I've been doing this for the last two years, and I've grown to be really fond of this quirky little community -- the cheerleaders, the punsters, the grumps, the curmudgeons. This isn't my puzzle.* But I have been fortunate enough to have a couple puzzles published in the Times, and for me, each one is an inherent act of vulnerability. It's me saying, "I thought this was funny / cute / clever, I hope you like it too." I know that not everyone will like each puzzle I make. That would be a crazy expectation. And for those that don't like a puzzle, they're entitled to grump, to gripe, to criticize, to complain, and to be themselves. They're human beings, after all, and we human beings have feelings, which are wonderfully variable. And also -- there are a bunch of human beings behind this puzzle. The constructor is a human being. The editing team is all human beings (well, maybe with the exception of Sam, who just might comes from a different word planet). And these human beings also have feelings, and they are also wonderfully variable. It's easy to forget that sometimes. Happy birthday, Kev! * But the constructor is my spouse. And so I feel a bit riled up on his behalf. He is wiser than I am and so actually doesn't care at all. Isn't it funny how that goes? p.s. This puzzle * was * originally slated for a Wednesday.
Kevin here (Zhou and I share our NYT account). First time commenter. It's clear that I've lost the comment war, so please consider this my final bow before I step graciously back into private life. I hope the paparazzi in our bushes can read this as a sign to leave :) Anyway, I really just came here to echo NYC Traveler from a few minutes ago. What a special place this niche part of the internet is. I usually enjoy looking for all the haters of my puzzles, but seeing all the love here has been way more fun. Thank you all for contributing to this day of only ups in our household! #TeamZhou, for sure.
@dutchiris Another funny thing about “Zhou” is that it’s typically a surname and not a first name… but my mom’s last name is Zhou, and my parents wanted to name me after both of them so I ended up with two last names and no first names. 😆
hi @Andrzej! i look for your posts every day. when i'm filling a grid, i sometimes say to myself WWAT (What Will Andrzej Think?) 😆 because of you, i'm much more aware of potential cross-cultural pitfalls and words that might be trickier for non-native English speakers. so thank you for that, and thanks for bringing your perspective to this community!
@Ali J thanks so much for sharing this. it's somehow just what i needed to read. 💛 we had to say goodbye to our 16-year-old sweet Penny-cat today, and my heart is hurting, hurting, hurting. i'm sorry you didn't get to say goodbye to your sweet kitty, and i'm profoundly grateful that we got the chance to do that. she had a peaceful passing, surrounded by people who love and adore her. may we all be so lucky.
@NYC Traveler Happy new year!! 🎊 May 2026 be filled with more rebuses!
@SR Too soon to say, but hopefully they're more Kevin and less me in this regard, at least!
@SP hello, co-constructor here! i'm a bit hesitant to wade into these rebus-filled waters (which i'm very much enjoying), but i can't help myself... i'll admit that over the many, many hours Mal and i spent on this puzzle, neither of us thought the "trick" of this puzzle would be people thinking a rebus is afoot when it's not. 😳 our intent was always a single letter per square, where the theme answers you enter in are "inflated" from the answers that match the clues. i can definitely see in hindsight why folks would be frustrated by the fact that a rebus isn't acceptable as an answer... but that wouldn't have changed how we made the puzzle. (honestly, i'm a bit tickled that the majority of complaints are about lack of a rebus.)
@dutchiris ohmigosh, HAPPIEST of birthdays to you!!!
@Jacqui J Awwwww this is so sweet, thank you!!!! 🥰
@SP please tell me you also think about Art Heist at least once a week??? surely i'm not the only one
Hi @GD! 👋 Co-constructor here (+ long-time lurker, first-time commenter): UNDER THE SEA was one of the first theme answer/hint pairs we came up with, and it caused two major constraints: 1. We rejected multiple other potential theme answers because they had at least one "C" in them, and we had used up our single C already... 2. When filling the grid, Kevin deleted all the words containing C from our wordlist, and we narrowed down options for 12D to be words that ended in E, I, or T. This put more stress on the grid and fill for sure, but hopefully not in a way that was too obvious! We went through at least five completed grids before landing on this one. I was really committed to the single C in the puzzle, because I knew how much I would enjoy that aha moment as a solver, so I'm so, so pleased by this! (Sorry to your cat, though. We have a cat too, and she hates being startled.) P.S. My one regret from this puzzle -- I originally clued TIM TAM as [Popular chocolate biscuit from Down Under that can be used as a straw]. Kevin said that bit of trivia was too obscure, and I agreed at the time; now I wish I had insisted.
@Weak I can only dream of reaching Art Heist levels. (I thought his puzzle was better too.)
@dutchiris echoing the others, sending good thoughts your way! hope all goes smoothly and unremarkably 💖
@Matt my husband is a puzzle constructor but almost never solves. he does look at the puzzle every day; he just has zero interest in solving crosswords. he might be an anomaly, but i imagine there are others like him, where the act of creation and creativity in coming up with the theme and / or building the puzzle is really satisfying, and solving doesn't satisfy that itch. i think for many of us hobbyists who don't do puzzles full-time as Erik, Will, and Paolo do, there's probably a stronger affinity towards either solving or constructing. i started out as a solver only, but as i've gotten more into constructing, i'm much more interested in constructing than solving. don't get me wrong -- i still solve every day, but i do it much more from the perspective of learning about the craft of construction than for anything else.
@Andrea Carla Michaels well i can't ask for anything more than to have the Queen of Mondays say something lovely about my Monday puzzle. 🥰 thanks for the kind words!!
@Seward Parker hi neighbor!! i live on Edmunds just up the street from Empire Espresso!
@Jacqui J congrats on 1600!!! my first thought (yikes!) was -- perfect SAT score! 🤣
@SP I'm late to my morning coffee + wordplay perusal today, and I almost spit out my coffee when I read this comment! Gosh, what a lovely compliment. And it's particularly meaningful because it comes from a thoughtful constructor. Thank you. 🥰 Let's make a puzzle together!
@Jane yay, this comment makes me so happy!! i'm only middling in my crossword experience, but if you want to work together, feel free to hit me up! my email is zhou (dot) zhang (at) gmail (dot) com.
@Francis this was my favorite comment. gosh i hope so too. i'll start scheming.
@Francis Amazing -- I love that you even spared a thought for the puzzle after solving! Selfishly, we made exactly the kind of puzzle that * I * love, which, of course, is not going to be everyone's favorite. It's been really fun reading through the comments, and I'm glad we've been able to bring some folks fun and joy and some other folks consternation. :D @Cathy The pangram is a happy accident! JANKY was a late change to the grid; I can't recall exactly what was there before, but I think one of us caught a dupe and so made some changes in that section. As for the E, it is meant to be the last letter of RODEO DRIVE. Kevin and I did have a lengthy discussion about whether it would be better to have a famous road that also ended in E, so it was less ambiguous... and now I can't remember why we didn't go that route. (One last thing: our original clue for RODEO DRIVE was [Road paved with gold, metaphorically], to give the extra hint that you were at the correct ROAD, but that didn't make it past editing.)
@dutchiris Thinking of you and crossing my fingers for BETTER DAYS soon!
@Jacqui J is there such thing as "crossword puzzle twins"? maybe that's us!
@Erik there's the crossword discord server, which is linked in the constructor notes for the 2025-06-17 puzzle
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