Evan Kalish

@Someone Hi! My father was keen on architecture and engineering and passed that enthusiasm along to me. I was pleased to be able to present this unique angle for STL, which I'm grateful the NYT editors kept. [I didn't know that workers suffered from decompression sickness with this construction; I learned about "the bends" while watching (if I recall correctly) Ken Burns' Brooklyn Bridge documentary as a child.]

@Tristan I was wondering what everyone was talking about because I never saw this clue for ROE before. The editing team changed it after showing me the prepublication proof. Unusual.

@ging To be fair, SAND IEGO sounds like a beach 😉

@Leapfinger Almost! For years I’d been working with only nine-letter California city names, of which there are surprisingly few [well-known ones]. When I accepted the idea of two 9s and two 8s it came together quickly. I insisted two rolls be CW and two CCW (and they roll from the outside in). The LONGBEACH roll was the first I filled around, trying out numerous placements. I thought this result, especially with unexpected letter strings, was so fun (despite a couple of compromises in the short fill) that this grid layout was largely set in stone. That otherwise shoddy crossing of NOLO and ROHE could also be checked as the O in Long Beach, and I love when sussing out a theme can help actually solve the puzzle in such a situation. It was fun seeing which/how patterns of letter strings were consistent throughout the permutations of rolling.

@Crossy Those who know me know I can’t resist an opportunity to include a clue that at least feels like it has to do with mail 😄

@Super8ing When alternative explanations are available, perhaps it’s better to give those the benefit of the doubt—as opposed to continuing to express assumptions suggesting the worst in others.

@Joe Gazella It is neither stating nor implying that he named #43 “George H.W. Bush, Jr.,” thus making him “George H.W. Bush, Sr.” It is a(n if retroactive) shorthand used to distinguish the two, that I have personally encountered. Wikipedia has “Bush Sr.” noted among multiple nicknames.

@Leapfinger Ohh, so that’s where the “left turn at Albuquerque” came from? Excellent. (Note to self: do not try to create a puzzle where entries bend left at the letter string ‘ABQ’.)

@dk Visited Seal Beach a few months back, to visit the post offices (one of the ways I use my time outside of crossword construction). Been to all the ones in Pasadena and Long Beach, too!

@B Thank you. I did think a couple of entries were suboptimal, but they were rather “load-bearing” and the crosses seemed fair (with the exception of the shoddy NOLO/ROHE cross, though could also be confirmed by way of the LONGBEACH roll).

@Susan Montauk I’ve encountered that in the past. It’s a print setting issue. I forget the exact issue but I do recall it helped if I opened the PDF in a different program.

@B Shoddy as in, the entries aren't necessarily common knowledge and you could conceivably find another letter that fits as well if you're not familiar with either the Latin term or name, leading to a frustrating error/solve. That kind of crossing is something most constructors would look to avoid, and something I would have avoided there not been an extra backup to resolve the 'O'.