A: Hello! My identify is Robyn Weintraub, and I stay in Westchester County, New York. My puzzles seem usually within the New York Occasions, the New Yorker and Folks journal.
Q: How did you first get into crossword development?
A: My mom was an enormous crossword solver; she even attended varied tournaments through the years. However I used to be a Video games journal/Scrabble/Boggle child and largely ignored the crossword. I didn’t start fixing usually till simply earlier than my 40th birthday, nevertheless it was a fast transition from fixing to developing.
Q: Which a part of the method is essentially the most difficult?
A: Writing the primary draft of the clues is the half I dread essentially the most. However my course of was impressed by creator Anne Lamott and what she phrases “s—ty first drafts.” I write a bunch of rubbish simply to get one thing on the web page after which do many rounds of edits.
Q: Do you have got a favourite clue you’ve written, whether or not on this puzzle or a distinct one, that instantly involves thoughts?
Listed here are just a few off the highest of my head:
[Game you can’t stand to win?] MUSICAL CHAIRS
[Hamburger or Frankfurter topping?] ROBE
[Exchange rings?] PLAY PHONE TAG
[Gift your friends are guaranteed to flip over?] SNOW GLOBE
Q: You’re well-known amongst crossword solvers for constructing enjoyable themeless crosswords with clean grids. What drew you to themeless puzzles?
A: I began, like most constructors, making themed puzzles. It was a gradual course of, and months would go by earlier than I had a stable theme able to go. I a lot want developing grids to the method of developing with themes. In the future it occurred to me that if I switched to themeless puzzles, I might simply skip the theme brainstorming and go on to developing! It appears apparent now, however again then it felt like a very huge leap for a novice constructor.
Q: If you write a puzzle, do you have got a specific set of pursuits that you simply intention to incorporate within the solutions or clues?
A: In my puzzles you’re prone to see references to musical theater, kid-friendly characters, Shakespeare, meals/cooking and Gen X trivia. What you’ll not discover — at the very least once I may help it — are any references to sports activities.
Q: There have been just a few occasions the place you’ve constructed a themeless puzzle for an important day and needed to write a couple of set of clues with totally different problem ranges. How do you method this type of multi-difficulty undertaking?
A: I assemble a spreadsheet with three columns for Straightforward, Medium and Arduous after which simply begin brainstorming. Generally clues get shifted between columns as I edit.
I do have the distinct honor of creating each tough(ish) themeless puzzles for the New York Occasions — sometimes my puzzles there run on Fridays, however I’ve had just a few Saturdays as nicely — and an everyday gig on the New Yorker the place I make “beginner-friendly” themeless puzzles.
I’d burn out fairly rapidly if all my puzzles fell into the identical problem degree. I take pleasure in writing the clues for each exhausting and simple themelesses, nevertheless it actually is a distinct course of. For the exhausting ones, it’s way more about discovering intelligent misdirection, which could be a thrill, but in addition mentally exhausting. For the simple ones, I attempt to embody a enjoyable reality or trivia within the clues to maintain them from feeling one-dimensional.
Q: Are there different puzzle actions or initiatives that you simply’d like to advertise?
A: I’ve a e-book of exhausting midi (9×9) puzzles, which is a part of a collection entitled Sit and Resolve (sure, it’s that “Sit”; the duvet artwork is formed like a roll of bathroom paper). It’s out there on the web site of your favourite e-book retailer. This summer time the BBC did a podcast episode about me, recorded whereas I constructed a New York Occasions puzzle; I believe solvers will discover it attention-grabbing to listen to how a constructor makes a puzzle from begin to end, together with all the thrill and frustrations of the inventive course of.