So as many of you know, one of my short-term dreams is to have a puzzle published in the New York Times. The Times is kind of considered the top of the heap as far as crossword publishers go, so that would be awesome.
Yes I did send off a couple of puzzles to Will Shortz before. It was one of those situations where I knew what the criticisms would be before I ever sent them off. I learned an important lesson: if you’re not confident in your work, don’t bother sending it in.
That said, I think I have a couple of solid efforts this time, so we’ll see if he decides to pick either one of them up.
To celebrate the occasion, I’m posting one of my rejected efforts from before. Maybe someone will get some enjoyment out of solving it, even though it wasn’t up to the NYT’s lofty standards.
BTW, if you’re an aspiring constructor, the criticisms were: 1. Too many 3-letter words, 2. Some ugly partials.
