Tips for Debut Constructors

After a dozen rejections, you finally got your first acceptance. You’re going to be published in the New York Friggin’ Times! You’re excited. You’re thrilled. You’re planning your celebration, clearing off wall space to display your crossword, dreaming about the accolades cascading in from friends and family.

But suddenly you have homework. Jeff Chen wants a photo and constructor notes for XWord Info. The photo is easy. This is your public image, so you hie over to a professional photography studio and have their best talent create a digital headshot that puts you in your best light. Perfect.

But what about those notes? How can you write something that’s sincere but interesting?

I’m here to help. These are the tips you need for success:

1. Be brief. Seriously, 200 words is plenty. For every word over 200, ten potential readers won’t even start because it looks too long.
2. Do not begin with a statement about how excited or thrilled you are. Of course, it’s exciting. Of course, you’re thrilled. Don’t bore us right away with something we already know.
3. Do not feel obliged to include your whole life philosophy, or even your whole crossword philosophy.
4. Instead, pick one interesting story and tell it in an engaging way.
5. If you must, list your people to thank, but not until the end. No need to include guys named Will or Joel – they’re just doing their job.

Point 4 is the tricky one. Your interesting story is one that is unique to you and to this puzzle. Here are some sample openings:

• As the goalie for the Seattle Kraken hockey team, I have a lot of time to think about crossword themes when the action is at the far end of the ice. Suddenly, Connor McDavid was skating toward me at full speed. A breakaway! I wondered, could PUCK be part of a good theme? And then it hit me.
• My dentist knows I’m into crosswords, and when he was filling my back molar during a recent visit, he asked me about themes. “I wonder,” he muttered over the whine of the drill, “if it would be possible to hide the names of all seven dwarfs inside brands of toothpaste?”
• I was surprised to discover no NYT crossword to date was based on a list of top sexual fetishes. Will Shortz jumped at the idea when I mentioned it to him at “the club” and I knew I was onto something.
• Some people are completely indifferent to the word INSOUCIANCE, but I love it enough to seed my Saturday themeless grid.

Seriously, we love the constructor stories. Our readers love them. They’re the best part of XWord Info, and the best stories are short, personal insights into what makes you, you. Keep them coming.