New York Times, April 25

This very cool puzzle was actually a three-fer, with a crossword, scrambled word and connect-the-dots (well, connect-the-circled-letters) all rolled into one grid.

The puzzle came with a note explaining that seven of the clues were missing a common word, as indicated by a set of brackets: “[ ]“. I happened to be working on the middle of the grid pretty early when, using some crossing letters, I figured out that 66 Across (“Paris attraction that features a [ ]“) was THE LOUVRE. Besides the Mona Lisa, the only really iconic image I associate with the museum is the GLASS DESIGN BY I.M. PEI (89 Across) — a pyramid. And PYRAMID is the “Monumental Achievement” constructor Elizabeth C. Gorski was looking for.

By solving the rest of the puzzle, you’ll find that the seven circled letters in the grid spell PYRAMID when they are unscrambled. And, when you connect them in that order, voila! A pyramid right there in your grid. (Funny, it wasn’t there when I started the puzzle.)

The rest of the “bracketed” clues yield various definitions of “pyramid”: THREE DIMENSIONAL SHAPE (109 Across); CARD GAME (78 Across); YOGA POSE (55 Across); IMAGE ON A DOLLAR BILL (37 Across).

That last one reminds me of the cheesy Nicolas Cage action movie “National Treasure,” in which the pyramid on the back of a dollar is one of the keys to a surreal historical scavenger hunt, ostensibly designed by the Founding Fathers. It’s on basic cable oh, about every three hours or so, but I only tune in for the 20 minutes they spend running around Independence Hall and Philadelphia’s historic district. I love seeing our city on the big screen! (And I love the recent references to Philly in “30 Rock,” brainchild of area native Tina FEY — 83 Down.)

I have to admit, I’m having trouble with the last bracketed clue … it’s something LEADING FORMATION (23 Across) but I haven’t figured out that upper left quadrant yet and I’m running out of time. I’ll fill it in later and post an update.

One other thing … the homemade puzzle that I posted last week contains one error in the clues: 24 Across should be “Greek war god,” not Roman. My apologies.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy.

New York Times, April 18

Sorry for the late post. I was having some issues posting my first puzzle. I hope to get better in the coming weeks.

So … what do you do with a puzzle? Solve it. Or a blog entry? Post it. Or a drift? Catch it. Catch my drift? The italicized clues in this puzzle were essentially “Jeopardy”-like answers begging the question: “What do you do with it?” So with “Uncle” you SAY IT (14 Across); with “The picture” you GET IT (25 Across); with a “Sure loser” you DON’T BET ON IT (40 Down); with “A deck of cards” you DEAL WITH IT (32 Down); with “Lunch” you BROWN BAG IT (51 Down). There were quite a few other examples, but you probably get “The idea” — COME TO THINK OF IT (23 Across). If not, the grid also has “A message,” and you can TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT (112 Across).

Coincidentally, this week’s puzzle has a couple entries that unknowingly echoed my efforts to become a constructor: CLUER (57 Down, “Crossword creator, at times”) and — spoiler alert! — ST. ELMO (118 Across, “Name associated with fire”), who makes a guest appearance of sorts in my grid.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy.

(Right-click to print or download.)

After 25 years of solving puzzles, I have finally ventured into the world of crossword construction. I realize this puzzle is not even a Monday-worthy NYT puzzle (first of all it’s not big enough — 11×11 instead of 15×15), but for my first try it’s all I’ve got. (Actually, it’s my second fully finished grid, but I’m too embarrassed to publish the first one.)

The theme is hardly original, and I’ll be the first to tell you that I got most of these answers off Twitter one day when a trending topic was #oneletteroffmovies. I copied a bunch down and figured, hey, it will give me the boost I need for my first constructing efforts; coming up with a theme AND learning how to place the black squares AND fitting all the words in would just be too much. Of course, I hope to come up with my own themes in due time.

To construct, I used Sam Bellotto Jr.’s “Crossdown” software. (Warning to Mac users like me: You need to get Parallels to run it because it’s Windows-only.) It’s pretty user friendly, comes with a good help manual (including tips on constructing) and a (limited) clue bank. It also allows you to export your puzzle in several ways; ostensibly I’m able to export this puzzle as an applet to this site (and even send it as an applet in an e-mail) so that you can solve it online a la the NYT puzzles, but I haven’t gone there yet.

I’ve since read that some constructors use graph paper and pencils; I’m sure that’s a good method to learn as well. Hopefully I will work my way up to standard-sized puzzles in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy this one.

Questions or comments? Leave them here or Twitter me @crosswordkathy.

Check back soon for the answers.

New York Times, April 11

Wouldn’t you know it — Tee Time comes just in time for the final round of the Masters! And there’s even a tiger in the puzzle: 30 Down, “Tiny tiger” (insert joke here, but the answer is CUB).

To me, the “Tee Time” title implied the theme answers would have an extra letter “T” in them. But you actually had to add the whole “tee” sound to a common phrase to get the answer. So a “Bathing beauty at a swimming facility?” is a POOL CUTIE (19 Across); an “Armistice signed on December 25?” is a CHRISTMAS TREATY; a “Scottish body of water with beverage concentrate added?” is LOCH NESTEA (38 Across); an “Awful illustration from cartoonist William?” is a HANNA-BARBARITY (43 Across, though Hanna worked with Barbera, not Barbara; Hanna-Barbera created “The Flintstones” and “Scooby-Doo,” among others); and “Opting not to sunbathe?” is KEEPING PASTY (56 Across).

Also: “Exactness in giving orders to toymaking elves?” is SANTA CLARITY (70 Across, from the city of Santa Clara); “What a bunny buyer at a pet shop might want?” is a RABBIT WARRANTY (88 Across); “Choice of songs at a piano bar?” is HIT OR MISTY (90 Across, for “Play Misty for me”); a “Hybrid sheepdog that moves ver-r-ry slowly?” is a TORTOISE SHELTIE (108 Across); and “Drinking and dancing instead of sleeping?” is UP TO PARTY (115 Across).

Other clues that resonated: 101 Across, “Actor Haley Joel _____ of ‘The Sixth Sense’” (OSMENT), made me think of how beautiful Philadelphia looks in that movie. (Not long before that film, Haley played Tom Hanks’ son at the very end of “Forrest Gump.”)

52 Across, “____ Field (former name of Minute Maid Park)” (ENRON), reminded me that I just watched the documentary “The Smartest Guys in the Room.” It left me speechless. (I’m ashamed to say the book has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now and I haven’t read it yet.)

94 Across, “R&B singer Marie” (TEENA), made me recall the day I interviewed her by phone for a story on the R&B Pioneer Award she was about to receive in Philly. Her song “Lovergirl” was played to death when I was a kid and I thought she was an annoying one-hit wonder. I had no idea, until my pre-interview research, how extensive her career has been and how groundbreaking — no one knew she was white until after her first album was a hit. A lawsuit she later filed against Motown also set an important legal precedent for musicians.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy.

New York Times, April 4

Was it just me, or were the clues to this puzzle ridiculous hard and/or esoteric? I’m not talking about the theme answers (and bonus question), which were relatively easy. But “Foozle” (18 Down) for ERR? Or “Dickens” (41 Down) for DEUCE? I had to double-check that one. Or “Suffix with boff?” (2 Down) for OLA? “Boffola”? Really? Try “payola” or “Crayola.” Boffola is, as the “Car Talk” guys would say, “Booooooooooo-gus!” Not to mention “Galsworthy’s Mrs. Forsyte” (94 Down) for IRENE … never heard of either of them. I guess it’s good to stretch my brain, but wow.

The theme was in the clues this week — several had asterisks — with a “Bonus question” printed at the top of the page: “What word can follow each half of the answer to each starred clue?” The starred clues weren’t particularly hard, yielding common compound words, and the bonus answer is BOARD.

So “Lure” (98 Across) is DRAWING CARD (“drawing board” and “cardboard”); “Cover-up” (102 Across) is WHITE WASH (“whiteboard” and “washboard”); “Green Bay Packers fan” (72 Across) is CHEESE HEAD (“cheeseboard” and “headboard”); “Tally” (84 Across) is RUNNING SCORE (“running board” and “scoreboard”); “Risking detention” (35 Down) is CUTTING SCHOOL (“cutting board” and “school board”); “Wonder product” (32 Down) is SANDWICH BREAD (“sandwich board” and “cutting board”) … others include: WALL PAPER (23 Across); FLOOR LEADER (25 Across); COLLEGE DRAFT (39 Across); and SWITCHBACK (54 Across).

My quibbles: What’s an END BOARD or a TABLE BOARD? A “Lamp holder” (90 Across) is an END TABLE, yielding END BOARD and TABLE BOARD. The same goes for 34 Across, “Object of superstition” — the answer, BLACK CAT, yields BLACK BOARD and CAT BOARD. What’s a cat board? My cat Phoebe wants to know. And so do I.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy