by Lucy Howard & Ross Trudeau
As I sit down to post today’s puzzle, my co-constructor Lucy and I are texting about all the rock climbing we’re going to do together in the After Times. I’ve also got a double strong cup of home brew, an uncommonly docile purr machine unconscious in my lap, and a 60/sunny local forecast displayed on the ol’ weather app, so everything’s looking up so far. A couple quick hits:
-Don’t miss this Wednesday’s New York Times puzzle, which is a Rafkin-Trudeau joint.
-Parker and I are continuing our “Heavenly Bodies” puzzle build on tomorrow night’s Cursewords Live stream. Tune in at 10 pm eastern after the Boswords stream.
-Here’s a live tracker that Parker and Malaika cooked up that applies a more appropriate color scheme to the NYT constructor gender data over at xwordinfo.)
Some thoughts and spoilers from Lucy on “Jab This Puzzle” after the jump.
Lucy: I am thrilled to be making a Rossword appearance two months in a row! When Ross approached me with this clever revealer, I was delighted to discover that he even knew what a FRENCH TWIST was (“I have a sister, Lucy…”), and even more delighted about his corresponding BOWLING LANE theme entry. Ross’s tricky clue for ATM MACHINE [Deli fixture that dispenses bread] is certainly a highlight of this puzzle for me! Ross and I had an especially fun happy hour clueing session with this puzzle – how could we not with words like PIXAR MOVIE, I STINK, IMMATURE, and IN LOVE? My mom used to call me on Valentine’s Day every year to wish me a happy conception day, so thanks mom for the TMI clue inspiration (I guess). Oh and for the record, I do not have a Texas ACCENT (ahem) and Ross is just being modest about his LEG day workouts…
Ross: There are a couple of other pieces of theme material that we left on the cutting room floor. HAND GRENADE, for one, since the pin felt a bit too akin to the FRENCH TWIST’s pin. It’s a delightful bit of continuity that the PIN in the revealer is for sticking stuff to a wall, and each of the pins in the theme answers has a very distinct use/meaning.
Lucy, darlin’, you definitely have a Texas accent. (Soon as we get her on the stream y’all’ll agree with me.)
Happy solving, friends.
-Ross