by Parker Higgins & Ross Trudeau
[.puz][PDF][Solution] Difficulty: 3.75/5
N.B.: Today’s puzzle is 21×21, so the clues may populate above/below the grid, rather than to the right. For best results, feel free to print the PDF and solve on paper!
We were inspired to run today’s puzzle by a recent New York Times Magazine profile of Henry Winkler. It’s a delightful read by the talented Matt Klam, an old writing teacher of mine. And in fact, the article’s title is somewhat apropos of the content of our crossword: “Henry Winkler Breaks the Curse of Stardom.”
Working with Parker has been one of my great joys and honors these past couple of years. We recently made a puzzle zine you can buy, and we stream crossword solving/constructing on Twitch, which we’ll do again tomorrow (Monday) at 10p eastern!
Thanks much to Dan, David, Shreya, Matthew, and Gavin, who all provided valuable test solving input! Thoughts and spoilers for “Bound to Succeed” below.
Parker: This was one of the most ambitious grids I’ve ever helped fill, and I think if it hadn’t been for Ross’s steady hand guiding the motorboat I might have deemed it impossible. The revealer is such a fun phrase! One fun bit of trivia: the canonical opposite of “jumping the shark” is said to be “growing the beard,” a reference to Commander William Riker losing the babyface look after The Next Generation’s let’s-call-it uneven Season 1.
Ross: He’s talking about “Star Trek.” It’s always “Star Trek.”
Happy solving, friends!