Boss Words: Fierce Grids and Guides from Evan Mulvihill

  • They Check You Out to Let You In (Themeless Puzzle No. 7, Hard Version)

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    3 min read

    Hello all and welcome to my new crossword blog, Boss Words! For my first set of fresh content, I decided to try a new approach with one of my themeless puzzles. I thought it might be fun to add an easy version of the puzzle to the standard, more difficult version.

    The words in the finished grid are the same, but for the easy version, the clues are directed toward helping you get the answer (for the most part). I recorded a video tutorial of me solving it which I’ll link to once it’s posted!

    Built by Evan Mulvihill using the crossword puzzle creator from Amuse Labs

    If it’s too hard, check out Miss Easiana!

    Features of this puzzle:

    • Diagonal symmetry
      • Brooke Husic and some other cutting-edge creators are known for using this style of symmetry and I love her work, so I got curious about whether it could work for me. To be honest, I do ultimately favor the look of the standard rotational symmetry, especially in a wide-open themeless that’s going for the staircase or stacking
      • Here are some examples of prototypical themeless grids that I like, which I would put into 2 broad categories: wide-open middles with 4 corner sections, and long matching triple/quadruple stacks with a variable middle
    Wide Open Example 1, 62 word count
    Wide Open Example 2, 66 word count
    Triple Stacks, 64 word count
      • A lot of outlets are even abolishing symmetry requirements altogether! I’m not sure how to feel about it. Ultimately I acknowledge that symmetry is not truly a requirement of a good or enjoyable puzzle, and is thus an artificial
      • If you have a seed entry or entries that just aren’t working in a standard symmetry, it may be worthwhile to try it out with a different symmetry or different. More on thinking outside the 15 by 15 box here.
    • Sawtooth feeling grid art, ish
      • I’m always at a loss on how to describe grid style/art. In this grid I see some fun sawtooth patterns happening. I also see a sort-of grimacing face, kind of Charlie Brown Halloween pumpkin style?
    • Two 15-letter-length entries (“spanners”) crossing one another

    Spoiler alerts below!

    • I started this puzzle by copying a grid published as on Saturday, June 15, 2024 in the NYT. A creation from Ryan Judge, I liked that it had diagonal symmetry but a fairly open middle and 2 spanners. RETINAL SCANNERS was the original seed entry, and I liked ALTERNATIVE ENDING crossing it. FLAT EARTHER was fun to me, although I’ve heard some editors not wanting this conspiracy theory-touting group to have a limelight shown on them. IMO, using a group as entry in a crossword puzzle does not their views endorse, pero I see why an editor might want to avoid it. I think there are a lot of quirky, funny things in the world, and I’m OK with seeing them in crosswords, but I don’t . GREEN OLIVES felt a little boring, but I liked thinking of it as the perfect martini accoutrement. EAT FOR TWO and ZEN MASTER crossing felt fun to me. There ended up being some junky glue in this one (MALLEUS, TWINER, BESOT) and some less-than-ideal propers (MORANT, NIETO), but overall I was happy with how it turned out. Not every creation can be a masterpiece, right?

    Enjoy the solve!

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  • Key Part of An “Eye-Opening” Encounter (Themeless No. 7, Easy Version)

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    1 min read

    Hi all, this is the easy version of Themeless No. 7! Enjoy the solve and please leave feedback in the comments (or email me) about whether it was too easy, too hard, or just right!

    Created by Evan Mulvihill using PuzzleMe’s free crossword generator

    XOXO,

    Evan

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  • Feels Unique, Say (Themeless Collaboration Puzzle with Ryan McCarty)

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    1 min read

     Hey all! This puzzle is a collaboration between Ryan McCarty and me. Ryan posts his puzzles over at the very cleverly named McGrids. We had fun making this one. Hope you enjoy the solve!

    
        
    
            
    
            
    Made by Evan Mulvihill & Ryan McCarty using PuzzleMe"s online <a href="https://amuselabs.com/games/crossword/" target="_blank" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: underline;">crossword creator</a>
    
        
    
         

  • They mean nothing to me! Except when I’m playing Spades (Themeless № 6)

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    1 min read

    Hi all!

    Here’s a new themeless crossword from me! Hope you enjoy the solve.

     







    Constructed by Evan Mulvihill using PuzzleMe’s cross word creator

  • New Crossword Out on Defector Blog: Out of Office (Themeless/Paywalled)

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    1 min read

    One of the newer outlets on the crossword scene is Defector, a sports-focused blog with a big following. I was curious when I saw it pop up on the Matthew Stock’s Crossword Publication Specs Google Sheet, since I hadn’t heard of it before. So I decided to send along some things I’d been tinkering with and they ended up liking this one.

    Here’s the link to my Defector puzzle, titled “Out of Office.” 

    The site requires a subscription to view the crossword, but it’s only $8 a month and a lot of the other crosswords on there are pretty fun too. Just not quite as cross-tacular as me!

    Plus, they offer high-quality articles like “What Horrible Things Did We Do To Our Penises Last Year?” and “What The Fuck Is A Vaccine Skeptic?“

    Props to Defector for offering very fair pay in the way of grids too! These things take a lot of time and effort. Even though my cruciverbalism is a labor of love for me, it still is much appreciated.

    Check it out and enjoy the solve!

  • New crossword published in the LA Times today! (Saturday, November 2nd, 2024)

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    4 min read

    Got a new themeless published in the LAT today! It’s been about 2 years since I had a mainstream outlet publication so it feels nice. I like how the editing process came along, I feel like the LAT team respected my voice but smoothened the rough edges out and made sure it was fair and enjoyable to solvers.

    Give it a try!

    SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT!
    Some notes on the puzzle:
    • My favorite long entries are ROOKIE MISTAKES, CAKE TASTINGS, and TECH STARTUPS. Almost all the clues I submitted for those were printed with minor edits.
      • I gave 2 clue options for CAKE TASTINGS, and I did like my alternative of “Bites before the big day?” but I also had some misgivings about it since I feel like you have to earn the ? if that makes sense. Someone on Diary of a Crossword fiend commented that they had SAKE TASTINGS / SENAC for it, which gave me a little laugh. I guess it could fit in Japan? But they do have cake at weddings there, too, although as I go down a little hole researching Japanese wedding traditions I am learning that the cake is usually rather plain (white icing with strawberries), and sometimes fake, and there is a good amount of sake involved!
      • Re: the clue for ROOKIE MISTAKES (“Abundance during amateur hour?”), I was proud to have come up with that one myself and not to have borrowed/adapted it from an existing publication because I really liked the connection to amateur hour as a concept.
      • Lastly, I have to admit the finalized clue for TECH STARTUPS (“Some unicorns”) as well as my own submission (“They’re often backed by angels”) were not fully original. Sometimes when cluing my grids I find I am trying to weigh using my own novel clue which might be pretty good but not great, with a pretty great existing clue. NYT has done TECH STARTUP as “Many a unicorn” in 2023, and STARTUP as “Angels might come to its aid” in 2018. In those cases I just try to play with the existing clue to see if I can come up with a fun little twist to make it my own.
    • I liked BOSTON POPS, but knowledge-based long entries aren’t always my favorite, so I try to use them sparingly. However, you can’t always get around them, and sometimes they offer a nice bit of knowledge expansion. It’s inherently subjective if you enjoy the learning in general and even more subjective if you enjoy the particular learned bit. You do risk turning people off who know the knowledge right away since it makes it “too easy,” or turning them off when they don’t know it and don’t feel the clue offered enough to guide them to the answer.
    • EARNED INTEREST was a little boring but I thought the clue “Got a bit extra,in a way” made it a bit more fun if you interpreted extra as meaning “over-the-top” at first.
    • Some favorite mid-length fill: CAT HAIR, AIRBALL, GADZOOKS, EGO TRIP, SEA LEGS, TED TALK.
    • MR NOODLE gave me the biggest pause when reviewing the puzzle in full. I thought it was a decently interesting bit of trivia but wasn’t sure if others would agree!
    • I have been trying out non-traditional symmetry options lately. I do love rotational symmetry and the classic appearance of it but I’m trying to have more fun with diagonal symmetry. I think the grid looks pretty cool but I’m still trying to find designs that are workable fill-wise but also look pretty. More to come!

    Hope you enjoyed the solve or at least appreciated the try!

  • Shares on the internet, say (Themeless № 5) … and some thoughts on rejections and odd-sized puzzles

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    6 min read

    Shopped this puzzle around a bit but didn’t get any takers. As I self-publish more and more I am finding more fun in getting to play with the clues and entries more. With major publications (and even smaller ones too), the editors have a lot of different competing interests: obligations to their readers, conventions that are built into the venue’s history, and their own personal preferences.

    It got me thinking a little bit about rejection in general and odd-sized puzzles. But before I hit you with a Carrie Bradshaw-sized eugoogly for all my rejected creations, let me give you the actual puzzle!

    https://puzzleme.amuselabs.com/pmm/crossword?id=fc5ab5f1&set=2d3ff28a07d3dee61cee5bd158e37ad4d55e075ad4e76f1ebe2ee35e73c2c72a 

    Some quotes from three of the rejections for this puzzle:

    “While we appreciate the attempt for a really open section, we’re not sure that the pay off will ultimately be worth it to our solvers given how much clunky wordlisty fill is in here. So while we appreciated stuff like [1-Across, 32-Across, 35-Across, 29-Down, and 9-Down], we didn’t love stuff like [25-Down, 54-Across, 34-Down, or 37-Across], and most of the other 7+ length fill were at-best neutral for us.”

    “We do occasionally run 16×15 puzzles, but for a themeless 16×15, [redacted editor] does hope that there will be at least one 16-letter entry to make the grid feel justifiably large. While this has some fun entries, there aren’t quite enough long or exciting entries to justify the larger size.”

    “Unfortunately, this puzzle didn’t emerge as one of our top favorites among competing themeless submissions, though we admired the construction. Due to the high volume of submissions we receive, the [redacted] must decline many worthy submissions. We recognize the considerable work and creativity that goes into each puzzle we review, and we want you to know that we’ve given this puzzle careful consideration.”

    Honestly, as a gay man who has used dating/hookup apps, I am no stranger to rejection. I am of the mind on those apps that you don’t really owe strangers any reply, especially when you aren’t interested. If you choose to be extra chivalrous, and politely decline a good sir, that’s your own prerogative.

    The crossword world is obviously a bit different. It is understandable that some of their rejection letters need to be boilerplate, given how many they send out. But it is nice to get a rejection that acknowledges the amount of time it takes to build a grid and clue a puzzle. The Times in particular will not accept theme queries or unclued themeless grids, so I appreciate when they at least give a nod toward the time you spent on a puzzle (even if they hated it!).

    If editors have the time to pass on their feedback, especially when you’re just first submitting to them, it really does help. I start to build some of their suggestions into my constructing process, and things that I was intuiting but not sure about, I start to become more sure about. Consider the entry, “I NAILED IT!” for example. To me, it seems fun and rather usable, at first glance. It’s something you might say aloud, for sure. However, given that “NAILED IT!” is considerably more “in the language” than “I NAILED IT!,” it starts to become less desirable, and even can count a negative mark on a puzzle.

    With themeless submissions to the Times, I’ve debated the utility of spending a ton of time making the clues great. Editors are always going to change a lot of the clues, usually more than 50% of them. I’ve never really had them comment back that the clues are bad, but I have had them comment back saying they appreciated the effort put into cluing and coming up with unique clues. So for now, I err on the side of trying to come up with original clues. Plus, any true themeless connoisseur knows that there is something just so special about coming up with the perfect “hard” clue for a long entry. Something specific enough not to make the solver mad about the vagueness, but clever enough to take some time to crack. Simple, maybe a little bit crossword-nerdy, but fun. 

    As a side note, I feel like some of these “perfect hards” are being less emphasized in some of the newer crossword venues, which have mentioned trying to make clues that are more akin to playing a game of Taboo/charades with friends rather than trying to please a crossword editor (or connoisseur, by extension, I guess).

    Some examples of perfect hard clues for me that I remember are: “Remains to be seen, say” for MUSEUM EXHIBIT (published in a Sam Ezersky NYT Saturday), “Drags through the mud” for DIRT ROADS (Ryan McCarty and me in a puzzle draft), and “Shares on the internet, say” for ?????????? (in this damned puzzle right here in the post, haha!).

    Thoughts on the benefits and risks of odd-sized/oversized daily puzzles:

    BENEFIT: Flexibility and a fresh touch!

    They give you some flexibility and can breathe life into a puzzle/entry you thought was DOA. They can help to accommodate entries which don’t fit so well in the typical 15×15 grid. I especially like how a 16×15 or 15×16 can fit a stack of 14-letter-long entries, usually staggered in a group of three. I haven’t experimented much with 14×16 or 16×14, but I’d expect similar happenings.

     

    RISK: Less places to publish.

     
    Certain venues don’t accept them, and those that do, may have caveats/require you to have a good reason to not be using the standard 15×15. Matthew Stock’s “Crossword Publication Specs” document has a column on which places do and which don’t. Those who DO: NYT, LAT, and some of the indie venues. NYT allows for 14×16, 16×14, 16×15, and 15×16; but not any larger for a non-Sunday puzzle. Those who do NOT: Universal, Apple News+, and WSJ.

  • Place to Prepare for Some Hard Labor? (Themeless № 4)

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    2 min read

    I’m trying to post more frequently! Here is another fun themeless to try. I love when the middle is as open as possible, I also love when you can have two stacks intersecting in the middle.

    I’m also excited to announce I have received my first acceptance from the New York Times! It is for a themeless (not surprising since I don’t even make themed puzzles anymore) and will run on a Friday. I have probably submitted almost 20 puzzles to them with no luck yet so this feels like a big win. I wasn’t sure if my crossword making skills would ever be good enough to make it into the NYT but now I have a bit more confidence 🙂 
    
        
    
            
    
            
    Built by Evan Mulvihill with the <a href="https://amuselabs.com/games/crossword/" target="_blank" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: underline;">crossword builder</a> from Amuse Labs
    Some constructing notes that I don’t think have spoilers but read at your own discretion!
    I used 18-Down as the seed entry… After getting some rejections on the puzzle from mainstream papers, I went and “18-Down” the NE corner for some of the newer online outlets, especially because I felt 10-Down might be too obscure and considered “uninteresting” to some. However in reviewing the 2 different versions I felt like 10-Down was, to me, an interesting obscurity and since I was self-publishing I had the luxury of keeping it! I changed the clue from the stumper Saturday type “Austronesian language” to the current clue to make it a wee bit more accessible.

    Enjoy the solve as always!

  • Five Stacker (Themeless № 3)

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    1 min read

    This puzzle features a fun horizontal five stack in the middle and some sassy entries, as always. Enjoy the solve!
    Created by Evan Mulvihill using crossword creator by Amuse Labs

  • Mainstream Published Puzzle № 2: Labor Day (September 7, 2021)

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    2 min read

    My second puzzle to see the light of day was published in the Wall Street Journal on September 7, 2021. It was tied to the Labor Day holiday because the theme had to do with labor union-related puns.

    Since this was published, I actually haven’t had anymore themed puzzles published. I switched almost entirely toward constructing themelesses because themes simply weren’t coming to me. This puzzle evolved from me wanting to make something about the fun phrase “SQUAD GOALS,” but not finding the right angle on that one.

    [Download PDF to print and do]

    This is what my brainstorming note looked like:

    Crossword Puns about Groups

    “Union for beekeepers”

    HONEY BUNCH – 10

    “Union for bouncers”

    BRUTE FORCE – 10

    “Union for massage therapists“

    RUBBERBAND – 10 

    “Union for photo editors”

    CROPCIRCLE – 10

    Maybes

    “Union for yoga instructors”

    ELASTIC BAND – 11

    -used in crooked crosswords 2014 puzz

    “Union for astronauts“

    LAUNCH PARTY – 11

    -not used before AFAIK

    “Union of massage therapists“

    RUBBERBAND – 10 

    -used in NYT 2002 puzz

    “Union for astronauts“

    LAUNCHPARTY – 11

    -not used before AFAIK

    “Union of semaphore signalers“

    FLAGSTAFF – 9

    “Union of hematologists”

    BLOOD PANEL – 10

    HOUSE PARTY – 10

    BEACH PARTY – 10

    BLOCK PARTY – 10

    GARDENPARTY – 11

    DINNERPARTY – 11

    PAJAMAPARTY – 11

    CROPCIRCLE – 10

    ARCTICCIRCLE – 12

    DRIVINGFORCE – 12

    Other possible themers

    CONTRABAND

    “Union of farmers”

    CROPCIRCLE – 10

    “Union of archaeologists“

    SKELETONCREW – 12

    “They’re looking for sad dudes”

    BLUEMANGROUP – 12

    “They’re seeking low-integrity folks“

    SELLOUTCROWD – 12

    “Shared objectives for x-Across, x-Across, and x-Across”

    SQUADGOALS – 10

    CHAINGANG

    ROADGANG

    PRESSGANG

    SKELETONSTAFF – 13

    TREBLESTAFF – 11

    BASSSTAFF – 9

    FLAGSTAFF – 9

    HALFSTAFF – 9

    CREW – nothing

    HOUSEPARTY

    POOLPARTY

    GUILTYPARTY – 11 

    AFTERPARTY

    THIRDPARTY

    GREENPARTY

    STAGPARTY

    BACHELORPARTY

    BEACHPARTY – 10

    BLOCKPARTY – 10

    COCKTAILPARTY

    CUDDLEPARTY

    CROSSPARTY

    LAUNCHPARTY – 11

    GARDENPARTY – 11

    DINNERPARTY – 11

    PAJAMAPARTY – 11

    CROPCIRCLE

    ARCTICCIRCLE

    HOMETEAM

    DREAMTEAM

    TAGTEAM

    DOUBLETEAM

    HONEYBUNCH

    SPACEFORCE

    DRIVINGFORCE

    BRUTEFORCE

    FULLFORCE

    LABORFORCE

    FLASHMOB

    GLITCHMOB

    ELASTICBAND

    GOALSQUAD

    SQUAD

    UNIT

    BURNUNIT – 8

    CLUB

    BATTLECLUB

    PANEL

    LABPANEL – 8

    BLOODPANEL – 10

    LIPIDPANEL – 10

    TESTPANEL – 9

    OUTFIT – none

    TROUPE – none

    CORPS – none

    COHORT – none

  • Your Six Pack Sure Looks Swell, Sir! (Themeless № 2)

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    1 min read

    I had a lot of fun making this 15 by 15 themeless. I tried to keep it feeling like a Thursday to Friday level, but still with some challenging areas. This one didn’t quite find a home in any of the major publications because for the Times, it had a few gridkillers that weren’t quite elegant enough, and for other publications it was perhaps a little too edgy/horny. 😈 I hope you enjoy the solve!

  • Five Spot (Themeless № 1)

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    1 min read

    I only recently started getting into themelesses more seriously, and this is the lowest word count I’ve tried to fill so far. In my descent into 62-word territory, I hit some skids with 1 or 2 gridkillers I felt wouldn’t pass muster in the today’s extremely competitive environment.
    It’s still a pretty boss puzzle, though. Have at it. I call it “five spot” since there’s four corners and a delightful little middle. The grid is borrowed from Sid Sivakumar’s 9/11/21 Saturday NYT puzzle.