June 6, 2019 - "Miss Out" - by Lynn Lempel

Difficulty ● ● ◐ ○ ○

Puzzle Notes

Dear friends,

The Inkubator is honored this week to be offering subscribers a lovely Lynn Lempel original titled "Miss Out." We believe it will land on the gentlest edge of moderately challenging.

Who is the brilliant and enigmatic Lynn Lempel? In the crossword community, she has been called "the Queen of Mondays" (one of two women in the Inkubator queue who've been so dubbed). Indeed, Lynn's puzzles are famously smooth, featuring playful themes within elegant constructions that mesh well with an early-week solving sensibility. Lynn's 86th New York Times crossword puzzle appeared this week, her 61st Monday in the Shortz era. Lynn also had two delightfully punny Sunday puzzles published in the Maleska era.

Lynn began constructing crossword puzzles in the 1970s while working for a small newspaper, and continued pursuing her passion while working as a college instructor of reading and composition. She eventually made the leap to "stay-at-home puzzlemaker" and now resides in Daytona Beach, where she is actively involved in political campaigns, the League of Women Voters, and Friends of the Library. Lynn has been a featured constructor at the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament for the last four years running.

When you're done solving, check out Diary of a Crossword Fiend for a write-up and discussion, every Friday after an Inkubator puzzle is published. For general updates, follow us on twitter at @InkubatorXWords, and visit our website. Thanks to all of our subscribers for your continuing support, feedback, and kindness!

Coming up on June 13 (next week!): a kickass bonus puzzle from the one and only Katja Brinck.

Cheers!
Laura and Tracy