Puzzle Notes

Dear Friends:

Richard Shlakman and Will Nediger's "Show Your True Stripes" is 2/5 difficulty, and 21x21 in size. Sara Nies edited this week's puzzle.

Richard writes: As I slowly approach the 7th of Shakespeare's ages of man, I find it very difficult to write a brief bio. Here is the Reader's Digest version: following a less than distinguished kindergarten through bachelor's degree, I became what my mother called 'her fall orchid' and graduated from Columbia Law School with high honors. I went on to practice law and my principal client became EDS, the company founded by Ross Perot. In 1982 EDS' annual offer to join the company and my midlife crisis occurred on the same day and I left private practice to join the company. Skipping forward, I retired and over time realized I needed to lay down some new neural paths in the brain. I accepted an invitation from Jeff Chen to newbies to submit theme ideas and if one tickled his fancy, co-create a puzzle. So, the first puzzle I ever participated in creating was published in the Sunday New York Times. There followed a lengthy series of rejections because I had not read the unwritten book of puzzle construction rules, and helpful Facebook groups did not exist at the time. Ultimately, I learned those rules and subsequently have had 19 puzzles, about two-thirds my own and one-third co-authored, published in the major newspapers and subscription clubs.

Will writes: Will is a semi-professional crossword constructor from London, Ontario. He writes weekly puzzles for Vox and occasional cryptics for The Browser, and he edits a weekly spy-themed puzzle for Spyscape. His indie puzzles can be found at blog.bewilderinglypuzzles.com, where he also posts monthly roundups of his favorite indie puzzles from other constructors.

Be well,

Ben and the AVCX crew

avxwords.com // @avcxword