45D. Each city, state and country has its own demonym, and there’s no clear taxonomy. A [Person from Akron or Dayton] is from Ohio and is, thus, an OHIOAN. Elsewhere, one may find New Yorkers, Michiganders and Wyomingites.
I learned so much along the way to the acceptance of this debut puzzle. I owe a debt of gratitude to my mentor, David Kwong, who chatted through a bunch of my early concepts and called this one out, rightfully, as something that might have legs.
I work in animation production, and since 2020 I’ve been almost entirely remote, which is probably at least partially responsible for inspiring this SCREEN SHARE-themed puzzle. As I started making a pool of words and phrases that start or end with “screen,” I was thrilled to find that MOVIE and PASS worked together. As a film lover and proud MoviePass subscriber at the time, I watched and took part in the company’s entire troubled saga with glee (and horror), so that’s a debut entry I’m really proud of.
When it was determined this would be a Monday puzzle, some of my “spicier” clues had to be made a bit more straightforward, like [Scratched at the table?] for DJED, [Place for plots and axes] for GRAPH, [It’s made to mess up] for NAPKIN and [Brothers Grimm conclusion?] for EMS. It was fun working with the editorial team to get these clues to land in the sweet spot, and maybe one day I’ll have a Wednesday or Thursday puzzle to be able to indulge in some more-playful clues.
Lastly, I’d like to shout out my appreciation for my wife, Lizzie, and young son, Calvin, who have been a sounding board for innumerable wacky puzzle pitches on neighborhood walks. I’d also like to thank the people in my life, including my grandma Dorothy and my mom, Starla, who inspired my original love of crosswords. And thanks to Erin, Toni, Rick, Dan and others for being testers on a bunch of my early puzzles — I can’t wait to keep making more!
Work your way through our guide “How to Solve the New York Times Crossword.” It contains an explanation of most of the types of clues you will see in the puzzles and a practice Mini at the end of each section.
About The Author
