I spent a good amount of
time thinking about what puzzle I wanted to put out on the first Sunday of this
site’s existence, since Sunday will be the day I put up full-sized grids moving
forward. After looking through the various options, none stood out to me in
this moment more than this one, made with my forever collaborator Ross Trudeau. I will put constructor notes by me and Ross
below the puzzle in order to help avoid spoilers, but as some of you may know,
I worked as a therapist (mental health) for quite some time, so the world this puzzle lives in is close to my heart. I have some things to say regarding the topic of
this puzzle as it pertains to the current circumstances we are collectively
living through, but I will post those below so you can have the option to read them
or not. Happy solving! PS: Ross’s brilliance really shines through in so many
of these themer clues.
Amanda
.puz link
Ross's notes: Two winters ago, Amanda and
I started corresponding about crosswords after she messaged me about grids on
Instagram. It felt like kismet from the start, and after a few weeks of
corresponding I flew to L.A. and found myself building grids in the lobby of
the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel at midnight with my new best crossword friend.
One of the best reasons to
work with Amanda is that she sets a wonderful example for following your heart,
creatively. The topic is near and dear to her, given her therapy background,
and she wouldn't take no for an answer when I suggested there there was no way
to generate a viable theme given the constraints. But she wouldn't put the
project aside, so eventually the mirror symmetrical grid you see here was born.
And it has Amanda's fingerprints all over it: WEIRDO, KEN DOLL, LOVE HATE, and
*especially* the clues for KOALA [Asocial marsupials that sleep up to 20 hours
a day] and KEN DOLL [Toy made with no plastic junk?]
Amanda's notes: You don’t need me, or anyone for that
matter, to tell you that we are currently living in unprecedented times that
are inundating our brains with data and experiences that many of us have yet to
encounter before in our lives. As such, many people are either consciously or subconsciously
experiencing some or all of the stages of grief, as various elements of our
lives are different or absent and we have no sense for when they might return
to the manner in which we are accustomed. We are all trying to find different
ways to cope with the various changes that have occurred in our lives – for some,
that may look like hyper-productivity; for others, it may look like an
inability to access parts of ourselves that once felt integral to our identity.
Maybe you’re experiencing both of those things.
If you’re find it challenging
to do things that once felt effortless, please remember that the process of
adaptation and the experience of stress depletes us of cognitive, emotional,
and interpersonal resources. Expecting our baselines to be maintained when the
environmental circumstances have changed so drastically isn’t fair or realistic to do to ourselves.
I hope that whatever your circumstances are, you’re finding ways to cope that
make sense for you and that provide you with some sense of well-being or
relief. And maybe, if I’m lucky, this puzzle can a tiny kernel of that process.
Be well, and please feel free to reach out if you need an ear.
