This is a domain usually dominated by male constructors. “Two of these puzzles have been ‘themeless’ Friday ones, featuring wide-open white spaces and few black squares. “I’m a big fan of Mary Lou Guizzo, who has had five crosswords published in the New York Times so far, with more on the way,” said Shortz. He chooses seven from an average of 75 to 100 submissions a week. New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz said that the payment for an accepted NYT puzzle is $300 for a Monday to Saturday puzzle, and $1,000 for a Sunday puzzle. Guizzo says it takes many hours, weeks, even months to construct a good puzzle, depending upon the complexity of the wordplay grid. “It’s been so great watching how she’s transformed herself from a total beginner into an experienced crossword constructor in such a short period of time.” She’s a hard worker who isn’t afraid to brainstorm, create, and revise as much as is necessary to produce a strong crossword,” said Chen. Her first solo puzzle accepted was published by the Los Angeles Times on Nov. Her first crossword puzzle accepted, “Inflation,” was co-created with Chen and published on June 7, 2013, in the Wall Street Journal. Others include the Orange County Register, BuzzFeed, Chronicle of Higher Education, and independents such as the CrossWord Club. The Wall Street Journal has OK’d four of her puzzles. The Los Angeles Times, which is syndicated in the Dayton Daily News, has accepted eight of them. She got the go-ahead nod for 13 of them from NYT there are still eight in the queue. So far, Guizzo has had 35 crossword puzzles accepted by seven different publishing outlets, and some by major papers such as the New York Times. “Constructing crosswords gives you a real appreciation for the work involved in making a quality puzzle.” “I found out about mentors by reading blogs,” said Guizzo. She worked with Nancy Salomon from Rochester, New York, and then teamed up with Jeff Chen, who lives in Seattle. An example would be “Advance in either direction” = PUT UP, because “to put up” can be another way of saying “to advance,” and is also a palindrome (a word that is spelled the same forwards and backwards.She started putting puzzles together with the help of mentors.
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