Erik is a student at the University of Maryland. He finished 14th in this year's ACPT. Erik has been published by the LA Times & NY Times. He also publishes a new puzzle in his blog (Glutton for Pun) every Wednesday.
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| Left to Right: John Beck, John Wilson, Erik Agard, 2012 ACPT |
How did the POWER COUPLE idea come to you and what were the other theme entries you considered but discarded? It's always challenging to come up with natural "in the language" entries for this type of both words precede/follow theme type.
I have absolutely no idea. I rarely know where these things come
from. I know I really wanted to put BLACK in one of the theme entries
but I couldn't find a match for it.
I just love this grid. 6 theme entries (60 squares!) &
PHOTOSHOP & PAPARAZZI. What's your philosophy in grid designing
& filling? What kind of entries do you love and what kind do try to
avoid in your grids?
Thank you! Me too! My approach is: design the hardest possible grid
to fill. Fill it. If you can't fill it, cry a little, maybe have a bath,
and then try the next hardest grid, and so on. Being a narcissist, I
think the puzzle is a canvas for self-expression, so I love entries that
relate to my life (for example, I like 22-down music, and the 20-across
is one of my favorite snacks). I try to avoid stuff I never would have
heard of if I didn't do crosswords, though it doesn't always work out
(53-down, 56-down).
What's your background and how did you get into crossword construction?
For high school I got sent to a math, science, and computer science
program, which was suboptimal, being that I suck at all of those. But I
got something out of it. Mr. Stein - calculus teacher, ACPT-goer,
Puzzlepalooza co-founder - shared his love of crosswords with the class,
and it stuck. My constructing career, then, evolved as a series of
attempts to stump him (or at least take him at least ten minutes to
solve).
Can you tell us a bit behind-the-scenes story about the making of
that video crossword puzzle you helped produced? It's so fun to watch.
In a nutshell: I constructed a 42 word grid, found 42 brilliant
volunteers, and nagged them for a few months until they each sent me a
video clue. Crossword people are seriously the best.
You've been publishing a fresh puzzle every week in your blog
since last September. Where do you usually find theme inspirations?
Again, your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes there's a phrase I
want to use (like BRACKET BUSTER or MILA KUNIS), so I build a theme
around it.
You're a fast solver. How long does it take you to solve a typical
LAT Wednesday puzzle? Do you always grok the theme while solving or
speed is your only concern?
Usually two to two and a half minutes. The fastest puzzles are the
ones where I don't pay any attention to the theme, but I do try to take a
look when I've finished.
How many puzzles do you solve every day and who are your favorite constructors?
At least seven. Double digits on a good day. I have far too many of
those to not leave some out, but here's a few (they all have something
important in common): Matt Gaffney. Brendan Emmett Quigley. Ben Tausig.
Neville Fogarty. Andy Kravis. Peter Broda. Matt Jones. Pete Muller.
Patrick Blindauer.
Besides crossword, what are your other hobbies?
People keep asking me this and it's making me think I need to find another hobby. Yikes.
