A profile of Elizabeth Gorski
Today I’ll be talking about Elizabeth Gorski, who pioneered connect-the-dots crossword puzzles, as the latest entry in my monthly series about influential crossword constructors. Elizabeth told me that she wanted to develop a kind of crossword puzzle that used an interactive element to combine two puzzles into one. Her first such puzzle, “Branching Out,” was inspired by a Christmas tree she saw in downtown Manhattan and sketched in a notebook. When solvers connected the dots from A to Z, they created a Christmas tree in the center of the grid. The puzzle had a two-part revealer (CONNECT THE DOTS/ALPHABETICALLY) to explain the concept.
Once Elizabeth developed this concept for a crossword puzzle, it quickly became one of her trademarks. In later connect-the-dots puzzles, instead of putting the instructions in the grid, she added an instruction note above the puzzle. This gave her room for more thematic material in the grid. For instance, in this “Ain’t He Sweet?” Sunday crossword, the gingerbread man created by the connect-the-dots element is accompanied by entries like COOKIE CUTTER, ICING, GINGERBREAD/MAN, and ALL SMILES placed over the gingerbread man’s face. Elizabeth’s connect-the-dots puzzles aren’t her only ones with visual and artistic elements. She told me that out of all her puzzles, her favorite was “Ahead of the Curve,” which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City’s opening. The grid design is visually striking, with black squares that create a spiral mimicking the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright’s distinctive design. Elizabeth wrote: “On the Sunday it was published, I visited the Guggenheim with friends and was amazed by the number of museum-goers who were walking around, holding the Magazine Section of the NYT, opened to the crossword. It was a meta-solving moment, seeing people slowly descend the museum’s spiral, holding the puzzle as if it were a map of the Museum. I loved that!” I’m always intrigued and drawn in by crossword puzzles with visual and artistic elements. Elizabeth has truly pushed the boundaries of what can be done to connect art and crossword puzzles.
Solve Friday’s Crossword on Easy Mode!
In today’s Wordplay column, Deb Amlen writes about this puzzle’s constructors. For expert hints on today’s puzzle, read her column. Were you able to solve the Friday puzzle with Easy Mode? We want your input! Share your experience with us on the X platform, on Threads or by email. A Quick Cool-DownHow fast can you solve today’s Mini?
Get a ClueMy favorite clue from last week is 15-Down from Saturday, Sept. 27. “Digital” here is about the digits on your hand! 15-Down: Digital file?
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it regularly here. P.S. The answer to Get a Clue is EMERY BOARD.
|
