Kimmel initially expressed some uncertainty that their puzzle would be accepted. “Even if we’re not trying to think of a theme, I’ll read something writes out loud … and it snowballs until it’s something actually good,” Kimmel said.Īfter they submitted their third puzzle, the pair waited to hear back from the Times. Kimmel agreed, saying that he and Williamson bounce ideas off of one another almost constantly. “I think it’s the theme first, is what we generally do,” Williamson said.

Kimmel explained that he and Williamson almost always use this type of wordplay as well as puns in their clues. O ne example of the clues was “House of Cards,” to which the corresponding answer was “Hallmark Store.” They submitted two puzzles unsuccessfully to the Times before having their third submission published, with a theme of television. Although their friendship initially had little to do with crosswords, they worked on crosswords together, and eventually decided to try actually creating one. Prior to meeting at Tufts, Kimmel and Williamson both grew up with interests in completing and creating crossword puzzles. These two Tufts sophomores, who met during the Pre-Orientation program FOCUS, achieved a shared goal by jointly creating, submitting and ultimately publishing a crossword puzzle, entitled “ The Big Feller,” in the Nov. At the same time, watching her father complete the Boston Globe and the Times crosswords, Clara Williamson became interested in crosswords and was inspired to work on them herself.

Soon, he said, he got pretty good at them, so he started working on the New York Times puzzles, and later submitted his own. Duncan Kimmel’s fascination with crosswords began during his long commute to high school, when he would pick up a local paper and do a crossword puzzle to pass the time.

Nytimes puzzle