NYT interview- "60 Seconds with Elise Corbin"

Crosswordr (the new dating app for constructors) (just kidding)

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Hello! I'm Elise. I'm from Upstate New York, USA, but I live in Toronto. I construct puzzles based on science and technology that I find interesting, and sometimes other stuff as well. I like to think that my February 2023 New York Times debut led to a spike in physics-related google searches, but I have no evidence to back this up. I mostly publish in indie outlets, so if you enjoy my puzzles, please support them! They can and will go away if you don't. :,(

 

I'll try to drop a new puzzle every few weeks or so, but that may change depending on how busy I am with real life. Some puzzles will be available digitally; others will be PDF only. All puzzles have answer keys if you get stuck. Any questions, comments, or ideas, please contact me using the form below.

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Published puzzles:

Playing the Numbers- Fireball Crosswords- March 17, 2021

Systematic Solving- FiveThirtyEight- April 30, 2021

A Little Something- Inkubator- September 2, 2021

The Golden State- Crucinova- November 4, 2021

Projections- Crucinova- September 22, 2022

Untitled- NYT- February 2, 2023 (wordplay column / xwordinfo writeup)

Take a Chance On Me- Lemonade Disco- May 17, 2023

Product Code- Spyscape- September 23, 2023

Something Elsa- Boswords Winter Wondersolve- February 4, 2024

Forward March- These Puzzles Fund Abortion 4- March 8, 2024

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Other puzzle adventures:

Assorted puzzles at Burning Man's Wordplay Cafe (late summer 2021) (not the one that got stranded in the mud)

Charity pack, Words on Fire, that raised over $300 for the March to End Fossil Fuels (summer 2023)

Pack of 10 15x15s on the Crossword Puzzle Redstone app (summer 2023)

Featured puzzles (including a callback to a fan favorite!) in Robin Ward's soon-to-be-released game, The Secrets of Skellig (TBD)

9x9s for The Varsity, my university newspaper

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Other science-themed puzzles I recommend:

A.I.- Rose Sloan and Alex Boisvert

Love the concept; very timely. My computer science side was excited and my constructor side was slightly terrified...

Untitled- NYT- Bryce Hwang, Rahul Sridhar, and Akshay Ravikumar

Read the writeup on Akshay's blog, the process just about blew my mind. I made some very bad constructing software for an AP Computer Science class a while ago, but forget constructing software, this is next-level.

Untitled- NYT- Malaika Handa

Author of I Fold and 7xwords, both of which I am in awe of

Untitled- NYT- Sheldon Polonsky

Very on brand for this blog!!

Never Let Them Know Your Next Move- Lil AVCX- Pravan Chakravarthy

I'm fascinated by 3-Down-ness, and it was so cool to see it in puzzle form!

Two for the Price of One- Will Nediger

niiiiiice...

Untitled- NYT- Mark MacLachlan

Love puzzles like this :)

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I try to update this list regularly. Let me know if there's one I should include!