22 | OCTOBER 17 • 2024 J
N

A

bout four years ago, Sala 
Wanetick had a boyfriend 
who had a subscription to 
the New York Times. She enjoyed solving 
the daily crossword puzzles and, before 
long, she was hooked. Soon she started 
creating puzzles herself.
On Sept. 2, a puzzle she created with 
her friend and writing partner Emily 
Biegas was published in the New York 
Times, considered by many to be the 
gold standard of crosswords. It was not 
their first published puzzle, but it was 
their first in the New York Times.
Wanetick, 35, grew up in Southfield 
and graduated from Birmingham 
Groves High School and Michigan 
State University, where she earned 
a degree in international relations. 
Her parents, Jan and the late Marvin 
Wanetick, were longtime members of 
Congregation Beth Shalom.
Wanetick told Biegas what fun it 
was to solve crossword puzzles, and 
the two started solving them together. 
They soon decided to try their hand at 
writing puzzles. 
Biegas, 32, who lives in Hamtramck, 
works in corporate real estate for 
Concentra Urgent Care and also plays 
guitar in a band.
Their first puzzle was “really bad,
” 
Wanetick said. But they connected 
with the online crossword community 
— which is huge — and got themselves 
a mentor. A one-hour Zoom call with 
her gave them invaluable insights, and 
they developed a rhythm for puzzle 
creation.
“One of us comes up with a theme, 
and the other reacts,
” Wanetick said. 
If they both like the theme, they start 
organizing the puzzle on a spreadsheet, 
which they usually project from a 
computer onto a wall. They create 
the theme words, then place black 
squares in the grid to create a design. A 
software program will tell them if the 
design is workable and helps them find 
words to complete the puzzle — but 
they are the ones who write the clues.
Monday-through-Saturday New York 
Times crosswords use a 15 x 15 square 
grid. The Monday puzzle is generally 
thought to be the easiest to solve, and 
the puzzles get progressively more 
difficult as the week progresses. The 

Sunday puzzle is a 22 x 22 square grid.
Wanetik said she and Biegas don’t 
have a particular cadence, but they’re 
always talking to each other. “
An idea 
can come at any moment, and I’ll drop 
what I’m doing to record it,
” she said. 
“I feel like I’m constantly working on 
creating puzzles. If my computer is in 
my lap, there’s always a puzzle open.
”
They sold their first crossword in 
2023 to the Los Angeles Times; it was 
published last October. Another was 
in the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 9. In 
all they’ve had 10 puzzles published, 
including some in USA Today and 
through Universal Syndicate. They 
had a puzzle published by Apple News 
on July 21 and have another coming 
out there in November. They’ve given 
up on The New Yorker, which they say 
uses a set roster of crossword creators, 
and the Atlantic, which initiates the 
outreach to creators and doesn’t 
respond to queries.
Their first submission to the New 
York Times was rejected. Wanetick 

thinks it’s because it was titled 
“Flip the Bird.
” The puzzle 
featured bird names printed 
backwards but the title was 
just too risqué for the Times. 
Other taboo words, they 
learned, include acne, butt 
and zit.
It can take many weeks to 
hear back from a publisher and, once 
a puzzle is accepted, it can take several 
months before it is published. One 
puzzle they submitted to the New York 
Times a few months ago has not been 
rejected yet, so they’re hoping it’s still 
in review.
The theme of their Sept. 2 puzzle 
was Hop, Skip and Jump, which appeared 
as the answer to clue 65-Across: Short 
distance to travel, with a hint to 17-, 
27-, and 49-Across. The themed 
answers referenced in 65-Across 
included PETER COTTONTAIL (who 
can hop), BROKEN RECORD (which 
can skip) and a FIGURE SKATER 
(who can jump).

Wanetick 
told Sam Corbin, who writes a column 
about the daily crossword for the New 
York Times, that making her crossword 
debut there was easily the highlight of 
the year for her. “Sharing the byline 
with Emily is a dream come true! 
She says it was me who mentioned 
constructing first, but it was she who 
suggested that we collaborate.
“I will never forget getting the 
call from Emily about this puzzle’s 
acceptance. I was running laps around 
the parking lot at work, screaming with 
Emily over the phone. Suffice it to say, 
if you are considering a passion project 
with a dear friend, do it!” 

Crossword Edited by Joel Fagliano

ACROSS

 1 Spinning item 
for a circus 
performer

 6 Pollution 
portmanteau

10 Does in, in mob 
slang

14 Actress Hinds of 
“9-1-1”

15 Choco ___ 
(frozen treat with 
a rhyming name)

16 Penne ___ vodka

17 Song character 
who comes 
“down the bunny 
trail”

20 Revered star

21 Umpire’s count 
after a ball and a 
strike

22 Museum in 
N.Y.C.’s Central 
Park, with “the”

23 “Makes sense”

25 Narrows at the 
end

27 Someone who 
says the same 
thing again 
and again, 
metaphorically

32 Engineered 
embankment

33 Kwik-E-Mart 
operator on “The 
Simpsons”

34 National law 
enforcement 
officers, with 
“the”

38 Dedicated 
poem

39 Stance

43 Slime

44 Gummy candy 
shape

46 U.S. 101 or 66: 
Abbr.

47 “Bleeding Love” 
singer Lewis

49 One having an 
ice time at the 
Olympics?

53 Pop singer 
Grande

56 The “m” of e = 
mc2

57 Sandoval of 
“Vanderpump 
Rules”

58 Rocky

61 Senate 
affirmatives

65 Short distance to 
travel, with a hint 
to 17-, 27- and 
49-Across

68 City where the 
Nobel Peace 
Prize is awarded

69 Put in the mail

70 Kitchen gadget 
for apples

71 River to Hades

72 They may be 
graphic

73 Black wood

DOWN
 1 Spanish “daddy”
 2 Told a fib
 3 Regarding
 4 Others similar
 5 Outsize feature 
of a bat’s head
 6 Pot smoker
 7 Chess game’s 
ending
 8 Eight: Prefix
 9 Hit the road, as a 
band

10 Nondairy milk 
option

11 Symbol in 
Tinder’s logo

12 Frequent-___ 
miles

13 Seasons to taste, 
say

18 Director Joel or 
Ethan

19 Approach

24 Ooze

26 Common email 
attachment

27 What one might 
do after making 
a birthday wish

28 Second chance

29 Finished

30 Picky ___

31 PC “brain”

35 Showbiz awards 
quartet

36 Finished

37 Fly high

40 Musician in a 
cathedral

41 Letters between 
R and V

42 Lodge group 
since 1868

45 Advanced deg. 
for creative 
types

48 Gravy train gig

50 Alaska native

51 Corrects, as a 
text

52 What a beach 
shower helps 
wash off

53 One of the Three 
Musketeers

54 Pigeon’s perch

55 Suggest 
indirectly

59 Fencing sword

60 Barn topper

62 Croatian 
currency 
beginning in 
2023

63 “___ to that!” 
(“Totally agree!”)

64 Agile for one’s 
age

66 Word after White 
or Red

67 Card above king

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

PUZZLE BY SALA WANETICK AND EMILY BIEGAS

9/2/24

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, 
nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

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Creating 
Crosswords

Local creator makes her debut in the 
New York Times.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Emily Biegas and 
Sala Wanetick 
celebrate breaking 
into the New York 
Times.

