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Episode 8: Kareem Ayas
356 Plays13 days ago
Daniel and constructor Kareem Ayas discuss the first theme Kareem ever attempted, constructing as a non-native speaker, the overlaps between puzzles and plays, working on 25 puzzles at a time, the best kinds of revealers, the intense labor behind creating an Orca-winning tournament puzzle, promoting Arab culture and identity, Puzzles for Palestine, making midis for the Times, clues as Trojan horses, handling rejection, and much, much more.
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Transcript
Introduction to Crosstalk Podcast
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello, puzzle people. My name is Daniel Grinberg, and you're listening to episode number eight of Crosstalk, the crossword construction podcast. In this show, I'll be talking to other crossword constructors to learn more about how they work and what inspires them.
00:00:29
Speaker
Whether you're a current constructor, an aspiring one, or a fellow word nerd who wants to find out how puzzle gets made, this show will be a forum to share insights and learn from each other.
Introducing Guest Kareem Ayas
00:00:40
Speaker
For the eighth episode of Crosstalk, I'm joined by none other than Kareem Ayas. Kareem is a high school literature teacher based in New York City. He's published nine crosswords in the New York Times, as well as a very recent MIDI, and dozens more in publications like USA Today, The Atlantic, Universal, Apple News, and Puzzles for Palestine, among many other venues.
00:01:05
Speaker
Kareem, thanks so much for joining me today and giving us a clue about how you work.
Kareem's Crossword Journey Begins
00:01:10
Speaker
Hey Daniel, thanks for having me. Yeah, my pleasure. So to kick things off, I wanted to ask you how you originally began solving crosswords.
00:01:22
Speaker
I was working at a school in New York when I first moved here. And as an English team, we all all sat around the computer and we'd always plug the laptop into the big screen during lunch and we'd all just solve the crossword together.
00:01:35
Speaker
that was always the worst one, but we did this every day. Really, I think the turning point for me was just wanting to be part of the community. And then I started seeing how fun those themes were, especially the one that really, really pushed me to constructing was the Sam Tribuco puzzle that really changed the way I look at crosswords. It had this married men theme.
00:01:59
Speaker
And I remember very clearly just sitting around the table with everybody. We're like staring up at this puzzle. 40 minutes, none of us could get the theme. And there was the answer, ricochet for the clue bounce. And we just, none could get it. And then it clicked for me. And I filled in ricochet, like Rico, Chet. And that blew my mind. of Like how you can take regular words, your names and parse them differently and make them to another thing. And it was such a rush.
00:02:26
Speaker
And from that point on, I was like, screw solving. I don't want to make these myself. Yeah. So most of the people I've spoken to have said that they typically started out solving as a kid, but it sounds like you came to this a little bit later on.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah. I grew up in Lebanon and in Syria, and we don't really have, especially in Arabic, in American style, a crossword. We did have those crosswords where they're not all connected, where it's like one word crosses one word crosses one word. and And I used to make those as gifts. I would make one for my family or my grandpa for his birthday or something. It has six words that intersect.
00:03:02
Speaker
but never the American style ones. I knew about them, we had them, but I never really saw them or knew where to find them. I didn't even know crosswords had themes until I started doing Times with my team.
Publishing Success and Crossword Community
00:03:14
Speaker
That's really impressive because the Sam Trabuco puzzle that you're talking about, that was from June 2019. And then you were already publishing your own Times crosswords by 2023.
00:03:26
Speaker
twenty twenty three So there's a pretty narrow window, it sounds like, from when you started solving to when you were constructing yourself? I've always been a writer and I've always liked to write music and plays and things like that. So it just felt like a natural transition.
00:03:41
Speaker
Definitely started a little bit after the pandemic. Yeah. And do you remember what the first puzzle that you constructed was? Yes, I do. Organ transplant was the theme answer.
00:03:54
Speaker
And it was words or phrases with organs inside them, but then you switch them to other words. For example, state of the art has heart in it. And then...
00:04:05
Speaker
plunging has lung in it, but then you put heart in plunging so it becomes ah hearting. And it was so, I sent it to a friend of mine to solve and she's like, fun idea, but what the hell's for hearting? It was such a bad execution, but I still think organ transplant has a lot of team potential there. So I'm not done with it.
00:04:27
Speaker
Yeah. You need to resurrect the organ transplant and redeem it. Absolutely. Absolutely. So you published almost 70 crosswords in 2024 and 2025. And then I heard a rumor that you have over 40 more on the way already.
00:04:46
Speaker
And we're only three months into 2026. So first of all, what? And second of all, how? It's all I do. It's my favorite thing in the world now. I submit so much and I have just so many ideas.
00:05:04
Speaker
As soon as I come home from work, I just sit and I just construct. And even at work during my lunch period, I construct and before school, I construct. After school, during office hours, I construct.
00:05:15
Speaker
It's my favorite thing. Are you constructing right now as we're speaking? I was. That's why I didn't prepare this answer really well was so busy constructing.
00:05:27
Speaker
two Well, that is very, very impressive. Congratulations on all the success that you've had so far. Very well deserved. Thank you. Thank you. And how many attempts did it take before you had your first published puzzle?
00:05:41
Speaker
I had nine rejections by the Times, and then my 10th one was accepted. My thesaurus dinosaur puzzled, which was so exciting.
00:05:53
Speaker
You always remember your first. Yeah, I was flying to Croatia the day my first Times Crossword came out, and i was pretty bummed because it was a red eye, so I was going to be in the air when it was published.
00:06:06
Speaker
And the second I landed, the very first thing I did was connect to Wi-Fi just so I could actually see my name on the page. Yeah, yeah, it's an experience. You see why everybody's just clamoring to get in on that train. It's a feeling like nothing else, you know Yeah.
00:06:23
Speaker
And who were some of the constructors that were especially inspiring you when you were first getting started? didn't really know constructors. didn't even know there was a community. I really felt like I was in my own world when I was making those puzzles early on.
00:06:36
Speaker
But I had no idea there was a community this vast and this interconnected for the first year or two.
Cultural Influences on Crossword Creation
00:06:44
Speaker
Even when my first crossword was published in December of 2023, had just joined the ABCX Lil.
00:06:52
Speaker
And from joining that, I was like, oh, there's people who are into it and will give advice and will edit. And I started learning about all these other publications that I can submit to. And there was a whole new world that I had no idea existed.
00:07:07
Speaker
And I didn't even care at that point. I was still, I was so early constructing my bed after work sometimes. And then slowly I caught the bug. Yeah, definitely. And based on my research, it sounds like you've lived a pretty dynamic life. You've lived in many countries, and you're originally from Lebanon and Syria. I know you also grew up going to Arabic schools.
00:07:31
Speaker
So I wonder with English not being your native language, how that process of learning a new language informs your relationship to wordplay and language-based puzzle making.
00:07:43
Speaker
I did have a real love for English. I mean, even though we're Arab speaking at home, my parents speak English really well. and In Lebanon and Syria, they speak, everyone speaks English in Lebanon.
00:07:55
Speaker
It's like one of the national languages. It's very common. And I remember I was so fascinated with the English language. Even as early as first grade and second grade, i remember my second grade teacher, was my English teacher.
00:08:06
Speaker
It was at an Islamic school where we'd have Quran class and Hadith class and we'd have the geography and Arabic and math and Arabic and all that. And then we'd have this one English class. And this English class was fascinating to me just because I used to travel a lot to the States and I had uncles there and i spoke English and I watched a lot of English American TV. So I would thrive in this class so much.
00:08:29
Speaker
I used to get first place, highest grade in English in the entire school. It's like a school of 3,000, 4,000 kids. And I would remember walking stage and getting an award. It motivated me to read more. And I was obsessed with response the the R.L.S. 9 books. I had all of them. I read them a billion times.
00:08:46
Speaker
So I used to read a lot. Yeah. And it does make sense hearing that, that you would now yourself be an English literature teacher. It has kind of come full circle. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
00:08:58
Speaker
And then you also lived in Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Turkey, among other countries. Do you think those experiences also shaped your approach or philosophy to crosswords?
00:09:11
Speaker
Yes. Like any life experience would impact crossword construction just because it gives you a wider lens into how the world operates. and how crossroads teach you things.
00:09:23
Speaker
Like one of the things that I always like to put in my puzzles are animals, food, and countries. I also love geography. I love traveling and learning new things and new foods. When I was living in Spain, learning Spanish and then realizing how many Spanish words come from Arabic and how many of them can be translated through English, learning about etymology and these things were really, really fascinating to me. And I learned how to speak Turkish and So I speak four languages now. And the best part about that is I'm able to have specific words that span multiple languages.
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah. When I was learning French, I made all kinds of connections I'd never noticed before I really thought about. So after you lived in those countries, you moved to New York to pursue playwriting at and NYU.
00:10:13
Speaker
And as a fellow playwright, or I guess a former playwright at this point, because it's been a while, I'm also wondering if you noted any overlaps between the dramatic genre and the crossword puzzle.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Plays are so versatile. When I'm writing a play, I always was taught you can do anything. So to me, An empty stage is like a grid, like a 15 by 15 grid.
00:10:39
Speaker
How do you fill it? How do you work around it? How do you include the words or the people or the things? It's like a blank slate that you can create art on. And I am a staunch believer that crossword construction is an art, if anything else.
00:10:54
Speaker
Even before I think of a theme, I look at a grid and I'm like, how do I make this grid look beautiful or create some kind of artistic impact, whether it's aesthetic or lexical, or how do I go from this blank space into something that's going to bring joy and pleasure and beauty into the world?
Artistic Expression and Teaching Influence
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah, I like that idea of beauty. One thing hearing you talk about it made me think of is a stage and a grid both seem like very flat, limiting objects. You only have this amount of space, 15 by 15, or whatever the dimensions of the stage are.
00:11:34
Speaker
But that limit is actually limitless if you have an imagination and you can take the audience or the solver on this kind of magical journey using tricks that they might not be expecting.
00:11:47
Speaker
Rebus is are a very basic example. But we've seen so many imaginative playwrights and constructors memorably rewrite the limits of those genres. I think that's what makes crosswords that are unique so memorable. There's a lot of crosswords.
00:12:03
Speaker
tropes and themes that you're like, oh, I've sort of seen this before. And a lot of the time, like, oh, there's a creative twist on it. But to see something that's new that's never been done, and a lot of the times it's involving some almost three-dimensional creation. And to me, that's part of the fun of creating, doing something unique, doing something disruptive.
00:12:22
Speaker
These are all all kinds of things that I'm considering when I'm building a grid and when I'm writing any kind of artistic piece of writing. Yeah. Can you think of any plays off the top of your head that broke your brain in that way and opened up the parameters of what is possible?
00:12:39
Speaker
There's so many, but I mean, right now, just the top my head, Our Town is a fascinating play. It's kind of like you're building a puzzle with empty squares. You have to recognize what's not there.
00:12:51
Speaker
That's what's important. And Our Town is a play that uses minimal or in the best versions, no stage performance. props, no sets, nothing like that. just characters, actors on stage miming things, acting like they're in a big town, but there's nothing there.
00:13:08
Speaker
And why I really want to make a crossword with empty squares. Yeah. I mean, it's nice that you've published so many and you still have things on your bucket list that you're striving to do. And then, as I mentioned earlier, you currently work as a high school literature teacher. So I'm also wondering if that professional background has shaped your approach to construction.
00:13:29
Speaker
you know, you have to be resilient and patient as a teacher. a grid is not cooperating, you can't give it attention, but you can't work on it and work with it and just sit with it.
00:13:41
Speaker
and care for it. Sometimes it'll show up, it'll pay dividends, and sometimes it's like, i' just called your mom, you know, let her with this. I taught some college level classes and the parallel I think of is sometimes you'll ask a question and everyone will just kind of stare blankly at you.
00:14:01
Speaker
And then you have to think, okay, how can I rephrase this in a way that will actually break through? So sometimes with cluing, it's like that too. You have to put yourself in the mindset of the solvers. That's very interesting. Definitely been in that scenario.
00:14:15
Speaker
Like did I ask the question right? But when I get to proof and the clues change, I'm like, well, maybe it's not that the editor hates me. But in fact, I didn't write the clue in a way that's helpful for the software.
00:14:28
Speaker
I mean, it could have been a great clue and the editor just wanted to switch it up. That's the optimistic reading anyway. And then do your students know about your crosswords and do they ever solve them?
00:14:40
Speaker
They know about them. Definitely has some students who've solved, but they more are fascinated with the the past year and looking up articles about me or the interviews that I've done, and things like that. So those are the things they read and they're interested by and they're always like, oh.
00:14:54
Speaker
Well, if they're listening right now, shout out to your students. Good job finding this. And then turning now to construction, when you're starting a new puzzle, how do you get that process underway?
00:15:06
Speaker
Oh God, my process is a complete mess. I jump around so much. I have an idea document on the Google Doc. It has about 400, 500 ideas on it.
00:15:17
Speaker
Four to 500 ideas? That is incredible. I have like 10. Some of them are actual full theme things, but then of other ones are just insect homophones, flee the scene. you know It's just stupid things like that with nothing. you know It's like this just never going to come to anything, but you know.
00:15:41
Speaker
flee the scene but I do jump around a lot like right now I'm currently working on maybe 25 to 30 puzzles at the same time and if I'm working on one and I can't get it to fit if I'm like gritting it and it's just not working I'll just move on to another one and do that cluing and if I'm bored of cluing then I'll move on to another one and so I'm just sort of jumping around a lot Okay, now I'm starting to understand how you have 40 puzzles set for publication. It's starting to make a little more sense.
00:16:12
Speaker
And where do you get your
Puzzle Creation Process and Challenges
00:16:14
Speaker
theme ideas and how do you separate the good ones from the duds? Despite having been constructing for a few years now, I honestly to this day do not know what makes something good or publishable.
00:16:28
Speaker
What I do know is I make puzzles that I would be impressed by. And i build them in a way that I think is impressive. And then I hope that the editors feel the same way.
00:16:39
Speaker
Because there's a discrepancy there that's just really, to this day, I'm shocked by it. There's an idea I had a few months ago. And I'm like, this is one of the best ideas I had ever. And I sent it to the Times. It was rejected. I sent it to the New Yorker. It was rejected. I sent it to LA Times. It was rejected. And I'm like, why is no one taking this grid? It is so good.
00:16:59
Speaker
And I just don't understand. Sometimes I don't. And then sometimes I send puzzles that I'm like, oh, this is garbage. Like my set puzzle for the New York Times, the Monday one. The only reason I sent that is because I had nothing else to send.
00:17:12
Speaker
And I like to keep my cues full at all time. And I was like, oh, I have nothing else. But i have to stupid set things. It's so dumb. Nobody's going to sit and I like it. And I sent it and they like, oh, love it. And apparently that's one of my more popular puzzles when I first started.
00:17:26
Speaker
I don't know, man. Yeah, I've had the same thing. i have had puzzles that I loved get rejected, and then ones that I was lukewarm about get accepted. And yeah, it's weird because I still don't understand it really.
00:17:43
Speaker
But that's why I guess there are editors to make those calls. Yeah, something that I'm learning is the magic of a revealer, particularly that the revealer needs to be its own puzzle, right? So there's a lot of puzzles and good puzzles out there where the revealers like an instruction like, Oh, this left or like, Oh, the word is the left.
00:18:04
Speaker
But I think for a really strong puzzle, especially for like a later week one, if the revealer is its own puzzle that you have to deduce to then to make that jump, that to me makes for a good puzzle. Like my My neat puzzle with the remove the ice from it or my most recent one with the X's and O's. The revealer steal a kiss, give a hug.
00:18:28
Speaker
You have to deduce that, oh, O's mean get hugs and X mean kisses. And same thing with neat. Like neat is a type of drink, but neat also means no ice. Therefore, you have to be no ice. You have to make those layered jumps.
00:18:40
Speaker
And if there's a revealer I have that does that, that has these kinds of multiple layers that leads to a good successful puzzle and often then accepts us in my case yeah i saw some people speculating in the comments that the neat puzzle was also an ice protest when i made it it was obviously like a year and a half before it got published but as it was coming up i knew the date was coming up and these horrific things started happening like oh i've I can see the New York Times not publishing it because of this and them not wanting to be political.
00:19:14
Speaker
But gosh, I hope they do. And then they did. And I can be like, well, I'm sure people are going to find the parallels here. And I'm happy they did. Yeah, it was interesting reading people's responses to that one.
00:19:28
Speaker
And since we're talking about that ice puzzle, I did also want to talk more about your Thursdays. To date, you've had three in the times, and they've all been standouts that have garnered well-deserved attention.
00:19:39
Speaker
You've also said that your goal is to make something disruptive, something that hasn't been done before. So how do you come up with your more offbeat or unique theme ideas?
00:19:52
Speaker
I always start construction, especially if I'm like, well, I need to make something for the times or something for ABCX Classic. I want to make something that breaks rules. And that's my first entry point.
00:20:05
Speaker
Can I make something that I intentionally put dupes in or there's moving parts to this puzzle? Because that's the hardest part of making a crossword, I think. And if I'm always working to make the hardest type of themes,
00:20:20
Speaker
then my chances are better to be accepted because not a lot of people are going to be attempting those are very difficult grid bending theme ideas. So I think already just going into that with the mentality of I'm doing something that most people wouldn't even try to attempt, not only will it be more impressive and fun if it does make it through and get published, but also i have a better chance because not a lot of people are making things like this.
00:20:47
Speaker
That's how I live my life as well. like Even when I'm teaching or when I'm writing something, like I want to be very, very good at what I do. And I try and I work really, really hard to do that and to have my own unique style.
Cultural Representation and Sensitivity
00:21:00
Speaker
Anybody who works with me as a teacher will tell you that I am not like other teachers. I am very unorthodox, which is what makes my students latch on and I guess connect with them in a better way.
00:21:10
Speaker
Because they're like, oh, this is not how most teachers talk or act in class. Like, this guy is different. Yeah, those were exactly the kinds of teachers I gravitated to and the ones that I still remember, honestly.
00:21:24
Speaker
So on the topic of unique puzzles, I also wanted to talk about your 21 by 21 Wow Discoveries puzzle. It was part of the 2025 Lollapazula tournament.
00:21:35
Speaker
I did it last night and was really impressed. Not only did it have all of the animals you were hunting for, but it was so saturated with related theme content.
00:21:47
Speaker
And the way the solver would find each animal was so singular and particular to that animal, which was a really cool twist. Given that animal themes have admittedly been done to death, it was nice to see someone find an angle that made it still feel fresh.
00:22:06
Speaker
So not surprised, but it was very fitting that it was nominated for an orca this year. can you tell us about how that concept came to you and your process for making it?
00:22:20
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. This was a a beast to make. I mean, there's about 140 theme squares in it. I'm always trying to do too much. If I'm working with someone for the New York Times, it's fine because i don't work with them. Like I can just send them stuff and they're like, all right, fine.
00:22:35
Speaker
But for this one where I'm working with Brooke, like I owe... broke music so much, not just for bringing me to the fold and FUSMO, but also for putting up with me while i was building this.
00:22:47
Speaker
I was very difficult to work with, I'll say that, just because i love Lollapazoola. It's my favorite tournament because it's so offbeat and different, and it's not trying to conform to any rules.
00:22:58
Speaker
So I had this idea for scavenger hunt years ago. There was nothing to it. it was I thought it was very fun to do a scavenger hunt for scavenging animals. And then when Brooke and Brian Simmet reached out to me, i sent five ideas and my idea number one and two were my favorites. I was like, these are amazing. I want to do them. I'm so excited about them.
00:23:20
Speaker
Three and four were okay. And then five was this. I'm like, well, I guess I have a scavenger hunt puzzle. Like if you want, like have some idea. And they're like, we don't want to do it in the first four. We want to do scavenger hunt. And im like, oh, why don't you pick the one that I want to do least?
00:23:32
Speaker
But it happens all the time. They always pick the one that I'm like, well, this is the one I'm least excited about. Stop giving them five options. I felt weird. I'm like, four? Four feels weird. I'm going to give them five.
00:23:45
Speaker
But God bless her soul. She made my puzzle a lot better with the edits, but I pushed back a lot. One of the things was they wanted to make it really easy. And the ones that have scavenger hunt be the title. I'm like, well, no, but scavenger hunt has to be a revealer because you have the aha moment. And then when I started doing that, I'm like, I now I want to make an extra clue for every animal because i want to do too much. And I want this to be a standout puzzle. And i worked really, really hard and I made maybe 15 grids. And this was hard to do because if you're on a timeline, but she was very gracious and her edits were great.
00:24:20
Speaker
She maintained my voice and my vision completely. I could not be happier with how that puzzle turned out. And one of my top three things I've ever written. Oh, wow. Can I ask, what are the other two things in your top three?
00:24:31
Speaker
My course correction Sunday. That's definitely my pride and joy. And there's a play I wrote years ago that I'm working on still for years now. It's it's like my magnum opus that is basically me in play form.
00:24:46
Speaker
Sounds amazing. And coming back to construction, once you've figured out your theme and your theme entries, how do you go about gridding and filling the grid? I tinker a lot.
00:24:59
Speaker
I never know exactly how something's going to work. So if I have a rough idea or my theme entries, then I know what's about to go in the grid. I will play with that grid for days, weeks, months.
00:25:10
Speaker
And sometimes they just become nothing. And then sometimes... Very rarely it just clicks and that's just so lucky and fortuitous and just that doesn't happen a lot. And when it does, it's like, oh, what a relief.
00:25:25
Speaker
And knowing you, I bet you immediately start working on your next 10 puzzles. And once you're done with the grid, how do you approach cluing? I mean, that's the easiest part of constructing to me, but it's my least favorite part.
00:25:38
Speaker
I used to love cluing. That was my favorite. But if you're, and this is going like such a humble brag, but when you're working on 15 puzzles, you want to clue 15 things. It's so boring and it's so monotonous.
00:25:51
Speaker
The only time I clue is when I am so sick of gridding and coming up with themes and It's almost becoming a running joke about how everyone I interview hates cluing, but I hear you.
00:26:04
Speaker
And you have a particular way of working, either certain location or a particular time of day? It sounds like your time of day is all day, all the time. But yeah, how does that work?
00:26:15
Speaker
Yeah, home after work, at the bar, I'll go to the bar. And sometimes if I don't have plans or anything, or my girlfriend's busy, or they'll just go to the bar, right? On Friday night, there's like parties that have big people are dancing I'm sitting there with my laptop, my headphones working on puzzle.
00:26:32
Speaker
Then the mind numbing parts like the easy clues or the tinker, I'll just do that while I'm doing something else. The other day I had a dream about a theme.
00:26:44
Speaker
And I woke up at like 3 a.m. and I grabbed my laptop and I started working on it because I didn't want it to go away. So, you know, all the time, everywhere, as long as I have my laptop. I i think the person who will finally invent a way to construct grids on your phone, it would make a lot of money for me specifically.
00:27:02
Speaker
Amazing. Okay. And how much time would you say you spend working on crosswords in an average week? Oh, 70% of my time, at least. I'm always working on something.
00:27:14
Speaker
You said you have a girlfriend, right? I do, yeah. And you have a dog. I do, yeah. Is there a question there? Are they not like, spend time with us?
00:27:26
Speaker
No, they... So I construct a lot with my dog, so a lot of my theme ideas I get when I'm walking my dog. So I'll put in my headphones, I'll put in some Zoran Duran, and I'll walk my dog around the neighborhood And then my girlfriend, she's obsessed with crosswords. We met because she's really into crosswords. She's constructed a few USA Today puzzles herself back in the day. And now she and I are working on some Puzmo grids. So we actually construct together. She gets it.
00:27:50
Speaker
That's very cool. All right. It was not a critique, by the way. I was just curious. I know. I know. I I know. And then since you brought it up, how does collaborating with others affect your process or shift your ways of working?
00:28:05
Speaker
I am really bad at collaborating. I owe so much to the people I've co collaborated with. I have not collabed a lot. few people I've collaborated with, they're very patient because I have this need to make sure that we're doing things equally, fairly. I want to make sure that their vision is also being addressed. And so there's a lot of discussion that comes from it.
00:28:26
Speaker
You have to fly up to the person. You have to respect the person specifically. you respect someone you're working with, then you're going to be able to not only respect their ideas, but also feel that you can be honest.
00:28:39
Speaker
Yeah. When I was collaborating with Rafa, Rafael Moussa, one aspect that was interesting was finding out which entries he didn't care for that I was pretty neutral about. I remember Eli's being one of them.
00:28:53
Speaker
or entries where one of us was more excited than the other. Just having to articulate why something is or isn't resonating and having to look at it through someone else's lens is revealing because it forces you to identify what you value in an entry.
00:29:13
Speaker
And when you're working on your own, you don't have that pushback or that running dialogue. Absolutely. And how do you know when a puzzle is ready to be sent out? ae don't.
00:29:31
Speaker
Always. I send it out when i'm but when I'm tired of working on it. It's very rare that I send something out and I'm like, this is as good as it can be. I think the only time that's ever happened is for my course correction and classes puzzle. That's the only one where I'm like,
00:29:47
Speaker
If I touch this, it'll just become worse. Everything else I've sent, I'm like, is this the best thing? Well, it seems like your approach is working, whatever you're doing. So I said, keep doing it.
00:29:58
Speaker
And then in an interview with Jess Rucks for Daily Crossword Links in 2025, you said two things that were important to you were, quote, exposing people to my culture and exposing the people of my culture to more crosswords. Equity is very important. So I always try to include references to my identity in my puzzles, end quote.
00:30:21
Speaker
Could you tell us a little more about how you try to promote equity and evoke your culture and identity in your crosswords? Yeah, this is very important and sad.
00:30:33
Speaker
There's so much misinformation out there. It is mind boggling to me that people I meet who are intelligent and well-read and successful and impressive, but have these huge misconceptions about Arab culture.
00:30:45
Speaker
because the media in America is so propagandized. There's no way for people really to know what's going on over there or how people are. So first and foremost, I want the information out there about Arab culture to be accurate.
00:30:59
Speaker
And that's really important to me. And sometimes i feel this immense responsibility. If I have a voice And I have this platform I need to share more.
00:31:10
Speaker
And this could be in the form of notes or themes. You know, I'm determined have to write a Ramadan puzzle for the New york Times one day. i just feel like it could be debuting hummus in the New York Times. you know, hummus, shawarma, kebab, these are foods that are quintessentially Arab.
00:31:24
Speaker
And people still make mistakes that they're from other places. No, they're Arab. And if I have an opportunity to control the narrative, even for a small niche part of the population, I feel an immense responsibility for doing so.
00:31:36
Speaker
and i want to make sure of accuracy, but also inclusion. I wrote a puzzle for Puzzmo that came out a few weeks ago, and i clued Arab as blank idol. Arab Idol, which is like American Idol, but in the Middle East. And someone reached out on the Discord and it's like, I feel so seen. I'm Arab and I used to grow up watching Arab Idol with my family and that meant a lot to me. So I kind of want to do that more.
00:32:00
Speaker
Yeah. And along those same lines, in that interview, you also mentioned something that's continued to resonate with me. You said, there are other fun ways to clue Arab besides as a horse or part of UAE.
00:32:14
Speaker
Can you expand on what you were thinking there? i want to uplift everybody related to Arab, like Nabataeans or the Lactifonts. highlighting particular populations. Like Lebanon is an Arab country, but there's a lot of non-Arabs in Lebanon, In Lebanon, we have a lot of Jews and we have a lot of Europeans. So if I'm able to be like a culture that is mostly part of Lebanese population, just teaching a little bit about it.
00:32:39
Speaker
think the fact that the word like Arab holds the same weight as something things completely innocuous, like alit, for example, A-L-I-T is as important as Arab because you can only clue it one or two ways.
00:32:51
Speaker
So people try so hard to come up with a billion different ways to clue Oreo. So why not try a billion different ways to clue Arab, right? It's a four-letter word. It's common as vowels. It's very common in crosswords. So are Imam and Emir, which are also Arab words. So I always try to clue those differently. And whenever I see Arab clued as United blank Emirates, I'm like, well, you just didn't care about that word enough or thinks this word...
00:33:19
Speaker
doesn't really carry a lot of weights. And for me and millions of people around the
Kareem's Personal Insights and Contributions
00:33:25
Speaker
world, it does. It absolutely does. Yeah, I hear you. And to your point, the entry Arab has appeared in a Times crossword 691 times to date. And in the last 10 instances, two were related to horses and two were related to UAE. So it is still very much go-to reference point.
00:33:45
Speaker
So I think you're absolutely right there. And then in that same interview, you also mentioned that you didn't know of any other Arab constructors and you encouraged any to get in touch. Have you been able to connect with any since then?
00:33:58
Speaker
No one yet. So any Arab instructors or half Arab or Arab, hell, if anybody's even interested in Arab culture or wants to learn more about how to clue Arab things, that's always one of the first things I do And then you recently contributed two crosswords for Puzzles for Palestine 2, which is a fundraiser puzzle pack for the Palestinian Aid Society of America.
00:34:22
Speaker
What was that experience like and how can listeners find out more about that project? That was a wonderful experience, mostly because I got to see how many people actually cared and were willing to put their names on something that is unfortunately controversial in this country. And working with Adrian Johnson, who's a good buddy of mine, I met him at Crossword Con two years ago. I was like, hey, this thing you're doing, I want to be a part of it.
00:34:49
Speaker
And I'm not taking no for an answer. This is something that's part of my culture, part of my history. And I recommend people would buy the pack because not only are you doing good, the money goes directly to help feed and aid Palestinians, but also the puzzles are good. I've made a 21 by 21 grid that I think is really, really great. And I get to see that people care and people want to contribute.
00:35:15
Speaker
Hopefully by the end of this year, we will be fingers crossed launching Puzzles for Palestine 3. Oh, very glad to hear that. And then I wanted to find out a little more about you personally. So first, could you share a fun fact about yourself that solvers of your work might be surprised to find out?
00:35:36
Speaker
i age I just asked my girlfriend this an hour ago. like, what should I say here? and She's like, you're a really good cook. So that's that. I cook a lot, mostly Arab food. And I do cook often.
00:35:48
Speaker
with the same intention when I'm building a puzzle. I want to do something impressive and cool. And I'll do that with my cooking as well. What is the last dish you made? I made... Oh, I made shishto. Shishto is a skewered chicken dish with tum, garlic sauce, and a pine nut hummus.
00:36:08
Speaker
Sounds amazing. My girlfriend still loves me, so...
00:36:13
Speaker
I love it. And then as a literature teacher, what's one book or story that you would recommend to listeners? I would say The Stranger because it's very philosophical.
00:36:26
Speaker
Anything to do with absurdism, which has nothing to do with crosswords, but everybody should read it. Well, there is all the black void of the black squares of a crossword, I guess. That's kind of existential. Of course. Yeah, it's true, true.
00:36:41
Speaker
You're staring at a blank grid, wondering what could possibly fit into it. i mean, that's existential. And turning to the subject of favorites, what is your favorite part of constructing? I alternate, but building the grid because it's most like art. And that, to me, is most intriguing.
00:36:58
Speaker
Yeah, that tracks. And per the times, days of difficulty, do you have a favorite day of the week to construct for? I'm going to guess Thursday. Yeah, you'd think so. I've sent a lot of Thursdays, but really Sundays are my favorite.
00:37:14
Speaker
Having a large canvas to play with, it's just so fun. It is closest to art to me. And the fact that you can put in color and all different kinds of things and it can accommodate that, I think Sundays are my favorite to construct.
00:37:28
Speaker
And then going in the opposite direction of a Sunday, you were also one of the very first constructors for the Times New MIDI feature with your chew toy puzzle appearing on March 1st this year.
00:37:41
Speaker
And that was definitely another opportunity for you to showcase some art. It was really playful and eye-catching, and it demonstrated how even small puzzles can be packed with creativity.
00:37:54
Speaker
How did that opportunity come about? And why did you choose that puzzle as your contribution? Well, Ian lives in goods. He loves my stuff. He reached out to a few constructors to contribute.
00:38:06
Speaker
I met him at ACBT and he was telling me, I love your under repair puzzle. I fought for it so hard. um I wanted to make sure that we published that one. Apparently I'd made an impact on him and he reached out. I wrote about 10 middies and Ian just felt this one was really, really strong.
00:38:23
Speaker
So he's like, it's very colorful and he wanted to advertise it. I just made this one because I was like, it'll be fun to do color. I have this little gumball. The way it looks on the app is exactly how I actually submitted it to him. I put the little keyhole in there where you put the key, a key slot, and even the color arrangement of the specific gum are all those same colors that I picked, which is a small thing that most people wouldn't notice. i'm really happy that as well. So yes, you will definitely be seeing some more images from me.
00:38:52
Speaker
Very cool. i will definitely have to look out for those. And then do you have any favorite days of the week to solve? Thursday and Sunday, and that would depend on the constructor.
00:39:05
Speaker
I'd often be more excited about the constructor than the day of the week. Yeah. Any constructors you want to shout out for really getting your attention and making it exciting for you?
00:39:15
Speaker
Just so many amazing constructors. The last puzzle that really caught my attention was Dylan Schiff's It's All Greek Sunday. from a few months ago That one is incredible.
00:39:28
Speaker
Yep, I remember that one. That's a great shout out. And then I know you detest cluing with every ounce of your soul, but do you have any favorite clues that you've written? do. My January 5th Sunday last year, the clue for spirit, which was gin or gin, for example, which I thought was cool because also a gin is my girlfriend's favorite drink, but also a gin is a very common spirit in Arab culture.
00:39:53
Speaker
I have to admit, I am pretty obsessed with that clue. I think it's also my favorite clue of yours, and I'm mad that I didn't think of it. ah And in your wild discoveries puzzle, your clue for Syria stood out to me, and it was country whose iOS flag emoji was updated in March 2025 to its revolution flag, green, white, and black with three red stars.
00:40:18
Speaker
Could you touch on the logic of why you chose to clue Syria that way? Because at that point, Assad had just been ousted and Syria is finally becoming free. and I've lived there most of my life. My mom's Syrian.
00:40:33
Speaker
I went to high school in Syria. and the steering flag is forever etched in my mind. So the fact that they changed it after the revolution, but I thought putting in something that's both not political, but quasi political, because I can approach it from the point of view of of an iOS app update. You know, emojis are fun for everybody. It's not about politics or revolutions. It's about emojis. It's my way of sneaking in a bit of my culture through this other more approachable platform of tech.
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah, clues as Trojan horses. It's kind of a way of getting around the critique of an entry or clue being too much of a bummer while still subversively touching on important subjects.
00:41:17
Speaker
I like that. And then in terms of entries, you've debuted a lot of fun food fill, which makes sense since you like to cook. You've had things like clam soup, tuna taco, hummus, and veggie bacon.
00:41:29
Speaker
And then you've also debuted a lot of non-food fill that I liked, like Come to Jesus Moment, Start Your Engines, Why Do I Bother, and Tippy Toes.
00:41:40
Speaker
So I wanted to ask if there are other favorite entries I haven't mentioned yet. In that same puzzle, I think, of June 5th, all things change. I remember very clearly working on that top of the grid and being offered bat pup as an entry.
00:41:55
Speaker
And there were so many other entries, but I'm like, bat pup? And it's crossing Alibaba. I'm like, that's amazing. I love bat pup. I
Advice for Aspiring Constructors
00:42:03
Speaker
think bats are amazing. i always try to put food or animals or geography in my puzzles.
00:42:08
Speaker
Not only that, but because the wordplay article that came out from that puzzle, the picture is a four adorable bat puffs. And I loved it. And one of the comments of that puzzle was, no, no, no,
00:42:25
Speaker
yeah that's great and then any fill you have strong feelings about positively or negatively I think most things are fair game depending on the outlet. i just hate political fail or references to people who have written policies that hurt their people. And unfortunately, that's a really huge list. So I have had to push back on some of my proofs of not uplifting people who have done harmful things when it comes to public policy. But than that, I just like to put animals, food in the
00:42:57
Speaker
I think you've mentioned before that you try to stay away from too many proper names because you've gotten that critique before. That's the reaction to comments.
00:43:08
Speaker
People hate proper names. and I do too. And that's fair. There's a lot of outlets that will, they're like, well, these two names are crossing. And I think it's good practice to not have names crossed just because they're banking on trivia.
00:43:21
Speaker
But yeah, comments often will be like, who's this person? I'm a bit of a proper name defender because, as I said in an earlier episode, I want solvers who are open to learning and being challenged by things they might not be familiar with. But names crossing, I do hear you on that. That is mostly a no-go.
00:43:41
Speaker
And for listeners who are just getting started, what advice would you give to aspiring constructors? Okay, so I have this advice that I sometimes give. given and People don't like this advice, but it has worked for me.
00:43:55
Speaker
And it is to submit everywhere and submit often. Okay. A lot of new constructors, I think, will agonize over one grid for months or weeks before sending it. I'd say send out multiple things.
00:44:09
Speaker
I had this experience when I got my acceptance puzzle for my first Thursday, the wormhole one. It made a huge impact on me because... My first puzzle had not even been published yet, and it was in the queue, and this was my third acceptance, but I had gotten about 15 rejections.
00:44:28
Speaker
But in the email, Christine Iverson said, She's like, we have started to get really excited about seeing your name on a puzzle because of all your great ideas. And that blew my mind because I was like, why would you remember me? Most of my stuff is rejections. So it made me think, you know what, even rejections can make you memorable.
00:44:46
Speaker
So the more you get your name out there and the more people see you, the more they get to understand your style. I try to fill every queue I have. all the time, which is hard, but that's why I've been able to get pretty lucky. Because he yes, I have a lot of acceptances, but man, my rejection pile is huge.
00:45:05
Speaker
Yeah, people need to hear that because i think people assume at a certain point when you're really established that you stop getting rejected, but it's just part of the process and it's totally normal and you just have to keep going because everyone gets rejected and there's no way around that. I'm at eight rejections in a row right now from the Times, so I'm in a slump right now. So if this helps anybody hearing it, it happens.
00:45:29
Speaker
And like you said, you don't know what is going to succeed or not succeed. You just do your best and hope for the best. And then do you have any crossword goals for the future?
00:45:41
Speaker
What's still on your bucket list? Yeah, empty spaces for sure. More Sundays. And that cycle, man. yeah For some reason, I want that cycle. That Tuesday is really hard to get. i don't have a Tuesday.
00:45:53
Speaker
That Tuesday brutal. I don't know how to write a Tuesday post. My under repair puzzle, I sent that in and I'm like, for sure, this is a Tuesday. They're going to like this and going to take it for a Tuesday. And they're like, we're taking it for a Thursday. And that blew my mind.
00:46:06
Speaker
And then they changed it to a Wednesday. day I'm like, it's one day away. it And then is there anything you hope to see change or emerge in the world of crosswords in the future?
00:46:18
Speaker
The things that i want to see change in the world of crosswords is the same thing I want to see change in the world itself. I want more kindness, less fear, more inclusivity. ah think most crosswords and crossword venues are owned by large corporations who make big decisions. And it's sometimes hard for me to put my voice in in a way that I want or to contribute in a way that I want or do good in a way that I want, even though that's not the main purpose of crosswords.
00:46:47
Speaker
There are certain things and clues and words that I would like to do, but I can't. for a slew of different reasons because people are too afraid to speak the truth or to speak truth to power.
00:46:59
Speaker
i think the more time we can meet each other, right? It's a lot of gossip in the crossword community, which bums me out. I would really want people to be more respectful of each other and do good, right? Do great things and give people fun, but also to do some
Conclusion and Future Episodes
00:47:14
Speaker
good things. I feel like hopefully I'm getting there.
00:47:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's well put. I appreciate that. And that's everything that I had for you today. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners? Check out Puzzles for Palestine. Check out my middies.
00:47:30
Speaker
Come to the BossWord Spring theme I think it's going to be great. And thank you so much, Daniel. Really great to share some of these things with the world. Absolutely. Thank you so much for being a part of this. It was great to talk you today.
00:47:43
Speaker
So with that, this is Daniel Grenberg with my special guest, Kareem Ayas. Thanks so much to Kareem for joining me today. And thanks so much to all of you for listening to episode number eight. Hit me up with any feedback or ideas you might have at the crosstalkpod at gmail.com.
00:47:58
Speaker
And join me again next time for another constructor conversation coming your way soon. Until then, wishing you inspired constructing and happy solving.