There is a volcano in our puzzle, just in case you didn’t recognize the black square pattern. Lee Higbie: My grandfather, Robert F. Griggs, discovered the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and was the first person to get to the site of the June 6, 1912 “Katmai eruption” (actually the eruption of Novarupta). About a year ago, I saw one of Jeff Chen’s puzzles with right-left symmetry like I had been trying to use. I have made a number of trips to Katmai National Monument and Park (now that it is a national park and preserve, not just a monument). Jeff Chen: I wish we could have opened up the mouth of the volcano for better solving flow, but nothing worked.

Source: International New York Times July 15, 2020 02:48 UTC