Have a new crossword book out: similar to my NY Times Xwords, but easier
... anyway:
Over the last 25 plus years, I’ve constructed crossword puzzles (professionally) on a freelance basis, for the New York Times.
[Cue: “Golf Clap”]
Most of my New York Times crosswords have been the hard Friday and Saturday puzzles. However this new book consists of 72 new crosswords I constructed for Sterling/Barnes & Noble: “Easy Free-Style Crosswords”. All these LOOK like hard puzzles, often with less black squares. BUT wait ... almost ALL of the clues and answers are reasonably easy. Or at the very least, accessible to the average solver.
[Cue: “Golf Clap” with “Crickets”]
FYI, I wrote this (new) book, because a lot of solvers find it very difficult to make the “jump” from the easier (usually themed) puzzles to the more esoteric world of “wide-open grids”.
[... or it may have been the (pin) money...]
As I was saying: this style of daily crossword often looks unusual, and features much larger areas of “open white space”. Some of these puzzles, have long “stacks” of 15-letter (and other long-length size) answers stacked above (or beside) each other. I’m that annoying “Quad-Stack” guy 
Makes a great gift for friends, and an even better one for enemies.
Operators are standing by ...
-Puzzler AKA: Martin Ashwood-Smith
= new reply since forum marked as read
Answer: tolittlepurpose
I love your hard puzzles!
Forget the golf clapping, I give you a hearty football cheer!
-Puzzler/Martin Ashwood-Smith