You may only see a few faces in front of the show, but it takes a village to bring Lollapuzzoola to life. Our village is full of superstars — come join us for an adventurous ride, and learn more about these amazing people below.
Brian Cimmet
tournament director, variety meta suite constructor
Brian Cimmet (he/him) co-created Lollapuzzoola in 2008 and is beyond grateful to all of the contestants, constructors, contributors, colleagues, and especially to tournament editor and co-host Brooke for helping to bring another year of this tournament to life. Elsewhere in puzzles, Brian co-hosts the weekly podcast “Fill Me In” with Ryan Hecht, on which he rants about everything from sandwiches to lawn mowers, and even occasionally crosswords. In real life, Brian lives in central New York with his wife Toni and son Oscar, and teaches Musical Theater at Syracuse University. He dedicates his work on this tournament to all the cats he’s ever lived with: Tinker, Evers, Chance, Godot, Lefty, Carlos, Lucy, Oliver, Jack, Blueberry (pictured!), Binx, Dizzy, and Louis.
Brooke Husic
editor, co-host, constructor
Brooke Husic (she/her) is delighted and honored to edit for her fifth Lollapuzzoola and construct for her fourth Lollapuzzoola. She is extremely grateful to Brian for taking a chance on her as a new constructor when inviting her to contribute puzzle 1 to Lolla 13 back in 2020 — when she had been constructing for barely six months — and then offering her her first major editing position for Lolla 14 the following year. She runs Puzzmo’s daily crossword, is part of the New Yorker’s in-house puzzlemaking team, co-maintains Spread the Word(list), and contributes crosswords to Apple News+, These Puzzles Fund Abortion, etc. Her favorite animal has been the orca since long before she started solving crosswords.
Kareem Ayas
constructor
Kareem Ayas (he/him) is a Lebanese-Syrian high school literature teacher currently living in Harlem, NY with his cuddly-fuzzy-husky-buddy, Kane. He loves to break crossword conventions by making weird off-beat puzzles, which can be seen in most major venues. He is also very excited for his first Lolla construction! Kareem likes dogs more than people, he includes CRAB in virtually all his Puzzmo grids, and his version of a childhood stuffed toy was a rubber albino bat named Cornelius.
Malaika Handa
constructor
Malaika Handa (she/her) has been making crosswords for about five years, but never before for Lollapuzzoola!!! (Though she attended and performed poorly in the past…) Nowadays, she’s mainly publishing with Vulture magazine, but you can see her full Puzzle History here. She shares a name with Solio Game Reserve’s rescued baby rhino, but there’s no relation. (Both Baby Rhino Malaika and Crossword Constructor Malaika take their names from the Swahili word for “angel.”)
Kate Hawkins
constructor
Kate Hawkins (she/her) is a city-loving Californian, mother of two small children, and roommate/meal ticket/lap to two gray tabbies named Millie and Birdie. This will be Kate’s second time attending and first time constructing for Lollapuzzoola. She just moved to NYC to start a job building games and puzzle products for Condé Nast. Please say hi to her and invite her to do cool things in the city!
Hannah Slovut-Einertson
constructor
Hannah Slovut-Einertson (she/her) works in data and lives in Minnesota with her wife, dog, and cat. This is her first time constructing for Lollapuzzoola. She’s been making crosswords ever since creating one for her first annual Giraffe Appreciation Potluck in 2017.
Mark Valdez
constructor
Mark Valdez (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based crossword constructor and editor. His puzzles have been featured in USA Today, Universal, LA Times, Puzzmo, Apple News, and A24’s “99 TV Crosswords” book. Although he’s not really an animal person, he thinks he’d look good with a Jack Russell Terrier, like Eddie in “Frasier.” Mark participated in his first Lolla last year, and this year marks his first time constructing for a tournament, and he is honored that it’s for Lollapuzzalooza 18.
Paolo Pasco
crossword meta suite constructor
Paolo Pasco (he/him) is a games editor based in Brooklyn. He wrote tournament puzzles for Lolla 10, 11, 12, and 15, and contributed to bonus puzzles for 14 and 16. Last year he took a trip to Australia, where he saw an EMU for the first time.
Sid Sivakumar
tiebreaker constructor
Sid Sivakumar (use my name) is an MD/PhD student and puzzle maker who has constructed for, co-edited, and co-hosted several iterations of Lollapuzzoola in the past. Sid enjoyed ten marvelous years with Bhairav the dog and now derives great satisfaction from temporarily becoming the best friend of whichever neighbor’s pet happens to be strolling by.