Jig-word Cross-saw

So, you may know that Coco and I enjoy from time to time what we call Puzzle Time, that interval when we put on some music or an old black and white movie, and she sits at her puzzle station and works on a 1,000-piece eBoo jigsaw puzzle, and I sit nearby on the couch and do a NY Times crossword puzzle. It's a practice that arose during lockdown days, but one that we find peaceful and comfortable and plan to continue.

The puzzle station behind the couch

Well, today the two worlds collided. I was doing my lunchtime crossword and its title was JIGSAW PUZZLE.

The theme answers were descriptions of things you do with a jigsaw puzzle phrased in common expressions, such as PICK UP THE PIECES and GET IT TOGETHER. But the real cleverness of the puzzle lay in its incorporation of an actual jigsaw puzzle into the grid!

Look where I have outline the circled letters in some of the words - here's a closeup:

See how the F M E N forms a kind of upside-down T-shape? And how the R E T T S makes a backwards C? All those little arrangements of letters formed the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, like so:

And that cordoned off little section in the bottom of the puzzle is where the pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle to form the final answer!

I love puzzles that are challenging but interesting and have a nice payoff, rather than just being slogs through trivia or attempts at interpreting clues that are not just obscure but dubious.

Hats off to Christina Iverson and Jeff Chen - this puzzle was a winner!