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One's name in a puzzle

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flight:
My last name is Light. My first name is Fritz. Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is there any rule that says you can't use your own first or last names in a puzzle if you have a name that's a homophone of an everyday word? Would it be bad form to compose a grid where either my first or last names appeared? What about a clue that incorporates a pun on my own name (a la The light is on the fritz)? Thought I might do a theme on that with three or four other names punned in a similar way. Not sure whose names, though. Figuring that out will be the fun part.

axlrosen:
Just as a guess, I think an editor would not want it to look like you added yourself to the puzzle on purpose. I don't think they would want to encourage people to try to get their name published in their puzzles, that doesn't sound like much fun for the solver.

If you include a pun on your own name, are you asking if you could sell that to a publisher? I don't know that people would find that particularly fun to solve...

flight:
So you think that if I had the words LIGHT and FRITZ worked into a solidly constructed puzzle, clued not as my first and last names but as the functional words that they also are (say {Electromagnetic output} and {On the ___}), this would be frowned upon? I'm not so vain as to attempt this with my own name, but I've been tormented with that pun (the light is on the fritz) so much in my life that it dawned on me to do a theme with similar well-recognized names that might be comprised of two names that are also functional words that might lend themselves to such punnery.

axlrosen:
First, I am sorry for your torment  :-[ I once worked with a guy named Karl Marx, so it could be worse!

I think this would be a perfectly good theme to do with famous people's names! Realise that you're asking about two very different things:

(1) Pun on a famous person's name
(2) Pun on your own name, or including your own name in a puzzle.

You seem to think these are the same but they're very different. In order for a pun to be fun, it has to pun on some commonly-recognizable thing.

Also, you seem to think that an editor won't notice that a puzzle submitted by Fritz Light contains the words FRITZ and LIGHT, but I think they would notice. And they might consider it a negative (i.e. egotistical). But, punning on famous people's names, that would be totally appropriate and much more fun.

flight:

--- Quote from: axlrosen on July 22, 2020, 02:04:23 AM ---Realise that you're asking about two very different things:

(1) Pun on a famous person's name
(2) Pun on your own name, or including your own name in a puzzle.

You seem to think these are the same but they're very different. In order for a pun to be fun, it has to pun on some commonly-recognizable thing.

Also, you seem to think that an editor won't notice that a puzzle submitted by Fritz Light contains the words FRITZ and LIGHT, but I think they would notice. And they might consider it a negative (i.e. egotistical). But, punning on famous people's names, that would be totally appropriate and much more fun.

--- End quote ---

Actually, I'm really not confused about your points. The pun on my own name is simply what gave rise to the thought of doing such a theme using well-known names/things (NOT my own name). I don't see how anyone would find solving my own nobody name punned in a puzzle as fun. That has never been in question, but I'm sorry if I didn't really clarify that in either of my previous posts. I also do not think that an editor would somehow miss or overlook my own name appearing in a puzzle. In fact, I'd expect that they most certainly would notice. I'm not sure how this confusion came into the discussion.

In any case, here's what I'm ultimately getting at: if Mrs. Iris Cardboard constructs a puzzle and finds herself in a position where using either IRIS or CARDBOARD (let alone both) would help her construct a solid puzzle, should she steer clear of using these entries solely because these words happen to be part of her actual name? My last name is a VERY common word and I'd prefer to not have to avoid using it just because it's also my last name. My gut tells me that I shouldn't hesitate to use LIGHT in a puzzle since it's such a common word; however, I can also see how it could still be construed as vain or egotistical. Using FRITZ, on the other hand, feels like it would be bad form, regardless.

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