The Joy of Puzzling: Word Sandwiches (CONTEST!)

In this two-part contest, you'll get to solve a puzzle, learn how it was made, and try your hand at making your own puzzle!

Part I. Solve a Puzzle!

THE JOY OF PUZZLING: WORD SANDWICHES

(click here for a PDF version)

Write the answers to the CENTERS clues in the correspondingly-numbered white spaces, then add one letter to each end in the highlighted spaces to form the answers to the WHOLES clues (which are in no particular order). The letters you have added, reading down the left and right sides, will spell a two-word phrase. In the example, the words EVER, PIN, RANG, and OWE become REVERB, OPINE, ORANGE, and TOWER; the letters on the sides spell ROOT BEER.

The final answer is the two-word phrase spelled out in the end spaces. After solving, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing [answer] with the answer (leaving out the space), to learn how this puzzle was constructed and get tips on constructing your own!

CENTERS
1. ____ Pray Love (2010 film)
2. Stanza
3. Spasm
4. A unit of weight measurement
5. Uppermost room in a house
6. Mature

WHOLES
* Grid
* New York city in which Superintendent Chalmers never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed hams"
* Passing
* Stoked
* Supervise
* Was like a bad check

Send your answer to the above puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com before 11:59 PM Central time on June 24, 2019 to enter Part I of the contest. After the deadline, one random entrant with the correct answer will win a copy of my new board game TAILITS!

IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT A PUZZLE TO ENTER THIS PART OF THE CONTEST.

Part II. Make a Puzzle!

Now you get to write your own Word Sandwiches puzzle! To learn how I made the above puzzle, go to tinyurl.com/tjop-[answer], replacing "[answer]" in the URL with the puzzle's final answer in lowercase letters (omitting the space). It is not necessary, however, to visit this URL or even solve the above puzzle to enter this part of the contest. Your puzzle must obey all of these rules:

* The final answer must be two words of equal length, between 3 and 10 letters long, spelled by the letters added to the fronts and backs of the CENTERS words to make the WHOLES.
* All entries must be at least 3 letters long.
* The clues for the CENTERS must be in the correct order to spell the final answer phrase; the WHOLES clues must be alphabetized.
* No entry may be repeated. (Come the heck on now.)

You are allowed to seek the assistance of one test-solver to make sure the puzzle you send me doesn't have any typos, inaccurate clues, or other bad things Ryan won't like, and to ensure the puzzle is fun to solve. To increase my chances that I receive high-quality puzzles without typos, the test-solver is eligible for the same prize as the constructor! Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say.

Send your completed puzzle, its answer, and the e-mail address of your test-solver (if you had one) to glmathgrant@gmail.com, before 11:59 PM Central time on June 24, 2019. After the deadline, I will then send the puzzles to Ryan Faley in random order and with no bylines. He will judge which puzzle he likes best; its constructor and its test-solver (if any) will both win copies of my new board game TAILITS! The winning entry (and honorable mentions, at our discretion) will also be reproduced on my blog for my readers' enjoyment. The following things are likely to win Ryan over:

* Fresh entries.
* Interesting overlaps.
* Interesting clues.
* PG-ratedness.

The following things will not win him over:

* Too many obscurities. (Don't use the Portuguese word for "tablecloth"!)
* R-rated things (I want to reproduce the winning entry on this highly PG-rated blog, so none of George Carlin's seven dirty words, for instance, should be in the clues or the answers).
* Etymological relatives, especially obvious ones like two compound words that share a root word in common, are frowned upon. (HEREABOUT and THEREABOUTS is not an interesting overlap.)
* Submitting the puzzle to Ryan instead of to me is an absolute no-no! No matter how good your puzzle is, if he knows who wrote it, he cannot trust his judgment to be completely impartial. Seeing the entries without knowing who wrote them ensures that the prize goes to the puzzle he likes the best, and not the person he likes the best. So again, DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PUZZLES TO RYAN!!!

You may only submit one puzzle, but you can change it at any time before the deadline. You may be the test-solver for any number of other entrants.

Good luck, and happy constructing!