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I felt like going for interlock instead of the stack for the long answers in this one — another offload of 14-letter entries, which I seem to come up with faster than I can use. (That’s ok… rather have more options than less.) With these kinds of grids, I don’t want to say that construction is easy, but once you get the interlock to work, the construction goes along a little smoother than usual.
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Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.
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1-Across was the seed entry for a very specific reason. It’s about the 2018 Olympics, which were already three months ago. I think that’s just enough time such that you haven’t been thinking about the Olympics for a while, but you’d probably go “Oh yeah, I remember that name!” (if you initially forgot, of course) once you filled in the entry. I’d probably do the same thing if I were solving this grid like the rest of you.
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Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.
As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!
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I’ve had a few people ask about the Split Decisions Two Ways puzzles, so I’m back with another one! If you’re not familiar with the original Split Decisions puzzle, created by the great George Bredehorn and passed down to the also great Fred Piscop (who creates them for the New York Times variety page occasionally), it’s a crossword that involves pairs of words that differ by only two consecutive letters; you’re given the letter pairs only and the puzzle is to figure out the pairs of words from the letter pairs. My version gives a bit of a twist to it, as the “split decision” boxes are to be read both across and down. Don’t worry, there are instructions if you don’t know what I’m talking about! Here’s a history of my past Split Decisions Two Ways posts if you find this one intriguing…
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Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.
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I’m back to earth from last week’s crazy 64-word grid. Some of you may have been worried about me because of that and I appreciate your concern. Not only am I back to earth, but I’m back to a mainstay of my constructing — four eight-letter stacks. I came upon a recent run of eight-letter seeds, so there you have it. You can find them at 1-Down, 37-Down, 16-Across, 18-Across, and 39-Down. Go crazy, folks!
Thanks so much to all who’ve left a tip! It’s much appreciated, believe me.
Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.
As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!
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Thank you for putting up with my total fanboying from the last post… more about the grid on this post. I went a little crazy on this one. I originally planned on 66 — I even got quite a ways through the grid (the middle and then upper left and lower right done) before I discovered that I could take out a pair of blocks and still build the grid pretty smoothly. I didn’t expect to make a four-wide or four-tall stack — I almost never do that on this site (though I did it four times in this grid).
Thanks so much to all who’ve left a tip! It’s much appreciated, believe me.
Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.
As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Tuesday!
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You’ll have to excuse me for this tangent, but I just can’t help it. There’s a little bit of a departure on the song selection today… it has nothing to do with any of the clues in the grid. I’m posting that song because my wife and I were at that concert where the video was taken, last Saturday in Boston. I am a huge fan of Jessie Ware. She is my favorite musical act. I listen to her whole discography every Monday at work to help ease me into the work week. It’s hard to explain, and I’m sure many of you have experienced the same feeling, but there are only a handful of musical acts that have given me a “religious experience” upon listening, and she is at the top of that list. I even remember where I was when that experience happened — I was listening to her second album, Tough Love, on my iPod on a flight to Salt Lake City a few years ago when it happened. I got completely lost in the aura of the music and was transported into another dimension.
We were standing right up front, stage right, at the Paradise Rock Club (there aren’t any seats at the venue), a very cool place to see a concert. The sound quality of the video (which I didn’t take) is a tad off in spots, but you’ll get the gist of the performance. I’ve been into her music since soon after she released her first album in 2012, and this is, at long last, the first time that I’ve gotten a chance to see her live. I don’t mean to gush, but seeing her walk out on stage for the first time was surreal; the whole concert experience was very, very special. Her musical style, not to mention the way she presents it, of course, just hits all the right notes for me. Her voice in concert was just as I have heard so many times listening to her albums — simply ethereal. She and her band were so on point, she worked the crowd so well during the songs, and she was funny and entertaining between songs. It was, all-around, all that I thought it would be and much, much more.
I guess the (coincidental) inclusion of 37-Across in this grid was appropriate, as I really did have to come back to Earth after leaving that concert venue that night. (See, I did relate it to the crossword grid after all!)
Thanks so much to all who’ve left a tip! It’s much appreciated, believe me.
Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.
As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!
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When expert test solvers talk, I listen. Two of them got seriously hung up on the upper left corner of this grid, to the point where one of them had to resort to Google to continue. And, because I definitely don’t want you all to have the same experience, I eased up on a couple of clues for key entries in that section (much as easing up on clues is almost always like pulling teeth to me!) so it would be fair.
I’ve been tickled by the concept of 28-Down in this grid. The entry sounds like a joke if you don’t delve into the context of it, but these are apparently extremely effective at their stated purpose…
Thanks so much to all who’ve left a tip! It’s much appreciated, believe me.
Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.
As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Tuesday!
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By Tim Croce ||| Original freestyle crossword puzzles on Tuesdays at 6pm Eastern ||| Original puzzles (sometimes more freestyles, sometimes variety puzzles or even themed puzzles) on Fridays at 6pm Eastern
