Puzzle 284: Freestyle 249. Here comes trouble!

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 70
Mean word length: 5.31

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

I think I’ve made more of these 12-13-14 and 13-14-15 stacks than triple 15s for this site, though I think the latter is much more frequently made, I want to say. I wonder why, because obviously triple 15s are harder to make. Maybe constructors don’t like the look of a chunk of black squares in the corners? I don’t know. Plus a stairstep design makes “turning the corner” from the horizontal stacks to the vertical while constructing much easier. Many a time have I built a long stack that I love, only to find that the mini-stack intersecting it can’t be filled — the old fly in the ointment.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!

Puzzle 283: Freestyle 248. Welcome to the main event!

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.28

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

I always have my ear open for seed ideas… always. The seed entry, 15-Across, for this grid came to me from a meeting I was in on at work. I couldn’t believe I’d never heard that term before. Don’t worry, my mind didn’t go blank the rest of the meeting trying to remember it (it was a portion of the meeting that wasn’t even remotely relevant to my department’s interests)… I confess that I bring a Post-It pad to every meeting not only to write down relevant points from the meeting but also to write down a seed entry juuuust in case one comes to me or someone says something eminently crossworthy.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Tuesday!

Puzzle 282: Freestyle 247. Show us how it’s done!

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 70
Mean word length: 5.46

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

Of course the grid started with the intersecting spanners across and down the center, but in no way was I planning to have bonus ten-letter entries like I put at 19- and 56-Across. That is, if you believe me… because I just happened to be able to fit in a seed-list entry at 56-Across that I didn’t see coming. That’s why it’s 70 words instead of 72 — I totally had what’s now 19- and 56-Across as separate 3- and 6-letter entries split by a black square, but it worked out better, after I built the upper right, to extend that entry all the way to the edge. Actually, it’d be more accurate to say that it worked out, period… because there weren’t any good options with a 6-letter entry having those last four letters. There were, however, plenty more 10s with that ending, strange as it may sound. So I opened it up a little bit.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!

Puzzle 281: Freestyle 246. You’re not serious, are you?

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.33

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

You may remember that I described in an earlier post how a grid that was originally slated for a particular day was pushed back here. Well, here’s that grid I was talking about. The concern was a very similar entry to a previous grid, and I think we’re far enough apart timewise that it isn’t an issue anymore.

The upper left corner was changed thanks to test-solvers’ comments — I originally had an entry at 1-Down that was a nice, gnarly letter combination, but it was a proper noun that, it turns out, probably wasn’t well-known enough to occupy the corner of a grid. It was in my seed list, too. Oh well. That’s partly what test-solvers are for, and they put that entry in its rightful place in cruciverbal purgatory.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Tuesday!

Puzzle 280: Freestyle 245. May the force be with you.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.28

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

I don’t usually have any six or more-by-four open swaths of white squares in my grids, because that’s when stacks usually get very difficult to construct. But that’s what became of this grid. It was going to be that the upper left and lower right were isolated — the symmetrical block pair you’ll see splitting 1-/25-Down and 37-Down/54-Down was originally splitting what’s now 19-Across and 52-Across. That worked out fine with me, because the overall grid flow is much better anyways.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!

Puzzle 279: Freestyle 244. Let’s keep this under wraps.

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.22

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

So, before I talk about today’s grid I want to point your attention to a new puzzle site by wunderkind Paolo Pasco. He’s a welcome addition to the crucisphere, and what kind of person are you if you can say no to more good puzzles?!

Another 7×7 offering, which, as I always say, is always interesting to construct. The top center underwent a minor renovation after the round of test-solving because, mainly, of one entry. It’s definitely in the modern lexicon, and I’ve used it on at least one other occasion on this site, but it was in sort of a knotty place. So it was best removed. I mean, it only changed eleven entries, so it wasn’t too earth-shaking… and it made the section better.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Tuesday!

Puzzle 278: Freestyle 243. That’s crossing the line.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 70
Mean word length: 5.57

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

The grid got the upgrade to 70 words mainly because I liked the look of the grid (a rare reason for a grid design for me) and because I wanted the intersecting 15s (a common reason for a grid design for me). I could have split the 8-letter downs adjacent to the vertical grid spanner to make 72, but that would have made it look weird. That’s not a normal reason for me not to do something with a grid (it’s almost always related to the fill), but, again, I was going with a certain aesthetic, and that’s what I stuck with.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!

Puzzle 277: Freestyle 242. You have to crawl before you can walk.

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.25

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

Another staggered central stack, this time with 13-letter entries. Normally, that would force a stairstep-shaped chunk of 6 blocks on either side of the middle to prevent 15s from running down either side, but I found that I could include two interesting 15s to intersect the central stack. Since that gave me a little extra flexibility in terms of making word count work around the rest of the grid, I went for it.

Also, 27-Down is a shining example that I learn something every time I write clues for a grid. I was not aware of this until doing a bit of research on the answer entry…

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Tuesday!

Puzzle 276: Freestyle 241. Don’t be alarmed…

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.28

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

It’s funny how things work out. There was a particular entry that I wanted to include in a recent grid… but it didn’t quite work out, so I had to slightly change the entry to make it a lot less interesting than the original. Come this grid, I wasn’t even trying to do this, but it just worked out that that entry, in its original, more exciting form, presented itself in this grid. Not only did it happen to make its way into this grid, but it’s at the same position that the entry occupied in the recent grid too! Maybe you’ll remember it, maybe not. But sometimes the cruciverbal gods work in funny ways.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Friday!

 

 

Puzzle 275: Freestyle 240. Have a ball!

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.33

Have something you wanna say? Got a question? Want to do a guest freestyle? Want to collaborate on a freestyle? Want to just say hello? Hit me up by email!

This grid went on a really, really wild ride before it saw the light of day here. I had originally planned to put another grid in this space, but realized that it had a very similar entry to one in the grid that I posted a week ago. Bear in mind that this was on a Thursday evening, and I send grids to test solvers a week in advance of their post date. I’ve been working ahead a little bit to complete two grids so I can post them while I’m on vacation, so I had two spare grids at the ready — problem is, neither of them were at all clued. So I had to go like a maniac and write all 72 clues Thursday evening and Friday to send out this grid. After I’d sent it out, my test solvers noticed an issue in one of the corners… so it went through still another revision to wipe out and reconstruct an entire corner (the upper left, in case you’re curious). Then I sent that revision to my test solvers for a quick turnaround… and so you see the result of all that here.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! What did you like? What could I do better?

Thanks as always to the test solvers for their input.

As always, share this link! Pass it around! New puzzle on Tuesday!