Puzzle 356: Freestyle 318. It’s nice to get a second chance.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.42

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The things I learn when I write clues for these grids. This time, it was the origin of the saying “No good deed goes unpunished”. Sounds quite biblical, doesn’t it? That’s what I always thought. Nope… turns out its source is quite many years later than that, in the answer to a clue herein.

Oh, and a travel recommendation — of the two things mentioned in 41-Across, everyone and their mother has been to the latter, but, trust me, make it a point to go to the former. It is well worth it. With the marijuana mention in the last post and now this, you can just call me the Rick Steves of crossword constructing.

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Puzzle 355: Freestyle 317. Let’s not get carried away!

Last Friday’s Before-and-Aftergrams solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.31

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It’s 4/20, man! Put on some jam bands and spark up some cruciv-herb!

I love when two seed entries (like 14- and 17-Across) stack so well. Especially the longer ones. Having two entries you really, really like in one stack and still not having to be hamstrung that much to stack a good third entry is a nice feeling. I might like to own a 17-Across one day for the sheer novelty of it… I’m absolutely blown away that those things actually exist. I’m also blown away that things like 11-Down actually exist too, but for a way different reason. I should actually say that I’m blown away that people would pay money for 11-Downs… but I’m not one to judge, I suppose. To each their own.

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Puzzle 354: Freestyle 316. This may be of interest to you.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.36

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I don’t have much to say on this one. I took my typical style of intersecting two conversational entries at the middle square and went from there. I could have gone political with one of my clues (see if you can figure out which entry), but I stay as far away as possible from politically charged clues in my grids. We get bombarded enough with all the political baloney as it is, I don’t need to contribute to that climate by writing any politically one-sided clues.

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Puzzle 352: Freestyle 315. You’ll flip about this.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 68
Mean word length: 5.62

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So I had the staggered stack in the middle, obviously, from the start, but what I did not have originally were the 12-letter entries cutting through them. What was even farther from my mind was that one of the 12-letter entries was from my seed list and just happened to fit there (21-Down). There was originally another pair of squares which originally had the grid at 70 (7-Down was going to be five letters long), but I noticed I could break through cleanly in those two spots and that was that.

What you see as the clue for 37-Across, I swear to you, was the fourth full iteration for that entry. I had three completely different clues, and had second (third… fourth?) thoughts on each one of them before I arrived at this one. I’m pretty happy with that one (obviously, I kept it).

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Puzzle 351: Freestyle 314. Just give it a chance.

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.47

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This grid went through a rehaul in the upper right thanks to both second thoughts on my part and the efforts of test solving. Looking back, I’m wincing at why the heck I even sent out the original corner in the first place. Let’s put it this way — those two entries aren’t even in my word list anymore. And, worse, they even intersected each other. I probably would have been hanged in the crossword blogs (well, one in particular, for certain) for that crime.

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Puzzle 350: Freestyle 312. We’re getting the band back together.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.28

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For all those who look for a connection between the musical post and the grid, there really isn’t one here. I just wanted to post that because I think that that song has the quintessential hair-metal rock song title. I don’t often seed a proper name on the top row (like I did here at 6-Across) or the first column — and, to boot, I’m not at all a news watcher. But there it is, in all its glory.

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Puzzle 349: Freestyle 312. You have to earn your keep!

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.42

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One of the few times I have a grid spanner (8-Down, in this case) that wasn’t a seed entry. Usually, when I have an unplanned 15 or 13-letter entry, you’ll see the word count at 70 or less, because it means I found a pair of blocks I could take out to make it a grid spanner. But, this time, I added a pair in the upper right/lower left to compensate. Actually, the reason I had an unplanned 15 was because I built the upper left first and didn’t like the options for a five-letter word (the center column was originally 5-3-5)… so I found I could extend it to a 15 and have a much more desirable entry.

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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 Tuesday!