Puzzle 294: Freestyle 259. Don’t just dismiss this.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.39

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!

One of the seed answers here  (18-Across) was an entry that was on my seed list probably almost as long as I’ve been posting these grids. Make of that what you will… I think it’s a great entry, but it just seems like I kept forgetting about it until now. Ironically enough, the other seed, symmetrically opposite it, just very recently popped into the seed list.

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!

Advertisements

Puzzle 293: Freestyle 258. A change for the better.

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.50

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 not often that I have an entry and clue as a seed before starting a grid, but that was definitely the case here (64-Across). Often I actually find it easier to start at the bottom or the very right hand side of a stack and build up from there rather than working in the normal left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order.

I don’t normally bring up what I don’t like about my own grids, but I will this time because it’s very minor — a random Roman numeral is in the grid! I’m kinda sheepish about it… yes, I decided to accept it as a compromise for a good stack.

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 292: Freestyle 257. It’s not a mystery…

Last Tuesday’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!

Not to give anything away, but the seed entry, which was (for once, actually!) at 1-Across, I don’t actually ever have any use for. Usually seed entries come from life experiences, things I hear people say, etc., but I came across this randomly (ironically enough, I think it was while I was writing a clue for another grid). Also, I got a subtle kick in the butt when not one but two test-solvers found a particular entry obscure… but I was, luckily, able to change out 47-Across and do it without affecting more than ten entries. So that was relatively painless.

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 291: Freestyle 256. A job well done!

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 was actually scheduled to appear a few weeks ago. The reason it didn’t is because I noticed an entry that would’ve been in back to back grids. Now, it was only a five-letter entry, so it may or may not have been a tad picky or ridiculous on my part, but it obviously bothered me enough that I moved the schedule around to account for that.

The seed was 50-Across, which would be obvious if you know me (well, the first word in the clue is “sarcastic”, so that should clue you in…). I was slightly saddened to confirm in my research for the clue for 47-Across that it is a discontinued product. Truth be told, when I was young, I’d eat it straight out of the container.

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 290: Freestyle 255. Get along, Kid Charlemagne.

Rest in peace, Walter Becker.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.39

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 one for the “somebody’s lips to my grid” category (18-Across). Nothing much to say other than that, really. My normally prolix self is strongly fighting the urge to hit the “post” button now, but I’m gonna do it.

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 289: Freestyle 254. You’re in prime position.

Last Friday’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!

Watch out, two 70-entry grids in a row! Entries with two grid spanners intersecting at the center, like this one, tend to have 70 instead of 72 because the black squares just work out that way. 13-Down was an entry that found its way into an earlier grid, but had to be revised out because of, I think, a dupe (it’s easy to blame it on a dupe). But you can’t keep a good entry down, and so it reappears!

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 288: Freestyle 253. It’s a jungle out there.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 70
Mean word length: 5.51

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 the amount of people, both familiar and strange to me, who have directly inspired the entries in my grid. The funnier part is, with the exception of one person — my wife — they have no idea that something they said came out of their lips directly into my grid. 35-Across is the entry I’m talking about here — they said it, and some sort of light bulb went off in my head and I immediately went to work on it. Whenever someone says something that ends up in a grid, it’s not a certain type of phrase I’m consciously looking for, but more an odd feeling I get… almost like those words exited their mouth, went into my ear through a trap door, and wouldn’t get out unless they made their way into a grid.

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!