Category Archives: Crosswords

Crosswords

Puzzle 423: Freestyle 382. Spare no expense.

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Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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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!

I don’t know why I do this kind of structure more often. I created some “pockets” in the upper left and lower right, a bit closed off from the rest of the grid but not enough to be potentially frustrating for the solver. They make it much easier to construct a grid, and they aren’t so closed off that they don’t become puzzles-within-a-puzzle.

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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Crosswords

Puzzle 422: Freestyle 381. You’re in the right place at the right time.

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Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 68
Mean word length: 5.79

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 could’ve made it a lot easier for myself on this grid too. I had two staggered stacks, one vertical and one horizontal, intersecting in the middle. It’s pretty hard to intersect long stacks with long stacks. I could have extended the diagonal line of black squares one more toward the center, made it 72, and called it a day. But, I don’t know, I’ve been in a bit of an adventurous mood lately.

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!

Crosswords

Puzzle 421: Freestyle 380. You shouldn’t have!

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Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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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!

With these 7×7 grids that I like to challenge myself with every now and again, the goal for me is to get at least three, preferably four, “interesting” entries in each corner. There’s at least one entry from my seed list in each of the four corners, and I build the whole grid from those. The first thing I do is to see if two entries from my seed list will stack well, which they did in one case here — I call that a bonus when that happens.

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!

Crosswords

Puzzle 420: Freestyle 379. I’m on your side.

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Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 68
Mean word length: 5.62

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 low word count (well, for me) can be ascribed to my original intention — I wanted a simple interlock of long answers. The ones I chose just eventually allowed a more wide-open grid design than normal. I was particularly tickled that one of the entries in the grid happened to host the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. Folks, I looked up some of the pictures of these dogs, and the name of that contest is no mistake, believe me. Somehow a lot of them still manage to be cute, though.

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!

Crosswords

Puzzle 419: Freestyle 378. I couldn’t be happier.

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Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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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!

The tried-and-true 8×6 stack design makes another appearance here. I don’t usually like to use two proper names in one stack, but I did here because I liked the way it got the grid flowing, so to speak. I actually did it twice, technically. What I don’t ever do, period, is include two obscure-ish ones in the same stack. That just makes for unhappy solvers and lots of blank corners, which I don’t at all want.

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!

Crosswords

Puzzle 418: Freestyle 377. The truth is out there.

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Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.36

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!

Spoiler alert — you may notice that a major entry that I used recently in a grid features prominently in a clue for this one. It must have been in my head subconsciously, because I realized this after I finished and uploaded the grid.

Also, no, I did not try to fill the grid originally without the single block in the upper right and lower left. 8×4 white spaces are a real bear to fill, and, to use a phrase the kids these days may or may not still be saying, I just couldn’t even.

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!

Crosswords

Puzzle 417: Freestyle 376. Only the freshest grid here… no leftovers.

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Last Friday’s freestyle solution

Get the PDF here!

Get the PUZ here!

Word count: 68
Mean word length: 5.74

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 hope all who celebrate in America had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was great, as always. Aside from the more-discussed seed list, I also have a running seed clue list that I pluck from occasionally. This time, two of the seed clue/entry pairs inspired the whole grid — usually, one of the longest answers is the seed in this grid, but not this time. 15-Across and 59-Across were the seeds I’m referring to here.

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!