Puzzle 109: Themed Puzzle 4, The Pressure’s On! Don’t feel the crunch…

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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I decided to change it up a bit and do an average-difficulty themed grid. I know that it’s not often that I publish a themed grid here, but it’s nice (for me, but also, I hope, for you) to do something different once in a while, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not the usual 11-12-12-11 with a revealer kind of themed grid, but it is definitely not a freestyle. It’s hard for me to say too much more without giving anything away, so I’ll just set this puzzle down gently on this virtual table here and back away slowly so you can have it all to yourself.

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

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Puzzle 108: Freestyle 79. Not too shabby, if you ask me.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 70
Mean word length: 5.46

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Appearance was, of course, the main impetus for this grid. I don’t often like to have large swaths of the grid closed off, like I’ve done with this grid in two spots. But I feel like I left the sections open enough to avoid the feel of having “mini-puzzles” instead of consistent flow.

The center 15s and the center 7 were the first entries in the grid; the priority, obviously, was to get two entries from the seed list at 7- and 8-Down without forcing it too much. If I could get the center section to mesh, then the four corner sections could be pretty much filled independently of each other. Of course, it wouldn’t have made much sense to work from the corners out, because leaving the longer entries for last usually doesn’t work too well. Originally, the upper left and lower right were going to be triple stacks of 11, but I found that to be too constraining. I was getting fills manually that way, but it wasn’t coming out too well. Adding that pair of blocks to make it 70 instead of 68 made all the difference.

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

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Puzzle 107: Freestyle 78. Mmm, chicken cutlets.

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.44

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Again I’ve gravitated toward the 8×6 formation. I guess it’s my bread and butter, my go-to grid… I seem to do best with this shape. Maybe it’s because I can always fit so many seed entries with this pattern… I got six of them in this grid. It’s funny, I started out looking to make a triple-15 stack for this grid, but I found I really wasn’t in the mood. It may sound odd hearing that, but I guess I can compare it to eating at a buffet. You can see something a little exotic that you haven’t had in a while and put it on your plate. But sometimes, by the time you get back to the table, you take a couple bites, then you push it off to the side and go back up to get the old reliable breaded chicken cutlet. The chicken cutlet you know you’ll like even though you’ve had it a thousand times. The 8×6 grid format is my breaded chicken cutlet.

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

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Puzzle 106: Freestyle 77. Starting a second revolution.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.28

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This post (well, the day after this post, really) marks the first anniversary of the launch of this website. Since I just keep plugging along on these puzzles, this sort of snuck up on me. I’m happy to have entertained you for this long, and I don’t plan on stopping at any time soon! I’ve developed a good rhythm in my grid construction pattern… I’ve settled into a groove here. Don’t confuse a groove for a rut, though.

What about the puzzle now? Ah yes, the puzzle. The two seeds were the fourteens at 20-Across and 52-Across, obviously. But I also managed to get 24-Across and 42-Down in there from my seed list. The most stubborn part of the grid was the top center/top left; it was downright intractable for quite a while. I almost scrapped 24-Across as a seed entry, in fact — actually, I did take it out to fill that corner, but it worked out that I was actually able to put it back in.

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

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

Puzzle 105: Freestyle 76. What better occasion to say “thank you” than on Thanksgiving?

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.25

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As I write this, I’m winding down from another wonderful Thanksgiving that has reinforced just how much I have to be thankful for. It’s a good occasion to pause and meditate on what you’re thankful and grateful for. I’m also very thankful that you all keep coming back to solve my creations! I’m coming up on my first anniversary of the launch of this site, and I’m thankful for the messages of appreciation I’ve gotten in this past year. Please… feedback means everything to me, so don’t hesitate to communicate with me.

I set this up to look like a grid with a theme (hence the lower-than-normal average word length). Including a more-than-usual amount of 4-letter and 5-letter entries can get a little dicey, but I left more than enough room for some color in the grid. 23-, 30-, 38-, and 45-Across were all entries from my seed list; this grid configuration made it easier than usual to choose my seed entries with some degree of freedom. Not much in terms of flashy stacking in this one, but I hope that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.

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

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

Puzzle 104: Freestyle 75. Time to blow off some steam.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.50

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27 blocks, 72 words. Correct me if I’m wrong, fellow crossgeeks, but I’m pretty sure that’s the fewest number of blocks possible for a (edit: practical) 72-word 15×15 grid. (edit: thanks to Jason Mueller for pointing out a 21-square grid with 72 words. It involves four intersecting triple-stacks of 15 around the edges of the grid. Really, really friggin’ hard to fill, but he’s technically right. Thanks Jason!) These grids with the intersecting 7×7 stacks are my favorite to make because they provide the best opportunity for sparkle — there are 32 entries longer than 6 letters out of 72 total entries. I’m trying to dispel the notion that these are the most boring kinds of grids to solve — I’ve read it occasionally on the blogs and forums — because shorter entries automatically equal less colorful entries to some. I like the challenge of packing as much color as I can into shorter entries without losing surrounding quality.

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

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

 

Puzzle 103: Freestyle 74. Giving you something to go on.

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 70
Mean word length: 5.63

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Constructing this grid brought me down into dupe hell. No less than three separate times did I think I was done constructing this grid when I discovered dupes in the grid. Not subtle ones, but head-slapping “how could I not have noticed that” ones. Twice, the dupe was four letters long, and the other time the dupe was with two entries in the same section of the grid. There’s a phenomenon called “target fixation” in which someone, like an auto racer or fighter pilot, becomes so focused on avoiding something in a vehicle that they actually crash into it. Maybe that explains why it took me four full attempts to rid the grid of dupes — I was focused on not having any dupes the second and third time so much that I ended up not noticing obvious dupes two more times than I should have!

My favorite thing that I learned, by far, from this grid is the name at 38-Across. I so wish that were true!

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

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Puzzle 102: Freestyle 73. Here to lend a helping hand.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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Word count: 72
Mean word length: 5.33

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It’s always nice when you can stack seed entries. 66- and 68-Across were the basis for this grid; 1- and 17-Across also came from the seed list. I die a little inside, though, whenever I have to split up stacks, like I had to do in the northeast and southwest. Those were originally three 8’s stacked with three diagonal stripes of black squares across the middle of the grid, but it wasn’t working out with one of the stacks. And when it just isn’t working out, just like in real life, you have to break it up. I cringe whenever I have to add three-letter entries that I originally didn’t think I need, but it was for the better, folks. I promise.

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

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Puzzle 101: Freestyle 72. The start of a new century.

Last Friday’s freestyle solution

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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!

I was going to construct another grid with a gaping middle stack like I did a couple of weeks ago, but that didn’t go as well as this one. I tried to make it even more expansive than that, but it didn’t come together. Maybe another time.

Believe it or not, 40-Across was not initially a seed in this grid! I am by no means a fan of that book series, but I know a seed list entry when I hear one. I put it in my seed list, but didn’t intend to use it… until the opportunity miraculously (sorta) presented itself in the southwest. 38- and 39-Down were, as you might surmise, the starters for this grid; generally, I constructed this one from bottom to top on the right, then from bottom to top on the left.

My favorite thing that I learned from this puzzle was in 34-Down… I think that’s a factor of awful luck more than anything. Didn’t seem to hurt their success, tho.

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

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

Puzzle 100: Freestyle 71. A round number for a square grid.

Last Tuesday’s freestyle solution

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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!

***GEEKY CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTING CONTENT TO FOLLOW***

The original form of this grid was a bit different than the one you see here. Originally, it wasn’t two 10s stacked with a 15; the two black squares that now divide 14-Down from 25-Down and 6-Down from 26-Down had been stacked below the black square between 1-Across and 6-Across. With the original arrangement, I found that I didn’t have as much room for sparkly longer entries, so I changed it. It would have had the same mean word length, but the word length distribution would have been more even; there weren’t as many longer entries. (I never considered taking out the black square between 1- and 6-Across, though.)

***END OF GEEKY CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTING CONTENT***

My favorite thing that I learned from this puzzle was in 44-Down… nothing should surprise me about that man at this point, though.

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

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