Puzzle 55: Wordominoes 3. Time to employ some circular logic.

Last Friday’s Anagram Crossword solution

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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 triply-checked grid strikes again! In case you missed it, my first two Wordominoes puzzles are here and here. Each letter in this grid goes in an answer across, down, and around. As with a regular crossword, I started with the longest answer (16 letters, in this case), and also just like a regular crossword (but unlike my first two of these grids), I didn’t finish with the same cage configuration that I started with. It’s a little harder to change around the lines after you’ve constructed much of this kind of puzzle, but it worked out very smoothly for me this time and I didn’t have to tear out much of the grid at all. (For the record, it was in the upper right.)

I’ll be back with another freestyle crossword puzzle, of course, on Tuesday. The answer to Freestyle 33 will appear there too. But I hope this will tide you over until then.

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

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Puzzle 29: Wordominoes 2. Coming back for another go-around.

Last Friday’s Letter Banks solution

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I had so much fun making the first Wordominoes puzzle, and I got some positive feedback on it, so I’m back with another one! (That’s what it’s all about, no? If you enjoy it most of all, and if I enjoy creating it second of all, it was a success.) Click on the link if you missed the first one or if you don’t remember how it works. Essentially, each letter is a part of three answers in the grid: one going across, one going down, and one going clockwise in a “cage”.

Though this isn’t a normal crossword puzzle, the construction process is pretty similar to one. I started with a blank grid, drew the cages in, manipulated them a little (the 12-letter entry was originally two 6-letter entries until I figured, “What the hell, I’ll erase the bar in the middle”), and started with the longest entry (in cage 6). Everything stemmed from that original cage, and I worked from right to left to construct this. Owing to the nature of this puzzle, I had to make the words in the cages the focus of my construction, while keeping in mind the constraint of keeping the sequences of letters in rows and columns to be actual words. I had to keep reminding myself that each letter was triply checked; a couple of times during construction, I had a word that fit perfectly in a cage and in the rows, but noticed (luckily not too late) that — oops — the column didn’t make a word.

I’ll be back with another crossword puzzle, of course, on Tuesday. The answer to Freestyle Puzzle 17 will appear there too. But I hope this will tide you over until then.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! Let me know how you did! What did you like? What could I do better? Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavements? Do you think that an image of Mary Magdalene in a chicken salad sandwich would sell on eBay? If I need to rest and recharge, would a bath filled with battery acid do the trick?

As always, share this link! Pass it around!

Puzzle 14: Wordominoes. This’ll have you going around in circles, across, and down.

Last Friday’s Split Decisions Two Ways solution

Get the PDF here!

Like last week’s puzzle, this one also had to be constructed by hand on graph paper, and like last week’s puzzle, this one was a difficult but fun and rewarding experience to finish constructing. Essentially, each letter in this crossword is in three answers (or, as we like to call it, “triply checked”): one going across, one going down, and one moving clockwise in a “cage”. The puzzle is a 10×10 grid divided into sixteen “cages”. There are three sets of clues: one for the cages, one for the rows, and one for the columns. The clues for the cages are in order; the clues for the rows and columns are grouped by row and by column, but the groups are randomly arranged. You’ll see how it works when you open the link. So how do you go about solving this thing? It’s hard to say; there’ll probably be a strategy for each one of you who solves this puzzle.

Originally, the idea I tried to execute was to make sort of like a mix between a crossword and KenKen. This involved actually trying to make this work in an 8×8 grid WITHOUT REPEATING A LETTER IN ANY ROW OR COLUMN. Yup, I actually tried that. It took me less than a day to realize that this wasn’t  gonna happen.

I’ll be back with another crossword puzzle, of course, on Tuesday. The answer to Freestyle Puzzle 8  will appear there too. But I hope this will tide you over until then.

As always, I’d like to know, folks… comment is welcome! Come say hello! Let me know how you did! What did you like? What could I do better? Ever thought of calling when you’ve had a few? ‘Cause I always do. Shouldn’t it really be “You couldn’t even cut the tension with a knife”? Could you imagine the merciless teasing that Wee Willie Winkie must have received in school?

As always, share this link! Pass it around!