September 11: Fully Freehand Fhemeless #4 (Frisco17, Good Clues for People Who Love Bad Clues)
September 18: AVCX Cryptic 9/18/25 (Liam Hughes, AVCX)
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Fully Freehand Fhemeless #4 (Frisco17)
Lately, Frisco's been doing some wild things with freehand, asymmetrical themelesses, a type of puzzle dear to my heart. They're often built around wide-open center stacks, and this one is no exception, but I laughed out loud when I saw exactly what Frisco did with this stack: four ___ THE ___ advertising phrases (ENJOY THE GO, DO THE DEW, OUTPIZZA THE HUT, TASTE THE RAINBOW) right on top of each other. What I love is that these sorts of stacks tend to force the constructor to get creative with the crossings and surrounding fill - I don't know if Willy Wonka's YOU GET NOTHING or Ducky from The Land Before Time's YEP YEP YEP or Margaret's ARE YOU THERE GOD? were on Frisco's wordlist before, but they feel like the type of phrases that were needed to will the grid into submission and that, nevertheless, are perfectly legit entries and indeed assets. I'm not an iPhone user or a video game knower, but I imagine the same is true of BLUE BUBBLE and Clash Royale's HE HE HE HAW. Delightful zaniness all around, so much so that I can forgive a random vowelless entry (VLN for VIOLIN) and the variant spelling BEDUIN.
AVCX Cryptic 9/18/25 (Liam Hughes)
This cryptic is apparently Liam's first published puzzle anywhere, and it's certainly an auspicious start. As a cryptic setter, I tend to be obsessed with making the surfaces hang together, and based on this puzzle, Liam seems to have a similar obsession. The indicators are always perfectly chosen to fit the surface:
- "bounced" in [Personality drinking Red Bull bounced pecs, etc.] for FLEXORS
- "tossing and turning" in [Tossing and turning, may seek sleep aid] for EYE MASK
- "blocking any estrogen" in [A way to conceive: induce eggs, blocking any estrogen] for IN VITRO
There are also just a whole bunch of clues that highlight wordplay finds that tickle my brain:
- [Annoying nightcore remix] for HECTORING was literally on my list of clues to use at some point
- [Out of creamer, I can only get black coffee] for AMERICANO is a beautiful find, and it's crossing the beautifully surfaced [Filter out coffee's dregs at the bottom of each drink] for PERCOLATE
- [Italian dish made with ingredients of gelati, in different amounts] for TAGLIATELLE makes use of an extremely fortuitous letter-bank pairing of TAGLIATELLE/GELATI
- [Guest feature: T-Pain -- shit slaps, I danced] for THIS IS SPINAL TAP has a definition that, by itself, would be a top-tier themeless clue, and it's paired with a lovely anagram to boot
