Contest results: Rinks

Last week's contest puzzle, "Rinks," asked you to find a four-letter entry in the grid that would have made a good theme entry.

What were the actual theme entries? Well, there were four entries with numbers in brackets beside them:

SOAP OPERA (6)
CONCIERGE (4)
ESCORIAL (6)
JANELLE MONAE (7)

Each of those entries hides the name of a "rink" - a drink missing the letter D - and the number indicates the length of the rink:

SO(D)A POP
CI(D)ER
COR(D)IAL
LEMONA(D)E

So we're looking for a four-letter word that also hides a rink, and the answer is MEAN, which contains MEAD without the D. (I also would have accepted SORE, since RED can refer to a drink, but nobody submitted that.)

There were 45 correct submissions, and the randomly-chosen winner is Anna Gundlach, who receives a year's subscription to Bewilderingly. Congrats, Anna!

Puzzle #94: Rinks (contest puzzle)

This week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is a contest! The meta answer is a four-letter entry in the grid which could also have been a theme answer. Send in your answer to the email in the right sidebar by Sunday, December 23 at noon Eastern for a chance to win. A randomly chosen correct entry will win a year's subscription to Bewilderingly Puzzles (or, if they're already a subscriber, a puzzle subscription of their choice*).

*Other than PuzzleLux, that is. I'm not made of money!

Puzzle #93: Fifth Columnists

It's again been a while since I've posted a new one on the blog, so here's a mini puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) to tide you over for a bit. Enjoy!

Turning on the TV solution

Last week's meta puzzle, Turning on the TV, asked you to identify a TV show. What where the theme entries? Well, there were three entries with starred clues: HBCU, BASEBOARD, and COMET. The title suggests that turning is involved, and indeed, each of those entries forms a word if you turn right in the middle and go down until you hit a block:

HBO BASEBALL COMEDY is a description of the aptly-named show Eastbound & Down, which is the meta answer. Congrats to everyone who got it right!

Puzzle #92: Turning on the TV (meta)

Hey, it's been a few weeks since I've posted a new puzzle, so here's a meta (pdf, puz, pdf solution). The meta answer is a TV show. As always, feel free to email me your guesses or to ask for hints; I'll post the answer here next week.

I'd also like to link to the Kickstarter for The Inkubator, a project supporting puzzles by women, edited by Laura Braunstein and Tracy Bennett (who are both excellent constructors and excellent people). They've already reached their funding goal, but it still can't hurt to donate!

Puzzle #91: Is a Crossword a Sandwich?

A very small and very easy little puzzle this week (pdf, puz, pdf solution).

Suite Sixteen announcement + New One contest results

I'm very pleased to announce that Suite Sixteen, a set of 16 themeless puzzles designed to showcase 16-letter entries, is available now! It costs $10 Canadian (a steal for you Americans); head on over here for more details, for a free sample puzzle, and for a link to purchase the suite.

Speaking of Suite Sixteen, it was also the prize for last week's contest puzzle, New One. The contest asked you to identify a burger chain that would have made a good fifth theme entry. So what were the four theme entries in the grid? The most prominent Across answers were SWEATER WEATHER, WAIT WHAT, FEEL FREE, and THOUGHT THROUGH, all of which consist of two words where all but one of the letters are the same, and in the same order. (For example, both words in SWEATER WEATHER consist of the string WEATER plus one more letter.)

The burger chain that fits the pattern is SHAKE SHACK, as 76 solvers correctly sussed out. (A few solvers thought of Steak 'n Shake at first, but that doesn't quite fit the pattern.) The randomly chosen winner, who received a copy of Suite Sixteen, was Ed Brody. Congratulations!

Puzzle #90: New One (contest puzzle)

I return to bring you another contest puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution)! The meta answer is a burger chain which would make a good fifth theme answer. Send in your answers to wnediger@umich.edu by Sunday, September 2 at noon Eastern; a randomly chosen correct answer will win a copy of an upcoming suite of themeless puzzles.

Puzzle #89: Guest puzzle by Allegra Kuney

This week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is a fun guest puzzle by Allegra Kuney, who you might remember from this collaboration with Chris Adams, or from her contribution to the 2017 Indie 500. Enjoy the puzzle!

Cntst Pzzl results

Last week's vowelless contest puzzle asked you to identify an author.

The first thing to notice is that six of the entries have enumerations that don't match the actual answer. For example, 1-Across is clued as [Wrote illegibly (5 5)]. The answer is SCRWLD, representing SCRAWLED, so it should be enumerated (8). But the second thing to notice is that, with the given enumerations, each of those entries could also represent the name of an author - in this case, OSCAR WILDE. The authors are as follows:

Oscar Wilde (SCRWLD, scrawled)
Jane Austen (JNSTN, Jan Steen)
Anita Loos (NTLS, entails)
Dante (DNT, donate)
Euripides (RPDS, rapids)
Celeste Ng (CLSTNG, closeting)

The first letters of their last names (or the single names they're commonly known by, in the case of Dante and Euripides), spell out WALDEN, the title of a book by Henry David Thoreau. And Thoreau's last name has the same consonants as author (THR).

26 solvers submitted correct answers, and the randomly chosen winner is Ken Crowell, who receives a copy of Peter Broda's vowelless collection Made Without AEIOU. Congrats, Ken! If you didn't win, you should get yourself a copy of Made Without AEIOU anyway. At a price of "pay what you want," it's a bargain.

Puzzle #88: Cntst Pzzl

For the first time ever, we've got a contest puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) this week (and it's a vowelless, as you might guess from the title). Once you've solved the puzzle, there's a meta; the meta answer is an author. (The PDF solution file includes a list of the full answers for the curious, though of course it doesn't include the meta answer.)

The theme was inspired by Peter Broda's recent collection of vowelless puzzles, Made Without AEIOU. Peter has graciously offered to donate a copy of the collection for the winner. Send your answer to the email address in the right sidebar by Sunday at noon for a chance to win - a randomly chosen correct entry will win. (If you win and you've already bought a copy of Made Without AEIOU, we'll find another prize for you.) Good luck!

Puzzle #87: A Notable Difference

Puzzles two weeks in a row even though I said I'd be switching to an occasional schedule? Yeah, yeah, but current events moved me to post this one (pdf, puz, pdf solution). Content warning: If you're not in the mood to think about particularly upsetting current events right now, you may want to skip this one.

Puzzle #86: Overlaps

New puzzle this week (pdf, puz, pdf solution)!

Puzzle #85: What a Mess

Before the puzzle, an announcement: Starting this week, I'm switching from a weekly schedule to an "occasional" schedule. The main reason is that there are so many good new crosswords out there now, including the Puzzle Society daily and the New Yorker puzzles on Mondays, plus Dave Murchie's Monday Fills. Don't want to overwhelm the solvers! Of course, if you want a weekly dose of bewilderment, you can still subscribe to the Thursday puzzles (see the right sidebar).

Also before the puzzle, the answer to last week's meta, which asked you to identify the outcome of the game depicted in the grid. As some people guessed just from the title, "Hugs and Kisses," the game was tic-tac-toe, depicted using the X's and O's in the grid.

As you can see, the game (like all tic-tac-toe games by players who know their stuff) is a tie. A bunch of solvers even submitted the answer "cat's game," thus teaching me the term for a tied game in tic-tac-toe!

And finally, on to this week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution).

Puzzle #84: Hugs and Kisses (meta)

It's been a while since I've posted a meta! The answer to this week's meta (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is the outcome of the game depicted in the grid. As always, my email is open.

Puzzle #83: Manspreading

My subscription service turns a year old this week! You can sign up at any time (see the right sidebar), but even if you're not a subscriber you can also buy a selection of some of my favorite puzzles from the first year - just shoot me an email.

Onto this week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution)!

Puzzle #82: Pop Quiz (with Amanda Chung and Karl Ni)

I say "with Amanda Chung and Karl Ni," but this puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is really their brainchild; the theme and the fill is pretty much all them. If you haven't checked out their own blog, why not head on over and do some fun puzzles?

Puzzle #81: Mixups (by Alison Ohringer)

This week I'm very excited to present a guest puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) by Alison Ohringer. This one's a breezy solve with some classic wordplay. It's Ali's very first published puzzle, but you'll undoubtedly be seeing her name much more in the future. After you solve the puzzle, check out the bottom of this post for a little Q&A to learn more about her (emphasis on the after, since it does include spoilers for the puzzle). Enjoy!




Will: Tell us a little about yourself - when you're not solving or constructing crosswords, what do you like to do?

Ali: I'm a grad student at UC Berkeley in Infectious Diseases and Global Health. I spend most of my time doing research on hepatitis C and various other infectious diseases and teaching some undergrad courses. I live in a co-op with 25 other grad students (similar to a kibbutz but with fewer farm animals) where a few of us solve the NYT crossword together almost every day and cook/eat communally, which is lots of fun. I really enjoy weight lifting and trying to keep my houseplants alive as well.

Will: What's your history with crosswords? How long have you been solving, and how did you get into constructing?

Ali: I started solving a few years ago and quickly found myself reading the Rex Parker blog every day. I followed "Rex" (Michael Sharp) on Twitter - highly recommend because he is hilarious - and emailed him in February after he tweeted to anyone looking to start constructing. Just a couple months prior, I'd decided to stop thoroughly reading the news every day because it was too depressing, so the thought of constructing seemed like a great way to spend this new free time. Michael pointed me towards a Facebook group called "Puzzle Collaboration Directory," which I cannot recommend highly enough for anyone that wants to get into constructing. I started by making a puzzle with one of my housemates and then sent it to a list of "test solvers" who provided me with helpful and supportive feedback; I had indeed broken almost every rule there is to break (more than one dupe in the puzzle, >78 words and themeless, corners with only one method of entry, overly obscure words... the works) and it was a great learning experience. Erik Agard in particular has answered every tiny, nitpicky question I've had and has been an incredible mentor since day one. We've even co-constructed a few puzzles and let me tell you, he really is masterful.

Will: In an encouraging development, many people have become more aware of issues of representation (gender and otherwise) in crosswords lately. Have your experiences as a woman getting into the world of crosswords informed your approach to constructing?

Ali: Being a member of a group that is underrepresented in the field makes me hyper-aware of how my actions might impact other women or other groups that are traditionally underrepresented in constructing. It ends up being a vicious cycle - I know women are underrepresented, so I want to submit only the very best work so that more women get published in the future, which means I don't submit things that are good but maybe not perfect because I don't want an editor to see it, dislike it, and then think poorly of women constructors in general. Then, I often end up seeing puzzles published in major venues that have the same imperfect word in my grid that prevented me from submitting my puzzle altogether (see ONER, HAR, etc). When there's already a touch of Imposter Syndrome - which likely exists to some degree for any brand-new constructor - seeing that only about one NYT crossword per week has a female constructor makes that feeling grow stronger. I'm very grateful for the Facebook group that has allowed me to get into this field at all and I would say my feelings echo the group's pinned post [written by Erik]: "it's often said that talent is equally distributed, but opportunities are not. this group's foundational intent is to rectify that inequity for women, people of color, and folks from other groups underrepresented in the puzzle world. if you don't find yourself described in the previous sentence, please know that you're equally welcome here; please also respect that priority, and keep it in mind when you're navigating this group." Groups that are underrepresented in constructing have so much to offer and I'm grateful for those who are willing to go out of their way to help new constructors like me in an effort to narrow the divide.

Also, slightly tangential: if I'm cluing a word that might have something to do with a woman or a person of color or any other marginalized group, I try to intentionally include their name and accomplishments in my clue.

Will: There's a lot of stuff to like in this puzzle - what part(s) are you proudest of?

Ali: Thank you! I like how BASENJI/DEJA VU cross at the J, that the clue for NUDES wasn't weird, and that I found some neat anagrams. And the clue for my namesake (ALI) was fun to come up with.

Puzzle #80: A Late Quartet

A regular old puzzle this week (pdf, puz, pdf solution), though admittedly one with a fairly oddball theme, but exciting news for next week: there'll be a guest puzzle! Stay tuned.

Puzzle #79: Smash Capitalism

This week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is dedicated to joon pahk.

Puzzle #78: Double Portraits

I've definitely seen a few puzzles with similar themes to this week's (pdf, puz, pdf solution), but I don't think this exact version's been done before. Enjoy the puzzle!

Puzzle #77: At the Culinary Museum

Not much to say about this one (pdf, puz, pdf solution), except that I'm proud of how the stacked theme entries worked out. Enjoy!

Puzzle #76: Changing Their Tune

Luckily for you, April Fools Day fell on a Sunday this year, so there are no dastardly tricks in this week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) - just a regular ol' themed puzzle. Enjoy!

Puzzle #75: Various Positions

Congrats to Erik Agard on his commanding win at the ACPT this weekend! If you were there, maybe you can decompress with another crossword (pdf, puz, pdf solution).

Puzzle #74: A Badass Ending

This week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is a relative rarity on this site: a straightforward early-week theme. I sent this to a couple of newspapers but they felt that 30-Across wasn't famous enough for Tuesday difficulty, so you get it here instead!

Puzzle #73: World's Worst Cereal Ideas

The title for this one (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is pretty self-explanatory, I'd say. Enjoy the puzzle!

Puzzle #72: Duped

There's a rule in crosswords that you can't duplicate part of an answer in one of the clues, especially the clue for that answer. Unfortunately, just as I was about to post this puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution), I noticed that every single answer was duplicated in the clue for that answer! I was in a rush so I just deleted the offending dupes from the clues - hopefully it's still solvable.

Puzzle #71: The Sound of Music

With my Outside the Box puzzle on Monday and my NYT puzzle yesterday, hopefully you all didn't get tired of seeing my byline last week! If you didn't, please enjoy today's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution).

Puzzle #70: Not With a Bang

If you're a subscriber to Joon Pahk's Outside the Box puzzles (which you should be!), you'll get a double dose of me today. I've got a guest puzzle there (a variety cryptic), and the usual puzzle here (pdf, puz, pdf solution). Enjoy!

Puzzle #69: Nice

Last week's meta, Flight Path, asked you to identify a flower. Lots of people sent me the right answer: following the long down entry, MAKE A BEELINE FOR, you can wend your way through the grid following the B's from the top left to (almost) the bottom right - continuing the path to the bottom right corner spells out ROSE, which is your answer.

No puz file for this week's crossword (pdf, pdf solution), because Across Lite doesn't play well with bars.

Puzzle #68: Flight Path

It's been a while since I've posted a meta on here, so how about one this week (pdf, puz, pdf solution)? The meta answer is a flower.

Puzzle #67: Black Market

Bit of an unusual grid this week (pdf, puz, pdf solution), and it's another bite-sized one (just 9 by 7). Enjoy!

Puzzle #66: Putting the 'Winter' in 'Low Interest'

Any resemblance of this puzzle's grid (pdf, puz, pdf solution) to a smiley face is purely coincidental. Grids with left-right symmetry are just weird that way. Anyway, enjoy the puzzle!

Puzzle #65: Never Before Seen

I recently challenged myself to make a solvable 4-by-4 puzzle without using any entries that have appeared in the NYT crossword*, and this (pdf, puz, pdf solution) was the result. Was I successful? I have no idea!

*In the Shortz era, at least. One of the entries was used once in 1949, clued as [Eighth day after a feast: Var.].

Puzzle #64: Pockets

Heads up: this week's puzzle (pdf, puz, pdf solution) is best solved as a PDF, though the other options are available as usual.

In other news, a recent post by Erik Agard has gotten people talking about ways that male constructors can help alleviate gender equality in crosswords and amplify women's voices. If you're a woman who wants to get into constructing, I'm very happy to collaborate! Just drop me a line by email.

Puzzle #63: Butt Out

Happy New Year! I hope it brings you many good puzzles, and other good things besides. Why not start 2018 off with this one (pdf, puz, pdf solution)?