puzzle 93: "ffs"

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the intention was to just make a normal sized puzzle with two seed entries...but once i stumbled across the intersection that's now in the middle of the grid, and realized i had enough entries, sunday(ish) sized it was, even though it ended up as basically two normal sized puzzle stacked on top of each other.

anyway, this puzzle also contains one of my favorite clues that i've written in a long time (and which is most of the reason why that entry was one of the seeds; the other shouldn't be too difficult to figure out).

puzzle 92: "cutting corners (freestyle 96)"

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you may notice that two corners are cut off from the rest of the puzzle. the short explanation is that that's just what happened after putting in the two seeds and then building around them in the middle. you may also notice that the fill in those two isolated corners is, perhaps, a bit below my usual standards. and you would be absolutely correct, but at the same time there's a mini-theme there. (it's not the first time i've used isolated parts of the puzzle for mini-themes.) could i have done better? probably, but i really wanted to get the first two down answers in there. i wholeheartedly support anybody's attempts to improve it; best revision wins...something. idk. haven't thought that far ahead yet. open to (reasonable) suggestions on that front as well.

all that aside, i'm reasonably pleased with how the main part of the puzzle turned out. i especially like the top stack of tens, though the bottom stack is no slouch either.

finally: does it count as a gratuitous car seat headrest reference if it's a seed entry? key word here being gratuitous; if so, i guess i'm resetting that sign.

puzzle 91: "animal house"

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much like the puzzle from two weeks ago, this one was inspired by current(ish) netflix media and memes and things and what have you. and, for some reason, i felt the need to intersect everything. when will i ever learn that that makes things way harder than they need to be? (don't answer that: we all know that i'll never stop doing that.)

puzzle 90: "twist and shout"

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more of a freestyle than a themed puzzle today, though i continue to be a sucker for intersecting entries, as the three main ones in this one do.

in other crossword news: erik agard just dropped an amazing freestyle the other day; definitely solve it asap. and: queer qrosswords 2 is happening! more details (and contact info) at the link, but suffice it to say that i'm very excited for this, and have no doubt that the puzzles will be just as fun and inventive as they were last year.

and, finally: the first spyscape puzzle has just come out. it's by david steinberg and edited by yours truly. puzzles will be weekly, which means there will be plenty of opportunities for constructors to be published. if you're interested in contributing, or just want to offer feedback and comments, email me at this link.