puzzle 199: "we bought a zoo"

pdf
puz
email me
subscribe
solution

i know this theme has been done before and i do not care, this puzzle exists for one (1) clue in particular

also if you want to throw some cash at me for any reason, here's paypal and venmo, or hmu if you want to mail me a physical check and/or a box of cash (nothing larger than twenties, non-sequential serial numbers, non-traceable, etc.)

puzzle 198: "secret snowflake"

pdf
puz
email me
subscribe
solution

it's been a hot minute since we've had a puzzle here, which is not to say that i haven't been making them, just that they're either for specific outlets, or that they're out in the wilderness of submissions that i've yet to hear back on, or something.

anyway, crosscord had a secret snowflake puzzle exchange, and i ended up making this puzzle for robin yu, who wanted something in the difficult / tricksier vein. might've gone a bit overboard at places, but i like how this ended up, as did robin (who especially loved (semi-spoilers, highlight to reveal) the central 42A and the crossing of 57A / 57D). so, yeah, posting this here for y'all to enjoy as well.

also, uh, because i still can't be arsed to remove this part from copy/pasting the last blog post in as a template for this post, here's a reminder that i'm open to make custom puzzles for just about anything. alternately, if you want to throw some cash at me for non-custom puzzles, the arcseconds puzzle suite is still available for purchase.

puzzle 197: "café de l'amour (freestyle with norah sharpe)"

pdf

puz

email me
subscribe
solution

back at it again with another puzzle on the blog, though in the meantime i've had a few puzzles elsewhere: an avcx+ collab with daryl sng, another avcx+ collab with adam aaronson, a half baked collab with will eisenberg, and a somewhat edgy collab with the one and only norah sharpe of norah's puzzles. speaking of which, norah is also the co-constructor of today's freestyle, which was a blast and a half to make, and which we hope you enjoy.

norah says: "i'm so honored to be making my arctan(x)words debut! i sent chris the bottom half of this grid back in may. we've taken our time with this one, working on it in between all of our other various projects. i'm so happy with the end product, especially his clues for 25A and 64A (what's an arctan puzzle without a CSH reference?) i wrote all the sports clues! 😘"

also, uh, because i still can't be arsed to remove this part from copy/pasting the last blog post in as a template for this post, here's a reminder that i'm open to make custom puzzles for just about anything. alternately, if you want to throw some cash at me for non-custom puzzles, the arcseconds puzzle suite is still available for purchase.

puzzle 196: "yes...ha ha ha...yes!"

pdf

puz

email me
subscribe
solution

*insert sickos gif here*

also, uh, because i still can't be arsed to remove this part from copy/pasting the last blog post in as a template for this post, here's a reminder that i'm open to make custom puzzles for just about anything. alternately, if you want to throw some cash at me for non-custom puzzles, the arcseconds puzzle suite is still available for purchase.

 

puzzle 195: "oh hello! (freestyle with ada nicolle)"

pdf

puz

email me
subscribe
solution

back at it again with the white vans, and by that i mean with ada nicolle, who's had two puzzles on this blog previously. ada says "chris is incredible and gets me, and i'm so excited to be collabing with him again!!!"; i am also very excited and very glad to have had the chance to collab with ada again, and only wish i was anywhere half as prolific as ada (especially given the extremely high quality of puzzles; seriously, go click on the link above and subscribe to their patreon).

as for this puzzle specifically, ada started it off with the upper left, i had a few entries i wanted to use in the lower right and made that stack, and then we figured out how connect them together (a bit harder than it should've been, perhaps, because we couldn't let go of the central spanner, but i'm very glad we were able to get it to work).

also, uh, because i still can't be arsed to remove this part from copy/pasting the last blog post in as a template for this post, here's a reminder that i'm open to make custom puzzles for just about anything. alternately, if you want to throw some cash at me for non-custom puzzles, the arcseconds puzzle suite is still available for purchase.

puzzle 194: "tabula rasa (ft. meatdaddy)"

pdf

puz

email me
subscribe
solution

back with a collaborative effort with meatdaddy, but it's really part of a larger project—meatdaddy made the grid, invited a lot of people to clue it, and this is what i did with it. about the project, meatdaddy says:

"one of my favorite things about crossword puzzles is seeing the many ways that different constructors will clue a single word—for just a moment, you get to peer inside the mind of someone else and at the expense of sounding cheesy, it's a lovely, intimate moment. not only that, but i also frequently find myself thinking "man, i wish i would have thought of that cluing angle!" and it's a testament to the diverse skill sets and talent in our lil' community. the main goal of tabula rasa was to pick everyone's brains by sending them a silly grid with fun fill and words with a handful of different cluing angles. i also wanted to get new constructors involved—building your own grid for the first time is not only intimidating, but can also be cost prohibitive during *gestures at world events*. i wanted this to be an approachable opportunity for new constructors to get their foot in the door, and i'm very pleased to say that i think it was successful in that. ultimately, at the end of the day, i just hope everyone had a lot of fun doing this and i'm really grateful for everyone's enthusiasm about the project!"

i'm looking forward to going through and seeing all the other clues, and i encourage you to do the same! in the meantime, i continued my trend of getting weird as all get-out in the clues, and i don't apologize for any of it at all.

also, uh, because i still can't be arsed to remove this part from copy/pasting the last blog post in as a template for this post, here's a reminder that i'm open to make custom puzzles for just about anything. alternately, if you want to throw some cash at me for non-custom puzzles, the arcseconds puzzle suite is still available for purchase.

puzzle 193: "hey, how about a nice hawaiian punch?"

pdf
puz

email me
subscribe
solution

i'm back with a puzzle whose theme kinda just popped into my head; thanks to ada for the title, ricky for the absolute banger of a clue for 27-down, and adam for both the clue for 37-across and for making wordlisted, which made finding theme entries a lot easier.

anyway, as tends to be the case of late, i went all in on some of the clues; as always, enjoy! more soon, especially w/r/t the new and expanded avcx, where i'll be one of the editors for avcx+ (and can confirm we've got a lot of banger puzzles in the queue).

also, uh, because i couldn't be arsed to remove this part from copy/pasting the last blog post in as a template for this post, here's a reminder that i'm open to make custom puzzles for just about anything. alternately, if you want to throw some cash at me for non-custom puzzles, the arcseconds puzzle suite is still available for purchase.