puzzle 127: "missed it by that much (freestyle 120)"

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solution to the previous meta finally posted; both that and this puzzle were delayed by traveling home from new york city after a few days of fun. got to see mitski play in central park, randall munroe on his book tour, and a walkoff win for the mets (only the second time i've ever seen them win, in about a dozen or so games). and there was also the bryant park crossword tournament, which i came about a quarter second short of defeating defending champion glen ryan in. i'll be sure to link the puzzles when they're up for sale; they're definitely worth solving.

puzzle 126: "on the clock"

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smaller puzzle for the holiday today; hopefully you enjoy both this puzzle and the day off.

reminder that there's still one more week until i post the solution to last week's meta. not that there's a prize or anything, but i've already gotten fifteen answers, and it's always good to hear from solvers; if nothing else, it helps me gauge the meta difficulty better. otherwise, straightforward theme this week, and some interesting stuff coming up in the near future, including a guest puzzle! (speaking of which: feel free to hit me up if you want to collaborate on a puzzle, or just want some feedback on puzzles in progress, even if they're just ideas. always happy to help.)

puzzle 125: "best two out of three (meta)"

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meta puzzle! the answer to this puzzle is a drink; the solution will not go up before september 6th. good luck! [edited to add: the solution was posted september 10th.]

also, many thanks to all the people who have recently joined the google group and/or sent in emails; your kind words are always welcome and always appreciated. and, if you haven't joined the group yet, consider doing so—puzzles straight to your inbox whenever they come out, so you don't have to worry about missing puzzles or anything.

puzzle 124: "chopped vegetables"

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late night posting because i spent a couple hours chopping vegetables and then got too distracted by both solving and constructing other crossword puzzles to actually finish cluing this. kinda wish i had some more vegetables to chop, because it's incredibly calming and relaxing. in any case, hope you enjoy this; meta puzzle coming soon.

puzzle 123: "terrible twos"

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happy birthday to the blog, which just turned two years old, and which just hit six digits in terms of page visits. couldn't have done it without solvers like you. many thanks, and here's to many more puzzles in the future.

puzzle 122: "rock climbing"

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apologies, as usual, for not getting this up on the weekend; this is, i think, the fourth different puzzle i started for this weekend. just could not get any of the rest to finish satisfactorily, even though some of them did get finished. fingers crossed i can finish up some of those soon; will try to have puzzles distributed at lollapuzzoola this next weekend. sadly, i won't be there myself, but i should be around for the bryant park tournament shortly thereafter.

puzzle 121: "a day at the roxbury (freestyle 115)"

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unsurprisingly, the seed entry in this one (61A) came from something i saw while in boston for boswords. resulted in one of my favorite stacks in awhile, and then i had fun finding a stack to match it at the top (and then figuring out how to connect the two). perhaps a bit too many names, but i think all the crossings are fair. some good clues, too—19A and 32D are my favorites, but there's good ones throughout.

as for boswords: this absolutely counts as burying the lede, but yours truly finished second! some excellent puzzles throughout the day, including a wonderful final by finn vigeland; you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't get the puzzles and solve them. as for me? i'll probably be busy doing all the puzzles i printed off to do on the train (which, sadly, wasn't an acela) up to boston...and then didn't solve at all. so much for preparation, i guess.

me, boswords champion andy kravis, ken stern, and finals puzzle constructor finn vigeland