Puzzle 132 - Themeless #96 (Pardon the Interruption)

Hello! Been a short while...I meant to just take a month or two off from crosswords after Westwords 2024 & well, time flies when you're having fun! Been busy with the kiddos, gardening, reading, still e-biking all over, and just...life in general. A few highlights:

- We built raised beds in our front yard! I don't have much of a green thumb but am pretty happy with how they turned out!

- We went to approximately 800 youth soccer games, cross country races, basketball games, baseball games, and whatever else. The kids love it (and so do I) and so far (knock on wood) we've mostly avoided the insanely competitive parents!

- I brewed an IPA with my Dad at our neighborhood's brewery! I am pretty basic when it comes to beer tastes and this was a tasty, citrusy, piney, west coast IPA. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

- After 27 seasons of LearnedLeague and getting a total of 7 perfect days across that time...this past season I got three 9(6)s in a row!! That'll probably be the pinnacle of my trivia career, but what an exhilarating few days!

Anyways...found myself solving some crosswords over the holiday, and then the boys joined in to help me out...and the itch was back! I'm not a big resolution guy but I made 3 this year! Construct at least one puzzle a month, keep my garden alive, and hit the gym 2x a week. On pace for two of them now, and nothing can grow right now anyway, so here we go! 

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Puzzle 131 - Themeless #95 (Honk Honk)

Realizing this is my first puzzle since Westwords Bestwords, which was just absolutely incredible! I got to meet so many people, both friends I've talked to for years online and new wonderful folks! It was awesome! Also have never been to the Bay Area before and got to spend a few hours exploring, which was also lovely! Highlights:

• Spokane has like...two ramen joints, so Saturday night I found the closest ramen place to my hotel. Walked there & it had a couple folks waiting in line outside, good sign, few minutes go by, I go into this adorable shop, sit down, order. Looking around and...everyone is using chopsticks. Uhoh. I've never successfully used chopsticks before, but am not about to be the only white person in here asking for a fork. Frantically googling "how to eat with chopsticks for dummies" and before I know it my food is here. It's absolutely incredible. So good. And I successfully ate the bowl without asking for a fork! More proud of that than I should be but whatever. Shoutout to the ramen ladle, as well as slurping being an acceptable behavior. Couldn't have done it without you.
• BART is so loud. Apparently it used to be even LOUDER?!?!
• During Westwords, I had three different people apologize for taking a c*r to the tournament. I'm like...half proud of this, but also half-apologetic as well. Like...I truly despise automobiles and the general suburban-industrial complex that's codified and subsidized throughout the U.S. - but nobody* should feel bad for their perfectly reasonable individual choices in a c*r-centric world. My beef is with the c*r companies, governments, all the powerful folks that built this situation etc. Plus I have fun playing up the persona a smidge in puzzles - I do have other interests (e.g. board games, anything my kids wanna do, fart jokes, watching the Mariners lose 1-0 over and over again).
  
• *if you buy a ludicrously oversized truck/street-legal tank to cosplay as a cowboy, the above doesn't apply. Fuck you.
• I was feeling real good after Puzzle 1, when I finished just 1 or 2 minutes after Paolo (who was sitting at my table. Or rather, I was sitting at his table). Even by lunchtime, I was in ... 30th or so? Then Puzzle 5 came, which was an absolute doozy. Absolutely incredible puzzle and I got about 80% of the gimmick, but couldn't quite finish. And then my tumble down the standings continued as I chose the hard version of the final puzzle, solely because I wanted to see all of Mollie's clues. Couldn't quite finish that one either in time, but it's all good. I truly was just delighted to be there.
• However, my very very favorite puzzle (they were all wonderful) was Enrique Henestroza Anguiano's, because (spoilers behind the link) it was themed after my younger son's very favorite song. Absolutely delighted to see that one.
• I have long dreamed of going to a crossword tournament, but the logistics of getting from Spokane to the East Coast are just a lot. So a huge thank you to Kate, Rebecca, and everyone involved for making a dream of mine come true. Hoping to make it out next year as well!
  
• Shout out to the bartender at whatever whiskey bar some of us ended up at post-tournament - despite having 900 whiskies on the wall, they didn't have one of my very favorites (Ardbeg Corryvreckan) - but she did recommend Ardbeg's An Oa which I have somehow never had (also ANOA). Still had the trademark Ardbeg brininess, but with a smidge of sweetness, coffee, maybe some butterscotch (?) in there. Quite delicious and I'm glad I tried it.
  

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Puzzle 130 - Themeless #94 (let's ride)

Wanted to get a puzzle out before Westwords...then decided that I loved it so much so I submitted it to our pals at AVCX+ (fingers crossed). So, back to the drawing board and you know what I love this bad boy too! Also if you are at Westwords come say hi! I've never been to a tournament before and am beyond excited to meet so many wonderful folks! See you Sunday!

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Puzzle 129 - Themeless #93 (little green circle marks the spot)

What to do when your kids wake up at 2:30, you finally get them back to sleep around 3, and then you can't get yourself back to sleep? Welp, for me I chose "finish cluing this bad boy" and I'm happy I did. Hope you are too!

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