Puzzle 36 - Let Freedom Ring

First off, big shout out to Ben Tausig at the AVCX for workshopping this theme. I wasn't able to actually make his improvements work, but still love the original idea, and hope you do too!

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Puzzle 35 - Themeless #25 (with Brooke Husic and Sid Sivakumar!)

Guest puzzle coming your way today by the wonderfully talented duo of Brooke & Sid! They are two of my absolute favorite constructors out there and I'm honored to get to host a collab between the two of them! Go check out sidsgrids.com for more spiffy puzzles! (there just might be a new puzzle there right now too!)

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Sid: I was trying to find interesting grid patterns with 90°-rotational symmetry, and this one stood out as visually striking while offering a lot of long bonus slots (20 in this grid!) at 66 words. Brooke elevated this grid with her masterful clue-writing -- I love the angles for 18A, 7D, and 10D, and her commitment to representation is inspiring. Cheers!

Brooke: When Sid asks me to clue one of his grids it feels like my birthday. He filled this one in a matter of hours, which no one should be surprised about at this point. I love how even the short stuff is really fun - both for me as the clue writer and for solvers. Excited to see what he's got in store for us at Boswords this weekend.

Puzzle 34 - Themeless #24

Little late but still a killer puz! Aaaand keep an eye out for a terrific guest puzzle later this week!

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- Y'all should make sure to read about 10-Down (and other constructors use her in your grids!)

- Apparently 34-Across (which was the seed) is somewhat of a regional term, which is fine with me because a) it's pretty inferable, b) the Inland Northwest is certainly not overrepresented in crosswordland, and c) they're really fun to play with (safely! - blow them up over water far from any fire fuel & people!)

- Cheers and see you soon!

Puzzle 33 - Themeless 23

July 18th's puzzle will be released on Monday, July 20th. Apologies for the delay, but hopefully a bonus guest puzzle later in the week makes up for it!

If you haven't checked out Grids for Good, you should!

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• The seed for this puzzle (14-Down) is a fantastic kid's book with a nice message about the power of labor taking collective action. Highly recommend for parents of littles.
• One pass at the southwest corner had better long fill, but also AMIN and TASE. A year or two ago, I wouldn't have blinked twice about this - and ["I ___!" (you can count on me)] is a decent enough workaround for AMIN. Thanks to those numerous voices speaking out regarding commonly accepted fill that really shouldn't be.