Crosswords! Mostly themeless, no set schedule
I am choosing getting some much-needed sleep over finishing cluing the 7/8 puz - it'll be up in a day or two.
Shoulda ran this one for puzzle #69, but hadn't got the rejection email yet :P (not that I was terribly surprised to see this guy not make the cut). Also, it is ludicrously hot here :/
I like cluing. It's alright, and when a clue comes together just right it's better than just alright. But I don't love it - sometimes it's a bit of a chore. What I do love is gridding. So after doing a couple of gorgeous puzzles by Kate, and then seeing a certain tweet...well, we were off to the races. I'll let my fellow Spokane native (!!!) Kate take it away below:
This is a story about how you should ask for what you want. I'm extremely new to constructing - no published puzzles, just a humble little blog - and while I love writing clues, I'm rotten at making grids*. It'll get better with practice, I know, but for now, that's my strugglebus. Anyway: while musing on this fact recently, I tweeted semi-jokingly that people should send me their unclued grids - and amazingly, Brian reached out to say that he'd like to! Cluing this grid was tons of fun. So many fun entries that had their own personality, all I had to do was lean into it all. I'm thrilled to have had the chance to work with Brian, and hope folks enjoy solving as much as I enjoyed making!
*Editor's note: absolutely not true, see prior links :)
Howdy (and welcome if you're here after our NYT) - delighted to bring you a collab with the inimitable Brooke Husic (aka A. Ladee on twitter), who also has her own blog and today's 7xw. You will have fun getting your butt kicked by her blog puzzles - make sure to check them out!
Brian: Brooke is one of my absolute favorite people to build a puzzle with. She is incredibly creative and makes sure that every single entry and every single clue sparkles. It is a joy to work with her. What I remember most about this construction was struggling to connect through the middle & left side of the grid. Brooke found 25A and the whole corner just fell open after that. She also wrote the 29A, 56A, and 26D clues (and plenty of others but those are my favorites). This definitely will not be the last time you see a collab from us!
Brooke: Without exception, it is a blast to make a crossword puzzle with Brian. I’m totally in awe of his gridwork in the themelesses he posts on his site and elsewhere (I looooved his 5/18 puzzle). For this collab, I super love how interconnected the grid is with its eight 9’s and eight 10’s! My favorite answer is at 14A, and my favorite clues are 35A, 56A*, 10D, and 11D, which I feel like were all Brian’s but probably involved a bunch of us riffing off each other!
*Editor's note: 56A was all Brooke