Puzzle 136 - Themeless #101 (Hey Mr. D.j.)

This puzzle came about from a stack in a different puzzle that ended up not working with the grid layout in another corner, so it had to go. It's nice to start a grid when you have an entire stack that works well together & can build around that.

Speaking of that other puzzle, keep your eyes peeled elsewhere for it soon. It's one of my very favorites and I'm stoked to see it run!

Highly, highly recommend checking out the song in the 1-Down clue. It's an absolute bop and probably my favorite song I've found in the past year (even though it's like a decade old).

In much sadder news, there are a couple of teachers at my boys' school whose homes burned to the ground in the Spokane fires last month. They've taught both of my kids, they're wonderful human beings and wonderful teachers. If you're so inclined, any donations to Ms. Wilder or Mrs. Gray (this one's in her partner's name, but it is her) would be very much appreciated.

Onto the grid.

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Puzzle 135 - Themeless #100 (Toot Toot Jazz Sounds)

Once again, it's been a hot minute. Ah well, contact me for a full refund. Also this has ended up being a longer post but I have Things That I'm Excited To Share!

Back in April, we took a trip to New Orleans to visit some family for a couple days, and be tourists for a few more days. 10/10. I don't know how many people think of New Orleans as a family destination, but it was fantastic. Stayed in the French Quarter, in the middle of everything, and everyone had a blast. One of the seed entries here is 100% a New Orleans inspiration. Couple of highlights from the trip:

• Finding an arepas joint right next to an ice cream shop on the streetcar ride back from the zoo. Delicious and just what we needed.
• Taking the ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers Point & exploring the neighborhood, finding a cute little cafe with probably the best breakfast scramble I've had in my life, and spending a couple of hours running up and down the walls of the levee, and skipping rocks & using driftwood to hit pebbles into the river. Super fun.

We were chilling at the hotel one night after a day of exploring/having fun/whatever we did, and I fired up lichess on my phone. I've played chess off and on my whole life, just online, but it's been a few years. Caught the chess bug again, but this time found out my brother also had been recently playing. We started playing both each other & online, talking about chess for the next few weeks...come to find out there's actually a Spokane chess club, and they meet once a week just a few blocks from my house.

Finally visited a month or two ago and I'm completely hooked to over the board play, in person, where just you and your opponent are concentrating on one game with no distractions for 2+ hours. It absolutely rules. And turns out I am maybe at least okay at chess! I went 2/4 in a quick tournament (15 minutes/side) and in my very first classical game I drew a 1945-rated player! I don't think it was a fluky draw either, it felt like a very well played game on both sides. I'm playing Sean (my brother) tomorrow and will play the many-time club champion next Thursday. Probably not going to get a point out of that one but I'm going to give it a good go.

I remember ~10 years ago getting into making crosswords and it was all I could think about in my spare time. Just kind of latched itself into my brain and the journey of building the skills to construct, iterating and improving, and getting to a point where I am really happy with my construction abilities & output was an absolute joy. I truly love learning new things. Right now, chess feels very similar to those first attempts at making a puzzle. I'm just hooked! I have a couple books I'm studying, really enjoying playing in person, play with the kids (they enjoy it but don't want to play as much as I do right now, and I'm never forcing that on them). I don't have a set chess goal or anything - just going to keep learning and improving and seeing where this goes.

Anyways, I don't think you're here for chess monologues that aren't really about chess. As a bonus for those who read all that (and I spose those who didn't), this puzzle is 16x15 so you get more bang for your $0!

PUZ - PDF - Solution - Window - Chess

Puzzle 134 - Themeless #99 (Come On Over)

Quarterly check in on my New Years Resolutions before another 17x below:

1) Keep the garden alive. In progress, too cold to really tell still - I did plant lavender starts from a neighbor & buried tulip bulbs a few months ago. The violas I planted last year, which I thought were annuals, have actually come back surprisingly well so not bad so far!

2) Go to the gym consistently. Check! I feel great! Even had to get some new shorts as there's a little more junk in my trunk than there was last year.

3) Post a crossword every month. Still check (but barely)! This one was like 75% clued 3 weeks ago & then I never quite finished. Playing Stellaris & binging the West Wing again w/ Mrs. Puzzles That Need A Home took up most of my nights after kids went to sleep. No regrets :)

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Puzzle 133 - Themeless #98 (Fatherhood)

Been playing with 17x17 grids lately and I REALLY like them! There's so much flexibility & fun with grid shapes compared to a traditional 15x15. Plus, I get to bust out some 16 & 17 letter fill that normally wouldn't see the light of day. This is far from the last 17x grid you'll see here in the times to come! There would be another 17x right around the corner...but I didn't realize just how phallic a diagonal symmetry puzzle could be, so there's some regridding in my future.

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Puzzle 132 - Themeless #97 (Up and at 'Em)

First off, thanks to Quiara for the incredibly kind shoutout, and b) alerting me about AI infesting AmuseLabs (nothing like a nuclear explosion thumbnail to pique your interest). Sad to say that I'm so used to AI slop being everywhere, I didn't even notice how much AmuseLabs had changed. Gonna use Crossword Nexus for now, it lets me pick out the pretty colors which makes the my lil dopamine receptors happy.

Actually started building this puzzle before the last one, but could never quite get the central stack to work nicely. After a gazillion grid shapes, finally it was removing a pair of blocks that enabled the grid to flow, avoid nonsense, etc. There was a block where 3-Down & 21-Across intersect. I was genuinely shocked that getting rid of it was the key to making the stacks work.

There's also a great clue for 34-Across out there. I just can't find it for the life of me. Drop a comment if you have one - I might even update the puzzle with it. No promises though, I'm lazy.

PUZ - PDF - Solution - Fullscreen

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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Built by brian thomas using PuzzleMe's crossword creator

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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Puzzle 128 (one month)

That time of year again, when soon I will spend a few days sitting by the water, beer in hand, cheekful of sunflower seeds, puzzle clipboard on my lap, and no phone or Internet or any connection to the outside world. Perfection. Oh - and we now have a full family of four bicycle riders as our youngest is now a little cyclist too <3. Things are pretty good over here :)

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Puzzle 127 - Themeless #92 (the goodest dog)

Been a while! Kinda just ended up taking a crossword break for a bit but things are good, lots of family time, biking, soccer, working on myself, all that good stuff. Anyways, I made a not that funny joke last night and decided that it was perfect for a crossword. Cheers!

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Puzzle #126 - Themeless #91 (feelin' 22)

Howdy! Here with a jumbo themeless puzzle today - a 22x19 rectangle of wonderfulness! Started off as a normal-sized stagger stack...then I noticed I could run a pair of fun 17s through them...and then it was more fun to make it even wider...and here we are! Thanks to Quiara and Kelsey for testing!

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