Crosswords! Mostly themeless, no set schedule
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Hope everyone's staying safe...thanks for swinging by! If you aren't already subscribed to Matt Gritzmacher's Daily Crossword Links, what are you waiting for? Daily links to lots of great puzzles emailed right to you!
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First day of my between jobs mini vacation. I spent it biking around to various breweries and getting sloshed. 10/10 would recommend. We have lots of good beer up here in the NW. Anyways, this is a Harry Potter themed puz (that i'm surprised nobody's done before). If you don't like Harry Potter, sorry not sorry, contact me for a full refund.
Edit: 6-Down clue is now fixed.
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Edit: 6-Down clue is now fixed.
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Still a bit under the weather, so I dug up an older puzzle that was basically ready to go. For whatever reason, having a hard time getting in a cluing mindset, so that's the big logjam in my process. Hope this is a nice breezy solve for those of you who are worn out by the holidays!
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Light-ish themed this time around.
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Can UW make it 7 in a row?
- I have no idea how hard this will play. Maybe...Wednesday-ish?
- There's a chance we're without power as Eastern Washington gets our seemingly-annual late fall windstorm Wednesday. Fingers crossed it's not too bad!
- I've started messing around with my first meta suite...well, it's three puzzles long, so not a full suite. More of a meta hotel room. Anyways, that'll drop sometime in the next few months!
- Henry (our 3 year old) spells 39-Down in the funniest way. He reads the box and reads the I as "one" and the O as "zero". Adorable.
- Finally, friendly reminder that there's a lot more to Thanksgiving & Native American history than the whitewashed version we're blasted with every year. Cheers!
You probably already have, but if not, go get Queer Qrosswords 2! Haven't done them all yet, so far they're fantastic, money goes to a good cause, just go do them.
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10/20/19 - updated clue for 51-Across to make it not theme-related.
This puzzle is, say, 3/5 difficulty-wise. I made it a year ago, dropped it off in the mail, and the next Thursday, the NYT ran a puzzle with the same revealer. Then, a couple weeks later, so did the WSJ. Wasn't too surprised a few months later when I got the rejection email, even though it is a different take on the general idea.
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10/20/19 - updated clue for 51-Across to make it not theme-related.
This puzzle is, say, 3/5 difficulty-wise. I made it a year ago, dropped it off in the mail, and the next Thursday, the NYT ran a puzzle with the same revealer. Then, a couple weeks later, so did the WSJ. Wasn't too surprised a few months later when I got the rejection email, even though it is a different take on the general idea.
- Still can't quite believe how nicely the last themer & revealer fit together. Extremely serendipitous & it allowed me to space things out and let the middle of the grid breathe a bit.
- Make sure you vote in your local elections! Local elections matter & your voice goes a lot further on a local level!
- In purply-indigo-ish Spokane, our mayoral race is between a 2 term city councilman, who used to direct a nonprofit helping low income folks in schools, pushes alternative modes of transportation, and prioritizes dense, infill, urban development. His opponent has zero political experience, was a local TV personality, denies climate change, and is running a campaign solely around adding suburban sprawl and criminalizing poverty. Fun stuff. I'd love to be more optimistic but am very nervous for Election Night.
- In happier events, I'm DMing a D&D game tonight! This is my...3rd session running things so far - it's wonderfully exhausting & we haven't screwed things up too badly. The party's taking their level 3 characters into the Underdark, so...uh...we'll see how they do.
- Come back on the 28th for another themeless!
Welcome back! First things first, big shoutout to Will Nediger for two things: a) pointing me toward PuzzleMe, who I'm working with to get an in-post crossword app, and b) linking here from his own blog. Looks like a lot of folks found there way here from over there. Thanks a bunch Will!
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This one's about 2/5 in difficulty. It needs a title to work, which is unfortunate, because some half of the mainstream puzzle outlets don't run titles on their daily puzzles (and some don't do 16x grids, or circles, etc.). But, that means it's here, now, and you can do it!
We've been watching a ton of Space Jam lately. Henry (our 3 year old) found it in some old DVDs while cleaning a few months ago...and requests it all the time. IMO it's still hilarious and worth a rewatch (or 20).
One last thing (super-tiny puzzle spoiler ahead), I thought about using circles but figured that people who are seeking out indie crossword puzzles will be able to figure this one out just fine. If not let me know.
Come back for another themeless on the 28th!
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This one's about 2/5 in difficulty. It needs a title to work, which is unfortunate, because some half of the mainstream puzzle outlets don't run titles on their daily puzzles (and some don't do 16x grids, or circles, etc.). But, that means it's here, now, and you can do it!
We've been watching a ton of Space Jam lately. Henry (our 3 year old) found it in some old DVDs while cleaning a few months ago...and requests it all the time. IMO it's still hilarious and worth a rewatch (or 20).
- I love the clip above. Still makes me smile. Any golf course and/or Larry Bird & Bill Murray scenes are the best.
- I also love when the NBA owners just decide to cancel games solely out of concern for the safety of the players. Basically a lockout and not a strike. Seems a bit...ah...altruistic for a bunch of billionaires to give up $$$ like that while getting nothing in return.
- At the beginning, when the catcher tells Michael not to swing at the next pitch (a curveball), but he swings and misses anyways, the pitch shown isn't a curveball. Maybe a 2-seam or a circle change, but it breaks the wrong way to be a curveball. Now it can bug you too when you watch it. You're welcome!
- Daffy's a weirdo. I don't think I realized how strange he was watching Looney Tunes as a kid.
- Also, Looney Tunes are not even on the radar of kids anymore, and it makes me feel old.
- I'm more excited about Space Jam 2 than a reasonable adult should be.
- The little aliens are called Nerdlucks! NERDLUCKS (9)!
NERDLUCKS (9), probably not coming to a crossword near you
One last thing (super-tiny puzzle spoiler ahead), I thought about using circles but figured that people who are seeking out indie crossword puzzles will be able to figure this one out just fine. If not let me know.
Come back for another themeless on the 28th!