Puzzle #113 - Themeless #81 (The Hand and the Heart)

Thanks to everyone who donated to Grids for Kids or Fearless Flyers!! Since we got over the $650 threshold with Fearless Flyers, I'm going to stream puzzle construction tomorrow morning (Saturday the 25th). No set time, but shooting for sometime around 7 or 8 Pacific time - will stream on my not-very-often-used Twitch channel.

About this puzzle - I am a big grid aesthetics fan and spent...quite a bit of time trying to figure out how it should be oriented. Quiara's advice was enough to tip the scales. Also, interestingly enough the central stack was not the seed - I happened upon that during construction and am pretty stoked about it.

PUZ - PDF - Solution

Puzzle #112 - Grudge Match

Good morning! Spring is in the air around here and I can't wait (as long as I don't look at the weather for the next couple days) - it hit 50 yesterday and we spent a wonderful afternoon at the park! My cycling slows way down in the winter, mostly because I really can't take the four year old to preschool on the bike in the winter - there are a couple big hills that are always icy in the morning. But not for much longer! This winter has been especially cold (and windy) ... but there's some light at the end of the tunnel - now excuse me while I go knock on every piece of wood I can find!

PUZ - PDF - Solution

Puzzle #111 - Get Outta Here (with Norah Sharpe)

Howdy! Back again with another collab with the wonderful Norah! And a big thank you to Will for testing and reminding us to y'know actually finish our clues :P

Norah says: "Brian dropped this excellent themeset on me fully formed; how can I say no to that?? I had such a good time with the gridwork and cluing on this one and I think it's super fun! My favorite clues of his are 5D and 23D, and I'm so glad I finally found a home for the entry at 26A. 😘"

Brian says: "I needed some help making sure this themeset worked, and then at that point you might as well go all-in with the collab :). Love Norah's clues all over the place, but especially at 13A, 61A, and 40D."

I had my first published Sunday puzzle last weekend - a collab with Brooke for the LA Times titled "Opposite Day" - don't miss it! (or do, if you're following the title)

Both Norah and I also contributed to Grids for Kids - a charity puzzle pack stuffed to the brim with wonderfulness - don't miss it!

PUZ - PDF - Solution

Puzzle #110 (secret snowflake)

Howdy there! Last month, a bunch of folks participated in a "Secret Snowflake" crossword exchange, organized on the Crosscord Discord channel. It was a blast, and I'm (a little belatedly) throwing up the puzzle I made for Lyle Broughton of Jack of all Squares. The goal was to create a little more personalized crossword for your recipient - it took a little bit, but I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. Lyle is pretty well-known for some other things, and I knew I wanted to lean into that area ... anyways that's enough vaguely spoilerish yapping, go solve the puz :)

Holiday season + work has been pretty busy (but in a good satisfying way) means this blog has been a little quieter lately. I do have another halfway clued themed puzzle, you should see that in the next week or so. And I also will be making my published Sunday debut in a couple weeks, a collab on January 29th which I am extraordinarily excited for - don't miss it!

Cheers!

PUZ - PDF - Solution