Posts

It's 3am

 Hi all.  Today I'm here with another Frisco collab--this time a variant on a cryptic acrostic, called "It's 3am I Must be Lonely."  This makes what, 3 Frisco collabs?  Frisco recently graduated high school and is starting college and now I don't have an excuse to stop him from putting dirty clues in our puzzles, so please be prepared... Sheets (sign into google and make yourself a copy) pdf Solutions (Also, I should probably mention that since my last post, I was in the Browser two more times, with Cryptic #173 and Cryptic #185, edited as always by the amazing Dan Feyer..  Also, I made [to audience] , edited by the wonderful Dob Olino, and hosted on the Crossweird site. ) More exciting stuff coming down the line...  Yay, cryptics!

More puzzles Elsewhere

    Two more puzzles to mention for May.  On the 19th I had another Browser come out, Browser Cryptic #173, "Toy Phones" available at The Browser , edited as always by Dan Feyer.  This one came out really great.   Also, just now ProbablyApocryphal and I released our first collab, a themed puzzled called " Not Untitled ," available at his site.  PA does great puzzles and you should check them out!   Have fun!

Free Radical

 Hi all! Three puzzles to mention... Roland Ingram ( Longyfan !) and I wrote the Browser cryptic for this week called "Connect," expertly edited as always by the inestimable Dan Feyer.  This one is a prize puzzle, meaning there's a final meta-answer to the puzzle that you can send in for a chance to win a prize.  Neither of us has done one of these before and I'm excited to hear how people find it. Also!  Last week I posted a special puzzle on MyCrossword...  I don't think I ever gave that a name in my head.  Let's say that one was called Strong Shot . Also!  This week I'm dropping another one on MyCrossword, which I'm calling Free Radical .  I hope you like it. Yay Cryptic Crosswords!

Blowing Your Nose

Hi all, I'm on a roll with puzzles lately? I'll see how long I can keep dropping one a week. Off this blog, joeadultman and I dropped another Alphabet Jigsaw (you don't have to solve it as a jigsaw though). Also, Longyfan and I appeared in The Browser on March 10, with a movie-themed puzzle for Oscar night, edited by Dan Feyer. But here's this week's puzzle, which has no shenanigans but does have an interesting property that might be fun to try to figure out as you solve.  This puzzle was also posted as MyCrossword #1674 .  Have fun!  Thanks to Liari, Longyfan, StJtB Skaldskaparmal and Frisco for testing, and to N0hk for clue assistance. Full Screen link .

Filling Time

Here's a very special puzzle. Filling Time was the first cryptic crossword I ever made, way back in 2008.  I showed it to a couple friends and then put it in a drawer and didn't think about it for a long time.  Then in 2022 I showed it to some new cryptic friends I made online and felt inspired to keep going at it...  It's probably not too much of an exaggeration to say that I've spend the last couple years trying to get good at making cryptics specifically so I could do this one justice.  And in the last couple months I've tweaked the grid some and rewritten all the clues, did a ton of testing, and now am putting it out.  I hope you enjoy it. Thanks a ton to the too-many-to-list test solvers who've improved this puzzle over the years and especially months. There's an in-browser solving option below, or you can print this pdf , or some people prefer Google Sheets .

Two big collabs for holidays

Today I'm sharing two puzzles both a little bit old, both made with a ton of people for a special occasion. On Christmas day, 2023, I did a Twitch stream where I invited anyone interested to jump in and help make a cryptic, and it came out great!  Thanks to the colloborators: Danandbabka, DragonEngineer, EdBreadScissorsFriends, elderism, frisco17mashups, gordiantangle, JayForty, JMbrow29, joeadultman, longyfan, RoflIsALot, Roy Johnson, rubyyy_j, rubyyy_j, StephenSta192, Taceo, tui_bird, Warking14, and possibly others I missed.  And thanks to Joshsolves for testing it, live on stream. There's two versions available... solve this one if you love variety nonsense and solve this one on MyCrossword if you only LIKE variety nonsense. ALSO In January to celebrate the excellent streamer / setter / guy joeadultman's birthday I invited a top crew of amazing friends to help make a puzzle for him.  Thanks to collaborators: Deanne, Glentopher, Herzwesten, JM, juff, LM, Longyfan, P

Cryptic of the Year #1

Hi all!  You probably know my friend the streamer and setter and great guy joeadultman .  He has a redemption on his twitch channel whereby for 50,000 points you can make him a Cryptic of the Year puzzle.  I redeemed this one quite a while ago and made it for Joe based on a year of his choosing that he says he can't remember having picked.   Thanks to a weirdly high number of testers...  Rubix, MP, Jack, Liari, Skald, Aaron, JM, and Ashley.  (Maybe more?  It's been banging around for a while and I'm not totally sure my notes are all here...) (It can be found over at MyCrossword .)