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Seed Entry

  Hey all, If you're a follower of this blog you may be interested in a new project I'm spinning up called The Gnomon .  The goal of The Gnomon will be to put out high quality American style variety cryptics, in batches about about 4, about every other month, for six bucks apiece, starting June 1st, with free previews in February and April.  If that sounds like something you might be interested in solving, head on over and sign up for email updates.  And especially if you're a constructor I'd love to work with you on running a puzzle of yours.  Our style sheet with info about pay rates and rights can be found here . Also, since last post I appeared in The Browser again, with #207, another collaboration with Longyfan , aka Roland Ingram.  That puzzle came out great and Longy's great and if you do UK cryptics (and even if you don't) you should especially check out this remarkably cool puzzle he made. Also, for the last few months I've been delighted to serve...
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End of Year Round-Up

 Hi all! Standard apology for not updating the blog in a while.  Here's some puzzles I've released in the meantime... On Christmas Day 2024, I did a twitch stream making a puzzle collaboratively with everyone who showed up to help... That was:  Skaldskaparmal, Taceo, RoboTwilight, Longyfan, Frisco.  Puzzle's here , and I think it's pretty neat, and it's themed on a Christmas Present I got this year. Also:  Jess Shulman and I made a puzzle called Loophole in the Wall Street Journal!  The Wall Street freakin' Journal!  Like where the Hex puzzles were!?  An unbelievable honor and I'm super stoked and I think the puzzle came out great and I hope you like it. Also:  The Browser released it's volume of The Browser Cryptic Crosswords 2023 , a bound version of the Browser's puzzles of that year, of which three were by me. Also:  In October I was in the Browser again, with Browser #194, edited as always by Dan Feyer. And that's it!  Big ne...
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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 .
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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 .
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