PUZZLE #64: "Recess!"

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PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

A few bullets:

• Don't miss this Rebecca Falcon thread about a very important topic in crosswords
• Two days until the book drops! Buy one for the kid/kid-at-heart in your life.
• The offer here still stands—one donation, five puzzles. Will also commit to making a midi for everyone who qualifies, no exceptions, so hop on that train if that suits you. Thank you to everyone who's donated so far—ran the numbers yesterday and it came to over $12,000 (!!) so far. Hats off to the puzzle community for chipping in for a good cause.
• I would be remiss not mentioning some banger puzzle suites that have dropped recently: Ricky Cruz's "Crossing Words," Will Nediger's "Escape the Grid," and Eric Berlin's "The Social Distancing Puzzles." They don't miss, any of them.

Quirky theme in today's puzzle—thanks to Ria for help with some of the clues. Puzzle-wise, keep an eye out for more drops soon.

Hope you enjoy!
Paolo

PUZZLE #63: Write-Offs (by Ria Dhull)

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PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Guest puzzle today! Very excited to run this one—Ria Dhull's an up-and-coming constructor, a fellow Harvard student, and also my girlfriend. She has the same voice/spirit/eye for quality as a constructor as she does as a person in general—a comparison that only makes sense if you know her I guess, but trust me when I say it means "very fun and good and I'm a huge fan." I'm very, very lucky in many senses, least of which is that I get to run this puzzle.

Some words from Ria!
let me just start off by saying that this is super exciting for me because paolo is one of the best crossword constructors out there. being on his blog is a really big honor and i still don’t think im worthy but hi! im sure you guys were expecting a pasco puzzle today and i can’t really make up for it but here is something! don’t know how i managed to convince paolo to post it, but he’s the nicest person ive ever met so maybe that’s why. like, for example, i made him edit this puzzle at least ten times, and he was really really sweet and helpful every one of those times. on that note, i genuinely think this puzzle would be nothing without him. as a very very new crossword constructor, i would also be nothing without him.

She's lying, this puzzle absolutely is 100% worthy and I'm the one who should be honored. Hope you enjoy!

(P.S. Follow Ria on Twitter @ria_dhull)

(P.P.S. The offer here is still on the table—if you haven't donated, it's never too late)

some words + a bonus puzzle

Different kind of post today.

Send me (at pascopuzzles [at] gmail [dot] com) a screenshot of your donation to the Black Lives Matter donation drive of your choice and I'll send you a brand new 17x themeless. If you donate more than $50, I'll make you a midi with clue/answer of your choice. Erik Agard is doing the same thing on his twitter, so please check that out as well.

Above all, please please keep doing the work. Do research, make phone calls, keep donating, anything you can.

Hope you're well,
Paolo

UPDATE: Sid Sivakumar of Sid's Grids has gracefully contributed a puzzle of his own. Now, if you donate, you get a 17x17 themeless and a 25x9 themed puzzle. It's a very good puzzle, so if the 17x17 themeless + the knowledge of contributing to a worthy cause still has you on the fence, let this be the factor to push you over the edge.

UPDATE #2: Matthew Stock of Happy Little Puzzles has also generously chipped in with a lovely 15x15 themeless, making for three puzzles (17x17 and 15x15 themeless, 25x9 themed) per donation.

UPDATE #3: Two new puzzles in the mix: one 15x15 themeless from Steve Mossberg of Square Pursuit, and an 11x11 themeless collab from USA Today extraordinaire Brooke Husic and rising crossword star Ria Dhull.