PUZZLE #101: Themeless 32

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[solution to the last puzzle coming soon]

It's been a while! How 'bout another puzzle, for old times' sake?

Hope you enjoy,

Paolo

PUZZLE #100: Remedial Chaos Theory

Happy Puzzle #100! I wanted to get this milestone right, so I spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas. Unfortunately, I ended up with six puzzles I liked a lot and no way to choose between them. So, I gave each puzzle a number, rolled a die, and decided to publish the puzzle whose number came up.

I rolled a three, so here's the puzzle I chose; thanks to David Gold for testing! The meta answer is a word associated with chaos.

PUZZLE #98: "Do They Come In Other Styles?" (I Think You Should Theme)

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

crosswords + i think you should leave = i think you should theme. Think of them as Grid Charlemagnes for people who do not listen to Steely Dan so much but watch "I Think You Should Leave" a fair amount. Thanks Ada for coming up with the "I Think You Should Theme" title.

A few other items of interest:

• I was lucky enough to collaborate with Megan Amram on a puzzle for the New Yorker's first-ever Cartoons and Puzzles issue. Early reviews say it's "impossible," but maybe it won't be impossible for you. 
• You seen this Kickstarter? Pretty cool. I'd fund it if I were you.

Happy solving,

Paolo

PUZZLE #97: Themeless 31 (with erik agard!)

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

collab season continues apace! feeling lowercase vibes for this post in honor of this week's co-constructor, who you might recognize from editing the USA Today/solving faster than humanly possible/being on the whole one of the nicest and most talented people in crosswords. this site owes many many things to him, so this was, to say the least, a great moment and an immensely fun collab. more from erik below!

what can i say about paolo that isn't already being said hundreds of years in the future by the puzzle historians teaching courses on his work? maybe just that i look up to him for being one of the most grounded, consistently kind people i've met. i'm thankful for the chance to write some clues for this puzzle and i hope i did it justice.

thanks to david gold, adam aaronson and ada nicolle for test solving; hope you enjoy the puzzle!

PUZZLE #95: Themeless 29

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Quick post—lotsa crossword news going on, really sweet overall! 66 words, 0 themes, hope you enjoy!

-Paolo

P.S. Excited as always to have today's 7xwords puzzle!

PUZZLE #94: Themeless 28

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle (+ explanation of the meta)

There's a full writeup (in the link above to avoid spoilers in case anyone's still working on it). Thanks to everyone who submitted, and everyone who sent kind words in your answer emails—it always means a lot. Out of 50 entries, the randomly selected winner is Malaika "7x7 overlord" Handa! Congrats to Malaika, and everyone who solved!

And, an announcement: I'm excited to be joining the Atlantic puzzles team as assistant crossword editor! What does that mean for the future of this site? Who knows, really. Free time's going to be a big limiting factor, but my goal is to keep posting for a little while, since (a) I have a lot of unclued grids I'm sitting on, and (b) I just wanna get to Puzzle #100. 

Big-stacks themeless today. Hope you enjoy!

-Paolo

PUZZLE #92: Themeless 27

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Another themeless today—aimed for a medium-ish difficulty on this one, for ~variety~. Hope you enjoy!

Also, I don't have a tip jar on this site + I'll always be posting puzzles for free, but if you want to show appreciation, consider a donation to any of these funds for AAPI Heritage Month. Only if you're able, of course, but there are a lot of funds that could use donations

-Paolo

PUZZLE #91: Themeless 26

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SOLUTION to last week's puzzle

Typing this with the online ACPT in another tab, so this is also gonna be a short post, but: been a fun first ACPT, great puzzles, great people, great presentations, highly recommend!  

This is the puzzle I brought to the Virtual Puzzle Table, so some people have already gotten the sneak peek of this puzzle. If you haven't solved it yet, check it out! If you have solved it—idk, solve it downs only or something? (Many thanks to official ACPT comedian Ada Nicolle for test solving!)

Hope you enjoy,
Paolo

(luckily there is no chance sid will have to do this)

PUZZLE #90: Themeless 25

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Quick post, can't type a ton, but there are a lot of great puzzle things going on that you should check out!

Themeless today—hope you enjoy!
Paolo

PUZZLE #89: [post title here] DO NOT PUBLISH EARLY

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

[post here]

[rest of post here]

[sentence that reads naturally in post but is in fact heavily sponsored]

[end post here]

Hope you enjoy,
Paolo

[replace with good picture]

PUZZLE #87: This Time It's Fursonal

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

BEFORE GETTING INTO THE POST: It's been a rough week, so here are some resources that are worth the time/money (HERE and HERE). Donate if you're able

Themed puzzle this week; tried to get it to play easier than normal. Before you email me: no, I'm not a furry, no, I don't have anything against furries, they rule, and yes, I thought of this theme on the fifth anniversary of "Zootopia."

Hope you enjoy,

Paolo

PUZZLE #85: Themeless 24

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Another themeless! I went down more rabbit holes than usual cluing this, and they were the kinds of rabbit holes you find and then really want to share with other people, so here's a doc with a few links to stuff I found cool (spoilers for the puzzle, so only click after you've solved).

Hope you enjoy,

Paolo

P.S. If you like cryptic crosswords but don't like the "word" part, try this all-emoji cryptic crossword I posted a few days ago. I'm also hearing from a lot of people that this was their first complete cryptic solve, so especially check it out if you're a cryptic beginner!

PUZZLE #84: Themeless 23

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Bullet points because I'm writing this while trying to figure out what "statistics" are:

• Thanks for all the love the last puzzle has gotten!
• Late to post about this, but read these Kameron Austin Collins notes if you haven't already.
• Some puzzles from new indie sources that I've really enjoyed: this indie debut from Ryan McCarty, and this themeless banger from Mollie Cowger.

Normal themeless today, no tricks, but I feel like it leans into "modern" more than usual. Hope you enjoy!

Paolo

PUZZLE #82: Themeless 22

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Happy 2021! Late for the first post of the year, but I got caught up with the Mystery Hunt (fun! great!) and registering for classes (meh). Some notes:

• Check out the new crossword feature at The Browser if cryptics are your vibe! I'm lucky enough to be one of the contributors, and the puzzles that have already come out are setting a high bar. 
• The 7xwords project is underway, and all the puzzles so far have been bangers. I'd be remiss not to point out this one and this one, which were especially fun
• Contribute to this form to help diversify wordlists!

Back to normal-sized themelesses; hope you enjoy the puzzle!

Paolo

PUZZLE #78: Themeless 20

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Writing this in the seven hours before my math final paper is due, so this is gonna be quick (unrelated, if you know a lot about the Petersen graph please comment below).

Boswords Fall Themeless League just wrapped up, and it was a great time with a great set of puzzles. The puzzles are still here for purchase, and with such a stacked constructor lineup, there's no reason not to snatch them up.

Anyway, tried for a low word count grid today—hope you enjoy!

-Paolo

PUZZLE #76: Flawless Victory (by Quiara Vasquez!)

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle
SOLUTION A to this puzzle
SOLUTION B to this puzzle (CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK)

Hello! Very excited to be bringing this puzzle by Quiara Vasquez, who you might know from her guest spots here, here, or here. She has an incredible voice, and it definitely comes across in this puzzle. Also it helps that this is a definite feat of construction (but I won't say any more for risk of spoiling). 

This is the most fun I've had talking over/setting up a puzzle on this site—it's an unconventional one, but I hope it brings some joy in a stressful time. And, many thanks for Sid Sivakumar for help with formatting/other technical matters. 

And, some words from Quiara!

It's Election Day, and you know what that means: staying up til 4 in the morning and watching democracy die in real time. How will we know who won this presidential contest as the results slowly trickle in? I'll tell you how - you'll solve this puzzle, which is doing what the lamestream media FiveThirtyAin't and calling the election at 11:00 a.m. EST. Move over, Marist Poll. There's a new "poll star" in town - and all eyes are on her.

Now, some of you crossword enthusiasts in the audience might have caught wise to the "trick" of this puzzle, which, in addition to flawlessly predicting tomorrow's headline, also pays homage to a grid of yesteryear - one of my all-time favorite puzzles, actually, albeit a controversial one. To say any more would prematurely expose the technical wizardry of my creation - it's best seen for yourself.

(Minor technical note: this puzzle's brilliance was too much for the PuzzleMe applet, so you'll need to check the solution file for the full effect.)

Hope you enjoy!

PUZZLE #75: Themeless 19

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Some bullets:

• This grid came from experimenting with different themeless designs, and I personally like how this 66-word one turned out.
• Some puzzles I've enjoyed: Ada Nicolle's triple-stacked-21's themeless, this Matthew Stock midi, Adam Aaronson's new grid, this beauty by Elise Corbin, and the oeuvre of Brooke Husic's new site (!!)
• Keep an eye out for some ~spooky~ puzzles by me this weekend! Will link to them as they become available
• Vote if you can!!

Hope you enjoy the puzzle,
Paolo

PUZZLE #74: Pentadecaphilia (by Chris Piuma!)

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Hello! Very excited to be running a puzzle from Chris Piuma, who you might know from his (very good) Twitch stream, and his (equally good) crossword site, both of which I highly recommend. Constructing-wise, I love what he's doing in terms of experimenting with the form of crosswords—no one's doing it like him. That sense is also very much on display in this puzzle, but I'll keep stop talking about it to avoid spoilers. All this is to say, I loved this puzzle, I hope you love it too, and here's some words from Chris!

This puzzle is a companion to my guest puzzle on Ada Nicolle's site. Both were inspired by a notorious channel in the Crosscord Server. I'm super excited that Paolo is willing to share it on his site, because — and I've written and rewritten the rest of this sentence a bunch of times, but it has something to do with the puzzle coming out of a particular community, and this site (and Paolo's other crosswording work) fostering a richer and more delightful community, and my excitement at stumbling into all this lovely communitarianism, and... oh, let's just say I'm excited and honoured that my puzzle is appearing here. I hope you enjoy it.

Many thanks to Chris for the kind words—now, onto the puzzle!

PUZZLE #73: "I Love It When You..." (by Brooke Husic!)

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Guest puzzle guest puzzle! Happy to be presenting a puzzle by Brooke Husic, whose work you might've seen at the USA Today, the New York Times, and any number of indie outlets. She does great stuff regularly, so many thanks to her for gracing this site with some of that greatness!

Notes from Brooke:

Thrilled to be here again with a puzzle that Had To Be Made after I noticed the relevant pattern. Many thanks to Paolo for hosting me; he's the best. His recent guest midi on Amanda's site is amazing (I for one support more (i) anniversary content and (ii) nonstandard symmetry, and this midi has both)!!! Also, I had the immense honor/pleasure of test solving Paolo's Expansion Pack and *highly* recommend it if you haven't checked it out already!!!

If you're a citizen, register to vote!! Deadlines here!!! Registration/absentee rules here!!! Online registration available in these 40 states!!!!

Follow her on her Twitters if you're not on that already—hope you enjoy the puzzle!

PUZZLE #71: Themeless 18

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Got another themeless today! I've always been partial to 14-letter entries and 5x5 corners, so I dropped both into today's grid. Hope you enjoy!

Quick plug for my Writing the Clues First project; feel free to drop a clue or two in there, and I might use it in a puzzle! Help me complicate the answer to the "Do you write the clues or the answers first?" question.

-Paolo

P.S. Check out the USA Today crossword this Monday (8/24)!