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

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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 #96: Themeless 30 (with Kate Leiserson!)

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Another collab! This time with Kate (i.e. kateschmate of crosswords schmosswords), who's been using her site to publish a series of what we at Grids These Days call "bangers." Many thanks to Kate for her fun/fresh/thoughtful work on this puzzle—she's a joy to work with, and it shines through in the puzzles she has a hand in (when I opened the file she sent on my phone, there were clues that made me stop mid-walk and say "oh wow"). More from Kate:

What has two thumbs and doesn't mind using them to poke at crossword legends on Twitter and ask for a collab?! I like to think that our collective work on this puzzle was what in the woodworking world we call "a good fit" (technical term). This is like the ball pit of grids - working on it was pure fun. I'm so chuffed having had the chance to work with Paolo, and I hope the result is a delight for solvers!

Thanks to Kate for everything (and Ada for test solving)! Hope you enjoy!

PUZZLE #86: *sad honk* (remix) (with Malaika Handa!)

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Collab with Malaika! We also have a puzzle on her site, which you should check out first. I'll be here.

You probably know from her site, my site, and interviews that she's very good at this whole crossword thing, but it also can't be said enough how fun she is to collaborate with. There's something to be said about being in a Google doc with someone and watching them drop multiple fun, clever, funny clues for an entry in a row. My favorite clue in the puzzle full-stop (26A) is all her, as are the rest of the good clues. All this is to say, the vibes on this puzzle were great, I'm a huge fan of this collab, and I hope you are too!

If you're having trouble solving digitally, here's a hint (ROT13'd because spoilers): gur yrggre K jvyy uryc svyy va nal fcnprf

Hope you enjoy!

P & M (on twitter @malisolves)

P.S. She also made "I Fold," which is one of my favorite solving experiences of the year. Check it out!

PUZZLE #64: "Recess!"

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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 #61: Pair Programming (with Brooke Husic)

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lowercase post! feels right, since we got a chiller puzzle with a more freewheeling cluing vibe. very excited to run this puzzle, not in the least because this is a collab with brooke husic! you might know her from her excellent USA Today crosswords, or the equally-excellent work she's done on recent indie puzzle bangers. in either case, this puzzle came together within a twelve-hour period, from theme conception to clues. i'm honored to run it here—not only is brooke insanely talented at every stage of the crossword constructing process (if you like a clue, she wrote it), but she's dang fun to collaborate with too.

and, from brooke!
paolo asked me what time zone i was in, presumably to give me the benefit of the doubt because my messages were arriving at odd hours. turns out they're still odd hours even with the europe correction. this came together after PP found the circled words in 11-across following an appropriately topical exam. building this together felt like speed chess during filling and was the most fun i've had on a google doc, possibly ever, during cluing. stay tuned for more from this byline.

hope you enjoy!

p.s. follow brooke on twitter (@brookehus @xandraladee)