PUZZLE #99: Unleash the Beast! (by Chandi Deitmer!)

PDF
PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

If anything was going to wake this site up from its long-dormant state, it would be a tweet like this:

Anyone feel like hosting a very silly puz I wrote ages ago? Will make zero sense unless obsessed with arrested development

— chandzzz (@CDeitmer) April 15, 2022

So, I'm excited to bring you a guest puzzle by Chandi Deitmer, who you may recognize from her bylines in all types of outlets that sell good puzzles. She's one of the best in the business right now IMO (this from Crucinova, this from the NYT, and her Boswords joint are all what I would call "absolute heaters"), so it's an honor to be hosting the puzzle. Arrested Development-heads... this is our time.

And, some words from Chandi!

I have been a fan of paolo's work since basically knowing crosswords are in the world, so it is very very special to be hosted on GTD today! this is also a helpful way to cope with the fact that he moved away from cambridge and I no longer have the chance of randomly running into him. (did I run into him ever? no I did not, but there was always the POSSIBILITY.) a hearty congratulations to the new grad, and a big thanks for his kindness in hosting this very silly puzz and offering his keen editing eye 👀👀. 

on a very personal, soul-bearing note, my favorite moment in all of culture is when Michael says to Gob, "Forgot you were married? Quick, Gob, what's her name?!?!?" and he responds with ... "Crindy!" 

happy solve, ya nice nerds!

PUZZLE #80: Malaika's Midi (by Malaika Handa!)

PDF
PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Hello! Excited to be posting this guest puzzle by Malaika Handa, a rockstar constructor who recently started her own site (which just launched recently, but is already providing incredible content). Many thanks to her for sending it my way—you can see below that our interests and voices overlap in a lot of ways, and I'm honored to have this puzzle on the site! A few words from Malaika:

It is so exciting to be featured on Grids These Days! I love the chaotic-good energy of this site / Paolo and hope this puzzle channels some of it. Speaking of chaotic ideas, for some reason I thought it would be fun to cobble together a collection of every mathematically possible 7x7 crossword. (A pretty hefty project given that I've only been constructing for three months... But it's good to aim high, right?) If you're interested in contributing one, email me at handamalaika at gmail dot com!

I for one am excited to see the 7x7 project develop, so be sure to check out the link. If it's anything like this puzzle, the project is going to be bangers only.

Hope you enjoy the puzzle!

[UPDATE: Thanks Steve Mossberg for pointing out the download links led to the wrong puzzle! Fixed now]

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

PDF
PUZ
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 #74: Pentadecaphilia (by Chris Piuma!)

PDF
PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

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!)

PDF

PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

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 #70: Themeless 17 (by Matthew Stock!)

PDF
PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle (and the SOLUTION to the mini puzzle)

Very excited to be running today's puzzle! It's a guest puzzle by Matthew Stock, who's quickly established himself as a banger voice in the crossword scene. Apart from his indie site (linked below), you can also see his uniformly fun and excellent work at The Atlantic, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and more. I know I'm in for a good puzzle when I see Matthew's byline in general, but I was especially wowed when he sent the grid for today's puzzle (esp with the marquee 36-Across entry). I'm honored to be sharing his work today, and I hope you enjoy the puzzle as much as I did.

And, some words from Matthew!

I’ve been solving Paolo's incredible puzzles here since I first found out that indie puzzles existed, so I’m absolutely stoked to get to share one of my own here this weekend. I try to emulate Paolo often in my puzzlemaking, and this puzzle (especially its clues, which I had a ton of fun with) are very much a product of that. If you enjoy, hit me up on Twitter @1MatthewStock and/or check out my fledgling site, happylittlepuzzles.com. Happy solving!

The feelings are mutual—he's one of the cluing greats, (as you'll see below), and I find myself trying to bite his writing style way too often. Hope you enjoy!

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

PDF
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)

PUZZLE #10: Themeless 3 (GUEST PUZZLE BY NATE CARDIN)

PDF

PUZ

SOLUTION to last week's puzzle

Welcome, solvers!

We're onto double digits, folks. To celebrate, we're bringing in a first for Grids These Days: a guest constructor! This week we have up-and-coming constructor Nate Cardin taking the helm; you might know him from his recent MGWCC guest puzzle, which we talk about more below. Anyway, he's here with a sparkling 72-word themeless. There's a lottt of good stuff in the grid; I'm honored to be running it, and excited for you to solve it. But first, an exclusive interview with the constructor himself. Take it away, Nate!

PP: Tell me a little about your background; what do you do outside of crosswords?
NC: I'm a chemistry teacher and coordinator of diversity, equity, and inclusion at a private high school in Los Angeles.  That dual role allows me to tackle many of my passions simultaneously - promoting science education, working with young people, and advocating for more diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities.  Outside of work and crosswords, I enjoy exploring museums with my husband, watching every episode of Survivor (yes, every), and pining over Lego sets that are way too expensive for me.

PP: How'd you get into crosswords in the first place?
NC: I've gravitated towards puzzles from as early as I can remember!  I loved solving anything I could get my hands on, but I'll admit that I grew increasingly bored/unsatisfied with crosswords as I got to college and then grad school.  It seemed like skill with crosswordese was prized over wordplay, creativity, and joyful wrestling with language - and that turned me off.  I wanted something new or different, and I wasn't finding it.  I'd always had the dream of writing/publishing my own crosswords, but I didn't see myself as belonging in that crossword climate and I assumed that publishing was something other people (but not me) got to do.  This was up until a year or two ago.  

Now, I see a different cross-world.  I'm excited about crosswords again and feel like I can belong.  Why?  Meta puzzles!  Discovering Gaffney's meta contest was a revelation for me - crosswords could be creative and imaginative, and you could ask solvers to stretch and grow to conquer new puzzles by relying on imagination or attention to detail rather than unrecognizable fill.  I quickly started writing my own metas with my colleague Mike (in fact, the first crossword I ever constructed was a birthday present for him).  We kept up with it and were each fortunate enough to have a meta published during Gaffney's Guest Constructor Month this year.  I've written a bunch of metas since then and have even ventured into writing non-meta puzzles, thanks to Andy Kravis's lovely and supportive Grid Wars.  This puzzle is actually a grid I constructed for one of his challenges.

PP: Your MGWCC puzzle was one of my favorite metas in recent memory, and it was your debut! If I can get all "Inside the Constructor's Studio" on you, what's the story behind the puzzle?
NC: My husband and I were watching RuPaul's Drag Race one evening and either the title phrase (Side Eye) or meta answer (Throw Shade) was tossed around, and I had one of those !!! moments where I realized that simply putting the letters from Throw Shade (an evenly-divisible phrase!) sequentially on each side of five I's in the grid could be a simple, tight way of connecting two related, current phrases.  From there, the challenge was constructing a grid with only those five I's in it that was as clean as I could get it.  One thing I really appreciated was the post-solve discussion among those who were/weren't familiar with the slang about what those terms mean, how they were or weren't related, and where they derive from (the black and then queer communities).  That piece of cultural relevancy and literacy is huge to me, and to have an indie community where we can discuss topics like that is so important.  I'm hopeful that the indie crossword community continues to develop in that direction, especially by giving platforms to constructors from all backgrounds, especially those who don't often get to be featured.

PP: What's your crossword constructing philosophy?
NC: I'm a fan of fresh, modern puzzles that show off the constructor's personality and I strive for that myself.  If I had to choose, I'd rather an experimental grid that feels alive than a stoic, by-the-rules construction.  Naturally, this makes me a huge fan of Erik Agard, Paolo Pasco (yes, I'm going to name drop Paolo on his own site), and others who keep their grid/clue vernacular fun and current.  As I grow as a constructor, I'd also like to make my grids increasingly clean and fun to solve.  (Shout out to BEQ for great and motivational consistency in his puzzles.)  When I'm gridding, if the question ever pops into my mind of "How can I get away with this fill?", I ditch the fill and try again.  I'm motivated by the creativity and joy that feature in so many indie crosswords these days!  A computer can fill a grid, but it takes a thoughtful constructor to make a grid that sparkles.  I always want to strive for that sparkle.

Excellent responses, excellent puzzle, excellent constructor. Enjoy!

-Paolo