PUZZLE #56: Themeless 14

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SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Long puzzle! Long puzzle! Long puzzle!

And, a few more things:

• It's been a long hiatus, and in that time a lot of new crossword sites have come up, like the ones from Ross Trudeau, Sid Sivakumar, Brian Thomas, Ricky Cruz, and Trent Evans. Each one has a different (but very good) voice, so check them all out!
• Queer Qrosswords 2 is out! The first edition was wall-to-wall bangers, so you already know the second one is all that and more.
• Congratulations to Erik Agard, new editor of the USA Today crossword! He's only been editor for a few weeks, but he's already made some of the most fresh/fun/inclusive easy puzzles I've solved in a while. Truly exciting stuff.

Which brings me back to my main point: Long puzzle! Long puzzle! Long puzzle!

-Paolo

PUZZLE #32: "What's Poppin?"

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SOLUTION to last week's puzzle

"Mary Poppins" is the musical my school's doing this year, and opening night was this past Friday. It's been a blast from start to finish-- anyway, the show's been on my mind in the four months since rehearsals began, so here's a puzzle themed around my personal favorite song from the show-- I get chills every time. Once you're done, listen to it here (SPOILERS, but beautiful and melodic spoilers).

Hope you enjoy!
-Paolo

PUZZLE #6: "Suh-weet!" (and last week's meta results)

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Welcome back! New puzzle this week. But first, a recap of last week's contest:

A lot going on in the crossword; the first sign that something was up was that it came with a note saying that in a grand last-minute effort, I stayed up all night writing the puzzle. At first glance, it seemed like a crossword with a three-part insomnia theme, with the entries TOSSANDTURN at 17A, CIRCLES/UNDER/THEEYES at 28A/40A/47A, and LOSINGSLEEP at 60A.

But, as solvers noticed, there was more to the puzzle going on. The puzzle also had the disclaimer that since I didn't have time to get it test-solved (a lie, incidentally; I had like nine separate people test-solve this, shoutout to all of them), there might be more errors than usual. And, there were "errors" in the puzzle, but all in the same manner. Specifically, 31 clues contained an extra letter. Those clues (with the extra letter capitalized in bold) are:

[Code's form], VERSE
[Opposite of fEast], EAT
[Nonce more], AGAIN
["It's noT ___!”], USE
[Rover half], MOST
["Let's Make ____" (HalAl program, once)], ADEAL
[Animator's unLit], CEL
[Tracer Jesse], OWENS
[Spot for some cHats], LAP
[SEoul companion], BODY
[Mel ____ (boss, in slang)], JEFE
[HEader's vehicle, once], SNL
[Exeter's countRy], DEVON
[Tool that might attach to a basIs], AMP
[Busts or Soils], ART
[BAring up], EVOKE
[BatHes in a vintage horror flick], NORMA
[Irate indicator], PER
[DyNe containers], VATS
[Kind of fileT], RASP
[Girl in the faRm], SIS
[Coats over poEts], ENAMELS
[SWay], TELL
[Hear centers], COBS
[ProAm attendee], SENIOR
[SpurT, with “on"], URGE
[JeTer], BOO
[POut up, as a painting], HANG
[Mess with, as some pAunch], SPIKE
[CD-____], SPAN
[RoDe, to Caesar], OVA

Reading the extra letters, in clue order, gives the phrase CENTRAL THEMER IS A HINT RE WHAT TO ADD. The central theme entry is CIRCLES UNDER THE EYES, and successful meta solvers realized that it was a cue to add circles under the I's in the grid. The prompt asked for an eight-letter answer, and reassuringly, there were exactly eight I's in the grid. Circling the squares below the I's led to this:

The circled letters, read left to right and top to bottom, spell the meta answer STAY WOKE, as found by 52 solvers. 

This week's randomly selected winner is... joon pahk! For his efforts, he gets a reserved free copy of an upcoming project I have going on, and he gets to choose a word for me to put in a future puzzle. Congrats, joon, and thanks to everyone who solved/gave feedback!

Gentler themed puzzle this week. Enjoy!

-Paolo