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Jigsaw with Juff 2!

Hello, puzzlers! A while back , Juff and I made an alphabet jigsaw* on the premise that we don't generally enjoy them—and it was fun, so here's another one! *An alphabet jigsaw has 26 answers, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet, and you must figure out where the answers fit in the grid. But wait! We made different versions so you can choose your difficulty level; these are roughly in increasing order of difficulty. If you just want to solve a regular cryptic (with enumerations and locations of the answers given as normal) that just so happens to have one answer per letter of the alphabet, click here ( ipuz | pdf ). However, if you want to try an alphabet jigsaw that gives you… …the length and starting letter of each answer, click here ( ipuz | pdf ). …the length of each answer, with clues alphabetized by their answer’s starting letter within each length, click here ( ipuz | pdf ). (If you don't know which version to pick, this is the one we recomme

Guess Who #2

This puzzle relates to a specific someone—can you use the ten themed answers to figure out who before the grid spells out the answer in the circled squares? This puzzle was requested  via  my  stream   by DragonEngineer97, a wonderful member of the twitch crossword community! They  picked the subject and a few of the entries, but left me to my own devices for the rest. Thanks are due to several folks for their test solves and helpful perspectives this time round: skaldskaparmal (check out his puzzles here ) Brad (check out his puzzles here ) Hyphen-ated (check out their stream here ) Hope you enjoy the puzzle! [ solve online ] [ jpuz ]

Guess Who #1

This puzzle is the first in a new series, and it relates to a specific someone—can you use the seven themed answers to figure out who before the grid spells out the answer at 15a? Liari  (a cryptic  setter  and  streamer  herself)  requested this puzzle via  my  stream —and was  the first to do so! She let me pick the subject, and it remains to be seen whether she will guess who it is... Many thanks to skaldskaparmal (also a cryptic  setter ) for a test solve that improved a number of clues! [ solve online ] [ ipuz ]

Where in the World #5

This puzzle relates to a specific location—can you use the themed answers to figure out where you are before the grid spells out the answer? Special shout out to Chris, a prolific setter himself, who redeemed this puzzle as a channel-point redemption on my stream ! (Word to the wise: he and liari recently put out a wonderful pack of 25   free puzzles; check it out here .) Many thanks to juff (you know them as a fantastic constructor and streamer ) for a very helpful test solve! [ fullscreen |  ipuz ]

Out of Left Field

I'm pleased as punch to share that I got to be a guest constructor at Out of Left Field , a source of great cryptics by Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto (many of which I have solved on stream !). Many thanks to them for their trust and editorial excellence, and thanks to their keen-eyed test solvers as well. They put out a new cryptic every week, and occasionally feature special guests (many of whom you might already recognize and enjoy), so if you have the few bucks a month to spare, I recommend throwing it their way for a great source of American cryptics. (You also get access to all previous posts/puzzles!) --- If you found your way here from Out of Left Field, welcome!  Here's an overview of what's on this blog: Cryptics 101 : A series of 7x7 puzzles meant for people brand new to cryptics; each one introduces (and is limited to) a single clue type.  Cryptic of the Year : A series wherein each puzzle has a set of answers related to a specific year. Where in the World :

Loot Boxes

Herzwesten and I got together to make another puzzle! I'll let him do the talking, but first we'd both like to thank juff for the very helpful test solve! "Hi folks! I was basically raised by text adventures, so I jumped at the chance to work with Joe on this puzzle. We went through a lot of iterations on how we could pull off such a theme, landing on something that was fun to write (and hopefully fun to solve). If you have played a lot of text adventures, feel free to give me a shout (at herzwesten on social media sites) to tell me some of your favorites! If you haven't, and want to dip your toe in the waters with games that also use wordplay (sometimes in a very cryptic crossword way), I can recommend two games. The first is an Infocom game called Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It, and though I'm not certain about whether you can play it online for free, a quick internet search will turn up something, I'm sure (wink).  The second is the more

Hi Mom

Content Warning: Death How’s that for the start to a puzzle blog post? But here we are. I love my mom, and her time with us is, unfortunately, coming to an end. I also love the online crossword community I’ve been lucky to be a part of in the last few years, and I want to share a bit of her with you, in a way I know how. So: this puzzle is a celebration of my mom’s life. She chose the highlighted entries, as they have personal significance for her. “You” in clues refers to my mom. The puzzle also holds a hidden message. Each clue needs a letter removed from one of its words to make it a valid clue. The words that have a letter removed are still words (or in one case, a single letter that isn’t a word), and the surface may no longer make sense. Taken in clue order (acrosses and then downs), the removed letters spell out an aphorism I heard often from my mom. If you solve this puzzle (and especially if you stream it), please let me know; it would mean a lot. [ online ] [ pdf ]