By some oversight, I accidentally pulled a "get 3 pigs, mark them 1, 2, and 4, and unleash them in a mall". I failed to properly count when I posted the Graham Chapman-focused puzzle. Here is my third Feature, and one of my most popular grids. Comments below.
I'm quite surprised by my original oversight, but I'm also rather surprised by this puzzle having gotten 38 solves as of this blog posting. The placement of the seed (19A) was particularly ornery, and the fill was not wanting to cooperate, hence some comments about "learning" a few things when it was a sign that the fill required Google. Until we meet again, enjoy your days, and remember - when nothing seems to go right, go left! Note to self - Featured Puzzle count after today is FIVE.
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My twitter feed makes it clear that I enjoy being Jewish (even if I don't like some members of the community) but I especially am starting to enjoy the folklore. Even in the old rabbinic commentaries on the laws of holidays like the Sabbath, there are mentions of demons (or sheydim) who might cause disruptions in daily life. Remembering this lore brought up an idea for a naming scheme.
I will continue to do "semi-regular" mini grids (under 9x9) and keep the name as such, but I'm debating what to name them. Likely, I will keep the name or drop the Semi-Regular part altogether in the future. Minis or Midis (between 11x11 and 14x14, for my standard) that are intended to be more difficult will be called Menaces. Thankfully, dear reader, they will be somewhat infrequent as I will need time to build the larger grid and may frequently ask for help from other constructors for cluing and filling in. Anything that would go into a New York Times weekday or Saturday - grids of size 15x15, 15x16, 16x16, and 16x15 - will be few and far between for the time being, but I will be titling those Sheydim (individually, they will be called Sheyd, the singular for "demon"). Anything the size of a New York Times or Washington Post Sunday or larger will be called an Ashmedai Construction (as in one of the kings of demons in Jewish lore who, according to Talmudic lore, was contracted by King Solomon to help make the first Temple). I enjoy trying to make more difficult grids but I need to get more practice in before I submit anything.
This puzzle had some helpful clue input from David over at his puzzle site and we both agreed to work blue on this one (you were warned). Puzzles that are larger and intended to be more difficult will be titled a Menace and may frequently have guest help with cluing. Menaces will also be less frequent than the "semi-regular" minis. Comments after the applet.
Happy puzzling. :3c Once again, I'm trying to give the paper doll site Picrew a bit more exposure and some more recognition in grids. Originally, I had SWEAT TALK instead of what appeared in 4D but David and I both agreed it didn't quite work as a joke fill (it's a Tumblr thing and would have maxed out the character limit). Thankfully, we only had to change LARP to PERP and PEEL to PEEP and everything else fell into place. And remember - when nothing seems to go right, go left!
This particular mini was seeded by a Chris Piuma livestream, but this was an absolute beast to seed and shape. Comments after the puzzle.
This is one where even I had to do extensive search engine work to get some of the wild fill to work. Today's entry proved to be a lesson in the difficulties of an unconventional seed entry, but it was worth it, especially with the 1A seed and the clue for 8A. I will be participating in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) the weekend of April 24, so I will be pushing the puzzles for this week and next a smidge early. Considering my last attempts at crossword tournaments (Couchwords, Lollapuzzoola, and the Bosword leagues) have shown where I need to work as a speed solver, I'm not expecting to get top 20% of the ACPT entrants, but I plan on having fun with all this. Featured Puzzle #4: Graham Chapman, co-author of the Parrot Sketch, is no more. He has ceased to be.4/12/2021
One of my favorite minis to have made, and I was admittedly looking for more reasons to be okay with breaking a few rules. More commentary after the puzzle. Enjoy this quick one!
While I know for a fact that no newspaper would willingly allow words like "shit" and "fuck" to be placed into the clues or the fill, it never hurts to push the boundaries some and get some practice in. May your day be tolerable, if not enjoyable, and remember - when nothing seems to go right, go left! |
AuthorAriel Haymarket (they/them, she/her, it/its, e/em/eir) is an annoying anti-authoritarian leftist residing on stolen Kiikaapoi land. New grids every first and third Friday and every second and fourth Tuesday. Archives
December 2023
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