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Puzzle #40: Themeless

I figure one 21x21 puzzle with deranged fill and half-assed clues is the equivalent of a polished 15x15! A shockingly high word count, only one egregious dupe, and a filling philosophy based on cramming in memes. Uh, enjoy as best you can? PDF PUZ Fullscreen

Puzzle #39: Themeless

I've been posting a puzzle a month pretty consistently to this blog, but my favorite month deserves another banger. This one is again inspired by finding a 15 in a dank meme, please don't take it too seriously. For those of you missing Midi Monday Month, I'm very happy to say that you can catch midis by me semi-regularly in the Modern Crossword , only at the Puzzle Society! Keep an eye out on Thursdays and Fridays, but also keep your eyes on the Puzzle Society generally! It is rapidly becoming my favorite puzzle site, combining my two favorite things: quick puzzles and elaborate lore . Experimenting with a direct link to the fullscreen applet for this puzzle, which should make things easier to solve on mobile: let me know. Also, shout out to AmuseLabs for letting us use custom completion audios: sound on for this one! PDF PUZ Fullscreen applet

Puzzle #38: Themeless (extra round and fluffy edition)

An easy themeless with some extra massive, bulky bonus theme content. After you've completed the puzzle, don't forget to (spoiler in link) VOTE . Do your civic duty, folks. As soon as I post this, I'll be heading out to HONK! a festival of brass music that is 1) my favorite day of the year and 2) canonically, my birthday party. See you all on the other side! PDF PUZ

Puzzle #37: Themeless

Just goofing around with this one! Please read 41-Across aloud in a gruff, dramatic tone. More things coming soon, both here and elsewhere 👀 PDF PUZ

Puzzle #36: Themeless

Been making some puzzles just for the blog, so have a pretty "loose" themeless. This one should play on the easier side, but honestly, the cluing is all over the place. (EDIT: Forgot to mention, this one was of course inspired by the rise of a banger 15 on Crosscord!) I hope to see some of you this weekend at Lollapuzzoola; my first time going in-person, and I'm excited and nervous to see what on earth happens. PDF PUZ

Puzzle #35: Themeless (Boston, babyyy)

I'll see you all later today at Boswords ! In preparation, have a themeless with some extra Boston-related content. Enjoy, go Sox, wicked pissah etc. PDF PUZ

Miscellany #2: Published a puzzle!

Got a puzzle in the New York Times! Play it here ; if you don't have an NYT subscription, you can probably figure out other ways to find it. This feels like a good opportunity to go a little more in-depth on my construction and publishing experience; some notes below! On constructing:  This puzzle started with the oversized groups of black squares in the corners, because I liked the look of those big pools of ink. How the crossword looks before you solve it is part of the experience! (I think it's like the plating of a dish at a restaurant, in an awkward metaphor I've tried to force before.) With this many black squares, I could afford a pretty low wordcount, and I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of fill I was able to get. (ENIGMATOLOGY, most famous as the invented major of a young Will Shortz, was a happy accident, not an attempt to curry favor!) I started filling from the top down; I'm a big fan of conversational fill, and SOIGATHERED is one of those phrases