I have today’s puzzle in Newsday. Titled Face the music, it’s my debut puzzle in a print publication, so I’m obviously pretty happy about that. The entire process has been a very positive learning experience. The Newsday puzzle editor, Stanley Newman, has been a fantastic (and patient) guide throughout. Working with Stan at Newsday isContinue reading "Published in Newsday: process deep dive"| Generalisms
This one’s been in my Drafts folder for quite some time! Now, after gathering dust over the last six months, I present to you my first real Thursday-style puzzle: Waiter! Waiter! You can solve below, directly on Crosshare, or download the pdf, puz or ipuz. Ten months since I submitted this to the Times. TenContinue reading "Waiter! Waiter!"| Generalisms
Today, I’m lucky enough to be the provider of the daily 7×7 crossword over at Malaika Handa’s 7xwords project. Please go solve that puzzle (that link will work when my puzzle is live) and let me know what you think. In December alone, there are some incredible constructors putting together a 7xwords: as you mayContinue reading "At sixes and sevens"| Generalisms
I’ve wanted to do a theme of this type for a while, but haven’t had the inspiration. However, when I found this revealer it was an obvious one: the “WILD GOOSE” part of the revealer is a perfect cryptic-esque clue for the hidden anagram in the other theme entries. As usual, this puzzle was re-workedContinue reading "Have a gander"| Generalisms
Guess what⸮ Here’s a new puzzle for you, just before the month ends. How about that⸮ So, what are you waiting for⸮ Solve this and let me know what you think — feedback greatly appreciated! Need I say more⸮ (The ‘⸮’ symbol is the rhetorical question mark or percontation point, developed in the 1580s byContinue reading "Rhetorical questions"| Generalisms
Flashback! This was the first mini crossword that I ever constructed and was also the first crossword in any form that I made public. I’m still pretty happy with it and think it’s a fun solve. I’m a big fan of the Crosshare Daily Mini, which along with each day’s 7xwords puzzle are the onlyContinue reading "A Tale of Two Pauls (mini)"| Generalisms
A quick 5×5 mini I threw together earlier in the week after notcing the harmony between the mini-theme entries 1-Across and 3-Down. I love the history of 3-Down and will very likely do some sort of full-sized puzzle on their hits and misses over the years. Full of great trivia! I decided against using somethingContinue reading "Suspicious, Suspicious (mini)"| Generalisms
Up until March this year, I hadn’t watched any of the DC films, so I rectified that and watched them all one quiet week. In homage, this mini (5×5). I only discovered after putting this puzzle ‘live’ that 8A is almostly exclusively British English. I don’t think it presents any major problems, but if I’dContinue reading "Justice League-ish"| Generalisms
This full-sized 15x puzzle is a clue/answer switch theme on some common “crosswordese”. Likely too ‘inside baseball’ for publication, I had some fun coming up with the theme entries and putting the grid together. This is certainly not the first puzzle to use this theme. Another nice example is crosswordESE by Lyle Broughton, published byContinue reading "Flip it and reverse it, or: Crosswordese"| Generalisms
Yet another crossword site… this time by Lloyd. I maintain an overview of useful construction tools/resources and a 'difficulty heat map' of the major crossword venues.| generalisms.com