Monday, January 11, 2021

I've Moved!

Hello and thank you for your interest in my crossword blog. Blogger as a website sufficed for the first dozen or so crosswords that I constructed, but I wanted to bring my website into the 2020s.

You can now find me over at https://www.trashpandapuz.com/ where I still post (usually) two crosswords a week, my Teeny Tuesdays and a 15x15 later in the week.

Cheers,
Jac

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

015: Themeless Puzzle 2; Laughs, Cheers, & Celebrations

Word Count: 72, Mean Word Length: 5.33

What can I say? I've caught the themeless bug! Not only that, but I've caught the word stack bug as well, seen earlier this week with my Teeny Tuesday puzzle. Instead of rambling on about the grid statistics here, I've given them their own section below. Thank you Chris Piuma for the editorial recommendation for 46D!

If you don't know your pop culture, I'm sorry. This puzzle isn't as geeky as last week's 15x15 themeless, but it still has a bit in it. *looks at my grid* Okay, it's still super geeky, but I wanted to embrace my interests more in 2021.

Non NYT Words: 13A, 14A, 24A, 35D, 51A, 62A
Non Shortz-Era Words: 1A, 16A, 40D
Title Words: 12D, 14D, 50A
Music Word: 51A

Cheers,
Jac

Thursday Edit: The attempted insurrection at the US Capitol yesterday was deplorable and disgusting. My US Representative is currently writing up new Articles of Impeachment to hopefully put an end to this nightmare of a US President. I hope that I can be a little glimmer of light in this corner of the internet, for I wish to spread joy and cheer, not bigotry and hate. Everyone, please stay healthy and safe. We'll get through this together. 

Now Playing: Kirby's Adventure Medley by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

Monday, January 4, 2021

014: Teeny Tuesday 7

Word Count: 21, Mean Word Length: 5.14

It's the first Teeny Tuesday crossword of 2021! Why not kick off this series of puzzles with a nice and chunky stack of 12 letter answers to start the year. This grid's seed word (is that a pun this time?) is 14-Across which comes from my uberly geeky word list.

Is uberly a real word? Well, per Thor, all words are made up.

Anywhos, I'm excited to continue the Teeny Tuesday puzzles because in February, I'm one of the 7xwords constructors! Over the course of the year, various awesome people are creating every 7x7 crossword that's possible under the normal rules. Check out the website here!

Cheers,
Jac

Now Playing: Rainbow Road by Helynt & GameChops

Friday, January 1, 2021

013: Themeless Puzzle 1, Take Flight

 

Word Count: 72, Mean Word Length: 5.33

Happy New Year! Phewy, we made it through a year we're not going to forget anytime soon. I for one am looking forward to 2021 with a renewed sense of optimism and excitement. I want this year to be bigger, bolder, and better! That being said, why not kick things off with my first published themeless puzzle?

This puzzle contains 8 words that have never shown up in the NY Times crosswords and another 2 words that have not seen the light of day during the Shortz era. Of the 8 new words, 4 of them are from my personal word list and 1 is from my Pokemon word list. Hopefully these will be fun to solve!

UPDATE: 45-Down has been removed from my word list. Thanks for the input from folks.

Cheers,
Jac

Now Playing: Revali, Ace Archer & Aviator by Kumi Tanioka