feat. 68 words + big stacks!
test-solved by thea kendal
PUZ / PDF / SOLUTION
Let’s get the big news out of the way: I’m in a New York Times article! Check out “How Gen Z Made the Crossword Their Own” by Adrienne Raphel, author of “Thinking Inside the Box.” It’s a profile of Gen Z crosswords and it features me, Paolo Pasco, Adam Aaronson, Ricky Cruz, and there’s even an Et Tu Etui shout-out in there(???). Chances are, if you’re here for the first time, you came from that article. Welcome! I don’t post on this blog as regularly as I should, but I typically aim to post two puzzles a week on my Patreon!
Onto this puzzle: I find myself starting a lot of grids on graph paper nowadays. It can be so daunting staring at a 15×15 grid on my screen, my hand forced by a filling algorithm recommending the same 100 “seed entries” to me that I just don’t vibe with. Is this a case of me needing to edit my word list? For sure. But it’s also a good excuse to challenge myself. Funnily enough, I didn’t need construction software until after all the long entries in the middle here were decided on. Shout-out to OneLook, baby! Grid started with 34-Across, my favourite entry here (which was not in my word list) is 21-Down, and my favourite clue here is 29-Across (of course). Enjoy!
Some bullet points:
- The weekend of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament was absolutely incredible, and I’m so grateful to all the people who said hi! ACPT has become something I look forward to every year and I don’t plan on missing it in the future. Let’s see if I can continue my trend of doing slightly better every year (last year I placed 66th, and this year I got 63rd).
- I can’t mention ACPT without mentioning Paolo’s incredible finals win on Sunday. I’m not usually a sports girl, but the rush of adrenaline I got watching Paolo solve made me understand all the hype. Please read his thread about winning. Paolo was also kind enough to let me stay at his place that evening so I could rest before my flight in the morning. If you’re wondering how Paolo celebrates a win: Italian dinner and SNL clips. (Relatedly, the “Jumanji” sketch was so good last week.)
- I’m in the most recent Believer issue with a brand new stumpery themeless. As always, shout out to Ben Tausig for his incredible editing and to Wyna Liu for being such a kind test-solver.
- I have today’s Walrus puzzle! 26-Down in this puzzle is a bit of Canadiana I’ve wanted to put in a puzzle since I was literally 12. Solve it!
- And lastly, a bit of a sombre note: Xtra Xword is no longer. We’re on good terms and my past puzzles with them will still be available, but there won’t be any new Xtra crosswords for the forseeable future. I’m planning on writing a retrospective of my work with Xtra, but for now I just want to thank everybody who supported it.
Today’s music recommendation is from a movie I’m excited about:
Enjoy the puz! Also: feel free to share the link, comment below if you like the puzzle, and check out my Patreon! Book’s out next month, y’all. Get hype.
– Ada
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