101 daily crosswords
by Byron Walden
Sat 4/6/2024
B | U | B | B | L | Y | | C | Z | A | R | I | S | T | S |
A | H | I | S | E | E | | H | O | M | E | C | O | O | K |
D | O | G | I | E | S | | E | M | I | N | E | N | C | E |
T | H | U | D | S | | P | A | B | S | T | | N | O | W |
H | O | P | E | | L | A | P | I | S | | M | E | M | E |
I | R | S | | W | A | L | L | E | | C | I | T | E | D |
N | E | E | D | I | S | A | Y | M | O | R | E | | | |
G | O | T | A | S | E | C | | O | P | E | N | M | R | I |
| | | R | E | S | E | R | V | E | D | S | E | A | T |
H | O | S | E | R | | G | U | I | D | O | | D | I | S |
I | N | H | D | | D | U | N | E | S | | P | I | N | T |
A | D | O | | C | R | A | P | S | | C | R | O | C | I |
T | O | R | A | B | O | R | A | | T | O | Y | C | O | N |
U | P | T | R | E | N | D | S | | A | N | O | R | A | K |
S | E | A | C | R | E | S | T | | B | E | R | E | T | S |
Sat 10/14/2023
M | A | N | S | E | | A | H | A | B | | P | U | M | P |
A | L | B | U | M | | R | E | G | U | L | A | T | E | S |
K | O | A | L | A | | M | A | R | Z | I | P | A | N | S |
E | N | D | U | R | E | | P | I | Z | Z | A | H | U | T |
U | E | Y | | K | E | G | | | K | A | Y | | | |
P | A | N | Z | E | R | O | T | T | I | | A | G | T | S |
| G | A | I | T | | O | R | A | L | B | | O | H | O |
E | A | S | T | E | R | N | I | L | L | I | N | O | I | S |
W | I | T | | R | E | I | C | E | | R | E | D | S | |
W | N | Y | C | | G | E | E | N | A | D | A | V | I | S |
| | | A | H | A | | | T | L | C | | S | S | W |
T | H | E | S | A | U | C | E | | F | A | C | E | M | E |
M | I | D | A | U | G | H | T | S | | L | I | V | I | D |
E | Y | E | B | L | E | A | C | H | | L | A | I | N | E |
N | A | N | A | | D | O | H | A | | S | O | L | E | S |
Sat 4/22/2023
I | O | W | A | S | | J | A | C | K | A | S | S | E | S |
S | H | A | V | E | | U | P | A | N | D | Q | U | I | T |
T | H | R | E | W | | J | U | N | E | A | U | I | T | E |
H | E | B | R | E | W | U | | T | A | B | I | T | H | A |
I | L | L | | R | I | B | A | L | D | | D | E | E | M |
S | L | O | P | | Z | E | R | O | E | S | | D | R | Y |
I | N | G | O | D | | | O | S | R | I | C | | | |
T | O | S | S | U | P | Q | U | E | S | T | I | O | N | S |
| | | T | O | R | U | S | | | S | T | R | A | W |
T | S | K | | S | O | E | A | S | Y | | Y | A | D | A |
B | E | E | R | | V | E | L | L | U | M | | L | E | N |
O | N | R | A | D | A | R | | I | M | A | J | E | R | K |
N | O | N | P | U | B | L | I | C | | N | I | X | I | E |
D | R | E | A | M | L | I | K | E | | G | N | A | T | S |
S | A | L | T | P | E | T | E | R | | E | X | M | E | T |
There had been some talk recently about Saturday being the new Friday. I suspect that last week's puzzle by KAC and this week's will tamp down such talk for a while.
One standard way of making a puzzle harder is making the clues vague, so they lead you in multiple directions. But it's easy to overdo it, and no one wants to do a puzzle with clues like [Noun] and [Verb]. I like clues that appear vague at first, but then become surprisingly specific as you figure them out. A good example is [They have everyone buzzing] at 35-Across. Initially you might be thinking in several directions, but once you think of buzzing in as in College Bowl, "everyone" becomes a critical part of the definition.
Mon 10/10/2022
P | R | I | M | P | S | | A | P | E | D | | M | C | S |
A | E | R | I | A | L | | N | A | T | O | | A | H | I |
S | P | A | R | R | I | N | G | P | A | R | T | N | E | R |
T | O | T | E | M | P | O | L | E | | A | R | I | A | S |
A | T | E | | | | H | E | R | B | | A | P | P | |
| | | T | A | C | O | | Y | E | S | | E | W | E |
S | E | A | S | C | A | P | E | | F | O | O | D | I | E |
P | A | R | A | L | L | E | L | P | A | R | K | I | N | G |
A | S | T | R | A | L | | M | A | L | T | E | S | E | S |
S | Y | D | | M | I | L | | P | L | A | Y | | | |
| P | E | P | | N | A | P | A | | | | B | A | R |
S | E | G | U | E | | B | O | Y | G | E | O | R | G | E |
P | A | R | T | S | D | E | P | A | R | T | M | E | N | T |
U | S | E | | P | U | L | P | | I | N | A | N | E | R |
D | Y | E | | N | O | S | Y | | P | A | R | T | W | O |
Don't delete your calendar app! Yes, it is indeed my byline on a Monday. Had the lower right corner with the revealer not worked out, I had the backup plan of PAR 2 as the revealer, which would have probably pushed it to a Wednesday. Since the theme entries weren't PARticularly sPARkling, I tried to put in a lot of fun stuff outside the theme. The challenge was keeping everything as Monday-friendly as possible. Hope you all enjoy it.
Sat 8/6/2022
G | A | R | B | | J | U | M | P | F | O | R | J | O | Y |
U | L | E | E | | O | P | E | R | A | H | O | U | S | E |
S | P | C | A | | B | I | D | E | N | O | M | I | C | S |
T | A | U | N | T | | S | I | T | C | H | | C | A | D |
A | C | T | I | V | E | D | U | T | Y | | P | E | R | E |
V | A | S | E | C | T | O | M | Y | | B | U | B | B | A |
| | | | H | A | W | S | | R | E | P | A | I | R |
| C | L | U | E | I | N | | D | O | T | A | R | D | |
T | H | E | N | F | L | | B | E | L | T | | | | |
R | A | F | T | S | | F | A | L | L | I | S | S | U | E |
O | T | T | O | | P | U | T | S | O | N | H | O | L | D |
O | L | E | | Y | A | L | T | A | | G | E | N | T | S |
P | I | N | B | A | L | L | E | R | S | | B | O | R | E |
E | N | D | O | W | M | E | N | T | S | | O | R | A | L |
D | E | S | K | P | E | R | S | O | N | | P | A | S | S |
I'm guessing the entry that will garner the most attention is 26-Across. Although I'm also the person who debuted CONDOM in the Times, there's no agenda here. It wasn't, um, a seed entry.
I had a whole grid built with UP IN ARMS, but when I thought of UP IS DOWN, I decided it would be a better entry, and that led to using VASECTOMY. The clue [Form of birth control] is from the editors, but I like it because I think it is a useful exercise for solvers to think of how many forms of birth control for females they thought of before considering forms for males. My clue was a bit of trivia I found interesting: [Procedure legalized in France in 2001, but banned in Iran in 2014].
Sun 4/3/2022 SOFT OPTIONS
L | I | F | T | U | P | | P | F | F | T | | P | E | L | T | | S | W | A | N |
A | C | R | O | S | S | | R | E | A | R | W | I | P | E | R | | C | E | C | E |
S | E | A | O | F | T | R | A | N | Q | U | I | L | I | T | Y | | H | E | I | R |
T | B | I | L | L | | A | I | D | S | | R | O | C | S | | S | O | U | N | D |
I | L | L | S | | A | P | S | E | | S | E | T | S | O | F | T | O | N | G | S |
N | U | T | | S | U | P | E | R | V | H | S | | | N | E | A | L | | | |
G | E | Y | S | E | R | E | D | | E | R | A | S | E | | B | R | O | C | H | E |
| | | T | E | A | R | | B | R | O | W | E | D | | R | E | F | L | E | X |
U | N | L | A | D | E | | J | E | S | U | S | L | I | K | E | | T | E | A | T |
N | E | A | R | S | | R | U | N | E | D | | | T | A | Z | | H | A | V | E |
D | O | C | S | | S | A | N | D | S | O | F | T | I | M | E | | O | N | I | N |
E | S | T | O | | O | R | K | | | F | A | U | N | A | | M | U | S | E | D |
R | O | O | F | | B | A | D | R | A | T | I | N | G | | T | I | G | E | R | S |
G | U | S | T | A | F | | N | O | D | U | L | E | | S | E | T | H | | | |
O | L | E | O | L | E | | A | N | D | R | E | | F | A | S | T | T | A | L | K |
| | | M | O | S | T | | | W | I | D | E | O | U | T | S | | D | E | E |
S | O | N | O | F | T | A | R | Z | A | N | | A | R | R | S | | P | A | N | E |
A | V | E | R | T | | P | E | E | T | | A | R | C | O | | G | A | M | I | N |
L | I | A | R | | S | T | A | T | E | O | F | T | E | N | N | E | S | S | E | E |
E | N | T | O | | R | A | D | A | R | T | R | A | P | | A | N | T | O | N | Y |
M | E | O | W | | S | P | Y | S | | C | O | G | S | | E | X | A | N | T | E |
Back in 2005, I used the clue [Shroud of Torino?] for CAR COVER. On the old Times Forum and Crossword Fiend, then in its rookie year, a poster vituperatively objected to the cheeky reference to the Shroud. Given the over-the-top rhetoric, I suspected it was all a put-on, but if indeed the correspondent was truly offended, then I hope today's very respectful clue at 32-Down will square things between us.
Speaking of cheeky, I definitely thought about how one might clue REAR WIPER as someone changing diapers. The clue [Clearer in hindsight?] is definitely for the car part. If I were going the other way, it would be [Clearer with hindsight?]. For once, the less scatalogical version is funnier to me.
Hoping you came away from solving the puzzle with a sense of triumph!
Sat 9/4/2021
C | O | M | E | Q | U | I | C | K | | A | C | C | R | A |
O | V | E | R | U | N | D | E | R | | S | H | O | A | L |
P | A | R | S | I | M | O | N | Y | | Y | O | U | N | G |
T | L | C | | T | E | N | T | P | O | L | I | N | G | |
O | S | H | A | | M | T | E | T | N | A | | T | E | T |
| | | L | E | B | A | R | O | N | | R | E | L | O |
L | I | S | T | L | E | S | S | | A | B | A | D | A | N |
O | N | A | L | A | R | K | | B | R | E | W | I | N | G |
G | A | M | I | N | S | | H | A | C | I | E | N | D | A |
I | M | E | T | | H | A | I | L | I | N | G | | | |
C | O | T | | F | I | N | A | L | S | | G | A | D | S |
| M | O | N | O | P | O | L | I | S | T | | P | E | T |
M | E | Y | E | R | | D | E | S | I | R | A | B | L | E |
S | N | O | R | T | | E | A | T | S | A | L | I | V | E |
S | T | U | D | Y | | S | H | A | M | P | O | O | E | D |
Interesting, not particularly fun, fact about ABADAN: A major oil refining center, its population fell from 300,000 to an official 6 during the Iran-Iraq war. The population has since grown past its pre-war levels.
Registration is now open for the Boswords 2021 Fall Themeless League. It's a 9-week online event with weekly themeless puzzles, including one by me. There are three levels of difficulty, approximately Tuesdayish, Fridayish and something beyond Saturdayish, so really there's something for everyone. In addition to the puzzles, there are interviews with the constructors and solvers for each puzzle, and other fun extras. You can find details about registration, constructors, past tournaments, and a sample puzzle at www.boswords.org. Don't miss it!
Wed 6/9/2021
C | A | M | S | | G | A | S | U | P | | V | A | P | E |
A | D | A | M | | A | R | O | S | E | | E | L | O | N |
R | I | C | O | | T | I | R | E | D | B | L | O | O | D |
B | A | C | K | S | E | A | T | D | R | I | V | E | R | |
| | H | E | P | | | | | O | L | E | | | |
I | R | I | D | E | S | C | E | S | | B | E | B | O | P |
L | O | A | | C | O | U | C | H | P | O | T | A | T | O |
O | U | T | S | | A | R | I | E | L | | A | R | T | S |
S | T | O | O | L | P | I | G | E | O | N | | B | E | E |
T | E | S | L | A | | E | S | P | Y | A | W | A | R | D |
| | | E | T | C | | | | | S | I | R | | |
| A | R | M | C | H | A | I | R | E | X | P | E | R | T |
L | I | O | N | H | U | N | T | E | R | | E | L | I | E |
I | D | O | L | | G | A | M | E | R | | U | L | N | A |
L | A | D | Y | | S | L | E | D | S | | P | A | D | S |
Originally the theme entries were clued as people "you just can't stand," explaining the absence of BENCH WARMER, which seemed a bit harsh. I was pretty pleased to get a lot of long nontheme entries in there, but was careful to keep them shorter than the theme entries. The key to making it work was getting a nice middle section, which I don't think I could have managed in the days before E-CIGS and especially, NAS X. I did think about trying NAT X in the NAS X slot. Folks my age who watched SNL would remember, at least. Finding room for LIL in the grid ended any doubts about which way to go.
Tue 12/1/2020
M | A | L | I | | C | A | P | S | | G | I | A | N | T |
I | M | I | N | | H | I | R | E | | E | M | B | A | R |
S | O | F | T | W | A | R | E | C | O | M | P | A | N | Y |
O | S | T | E | E | N | | S | T | P | | R | C | A | S |
| | | L | A | G | O | S | | A | G | E | I | S | T |
O | B | S | | R | E | P | U | B | L | I | C | | | |
S | O | U | R | | T | E | R | I | | N | I | F | T | Y |
H | O | M | E | F | O | R | E | C | L | O | S | U | R | E |
A | M | O | C | O | | A | C | A | I | | E | L | A | N |
| | | C | O | N | S | O | R | T | S | | L | P | S |
P | A | M | E | L | A | | O | B | I | T | S | | | |
A | D | I | N | | T | P | K | | G | A | L | A | G | A |
W | H | A | T | M | O | R | E | C | A | N | I | S | A | Y |
N | O | T | E | D | | E | R | I | N | | N | I | N | E |
S | C | A | R | S | | P | S | S | T | | G | A | G | S |
If there were prop bets on crossword puzzles, I wonder what the odds would have been that my 100th puzzle in the Times would have been on Tuesday. (Hmm, maybe 98 to 1.) Thanks to Will and crew for giving me the opportunity and all the fine editing over the past 19 years.
Since it was a pretty straightforward theme, I hoped to jazz it up a bit by interlocking the theme entries. I worked on a different combination for a long time. All I can remember was SOFTWARE COMPANY at the bottom rather than the top. Eventually, I gave up on that and managed to get this one to work. Hope you all are safe and well and enjoy a bit of diversion with the puzzle.
Sat 10/24/2020
R | I | F | F | S | | | C | O | V | E | R | A | R | T |
A | V | I | L | A | | U | R | B | A | N | A | R | E | A |
Z | O | N | A | L | | N | E | A | T | T | R | I | C | K |
O | R | G | Y | | G | I | M | M | E | | E | A | S | E |
R | Y | E | | C | O | T | E | A | C | H | | | | |
S | T | R | O | L | L | | | C | H | A | S | S | I | S |
H | O | T | R | O | D | D | E | R | | I | C | A | N | T |
A | W | I | N | G | A | N | D | A | P | R | A | Y | E | R |
R | E | P | O | S | | A | U | T | O | D | R | I | V | E |
P | R | S | T | U | N | T | | | S | O | F | T | I | E |
| | | | P | A | Y | L | E | S | S | | P | D | T |
A | B | C | D | | S | P | A | D | E | | T | R | E | F |
B | R | E | E | C | H | I | N | G | | K | R | O | N | A |
B | A | D | B | O | U | N | C | E | | S | O | U | C | I |
A | G | E | T | O | A | G | E | | | U | N | D | E | R |
It's been a year since my last Saturday puzzle in the Times. But, really, not that much has been going on in the meantime. I submitted this one at the end of January, which explains why I didn't try to turn SOUCI into FAUCI.
The impetus for the puzzle was the [Intellectual property?] clue. The other entries with an academic vibe [CO-TEACH, VA TECH, KSU, EDU] were by coincidence. If you know I'm a math professor, the clue at 18-Across is a massive misdirection.
Since we're in a census year, a bit of trivia about URBAN AREAs I learned from researching the clue. The census defines an urban area as being either an urbanized area (50,000+ inhabitants) or an urban cluster (2,500-49,999). Per the 2010 census, there is only one urbanized area in the U.S. whose name begins with Z. Can you guess what it is?
(Answer at the end of Jeff's notes.)
Sun 6/21/2020 ANIMAL CROSSINGS
C | A | R | A | F | E | | C | H | U | R | N | S | | | H | A | S | S | A | N |
A | C | A | D | I | A | | B | A | Z | O | O | K | A | | O | P | P | O | S | E |
R | E | C | A | S | T | | S | W | I | M | M | I | N | G | T | R | U | N | K | S |
E | L | E | P | H | A | N | T | S | | | E | N | D | O | W | | D | I | E | T |
D | A | R | T | | W | A | V | E | T | A | N | K | | B | I | B | | A | D | S |
| | | | L | A | P | | S | S | E | | | D | I | N | A | R | | | |
O | P | E | N | E | Y | E | S | | K | R | E | M | E | | G | S | H | A | R | P |
P | I | T | O | N | | | Q | A | T | A | R | I | S | | S | M | I | L | E | S |
E | X | T | R | A | D | R | U | M | S | T | I | C | K | S | | A | N | I | M | A |
D | Y | E | D | | C | H | I | C | K | E | N | S | | O | U | T | O | F | I | T |
| | | S | T | O | O | D | | | | | | A | N | T | I | C | | | |
W | E | S | T | E | N | D | | F | O | C | A | C | C | I | A | | E | E | L | S |
A | C | O | R | N | | E | L | E | C | T | R | I | C | C | H | A | R | G | E | S |
N | O | D | O | F | F | | C | A | T | S | E | A | R | | | R | O | O | S | T |
E | N | A | M | O | R | | D | R | A | C | O | | A | C | C | E | S | S | E | S |
| | | S | L | A | M | S | | | A | L | B | | H | H | S | | | | |
T | A | D | | D | I | A | | H | O | N | E | Y | B | E | E | | E | L | S | E |
A | V | O | W | | D | U | G | I | N | | | F | I | R | E | F | L | I | E | S |
L | I | G | H | T | N | I | N | G | S | P | E | E | D | | T | A | I | P | E | I |
C | A | M | A | R | O | | C | H | E | E | R | E | D | | A | D | Z | I | N | G |
S | N | A | P | A | T | | | S | T | E | E | L | Y | | H | E | A | D | O | N |
HARRISON: I am 8 years old and a rising third grader. I like fill-ins, frameworks, brain teasers, trivia and other puzzles. I also like creative writing, drawing, trivia, travel (14 countries, 17 states and counting), reading (mostly about history and true crime), cooking, riding my bicycle and playing with my dogs. I have been solving and constructing puzzles since I was 4.
BYRON: I tell a lot of dad jokes. A while back, sparked by a suggestion from my wife Robin, we started thinking of ways to build a dad joke theme. Harrison and I would note some decent ones here and there without too many letters, but it took a long time to hit on some unifying ideas. Having run across several "crossing" jokes, the idea of crossing the components in the grid just clicked. The first two jokes were modifications of ones from Harrison's jokebooks. The latter two we wrote ourselves to make the symmetry work.
We collaborated throughout the process. Most of the longer entries were Harrison's choices. Once we had finished all but the two isolated corners, I told him he should try to finish them off on his own. He used CrossFire with a basic word list for suggestions, but he added one word at a time, without autofill. He'd ask things like "Is HASSAN okay?" for words he didn't know, but managed to finish up in pretty short order. We did the cluing together. Thursday will mark my 10th wedding anniversary and thus the 10th anniversary of the wedding day puzzle Robin and I constructed. So now it feels like we've come full circle. Hope you all enjoy the puzzle and the day.
Sun 5/17/2020 WIDE-OPEN SPACES
A | T | P | A | R | | | A | N | C | H | O | V | Y | | S | P | E | E | D | O |
R | H | I | N | O | | A | P | A | R | I | C | I | O | | P | L | A | N | E | R |
K | E | N | T | C | I | G | A | R | E | T | T | E | S | | L | A | S | T | E | D |
A | V | E | S | | S | E | R | R | A | T | E | D | | F | U | N | T | I | M | E |
N | A | T | | W | E | N | T | A | T | I | T | | B | A | R | T | E | R | E | R |
S | U | R | E | B | E | T | | T | I | N | | C | O | N | G | O | R | E | D | S |
A | L | E | X | A | | | K | I | N | G | H | U | S | S | E | I | N | | | |
S | T | E | T | | S | T | O | V | E | T | O | P | S | | S | L | A | T | E | D |
| | | R | E | C | I | P | E | | H | O | P | E | S | | S | U | A | V | E |
| S | E | A | S | O | N | S | | D | E | T | E | S | T | S | | S | H | I | N |
O | U | R | L | O | R | D | | S | A | P | I | D | | P | I | S | T | O | L | S |
U | S | N | A | | N | E | B | U | L | A | E | | N | A | T | U | R | E | S | |
T | H | I | R | D | | R | E | S | I | N | | I | G | U | A | N | A | | | |
S | I | E | G | E | L | | U | S | A | I | N | B | O | L | T | | L | I | Z | A |
| | | E | C | U | R | R | E | N | C | I | E | S | | | B | I | D | E | N |
Z | E | P | P | O | M | A | R | X | | B | E | T | | B | E | L | A | I | R | S |
A | Q | U | I | L | I | N | E | | C | U | L | T | H | E | R | O | | T | O | W |
M | U | Z | Z | L | E | D | | H | O | T | S | E | A | T | S | | M | A | Z | E |
F | I | Z | Z | E | R | | H | U | N | T | E | R | G | A | T | H | E | R | E | R |
I | N | L | A | T | E | | A | R | G | O | N | G | A | S | | S | N | O | R | E |
R | E | E | S | E | S | | P | L | A | N | S | O | N | | | T | U | D | O | R |
I had very much wanted to clue HUNTER-GATHERER as [Meat-and-potatoes kind of guy?], but it turns out that wild potatoes are actually a pretty bad thing to eat. The More You Know ....
27-Across makes its NYT debut, but I've used it once before. It was an entry in the 2005 ACPT finals puzzle and was referenced in that puzzle's title. Hoping this puzzle provides a little bit of FUN TIME for you all in the current crisis.
POW Fri 4/10/2020
C | O | F | F | E | E | | T | H | E | O | R | E | M | S |
O | R | I | L | E | Y | | H | E | L | L | E | N | I | C |
P | A | R | O | L | E | | E | P | I | D | U | R | A | L |
S | T | E | W | S | | M | A | P | | S | P | A | T | E |
H | O | S | S | | T | A | L | L | S | | S | P | A | R |
O | R | O | | S | E | R | P | E | N | T | | T | S | A |
W | I | F | I | P | A | S | S | W | O | R | D | | | |
S | O | F | T | I | S | H | | H | O | U | S | T | O | N |
| | | S | T | E | M | P | I | P | E | L | I | N | E |
G | A | L | | S | T | A | R | T | E | D | | N | E | A |
U | T | E | P | | S | L | Y | E | R | | L | Y | F | T |
S | H | A | R | P | | L | A | S | | B | E | T | O | N |
T | O | F | O | L | L | O | W | | N | O | M | O | R | E |
A | M | E | S | I | O | W | A | | B | L | O | O | M | S |
V | E | R | Y | E | A | S | Y | | C | A | N | N | E | S |
Major thanks to Kevin and Finn for putting together Crossword Tournament From Your Couch. It was really fun and a great honor to be part of it.
Most of the time, I make a themeless by starting in a corner and building the grid out from there. With this one, though, I started with WIFI PASSWORD. Since you can't build a conventional corner around a 12-letter entry, I used this pinwheel style that accommodates 12-letter entries nicely. Once you've got the middle part filled, the four corners usually offer a lot of good possibilities independent from one another. As an example, at 36-Down, ON?????? has so many options of the ONE LITER variety. I was very pleased to come up with something fresh there.
Wishing you all a safe and healthy Friday. It's been almost ten years since the last time I, along with my favorite co-constructor, was in the Times on a Friday. That reminds me, I better start looking for a romantic restaurant that delivers candlelit dinners.
Sat 10/19/2019
T | A | C | O | T | R | U | C | K | | Z | A | G | A | T |
A | D | E | N | Y | E | M | E | N | | A | T | O | N | E |
T | O | L | E | R | A | B | L | E | | X | A | N | A | X |
A | R | T | D | E | G | R | E | E | | I | D | E | S | T |
R | E | S | | | A | I | S | L | E | S | E | A | T | |
| | | N | O | N | E | T | O | O | | A | L | A | N |
L | O | V | E | R | S | L | A | N | E | | D | O | S | E |
O | R | A | M | A | | | | | | G | E | N | I | I |
C | A | N | E | | W | E | S | T | B | E | N | G | A | L |
I | N | G | A | | P | A | T | H | A | N | D | | | |
| G | U | N | B | A | R | R | E | L | | | C | U | D |
B | E | A | L | E | | W | I | L | D | P | A | R | T | Y |
D | A | R | I | A | | O | V | E | R | A | G | A | I | N |
A | D | D | O | N | | R | E | F | I | N | A | N | C | E |
Y | E | S | N | O | | M | R | T | C | E | R | E | A | L |
Solvers of last week's Saturday Stumper (Newsday) got a big hint for 56-Across. The clue for MR T. there referenced the cereal. Hopefully, everyone else has seen "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," where the cereal has an appearance. It was Tim Burton's directorial debut, and I pity the fool who thinks he's made anything better since.
Sat 7/27/2019
B | O | I | N | G | | | | | H | E | A | D | E | R |
E | N | C | O | R | E | | | C | U | R | S | I | V | E |
T | E | E | B | O | X | | R | E | L | I | E | V | E | S |
T | I | D | E | W | A | T | E | R | A | C | C | E | N | T |
A | D | U | L | T | M | A | L | E | S | | | R | O | O |
S | A | P | P | H | I | R | E | S | | B | B | G | U | N |
| | | R | A | N | A | T | | F | I | L | E | T | |
| | H | I | R | E | S | | J | A | N | U | S | | |
| R | A | Z | E | D | | B | A | R | G | E | | | |
M | E | D | E | A | | C | R | I | M | E | B | O | S | S |
A | M | F | | | T | E | E | N | P | E | O | P | L | E |
L | O | A | N | T | R | A | N | S | L | A | T | I | O | N |
A | V | I | A | R | I | S | T | | O | T | T | A | W | A |
L | E | T | T | U | C | E | | | W | E | L | T | E | R |
A | S | H | L | E | E | | | | | R | E | E | D | Y |
This is the first grid I've made with fewer than 60 entries. Never say never, but I suspect it will be the last. It's not easy to get the word count that low and keep everything flowing and interconnected the way I like.
There are a few clues here I really like, especially [Performance bonus] for ENCORE, which I had in mind when I built the grid. I really like having "question mark" clues that are so on point that you can omit the question mark. But my favorite clue is one of the innocuous ones: [Salves] for RELIEVES. It is there as a hat-tip to one of my constructing heroes, Sherry O. Blackard. In 2006, she had a 58-word puzzle in the Times where SALVES was an entry clued as [Relieves]. The grids aren't twins — hers had no three-letter words and was connected through the middle. But as a mere mortal, I'm happy to have one that is even just reminiscent of hers.
Wed 2/20/2019
| | | I | T | S | A | L | I | E | | N | O | I | R |
| | B | R | O | W | N | A | N | D | S | E | R | V | E |
| D | U | K | E | A | N | D | D | U | C | H | E | S | S |
P | E | R | | | T | U | E | S | | O | R | S | | |
T | A | G | T | E | A | M | S | | C | L | U | T | C | H |
A | L | L | W | E | T | | | B | A | D | | E | L | I |
S | T | E | E | R | | T | H | A | N | | B | I | A | S |
| | | R | I | C | E | A | N | D | B | E | A | N | S |
D | R | A | K | E | A | N | D | J | O | S | H | | | |
E | O | N | S | | M | O | J | O | | T | A | B | L | E |
P | L | Y | | A | P | R | | | C | A | V | E | A | T |
P | E | T | A | L | S | | A | M | A | R | E | T | T | O |
| | H | E | P | | E | D | O | M | | | T | I | N |
S | M | I | T | H | A | N | D | W | E | S | S | O | N | |
P | E | N | N | A | N | D | T | E | L | L | E | R | | |
A | L | G | A | | G | O | O | D | S | O | N | | | |
This puzzle has a pretty unusual set of theme entries: two 12's, two 13's and two 14's. The sensible thing would be to blow it up to a Sunday size, but the theme felt thin for that, and the next best entry I could think of was BUTLER AND O'HARA. So after much fiddling, I managed to make it work without too many cheater squares. The revealer EDU was completely serendipitous.
POW Sun 11/18/2018 PORTMANFAUX
D | A | R | K | A | G | E | S | | | H | E | E | L | S | | S | T | R | O | S |
A | Q | U | I | L | I | N | E | | M | U | D | C | A | T | | I | W | I | S | H |
M | U | R | D | E | R | C | A | S | E | M | U | R | S | E | | P | E | S | C | I |
P | A | I | D | A | D | | M | A | D | E | | U | S | E | S | | R | E | A | R |
| | T | E | S | S | | S | K | I | R | E | S | O | R | T | S | K | O | R | T |
C | H | A | R | T | | | | E | A | U | X | | | | S | H | I | V | A | |
L | E | N | S | | R | B | I | S | | S | P | A | S | M | | I | N | E | R | T |
U | R | I | | H | I | L | O | | | | A | C | A | I | | A | G | R | I | P |
B | R | A | D | Y | B | U | N | C | H | B | R | U | N | C | H | | | R | A | S |
| | | E | P | E | E | | H | A | L | T | | E | R | A | S | M | U | S | |
| | G | R | E | Y | P | O | U | P | O | N | G | R | O | U | P | O | N | | |
| N | O | N | R | E | A | L | | P | O | E | M | | G | L | U | E | | | |
H | A | J | | | S | P | A | C | E | P | R | O | G | R | A | M | S | P | A | M |
U | T | I | C | A | | E | V | A | N | | | | E | A | S | E | | E | L | I |
H | O | B | O | S | | R | I | P | I | T | | G | E | M | S | | S | E | T | S |
| S | E | R | T | A | | | | N | A | C | L | | | | T | Y | R | O | S |
B | U | R | N | I | N | G | L | O | G | B | L | O | G | | R | I | N | G | | |
I | M | R | E | | D | E | L | L | | L | O | O | N | | I | N | A | R | E | A |
O | M | I | T | S | | S | A | L | T | E | D | P | O | R | K | S | P | O | R | K |
T | I | E | T | O | | S | M | A | R | T | S | | M | A | K | E | S | U | R | E |
A | T | S | I | X | | O | A | S | I | S | | | E | P | I | L | E | P | S | Y |
Byron:
It's always a blast constructing with Joel. It's like playing HORSE with Michael Jordan. "Wow, that's amazing. Wait, what, I have to match that?!" We probably could have made our task 10 times easier by cutting GREY POUPON GROUPON, but it was our favorite, so I'm very pleased we made it work.
Joel:
Byron and I have been working on this theme, on and off, since April 2016. We batted it around for a while over email, but it started to seem impossible to find enough good examples, never mind for them to work symmetrically. Still, after every fallow period over the intermittent two years, one of us would find another example, and the thread would keep going. Definitely one of the most satisfying themes to finally put together, after all that work!
Sat 10/27/2018
S | C | H | L | U | B | B | Y | | P | O | T | A | S | H |
P | L | E | A | S | U | R | E | | O | P | O | R | T | O |
Y | O | U | D | A | M | A | N | | L | E | M | M | O | N |
B | U | R | L | | M | I | S | S | E | D | W | O | R | K |
O | D | I | E | | E | N | I | A | C | | A | R | K | S |
A | L | S | | P | R | E | G | N | A | N | T | | | |
T | I | T | L | E | | D | N | A | T | E | S | T | S | |
S | K | I | E | R | S | | | | S | C | O | R | E | D |
| E | C | O | C | I | D | A | L | | K | N | A | V | E |
| | | P | E | T | O | D | O | R | S | | G | E | M |
A | R | C | O | | C | R | O | W | E | | M | I | R | E |
B | I | L | L | B | O | A | R | D | S | | I | C | A | N |
A | P | E | D | O | M | | N | O | T | A | L | E | N | T |
R | E | F | I | L | M | | E | S | U | R | A | N | C | E |
E | N | T | I | T | Y | | D | E | P | E | N | D | E | D |
When I started the puzzle with SCHLUBBY, I had in mind cluing it as [Like many sitcom dads], but SITCOMMY precluded that. SITCOMMY was the linchpin that finally allowed the grid to be finished, so that clue had to go. My original clue for STORK was basically [Frog predator]. I can't take credit for the macabre twist from Will and Joel and Sam, but I did enjoy it.
The last time I used a historical royal who was largely unfamiliar to me was Queen WILHELMINA, who was awesome to learn about. Turns out LEOPOLD II was as villainous as she was heroic. Hoping for a better one next time.
The juxtaposition of PREGNANT and DNA TESTS is fun, but I like the combo ECOCIDAL PET ODORS even better.
Sun 7/15/2018 COMPLIMENTARY
A | L | P | O | | A | C | T | A | S | I | F | | T | H | E | D | A | N | C | E |
M | A | R | C | | M | R | S | L | A | T | E | | R | I | D | E | S | O | U | T |
I | M | I | T | | O | U | T | S | T | A | N | D | I | N | G | B | I | L | L | S |
N | I | C | O | L | | D | O | O | N | | | A | D | D | E | R | A | L | L | |
O | N | E | P | A | G | E | R | | A | D | O | R | E | | D | I | G | | | |
R | A | D | I | C | A | L | M | O | V | E | M | E | N | T | | S | O | T | T | O |
| | | | A | B | Y | S | S | | M | E | N | T | H | E | | | O | I | L |
| P | I | G | G | Y | | | S | A | I | N | T | | E | C | O | N | O | M | Y |
C | A | N | O | E | | B | R | I | G | | | | A | S | H | C | A | K | E | |
A | S | T | A | | T | A | I | C | H | I | | S | W | E | E | T | T | A | L | K |
S | T | E | L | L | A | R | C | L | A | S | S | I | F | I | C | A | T | I | O | N |
K | I | L | L | E | R | B | E | E | | P | O | D | U | N | K | | I | M | R | E |
| C | L | I | F | B | A | R | | | | T | E | L | E | | M | E | A | D | E |
S | C | E | N | T | E | D | | G | A | D | O | T | | | J | A | R | T | S | |
S | I | C | | | S | O | N | O | F | A | | W | H | E | E | L | | | | |
N | O | T | A | R | | S | O | L | I | D | F | O | U | N | D | A | T | I | O | N |
| | | R | A | S | | N | I | G | E | R | | S | T | I | L | E | T | T | O |
| E | P | I | C | P | O | E | M | | | A | S | H | E | | A | S | H | E | N |
S | M | A | S | H | I | N | G | P | U | M | P | K | I | N | S | | S | E | L | F |
A | M | S | T | E | R | E | O | | T | A | P | I | N | T | O | | E | L | L | A |
D | A | T | A | L | O | S | S | | A | V | E | N | G | E | D | | S | P | O | T |
SAM: Unbeknownst to Byron, I've wanted to get a theme like this published for years. I submitted a 19x19 grid with OUTSTANDING DEBT to the Indie 500's inaugural guest constructor contest, though there were clearly superior puzzles in the pool. I had another 15x15 construction with DOPE SHEET, SICK DAY, COOL BREEZE, etc., but I just wasn't in love with the theme set enough; how could I refine this idea more?
It wasn't until recently that I realized my flaw in execution: the DEBT in OUTSTANDING DEBT didn't really change meaning from its base phrase. OUTSTANDING BALANCE came to mind, and I liked that I could interpret the phrase as a completely different lexical chunk: an asset for a gymnast. It wasn't long after that I thought of RADICAL MOVEMENT, and noticed that these could be clued quite crisply ... as "compliments"!
I was so sure this time around that my puzzle idea could work out ... until my theme well went dry. AND I still had to get everything to lay out symmetrically. Enter Byron, who, after hearing my pitch, quickly came up with SMASHING PUMPKINS and SWEET TALK, much to my amazement. OUTSTANDING BALANCE would have to become OUTSTANDING BILLS, but that was OK by me. I not only had a full theme set now but an opportunity for another Sam and Byron collab, which was such a blast the first time.
So we happily set off to make an easy, friendly 140-word Sunday ... LOL, you thought.
"Let's shoot for 124 [words]!," I chatted Byron, adding a laughing emoji so I could pretend I was totally joking about trying to break records and not insane. Fortunately for me, Byron is, in fact, insane, too. As you can see, we ended up "settling" for 128, though that's probably for the best.
BYRON: Collaborating with Sam is fairly predictable: it's not going to be easy, but it's going to be fun. We both like wide-open grids that are a challenge to fill at all, and then require many iterations to fill well. We ended up with some great chunks that we didn't use just because they didn't work with other parts — the downside of having lots of connectivity and maintaining symmetry. The BARBADOS section ended up being the linchpin — credit to Sam for figuring out that bit out. Hope you enjoy solving it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Sat 6/23/2018
R | O | P | E | S | I | N | | A | G | E | N | D | A | S |
E | C | O | N | O | M | I | C | B | O | Y | C | O | T | T |
L | A | N | G | U | A | G | E | B | A | R | R | I | E | R |
A | N | T | E | S | | E | L | O | P | E | | D | O | E |
B | A | I | L | | A | R | E | T | E | | H | A | V | E |
E | D | U | | C | R | I | B | S | | C | A | R | E | T |
L | A | S | T | Y | E | A | R | | B | O | R | E | R | S |
| | | U | N | A | N | I | M | O | U | S | | | |
A | L | A | N | I | S | | T | O | U | C | H | P | A | D |
F | O | L | I | C | | S | Y | N | T | H | | H | I | E |
F | A | Q | S | | D | U | C | K | S | | S | O | R | T |
A | N | A | | L | E | C | H | E | | B | E | E | B | E |
I | C | E | H | O | C | K | E | Y | A | R | E | N | A | S |
R | A | D | I | C | A | L | F | E | M | I | N | I | S | T |
S | P | A | C | K | L | E | | D | E | T | O | X | E | S |
I usually don't start a themeless having a grid in mind, but every once in a while, I'll try to push myself with a hard one. This grid is a Manny grid (1/10/03), so it's like treading on hallowed ground for me. I like giving solvers lots of connectivity, but it definitely takes a lot of patience and sweat trying to find a way to make everything fit together. This one was hard enough that I'm gonna stay far away from the Manny grids that had even fewer black squares.
The CELEBRITY CHEF entry/clue combo is one of my all-time favorites. I'm always on the lookout for clues that have two misdirecting parts. Here, I especially like that the first part of the clue points to the second part of the entry, and vice versa. On top of that, it uses the old hidden capital trick as well. Happening on this clue was like finding a four-leaf clover.
The quote in the CYNIC clue was cut for space. The full version is: "a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." Mister, we could use a man like Ambrose Bierce again.
Sat 3/24/2018
A | L | E | R | T | | C | H | I | N | A | S | H | O | P |
G | O | P | E | R | | L | E | M | O | N | L | I | M | E |
E | V | I | T | A | | E | M | P | T | Y | E | Y | E | S |
R | E | C | I | D | I | V | I | S | M | | D | A | L | E |
A | B | I | L | E | N | E | | | E | A | G | L | E | T |
N | O | S | E | S | P | R | A | Y | | D | E | L | T | A |
G | A | T | S | | A | D | H | E | R | E | S | | | |
E | T | S | | T | R | I | E | S | O | N | | M | U | M |
| | | L | I | T | C | R | I | T | | R | E | N | O |
A | D | D | E | R | | K | O | N | A | C | O | A | S | T |
N | O | O | S | E | S | | | D | R | A | G | N | E | T |
G | M | O | S | | K | A | T | E | Y | S | A | G | A | L |
L | I | V | E | S | A | L | I | E | | S | I | E | T | E |
O | N | E | P | U | T | T | E | D | | I | N | N | E | R |
S | I | R | S | P | E | E | D | Y | | S | E | E | D | S |
For three or so years, I've been the second most published Saturday constructor in the Times. With great fanfare, I can now say I have one half — that's a big 50% — as many Saturdays as the all-time king and all-time great Rich Norris. And it was possible to get halfway there only because he's taken a ten-year breather. Maybe it's like competing with Milton Berle — if I ever get close, he can just crank out a few more Saturdays for us. (Oh, that reminds me, in case there's any confusion, the second half of 6-Down is just the proper name, not an epithet.)
This puzzle started with CHINA SHOP. My clue was [Bull market?], so this is probably the first time the edited clue was the exact opposite of mine. I get the change, in that the norm is that the bull wouldn't be there. But norms that proscribe wanton wreckage are not quite in vogue these days, so my version might be a bit more zeitgeisty.
Sun 3/4/2018 CHARACTER BUILDING
S | T | H | E | L | E | N | A | | A | C | T | S | O | N | | S | P | A | M | S |
T | E | A | T | I | M | E | S | | L | O | V | A | T | O | | A | R | T | O | O |
I | N | T | H | O | U | G | H | T | A | S | M | U | C | H | | G | O | D | N | O |
F | U | T | O | N | S | | B | O | N | M | O | T | | | L | A | B | A | T | T |
F | R | I | S | T | | S | I | N | S | O | M | E | S | M | A | L | L | W | A | Y |
S | E | P | | A | V | O | N | | | | | S | E | A | N | | E | N | G | |
| | | E | M | I | T | | W | E | E | P | | G | R | A | M | M | | | |
| R | A | B | I | D | | S | I | N | G | O | F | O | M | I | S | S | I | O | N |
P | A | R | E | N | | C | A | T | D | O | O | R | | | | G | E | N | R | E |
S | T | I | N | G | I | N | T | H | E | S | H | O | W | E | R | | C | A | L | I |
H | A | Z | E | | F | E | Y | | | | | | R | A | N | | T | W | A | S |
A | T | O | Z | | S | T | R | I | N | G | O | P | E | R | A | T | I | O | N | S |
W | A | N | E | S | | | | C | O | Y | N | E | S | S | | H | O | R | D | E |
S | T | A | R | I | N | G | Q | U | A | R | T | E | T | | K | E | N | D | O | |
| | | S | T | O | L | I | | H | O | O | K | | H | I | P | S | | | |
| A | M | C | | L | E | N | A | | | | | P | E | D | I | | C | O | G |
S | T | A | R | T | I | N | G | D | A | G | G | E | R | S | | A | S | A | N | A |
A | E | R | O | B | E | | | D | R | E | A | M | Y | | A | N | I | M | A | S |
B | A | L | O | O | | S | T | A | R | T | L | I | N | G | L | I | N | E | U | P |
E | S | I | G | N | | O | H | M | A | M | A | | N | O | I | S | E | T | T | E |
R | E | N | E | E | | Y | E | S | Y | E | S | | E | A | S | T | W | O | O | D |
HAT TIP to the puzzle magazines of my long-gone youth. One of them (Dell?) had a little word puzzle where you had to go from STARTLING to I deleting one letter at a time, always forming a new word without anagramming. (BTW, there are two solutions.)
One of my bugaboos is plural names, which I really try to avoid. This one has two! The second one came when I just had to get IN MEM out of the grid and upgraded it with TV MOM. I tried to do something about ALIS. I could replace the corner, but because of the interlock, it would require redoing the whole of the eastern seaboard, and I just couldn't pull it off. Because of a tough crossing, ALIS needed the easiest clue possible, but I like to tell myself the real clue is the first word of Oregon's state motto. I'm pretty happy how the rest turned out. Hope you all enjoy it!
Sat 2/3/2018
H | A | L | L | P | A | S | S | | | G | A | P | P | Y |
O | L | I | G | A | R | C | H | | S | O | I | R | E | E |
P | I | B | B | X | T | R | A | | P | A | N | E | R | A |
I | C | E | T | | S | O | B | S | I | S | T | E | R | S |
S | E | R | R | A | | D | B | A | C | K | | N | Y | T |
| F | A | I | R | S | | A | T | E | A | T | | | |
N | A | T | G | E | O | | T | U | R | N | R | I | P | E |
E | Y | E | H | A | N | D | | P | A | Y | A | F | E | E |
W | E | S | T | C | O | R | K | | C | O | V | E | N | S |
| | | S | O | F | I | A | | K | N | E | E | S | |
O | T | B | | D | A | N | Z | A | | E | L | L | I | E |
C | O | O | K | E | D | K | A | L | E | | B | L | O | W |
T | R | A | U | M | A | | K | E | T | E | L | O | N | E |
A | I | R | D | A | M | | H | U | N | G | O | V | E | R |
D | I | D | U | P | | | S | T | A | G | G | E | R | S |
SAM: Talk about goals: Once upon a time, I was an avid solver, obsessed with Byron's work. His grids were always loaded with interesting answers; how was he able to fill such wide-open areas so smoothly ... and with such a unique touch? After meeting him at the ACPT a few years ago, we realized how similar our approaches to themeless puzzles were, and last spring, I got the green light I'd been looking over Facebook chat: "We should collab sometime on a themeless — would be fun to see what we could come up with."

After briefly fainting, I set out to make the craziest, most wide-open grid I could, just so I could compare with Byron's normal wavelength. Beginning with PIBB XTRA crossing LGBT ___, I designed the grid skeleton you see now, filling in the NW corner all the way down to AREA CODE MAP / SON OF ADAM (sorry about EYE-HAND!). I passed it off to Byron, and with several grid constraints already in play, was worried that he'd have trouble with what remained. Well, not only did he prove that something was possible ... he made a freaking MINI-THEME out of the SE stack. Unbelievable!
The swath of white space leading into the NE corner was by far the hardest to fill, but it ended up being the most fun. We bounced around various possible fills — Byron had SAW GERRERA work at one point! — but nothing was quite satisfying enough. Finally, the non-database-discoverable GO ASK ANYONE came to mind, and that proved to be the breakthrough.
We're thrilled with the final result and hope it kicked off well with Byron's brilliant HALL PASS clue. Huge thanks to Byron for working with me on an unforgettable puzzle-making experience. Whew! It may be a bit before I wade back into 64-word waters ... we'll see.
Byron: When Sam sent me that corner, I almost sent it back saying this was too good to share, but I'm not that noble. It already had plenty of good stuff in the fill. The main thing, I thought, was to round the corner heading SE in a reasonable way that maintained the openness into the smaller corners. My general goal when constructing, especially themelesses, is to find one bottleneck in the grid that is hard to eliminate and find a way to eliminate it. In this case that meant maintaining the AREA CODE MAP / SON OF ADAM combo and running something long through them. My self-indulgence was trying to do that with KAZAKHS and DANZA, the former for the crazy consonant mashup and the latter as a hat tip since my wife has very fond memories of working with him in her former career in film production.
It was so much fun working with Sam. Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Sat 10/7/2017
H | E | L | L | S | C | A | P | E | | G | E | L | I | D |
A | X | I | O | M | A | T | I | C | | O | P | I | N | E |
I | D | A | L | U | P | I | N | O | | B | A | N | F | F |
G | A | R | A | G | E | S | A | L | E | S | | C | U | R |
| | | | | | S | T | O | P | | B | O | L | A |
P | C | L | A | N | G | U | A | G | E | | A | L | L | Y |
A | L | O | H | A | O | E | | Y | E | A | R | N | S | |
P | I | N | O | T | S | | | | I | N | S | E | A | M |
| O | G | R | E | S | S | | O | S | T | E | R | I | A |
C | A | W | S | | I | W | A | N | T | I | T | A | L | L |
O | W | I | E | | P | A | C | T | | | | | | |
N | A | N | | P | S | Y | C | H | O | D | R | A | M | A |
D | R | D | R | E | | B | E | E | S | E | A | S | O | N |
O | D | E | O | N | | A | D | U | L | A | T | I | O | N |
M | S | D | O | S | | R | E | P | O | R | T | A | G | E |
This one started out with HELLSCAPE. After I got a stack I liked in the NW (no 3's, yay!) I toyed with using FIRE ESCAPE (opposite GARAGE SALE singular) as an asymmetric minithemer, but I just couldn't make it work. But some failed attempt made me see that DRAMA might be a good ending in that slot. Rounding the corner at I WANT IT ALL was the hardest part. Thinking about I WANT CANDY for that slot helped inspire the clue for PINATA. Between that clue and CONDOM, I wouldn't say this puzzle razes the mansion of the breakfast test, but it does jump on the furniture quite a bit.
If you haven't noticed, I have a fondness for the non-question mark misdirection clues like [Dish transmitters]. They've got to pretty precise to avoid the punctuated caveat, so it's gratifying to be able to come up with several of them in one puzzle. But as much as I appreciate the diabolical nature of the [Early '60s] misdirect in the KENNEDY, I mean, LINCOLN ERA clue, that one wasn't mine. That one needs more than a ?-- it needs a horror movie audience yelling "Watch out! It's a TRAP!" Hope you all enjoyed the ride.
Sun 4/9/2017 HAVING NOTHING ON
A | B | B | O | T | | S | C | A | T | | C | R | I | P | | | R | O | O | S |
C | L | O | T | H | | A | R | C | H | | R | E | N | E | | K | E | N | D | O |
H | O | B | B | I | T | H | O | L | E | | A | I | D | E | | O | F | T | E | N |
T | O | R | | S | W | I | N | E | | M | Y | G | A | L | S | A | L | O | O | N |
| M | O | V | I | E | B | U | F | F | O | O | N | | S | P | L | E | E | N | Y |
| | B | A | S | E | S | T | | E | N | L | | L | O | R | A | X | | | |
P | R | E | C | U | T | | S | A | U | S | A | G | E | F | E | S | T | O | O | N |
L | A | R | U | S | S | A | | C | D | T | | L | I | F | E | | E | C | R | U |
A | C | T | A | | T | E | E | N | | E | G | O | | | | A | S | H | E | N |
Y | E | S | | H | O | R | S | E | D | R | A | W | N | C | A | R | T | O | O | N |
| | | B | E | R | E | A | | A | S | L | | A | R | G | O | S | | | |
S | M | A | L | L | M | O | U | T | H | B | A | S | S | O | O | N | | T | U | B |
P | I | N | U | P | | | | U | L | A | | O | H | N | O | | S | U | P | E |
E | R | T | E | | S | E | R | B | | L | P | S | | E | D | W | A | R | D | S |
W | A | I | L | I | N | G | W | A | L | L | O | O | N | | W | H | Y | N | O | T |
| | | E | L | E | G | Y | | A | O | L | | O | B | O | I | S | T | | |
I | M | P | A | L | E | S | | F | L | O | O | D | L | A | M | P | O | O | N | |
M | A | I | N | D | R | A | G | O | O | N | | R | I | V | A | L | | G | O | P |
A | D | A | I | R | | L | O | C | I | | D | O | M | I | N | A | T | O | R | S |
M | A | N | N | Y | | A | G | A | R | | O | P | I | E | | S | E | L | M | A |
S | M | O | G | | | D | O | L | E | | A | S | T | R | | H | A | D | A | T |
The genesis of this puzzle was seeing OON in some puzzle, laughably clued yet again as a legit suffix. (I would say that I've never put it in a puzzle, but I'm afraid to check.) The few dictionaries that list it don't actually say what it means. They just blame it on the French and leave it at that.
That said, it was pretty easy to come up with lots of options. For a long time, HORSE-DRAWN CARTOON was the only 17. That puts it in the center and segments the grid unpleasantly with Utahs (3 blacks next to 2 blacks) or Merlesque staircases on either side, unless you can do some fancy long crossings on the downs on the H and the opposite N. I couldn't make it work, but trying made me very familiar with the possible intersections.
I was just about to downgrade it to GROCERY CARTOON, when I realized STRIPED BASSOON could be upsized to the much funnier LARGE-MOUTH BASSOON. The rest came together pretty nicely. LARGE had to be swapped out for SMALL to make REFLEX TESTS possible on the other side, but aside from the nasty little section in the Southwest (RWY, I'LL DRY, ugh), it worked well enough to leave a lot of room for some interesting non-theme entries. With such a straightforward theme, it's a good idea to spice it up a bit elsewhere. Hope you enjoyed it.
Sat 12/10/2016
S | P | O | I | L | T | | P | E | T | H | A | T | E | S |
H | A | R | V | E | Y | | E | X | H | I | B | I | T | A |
E | R | N | A | N | I | | D | I | A | L | E | C | T | S |
S | T | A | N | D | N | E | X | T | T | O | | K | O | S |
G | Y | M | | | G | R | I | P | | | M | E | R | E |
O | B | E | S | E | | S | N | O | C | K | E | R | E | D |
N | U | N | C | I | O | | G | L | O | A | T | | | |
E | S | T | H | E | T | E | | L | O | U | I | S | C | K |
| | | N | I | O | B | E | | L | A | N | K | A | N |
I | M | T | O | O | S | E | X | Y | | I | G | I | V | E |
B | A | E | Z | | | N | C | I | S | | | L | A | A |
E | D | S | | S | L | E | E | P | E | R | H | O | L | D |
A | M | O | R | T | I | Z | E | | R | O | A | D | I | E |
M | A | R | O | O | N | E | D | | B | U | R | G | E | R |
S | N | O | O | P | E | R | S | | S | T | E | E | R | S |
The answer to the age-old question of "Do you start with the answers or with the clues?" is sometimes "I start with one nasty tough clue, and then build the rest of the puzzle around that entry." This puzzle was all about a vehicle for the [Play with an imaginary friend] at 15A. Very tricky obviously, and no ? as a warning.
After a lot of fiddling and polishing multiple versions. I saw that I had IVAN next to LEND. If there had been an easy fix, I would have tried to turn LEND into LENDL. I would have needed a five letter LG??? — LGBTQ would be great, and maybe even possible, but it was quickly evident that finishing the grid would have been murder, so I dropped it. This is the disadvantage from the constructor's point of view of grids that have lots of flow. The effects of changes in one area propagate elsewhere freely. But having flow is better for solvers, so I try to maximize it where I can. Sure, you get saddled with a TESORO now and then, but on balance, I hope it ends up for a more enjoyable puzzle overall.
Sat 7/16/2016
Y | A | L | E | | U | S | P | A | S | S | P | O | R | T |
O | D | I | E | | T | E | A | M | L | E | A | D | E | R |
G | R | O | G | | M | A | R | I | A | E | L | E | N | A |
A | I | N | T | N | O | B | O | D | Y | | | T | O | I |
M | A | K | E | A | S | A | L | E | | L | A | T | I | N |
A | N | I | S | E | T | T | E | | F | I | X | E | R | S |
T | I | N | T | | | T | V | W | I | F | E | | | |
S | I | G | | F | O | L | I | A | G | E | | M | A | S |
| | | M | E | T | E | O | R | | | W | A | R | T |
C | R | E | E | D | S | | L | A | Q | U | I | N | T | A |
H | E | E | L | S | | S | A | T | U | R | N | I | S | M |
A | N | Y | | | B | A | T | H | I | N | G | C | A | P |
S | T | O | P | M | O | T | I | O | N | | M | U | L | E |
M | A | R | I | O | C | U | O | M | O | | A | R | O | D |
S | L | E | E | P | A | P | N | E | A | | N | E | N | E |
See that black square at the end of 46-Across? I hate that square. It and its northeastern counterpart add 6 three-letter words to the puzzle. I had a good fill in the northeast without it but just didn't like the fill I came up with in the southwest. So I sat on the puzzle for a long time--long enough that I doubt QUINOA is trendy any more--hoping the constructing elves would sneak in one night and fix it for me. Alas, they never came so I conceded defeat and added the blasted black square.
I would have greatly preferred a cheater square at the first letter of CHASMS,but ??SMS is not really going anywhere. This is one of those instances that makes me think cheater squares don't deserve such an ugly name. My noncheater was much more perfidious. Oh well, hope you enjoyed all the squares you got to fill in.
Sat 6/4/2016
A | D | O | L | E | S | C | E | N | T | S | | M | A | D |
C | E | S | A | R | R | O | M | E | R | O | | I | R | E |
T | E | C | H | N | O | M | U | S | I | C | | S | T | P |
I | R | A | T | E | | E | S | T | | I | S | S | E | L |
V | E | R | I | S | M | O | | E | C | O | C | I | D | E |
| | | | T | O | P | C | A | T | | A | D | I | T |
B | A | R | B | I | C | E | L | | S | T | R | A | T | I |
O | L | E | A | N | | N | I | T | | W | A | H | O | O |
H | I | N | D | E | R | | O | H | I | O | B | O | R | N |
E | M | E | R | | E | L | S | E | I | F | | | | |
M | O | G | A | M | B | O | | B | I | O | D | A | T | A |
I | N | E | P | T | | S | M | U | | R | A | M | O | N |
A | I | D | | W | A | T | E | R | L | O | V | I | N | G |
N | E | O | | T | R | O | M | B | O | N | I | S | T | S |
S | S | N | | F | I | N | E | S | S | E | S | H | O | T |
BYRON: Fun as always to work with Brad. He's so meticulous in his craft, but always in an easygoing manner. I love the things you learn when you construct, and the story behind 15A (CESAR ROMERO) may be one of my all-time favorites. MARTI pops up in crosswords often enough that I was quite surprised I hadn't run into that fascinating bit of trivia before.
BRAD: This puzzle began its life as a solo submission of mine with UPSET VICTIM / NATURE DEITY / FRAGILE EGOS in the upper left. The 1A had a misdirecting sports-related clue, but Will felt that the entry was not quite in-the-language enough to green-light. My subsequent revision hinged on at least one abbreviation he had decided to relegate permanently to the "no" list. The whole thing sat for a while, and on a whim, I sent the stack from the opposite corner across the country to see if Byron liked it (FINESSE SHOT / TROMBONISTS / the Ayn Rand title "WE THE LIVING.") Byron replaced the literary reference with WATER-LOVING to spare everyone involved ERI at 60D, and we were off.
I don't consider wordplay clues my strength, but I think I chipped in 31D and 53D to try to keep pace with Byron's brilliant 25A and others like 13D. It's also nice to scan the puzzle and see validation of our combined relish for pumping life into common entries with trivia-based clues. (In case you were wondering, a puzzle with that old NW did find favor at another venue.)
POW Sun 5/1/2016 STELLAR WORK
F | O | R | A | G | E | | | T | O | R | I | | D | I | S | G | U | S | T | S |
A | M | U | L | E | T | | P | A | W | E | D | | O | C | E | A | N | M | A | P |
C | A | B | L | E | C | H | A | N | N | E | L | | D | E | R | R | I | E | R | E |
T | H | Y | | | | M | U | G | G | L | E | S | | F | A | R | O | E | S | E |
S | A | S | H | | P | O | L | I | O | | R | I | P | O | P | E | N | | | |
| | L | O | K | I | | P | E | A | L | | R | I | G | H | T | S | I | D | E |
U | N | I | T | E | D | A | I | R | L | I | N | E | S | | | | T | K | O | S |
T | A | P | E | N | A | D | E | S | | C | E | D | A | R | | G | R | I | S | T |
E | M | P | L | O | Y | E | R | | D | E | A | | N | I | C | E | I | D | E | A |
P | I | E | | | | | C | I | E | N | T | O | | L | U | R | K | | | |
| B | R | O | K | E | R | E | D | A | S | E | T | T | L | E | M | E | N | T | |
| | | P | U | M | A | | O | D | E | S | S | A | | | | | E | I | N |
N | A | D | E | R | I | S | M | | A | F | T | | K | E | R | O | S | E | N | E |
A | V | E | R | T | | H | O | M | I | E | | G | E | T | A | N | E | D | G | E |
M | I | R | A | | | | R | O | M | E | O | A | N | D | J | U | L | I | E | T |
E | D | M | C | M | A | H | O | N | | S | U | M | P | | A | S | A | N | | |
| | | R | O | D | E | N | T | S | | T | E | A | M | S | | H | G | T | V |
H | A | L | I | D | E | S | | E | L | A | S | T | I | C | | | | H | I | E |
E | G | O | T | I | S | T | S | | A | C | T | I | N | G | C | A | R | E | E | R |
M | R | M | I | S | T | E | R | | S | E | E | M | S | | O | C | U | L | U | S |
P | O | A | C | H | E | R | S | | H | Y | P | E | | | S | T | E | P | P | E |
BYRON: The idea for the puzzle was Joel's. I was psyched when he asked me to collaborate on it, because I like puzzles which play with crossword conventions, and I am a big fan of Joel's puzzles generally. For an easy puzzle, you want the structure of the theme to be evident right away. For a trickier puzzle, you want the revelation to come right at, or possibly just after the end. For this one, I envisioned the typical solver getting it somewhere in the middle, maybe just past halfway through. Too soon, and it becomes just a slightly odd themeless. Too late, and the joy of the joke gets washed away. Hopefully, we found the right mix.
JOEL: Had a ton of fun putting this together with Byron. One thing we debated in the theme stage was whether a clue like "*Search party?" for ED MCMAHON was fair game — after all, it completely eliminates the quote marks used in the show "Star Search," not to mention the space between "Star" and "Search". We agreed it might be a little cheap, but that hopefully it would add an extra "aha" layer for the solver.
We both favor wide-open grid patterns and constructing challenges, so our styles meshed pretty well when it came time to fill the grid. I've always felt that Byron is one of the best themeless constructors, so the task of working on a Sunday with him with big chunky corners like this was very cool. In the end, I think we kept the compromises to a relative minimum while working in some nice longer fill, but I'll be interested to read how solvers felt.
Sat 3/19/2016
S | T | J | U | D | E | | | N | U | D | I | S | T | S |
C | H | E | N | I | N | | L | O | V | E | S | E | A | T |
H | E | A | V | E | D | | O | N | E | L | L | A | M | A |
M | O | N | E | T | S | | S | C | A | L | A | W | A | G |
A | D | A | S | H | | M | I | I | | S | N | A | R | E |
L | O | U | T | | S | A | N | T | A | | D | Y | A | D |
T | R | E | E | H | U | G | G | I | N | G | | | | |
Z | E | L | D | A | F | I | T | Z | G | E | R | A | L | D |
| | | | M | I | C | H | E | L | L | E | W | I | E |
A | M | F | M | | S | C | E | N | E | | S | E | N | T |
M | A | R | O | N | | H | P | S | | J | U | D | G | E |
P | R | O | P | O | S | A | L | | H | A | R | D | E | N |
S | I | N | E | S | T | R | O | | E | N | G | I | R | T |
U | N | D | R | E | A | M | T | | W | I | E | N | I | E |
P | A | S | S | E | R | S | | | S | E | D | G | E | S |
This one was in the oven for a long time, as one might imagine. It was about half-filled last year when Will asked me to construct for the ACPT finals. I thought about trying to finish this one for the finals puzzle, but it looked like it would take too much work to finish in time, and was a little too name-heavy at that point. The actual finals puzzle ended up being about as much work, and even more name-heavy. Shows how much I know.
I was very tempted to clue ZELDA FITZGERALD as the inspiration for the Eagles' "Witchy Woman," but opted for the clue as is, to clue her by an accomplishment, and possibly misdirect a few solvers into trying SCOTT instead. He really should have dropped the F. off his name if he wanted more crossword love. Hemingway clearly was way ahead of him in that regard.
Tue 1/19/2016
G | E | A | R | | R | A | C | K | | B | E | T | C | H | A |
U | T | N | E | | I | C | E | E | | A | V | A | L | O | N |
L | C | D | S | | C | A | R | P | E | D | A | B | O | U | T |
P | E | R | C | H | E | D | A | T | O | P | | | U | R | I |
S | T | E | A | M | S | | | I | N | R | A | G | S | | |
| C | A | N | O | E | I | S | T | S | | P | I | E | C | E |
| | | | | E | M | I | R | | T | E | N | A | N | T |
F | L | O | U | N | D | E | R | E | D | A | R | O | U | N | D |
D | E | L | V | E | S | | G | A | S | X | | | | | |
R | O | D | E | O | | S | A | L | T | D | O | M | E | S | |
| | M | A | N | U | A | L | | | O | R | O | M | E | O |
E | C | O | | | S | K | A | T | E | D | A | L | O | N | G |
G | O | N | E | F | I | S | H | I | N | G | | A | P | A | L |
O | N | E | P | I | N | | A | N | N | E | | R | O | T | E |
S | K | Y | I | N | G | | D | Y | E | S | | S | P | E | D |
Don't throw out your calendars — it is indeed Tuesday. Given the basic nature of the theme, I was shooting for Monday, but I couldn't resist the siren song of opening up the grid with extra connectivity. Hope you enjoy the result.
Sat 12/12/2015
P | R | I | S | M | | J | U | N | G | L | E | G | Y | M |
M | O | R | A | Y | | O | P | E | R | A | T | I | V | E |
S | M | I | T | H | | L | E | V | E | R | A | G | E | S |
| E | S | A | U | | I | N | E | N | G | L | I | S | H |
J | O | H | N | M | C | E | N | R | O | E | | | | |
A | R | P | | P | U | P | | | B | R | A | H | M | S |
W | O | O | | S | P | I | R | A | L | | P | O | S | H |
I | M | U | S | | S | T | E | N | O | | E | R | M | A |
N | E | N | E | | O | T | I | T | I | S | | S | A | G |
G | O | D | E | A | F | | | I | S | T | | E | G | G |
| | | | S | C | A | M | P | E | R | A | W | A | Y |
S | L | U | M | P | O | V | E | R | | A | T | O | Z | |
L | I | K | E | I | C | A | R | E | | N | A | M | I | B |
O | P | E | N | C | O | I | L | S | | D | R | A | N | O |
P | O | S | T | S | A | L | E | S | | S | I | N | E | W |
This may be the most lightly edited puzzle I've had in the Times, so direct all complaints and recriminations to me.
The most interesting edit was for 6-Down. When I was originally cluing the puzzle (only a few months back), I checked to see how the Times styled said Angelina. She was generally just "Ms. Jolie," especially in her professional capacities. So my original clue was [Surname of six Hollywood scions]. But in the run up to her latest film, there was a long feature in the Times where she was now styled as Ms. Jolie Pitt. I shot Will and Joel an e-mail suggesting a change to the clue might be in order. Had I waited until after the film's release, I might have suggested ["By the Sea" bombmaker], but I'm guessing that wouldn't fly anyway.
The other major change was effected by the addition of a single word in the clue for 21-Across (JOHN MCENROE). That word is "American". Editorial Fairness 1, Constructor Mischief 0. (Oh well, there's always 1-A, 4-D, 17-A, 28-D, ...)
I'm guessing the most polarizing entry will be 5-Down (MY HUMPS). If it's not your dish of tea, there's always BRAHMS. The song itself is so annoying and insipid, but getting it and its deadpan clue into the Times ranks as one of my most cherished cruciverbal achievements.
Sat 9/5/2015
H | O | P | O | N | P | O | P | | K | O | A | L | A | S |
I | M | O | N | F | I | R | E | | U | R | G | E | N | T |
F | O | R | E | L | E | G | S | | M | I | R | A | G | E |
I | O | N | | | J | E | T | | B | O | O | D | L | E |
| | | I | D | E | A | L | M | A | N | | C | O | L |
B | A | P | T | I | S | T | E | R | Y | | C | O | P | Y |
O | R | E | L | R | U | S | S | I | A | | H | A | H | A |
B | E | R | L | E | | | | | | F | I | T | O | R |
B | Y | R | D | | P | U | T | T | O | A | N | E | N | D |
Y | O | Y | O | | E | R | R | O | R | C | O | D | E | S |
R | U | M | | C | R | E | E | P | I | E | S | | | |
I | D | A | H | O | S | | M | O | N | | | F | A | T |
G | O | S | O | L | O | | O | N | O | N | D | A | G | A |
G | N | O | M | O | N | | R | Y | C | O | O | D | E | R |
S | E | N | O | R | A | | S | M | O | G | T | E | S | T |
This puzzle started out with BOBBY RIGGS. I trust that a lot of solvers will look at the clue and wonder how it could be someone they've heard of. My other favorite trivia tidbit in the puzzle is in the KOALAS clue. It could be the basis of a fanciful whodunit.
Sat 5/16/2015
D | R | I | P | P | O | T | | B | E | A | T | S | M | E |
R | E | M | O | R | S | E | | U | P | D | A | T | E | D |
U | P | P | S | A | L | A | | L | E | A | K | I | N | G |
G | R | O | T | T | O | | C | L | E | M | E | N | T | E |
C | I | R | C | E | | S | L | Y | | S | U | G | A | R |
Z | E | T | A | | A | L | O | F | T | | P | O | L | S |
A | V | E | R | A | G | E | S | O | U | T | | | | |
R | E | D | D | I | A | P | E | R | B | A | B | I | E | S |
| | | | L | I | T | T | H | E | T | O | R | C | H |
A | S | T | I | | N | A | R | I | S | | N | O | O | R |
S | P | A | N | G | | R | O | M | | P | E | N | N | I |
H | I | N | D | U | G | O | D | | W | E | S | S | O | N |
A | N | G | E | L | O | U | | T | I | T | M | I | C | E |
R | E | L | E | A | R | N | | O | N | R | A | D | A | R |
P | L | E | D | G | E | D | | M | O | O | N | E | R | S |
A couple of clue edits caught my eye. For 1-Down (DRUG CZAR), I had [Coke head?]. I would have gone with [Pot head?] but for 1-Across. As such, the clue felt a little crass to me. I love the edited version, which works the same kind of joke in a much subtler fashion. (Jeff: [Highest officer in his field, ironically]; "Highest" — get it?)
For 8-Down, I had the somewhat rococo [Teddy Roosevelt's third-party endorsement?]. It interests me that my version made the first part of the entry easier to find, where the edited version gives a big hint for getting the end of the clue. It might be an easier clue that makes the puzzle harder, since the top of the entry is one of only two ways into the NE section. Fortunately, the baseball trivia at 20-Across is well-known to many, and easily findable for anyone else who gets really stuck getting into that corner.
Thu 3/26/2015
A | L | P | H | A | S | | A | B | U | D | H | A | B | I |
P | A | R | E | N | T | | N | I | N | E | I | R | O | N |
A | Y | E | A | Y | E | | T | O | I | L | E | T | T | E |
S | L | Y | T | H | E | R | I | N | S | | D | I | O | R |
S | A | S | | O | P | E | | D | O | H | | E | X | T |
| | | N | O | S | E | R | I | N | G | S | | | |
| L | E | O | | I | K | E | | | T | H | O | U | |
| I | N | T | E | N | S | E | R | I | V | A | L | S | |
| P | L | E | X | | | L | E | S | | P | D | A | |
| | | S | P | I | N | S | E | R | V | E | | | |
G | O | T | | O | N | O | | F | A | A | | S | E | C |
I | M | A | C | | R | I | N | S | E | C | Y | C | L | E |
M | A | L | E | N | U | D | E | | L | A | M | O | U | R |
P | H | O | N | E | S | E | X | | I | N | C | O | D | E |
S | A | N | T | A | H | A | T | | S | T | A | T | E | S |
I'd normally be grumbling about the god of symmetry forcing me to use the insipid central theme entry (plus all those not-technically-cheaters but rather-cheaterish black squares). I'd have preferred the zippier SUSPENSE-RIDDEN or at least the more common TAKEN SERIOUSLY. But then the theme isn't that awesome without the placement. The shading may make the puzzle less Thursdayish, but given all the extra black and the plethora of 3-letter entries it necessitated, I wouldn't want anyone to miss the design.
Even then, you work so hard to get the best makeup and costume and lighting for your star and some supporting starlet, meaning the southwest corner, jumps out and steals the show. I'm guessing it's the only part that will get much attention. I can live with that.
POW Sat 2/7/2015
G | R | A | B | L | E | | E | A | S | Y | A | C | E | S |
R | U | L | E | O | N | | M | O | N | O | T | O | N | E |
I | C | H | I | N | G | | B | R | O | U | H | A | H | A |
P | H | I | N | D | I | C | A | T | O | R | | L | A | G |
P | E | R | S | O | N | A | L | A | D | | G | E | N | L |
E | D | T | | N | E | W | M | E | | T | O | S | C | A |
| | | L | A | M | E | S | | B | R | A | C | E | S |
W | A | V | E | R | E | D | | B | O | I | L | E | R | S |
E | L | E | V | E | N | | H | O | B | B | S | | | |
A | T | R | I | A | | D | I | T | K | A | | P | I | M |
K | A | Y | S | | W | I | L | H | E | L | M | I | N | A |
S | I | M | | D | E | S | I | A | R | N | A | Z | J | R |
P | R | I | C | E | C | U | T | | R | A | Z | Z | E | S |
O | I | L | L | E | A | S | E | | E | M | D | A | S | H |
T | V | D | I | N | N | E | R | | Y | E | A | S | T | Y |
Constructors have a risque term for the torture one does to the quality of the entries in a puzzle in order to put a lot of high-point Scrabble letters like X, J, Q and Z into some portion of the grid. With this puzzle, I'm tempted to repurpose the term for what starting with those letters in a nice airy corner can do to the constructor when s/he has to make the rest of the puzzle come together.
This one, of course, started in the southeast with DESIARNAZJR — and the clue, one of my favorite ever — and trying to build enough space around the ZJ to hide it for a while, to maximize the punch of getting the answer. (I half-wanted it to run without the ? for the same reason, but it's hard to quibble with it as he just turned 62.)
Once I got the stack in the southwest to come together, I had just enough hope that I could actually get it to work. I even had a different completed grid, with PASTA POT/PAVANES in place of WEAKSPOT/WAVERED, but I liked what I managed to get out of this one better. The LONDON AREA/ENGINEMEN combo, neither great, afforded lots of possibilities for the NW and NE but unfortunately getting the corners to work at the same time was the tricky part. After many, many different tries I stumbled onto PHINDICATOR as an option. I liked it so much as an entry, I pretty much vowed to make it work.
Lots of near misses until RUCHED came to mind — finally all those episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" paid off! Then I got the NE to fall and tied everything back up at HOBBS. I had hoped to make that HOBBY since there were a lot of names in the area already, but I could live with it.
I never really knew much about Queen WILHELMINA before reading a bit for cluing her. She's a heroine who's been a bit undersung, at least in the U.S., so I'm happy to give her a cruciverbal shoutout.
Sun 6/29/2014 DOWNRIGHT TRICKY!
C | H | I | N | | I | C | E | C | U | B | E | | S | C | A | L | E | | S | I | P |
O | A | H | U | | M | O | S | H | P | I | T | | E | A | G | E | R | | P | R | O |
B | R | A | M | | O | N | P | I | T | C | H | | A | N | E | G | G | | I | K | E |
B | E | D | E | C | K | S | | V | I | K | E | | H | O | T | P | O | C | K | E | T |
| S | A | R | I | | | F | A | M | E | R | | O | N | E | A | | R | E | D | S |
| | H | O | G | C | A | L | L | E | R | | B | L | I | N | D | B | I | D | | |
E | M | U | | N | O | M | A | R | | | M | I | L | | | | U | S | A | G | E |
M | A | N | C | A | V | E | | Y | E | A | R | L | Y | P | H | Y | S | I | C | A | L |
I | T | C | H | | E | S | T | I | V | A | T | E | | R | U | E | | S | E | L | L |
L | E | H | R | E | R | | H | S | I | A | | | | A | B | S | C | I | S | S | A |
| | | I | V | E | M | A | D | E | A | D | E | C | I | S | I | O | N | | | |
P | A | S | S | E | D | O | N | | | | E | R | O | S | | N | O | D | O | G | S |
F | R | A | T | | I | L | K | | S | A | M | S | N | E | A | D | | A | F | R | O |
F | I | L | M | I | N | D | U | S | T | R | I | E | S | | B | E | A | R | F | U | R |
T | A | T | A | S | | | | P | U | P | | | I | D | L | E | R | | B | B | B |
| | M | S | P | A | C | M | A | N | | P | A | D | D | E | D | B | R | A | | |
A | L | I | I | | R | O | A | R | | M | I | M | E | S | | | Y | A | L | E | |
W | I | N | N | D | I | X | I | E | | S | C | A | R | | I | N | S | T | A | L | L |
F | B | I | | A | S | I | N | K | | N | A | Z | I | E | R | A | | I | N | C | A |
U | R | N | | R | E | N | E | E | | B | R | I | T | C | O | M | | N | C | I | S |
L | A | G | | A | N | G | R | Y | | C | O | N | D | O | N | E | | G | E | D | S |
This puzzle had two distinct geneses. The first was CHIVALRY IS DEAD, which I had liked as a potential entry for, oh, 7 or 8 years. 14-letter entries can sit on the shelf a long time. At some point, much more recently, CONSIDER IT DONE caught my eye as another nice 14, and I thought of pairing it with CHIVALRY IS DEAD in a themeless. I think I actually started a grid and then noticed the C.I.D. connection.
The other thing I had in mind for quite some while was that feeling you get solving. You know something is wrong, and then you realize "Oh, it's a rebus!" and then everything starts working properly. I wanted to construct a puzzle where that has to happen twice — first when you think it's a rebus, and then when you realize it isn't. There would have to be a way that the themers were too long to fit, but then ended up somewhere else.
So when the CID part jumped out at me, a bunch of things came together at once. CID and CHIVALRY IS DEAD both got me thinking of knights. And the knight in chess moves like an L, ... "L" CID ... and hence the puzzle. My original title was "Knight Moves," which Matt Gaffney later used for a different gimmick, so I suggested to Will to change it to "Knight Shift." Will's title is probably a clearer hint ... hope you all remembered to look at the title before you started.
I lit onto MADE A DECISION pretty early on, to disguise the DEAD part. Then when I realized that I'VE MADE A DECISION could go in the middle and allow for symmetric placement of my two theme seed entries, I had my basic structure. I was lucky enough to hang a few more L's off the center entry and get some pretty complicated interlock to work out. The roughest section to fill was that little knot around HSIA/AAAA/EVIE. A lot of not-greatness there, but I could live with it. A special THANK U to Alanis, without whom I would have had to rip up the whole thing.
The area that was surprisingly challenging was the bottom of CONSIDER IT DONE. I needed ???DONE but I didn't want DONE in the answer and I had ONE elsewhere, so wanted to avoid using it again. That pretty much left me with CONDONE, making that section rather knotty, especially since I wanted the revealer next door. After all that, I somehow missed the dupe of LEG PAD and PADDED BRA, which I just spotted a couple of days ago. But I guess it never hurts to have a little extra PADding.
Sat 6/21/2014
C | A | B | O | O | S | E | | | S | H | A | S | T | A |
A | S | S | U | R | E | D | | C | H | E | R | O | O | T |
S | K | I | T | E | A | M | | P | I | N | E | N | U | T |
T | A | D | L | I | N | C | O | L | N | | A | G | R | A |
S | N | E | A | D | | B | L | U | E | S | | C | D | C |
| | | N | A | I | A | D | S | | K | A | Y | A | K |
S | H | E | D | | R | I | S | | S | A | N | C | T | A |
T | O | L | E | D | A | N | | N | E | T | T | L | E | D |
A | V | E | R | Y | S | | M | A | R | | H | E | S | S |
L | E | A | S | E | | R | E | D | F | I | R | | | |
I | R | R | | D | I | O | N | E | | C | A | D | I | Z |
N | O | N | I | | S | O | U | R | C | E | C | O | D | E |
E | V | I | N | C | E | D | | I | O | D | I | Z | E | S |
R | E | N | D | E | R | S | | T | A | U | T | E | S | T |
A | R | G | Y | L | E | | | E | X | P | E | R | T | S |
Brad:
My original intention was to do the entire top half and tag Byron, but I ended up giving him just a corner. I had to laugh that he engineered a nifty section with TAD LINCOLN, as I had tried that over and over again with no clean fill. I hadn't mentioned it to him in advance; we won't call it mind-reading exactly, since the –LN ending was one of the better choices. I recall that we had more back-and-forth choosing the fill for the bottom than we did for the whole of our puzzle of Nov. 30. 36D was a new word to me, and having Byron slot that in really tidied up that immediate area. I particular liked the Walden clues for 40A and 59A — I think the upper left might have been too hard with his original clue for 16A, but I'm keeping it mum so he has a chance to use it again.
Byron:
My memory of the construction was Brad started with the lovely NE corner, I got the TAD area working with a helpful assist from the egregi..., um, I mean innovative partial at 2D. Brad zipped off at least a couple of excellent SE corners. Then I slogged through with something OK in the SW but Brad noticed a bit of a dupe and buffed up that area to fix it. Beyond his greatness as a constructor, Brad really just shines as a co-constructor. I'm not even sure the 16A clue I wrote is harder than what's in the puzzle, just hard in a different way. Several clues are like that, especially 52A, which was clued in one option as the recentish Jake Gyllenhaal movie. I imagine that would be easier for some and harder for others. Hopefully the headaches are spread evenly and pass quickly.
Sat 11/30/2013
S | G | T | S | C | H | U | L | T | Z | | C | R | A | B |
U | R | A | N | I | U | M | O | R | E | | L | I | L | O |
D | A | T | I | N | G | P | O | O | L | | U | G | L | Y |
S | P | I | T | E | | I | K | I | D | | S | H | O | W |
Y | E | N | S | | O | R | S | | A | C | T | T | W | O |
| | | | P | A | E | A | N | | H | E | M | A | N |
B | I | O | G | A | S | | T | A | M | A | R | I | N | D |
U | N | M | A | T | E | D | | S | I | L | E | N | C | E |
S | T | E | V | E | S | A | X | | R | E | D | D | E | R |
H | E | L | E | N | | M | R | M | E | T | | | | |
W | R | E | A | T | H | | A | I | D | | S | E | T | I |
H | A | T | H | | A | P | T | S | | P | I | C | O | T |
A | L | P | O | | N | A | I | L | S | A | L | O | N | S |
C | I | A | O | | S | A | N | A | N | T | O | N | I | O |
K | A | N | T | | A | R | G | Y | L | E | S | O | C | K |
Brad:
Byron has always been a clip-and-save constructor for me, so I jumped at the chance when he sent me a corner and proposed we try the "hook" of mirroring B____ W____ entries. The scary part: I had never done any significant stacks that were four deep, let alone ones with restrictions. After a day or two I sent Byron a few possibilities without any BW, saying perhaps it was the best I could do. He was gracious about it, but luckily I persevered a little longer and a BW section came together. I'd have to say, though, that my favorite part of the puzzle was the last to go in — Byron's zippy NW. A 10-letter entry with only one vowel — how often has THAT happened?
Byron:
Brad was more than up to my little challenge — not that I had any doubts. I do like four deep stacks when possible just because three-letter entries are nearly always tired. (NAS was first clued as the rapper in 1999!)
One other note about the cluing. I suggested to Brad that we clue each other's corners. It was a nice way to completely share in the creation of the puzzle.
POW Sat 10/5/2013
A | C | T | F | I | V | E | | O | F | F | C | A | S | T |
F | A | I | R | B | A | N | K | S | A | L | A | S | K | A |
F | R | E | E | A | S | S | O | C | I | A | T | I | O | N |
A | L | G | O | R | E | | M | A | N | X | | M | P | G |
B | E | A | N | S | | P | O | R | T | | M | O | J | O |
L | A | M | S | | B | U | D | S | | L | O | V | E | S |
E | S | E | | B | R | N | O | | R | O | O | | | |
| E | S | P | R | I | T | D | E | C | O | R | P | S | |
| | | A | I | M | | R | A | M | P | | L | I | D |
S | K | O | R | T | | H | A | S | P | | N | O | L | O |
A | A | H | S | | S | A | G | E | | J | A | W | E | D |
I | B | M | | Z | E | R | O | | D | U | P | I | N | G |
D | O | Y | O | U | W | A | N | N | A | D | A | N | C | E |
H | O | M | E | L | E | S | S | S | H | E | L | T | E | R |
I | M | Y | O | U | R | S | | C | L | A | M | O | R | S |
I started out picturing the grid with the two double stacks of 15s. The intersecting central 13s only came into the plan once I started writing the NW corner. 15-Across was the first to go in and I started looking at other 15s staring with F, thinking that 1-Down would be OFF-something. I got really close with CARLOAN/D and TIEGAME (singular) at 2 and 3-Down. I saw ALGORE working nicely but the dearth of OFFA??? led me to try AFFABLE. Then I worked out a pretty good corner if BOANS was a thing (a defunct department store in Perth).
I joked to myself about using CARLEAK instead. That was enough to get me over the hump by thinking of LEASE and adding the central 13 running across. I wasn't psyched about FREONS and would have chucked it if the opposite corner hadn't come together so well. Didn't much like HOMELESS SHELTER as an entry. A lot of space for a word you can't really clue with my usual japery but there was too much good stuff in the SW corner to pass up.
Sat 7/13/2013
R | E | M | A | N | D | | S | Q | U | I | D | I | N | K |
E | X | E | T | E | R | | P | U | N | T | E | D | O | N |
D | E | S | T | R | Y | | L | I | M | O | R | I | D | E |
C | R | O | W | D | S | C | E | N | E | | B | O | R | E |
A | T | N | O | | E | R | E | C | T | | I | T | A | L |
P | O | I | | C | A | I | N | E | | A | N | I | M | A |
E | N | C | L | O | S | E | S | | B | I | G | C | A | T |
| | | I | Z | O | D | | F | A | L | L | | | |
H | A | P | P | E | N | | R | E | D | E | E | M | E | R |
A | D | O | R | N | | B | E | A | D | Y | | A | P | O |
M | U | L | E | | L | U | C | R | E | | P | R | I | I |
P | L | E | A | | D | R | E | S | S | S | U | I | T | S |
T | A | N | D | O | O | R | I | | I | A | M | N | O | T |
O | T | T | E | R | P | O | P | | G | R | A | E | M | E |
N | E | A | R | E | A | S | T | | N | A | S | S | E | R |
Thu 10/11/2012
A | P | E | D | O | M | | | B | L | O | W | P | O | P |
T | U | X | E | D | O | S | | M | A | R | I | A | N | A |
O | B | E | L | I | S | K | | O | R | A | N | G | E | S |
| | C | A | N | C | A | N | C | A | N | T | A | T | A |
E | D | U | | G | O | T | O | | | | E | N | O | |
R | A | T | S | | W | E | R | T | H | E | R | | | |
E | C | R | U | S | | | T | R | A | M | S | T | O | P |
C | H | I | C | H | I | C | H | I | H | U | A | H | U | A |
T | A | X | C | O | D | E | S | | | S | L | I | T | S |
| | | U | T | I | L | I | Z | E | | E | N | D | S |
| M | O | M | | | | D | O | R | A | | M | O | E |
B | E | R | B | E | R | B | E | R | N | I | N | I | | |
A | L | I | S | T | E | R | | R | A | M | I | N | T | O |
M | O | N | T | A | N | A | | O | N | A | S | T | A | R |
A | N | G | O | L | A | N | | | I | T | I | S | S | O |
Sat 9/8/2012
G | A | B | Y | | S | T | O | O | D | I | N | F | O | R |
O | M | O | O | | K | E | P | T | A | D | I | A | R | Y |
T | O | N | G | | O | R | E | O | C | O | O | K | I | E |
C | R | E | A | M | R | I | N | S | E | | B | E | E | S |
H | E | R | M | I | T | | | | | P | E | N | N | E |
A | S | S | A | D | | P | A | R | D | O | | A | T | E |
| | | T | W | E | E | Z | E | R | S | | M | A | D |
O | R | B | | I | N | S | T | A | N | T | | E | L | S |
M | I | L | | V | I | C | E | C | O | P | S | | | |
E | C | U | | E | D | I | C | T | | A | P | E | R | S |
L | E | E | D | S | | | | | B | I | L | L | E | T |
E | C | H | O | | P | H | O | T | O | D | I | O | D | E |
T | H | E | O | R | I | O | L | E | S | | T | I | L | E |
T | E | N | N | E | S | S | E | A | N | | U | S | E | D |
E | X | S | E | N | A | T | O | R | S | | P | E | G | S |
Sun 5/27/2012 STATE QUARTERS
P | O | S | S | E | | A | W | L | S | | D | L | W | R | | H | O | S | T | |
O | N | H | E | R | | M | C | I | A | | L | I | N | E | | A | N | N | I | E |
T | E | A | L | S | | L | A | U | G | H | I | N | G | F | A | L | C | O | N | S |
O | L | H | M | | | | N | L | E | R | S | | | | B | A | D | R | E | P |
S | P | F | | E | L | U | D | E | R | S | | C | C | E | L | L | | K | A | Y |
| | I | C | N | I | F | Y | | | | T | A | U | P | E | | F | E | R | S |
C | A | R | L | T | T | O | | R | I | P | E | S | S | I | S | A | L | L | | |
P | H | A | R | O | H | | C | O | R | N | R | U | P | | E | L | A | P | S | E |
R | A | N | D | M | | P | A | N | E | L | N | S | | G | A | S | T | A | P | S |
| | | | B | R | I | T | A | N | N | | | D | E | M | O | C | R | A | T |
N | B | A | K | | A | N | E | N | T | | A | S | O | N | E | | A | K | N | A |
R | E | D | R | Y | D | E | R | | | N | S | H | O | U | N | D | | | | |
D | A | R | E | S | A | Y | | B | A | H | I | A | N | S | | E | M | N | E | M |
S | K | Y | L | E | R | | L | A | M | P | A | D | E | | M | I | S | U | S | A |
| | A | I | R | R | A | I | D | S | I | N | S | | R | E | C | O | R | S | E |
L | I | S | A | | A | M | A | D | O | | | | G | E | N | E | R | S | | |
I | N | A | | E | N | T | R | Y | | U | N | C | O | V | E | R | | E | C | U |
E | D | B | E | R | G | | | | F | L | O | O | D | | | | M | R | L | N |
G | E | O | R | G | E | S | D | E | L | A | T | O | U | R | | H | Y | M | I | E |
E | N | N | I | O | | A | I | D | A | | I | L | N | I | | O | P | E | R | A |
| T | E | N | T | | K | N | U | K | | L | O | V | E | | T | O | N | E | D |
Sun 3/18/2012 REAR-END COLLISIONS
C | H | I | C | A | S | | E | T | C | E | T | E | R | A | | P | A | C | K | A | I | A |
D | E | M | O | T | E | | T | H | R | E | E | C | A | R | | I | M | E | A | N | I | T |
T | A | M | L | I | N | | C | R | U | N | C | H | T | M | | T | U | R | N | S | T | O |
| D | U | E | L | S | | H | E | M | | H | O | O | | G | I | S | T | | | | |
M | O | N | S | T | E | R | | A | B | C | | | | B | R | E | E | | I | T | S | I |
E | V | E | L | | S | E | N | D | S | U | P | | P | R | E | S | S | C | N | E | E | C |
R | E | T | A | G | | H | O | E | | T | E | T | R | A | | | | P | O | K | E | S |
C | R | O | W | D | P | E | S | R | | S | Q | U | E | E | Z | E | P | A | | E | C | U |
| | | | S | I | R | S | | A | C | U | F | F | | A | L | E | | S | L | A | P |
S | T | A | M | E | N | S | | T | S | L | O | T | | I | N | F | A | N | T | | | |
P | A | N | C | A | K | E | B | E | K | A | T | | T | N | T | | S | E | A | R | C | H |
A | L | T | A | R | | S | U | M | O | S | | A | R | I | A | S | | A | T | E | I | T |
N | E | E | D | L | E | | X | E | R | | C | L | U | T | C | H | P | R | O | M | N | E |
| | | A | E | N | E | I | D | | G | A | P | E | S | | I | N | A | S | P | O | T |
F | I | R | M | | G | A | S | | S | O | L | I | D | | S | M | U | T | | | | |
I | R | E | | C | R | U | M | P | L | E | Z | N | | C | O | M | P | A | C | T | D | S |
R | A | V | E | D | | | | E | A | R | N | S | | T | H | Y | | L | A | I | L | A |
S | Q | U | A | S | H | B | O | S | M | | E | K | E | S | O | U | T | | M | A | L | L |
T | I | E | R | | O | U | I | S | | | | I | N | C | | P | R | E | E | M | I | E |
| | | | A | R | E | S | | D | O | A | | T | A | N | | A | N | N | A | N | |
R | O | A | D | M | A | P | | P | I | N | C | H | R | N | E | | C | L | E | R | G | Y |
A | C | T | U | A | T | E | | E | N | T | H | U | S | E | D | | T | A | X | I | E | D |
J | A | M | S | S | I | N | | C | O | V | E | N | T | R | Y | | S | I | T | A | R | S |
Sat 3/3/2012
A | I | R | S | I | G | N | S | | S | L | E | A | Z | E |
B | R | A | I | N | R | O | T | | P | A | S | M | A | L |
R | O | C | K | C | A | V | E | | I | T | S | B | I | G |
A | N | K | H | | M | A | A | | T | H | E | I | R | A |
| | | | O | M | S | K | | Z | E | S | T | E | R |
H | A | I | R | L | A | C | Q | U | E | R | | | | |
A | R | M | Y | G | R | O | U | P | S | | O | K | A | Y |
L | I | A | N | A | | T | E | T | | A | L | E | X | A |
F | A | C | E | | D | I | S | O | R | D | E | R | L | Y |
| | | | S | E | A | A | N | E | M | O | N | E | S |
R | U | B | I | E | S | | D | O | T | S | | | | |
A | N | O | R | A | K | | I | G | O | | Y | E | L | L |
S | C | R | A | M | S | | L | O | U | I | S | N | Y | E |
P | L | A | Q | U | E | | L | O | C | K | E | D | O | N |
S | E | X | I | S | T | | A | D | H | E | R | E | N | T |
Sat 8/20/2011
H | O | G | A | N | | S | T | A | S | H | A | W | A | Y |
E | A | R | L | S | | T | H | E | P | I | R | A | T | E |
I | T | A | L | Y | | A | I | R | E | D | A | L | E | S |
S | E | V | E | N | T | Y | N | I | N | E | | M | A | W |
T | R | E | N | C | H | C | O | A | T | | G | A | L | E |
S | S | N | | | R | A | U | L | | L | U | R | I | D |
| | | D | W | E | L | T | | P | A | R | T | V | I |
R | E | Q | U | I | E | M | | M | I | S | U | S | E | D |
E | X | U | L | T | S | | P | I | N | T | S | | | |
P | O | A | C | H | | M | A | C | E | | | G | A | P |
R | U | D | E | | P | O | L | A | R | B | E | A | R | S |
O | T | B | | G | A | T | E | W | A | Y | C | I | T | Y |
O | L | I | V | E | D | R | A | B | | N | O | T | G | O |
F | A | K | E | S | M | I | L | E | | O | N | E | U | P |
S | W | E | E | T | E | N | E | R | | W | O | R | M | S |
Thu 12/9/2010
P | L | O | D | | S | C | A | M | S | | P | S | A | T |
E | L | H | I | | H | O | V | E | L | | O | C | T | O |
R | A | Y | E | | E | M | I | L | E | | T | R | O | Y |
C | N | O | T | E | | B | L | O | W | O | P | E | N | |
H | O | U | S | E | B | O | A | T | | L | I | E | | |
| | | O | L | A | V | | T | A | L | E | N | T | S |
B | A | W | D | | N | E | W | | N | A | S | D | A | Q |
O | S | H | A | | D | R | A | M | A | S | | O | S | U |
M | C | I | | M | A | S | C | O | T | | S | O | S | A |
B | I | T | T | E | N | | O | R | O | | P | R | O | D |
S | I | E | R | R | A | S | | A | L | I | I | | | |
| | T | I | L | | H | O | L | Y | C | R | O | S | S |
| F | R | E | E | B | I | R | D | | H | I | M | O | M |
Y | E | A | S | | A | N | G | U | S | | T | A | R | O |
A | M | S | O | | S | T | A | T | E | | O | N | E | K |
Z | A | H | N | | S | O | N | Y | A | | F | I | R | E |
Fri 6/25/2010
P | A | L | P | S | | A | R | A | B | | A | M | P | M |
A | L | I | A | S | | L | O | D | E | S | T | A | R | S |
R | E | B | U | T | | D | I | D | G | E | R | I | O | S |
T | V | I | L | | P | A | S | S | E | D | O | F | F | |
V | E | S | S | E | L | | | | T | O | P | H | A | T |
| | | O | K | A | P | I | S | | N | O | O | N | E |
| W | I | N | E | C | A | S | K | | A | S | N | E | R |
S | O | P | | | I | I | I | I | I | | | O | R | R |
T | R | U | S | S | | F | R | O | T | H | E | R | S | |
A | T | R | I | A | | F | A | S | T | E | R | | | |
C | H | I | L | I | G | | | | E | N | R | A | P | T |
| A | T | E | K | O | S | H | E | R | | A | S | E | A |
P | L | A | N | T | F | O | O | D | | S | T | A | R | R |
P | O | N | T | O | O | N | E | D | | H | U | M | I | R |
S | T | I | R | | R | O | S | Y | | A | M | I | T | Y |
Sat 3/13/2010
B | M | X | E | R | | C | O | B | B | S | A | L | A | D |
L | I | A | N | E | | O | R | O | Y | P | L | A | T | A |
E | L | V | I | S | | W | E | L | L | A | B | O | V | E |
S | L | I | D | O | N | | O | D | O | R | S | | | |
S | E | E | | W | E | S | | A | T | E | | S | C | I |
| B | R | R | | L | E | D | S | | T | I | T | A | N |
S | O | C | I | A | L | L | U | B | R | I | C | A | N | T |
T | R | U | E | L | I | F | E | R | O | M | A | N | C | E |
E | N | G | L | I | S | H | L | A | V | E | N | D | E | R |
P | E | A | S | E | | E | S | S | E | | T | I | L | |
S | S | T | | N | R | A | | S | R | S | | N | E | W |
| | | T | R | A | L | A | | S | A | L | A | D | A |
S | O | C | R | A | T | I | C | S | | B | O | R | O | N |
I | N | N | O | C | E | N | T | I | | I | M | O | U | T |
G | E | N | D | E | R | G | A | P | | N | E | W | T | S |
Sat 12/19/2009
L | A | D | D | E | R | | | | D | N | A | L | A | B |
A | M | O | E | B | A | S | | Q | U | I | V | I | V | E |
Y | O | U | C | A | N | C | O | U | N | T | O | N | I | T |
U | R | B | A | N | | H | R | E | | S | W | E | A | T |
P | O | L | Y | | T | E | A | S | E | | S | O | T | O |
S | U | E | | A | R | M | L | O | C | K | | F | E | R |
| S | O | A | P | I | E | R | | S | N | E | R | D | |
| | C | R | I | M | S | O | N | T | I | D | E | | |
| O | C | T | A | D | | B | E | A | S | T | A | R | |
I | C | U | | N | I | C | E | I | S | H | | S | E | E |
R | A | P | S | | E | A | R | L | Y | | L | O | D | I |
E | R | A | T | O | | P | T | S | | F | I | N | N | S |
F | I | N | A | L | R | E | S | O | L | U | T | I | O | N |
U | N | C | L | E | A | R | | N | O | S | E | N | S | E |
L | A | Y | L | O | W | | | | B | E | R | G | E | R |
Sat 5/16/2009
J | A | Z | Z | H | A | N | D | S | | P | E | R | I | L |
A | S | Y | O | U | W | E | R | E | | A | L | I | N | E |
S | T | R | O | N | G | B | O | X | | L | O | N | G | A |
P | U | T | | T | E | R | W | I | L | L | I | G | E | R |
E | T | E | S | | E | A | S | E | L | S | | T | N | N |
R | E | C | U | T | | S | E | R | A | | M | O | U | E |
| | | S | O | A | K | S | | M | A | I | N | E | R |
C | A | T | A | L | P | A | | H | A | R | N | E | S | S |
A | M | A | N | D | A | | C | A | S | I | O | | | |
T | P | K | S | | C | H | A | R | | A | S | P | E | R |
S | H | E | | C | H | O | R | D | S | | O | L | D | E |
C | O | F | F | E | E | B | R | E | A | K | | A | I | T |
A | R | I | E | L | | N | E | D | B | E | A | T | T | Y |
N | A | V | E | L | | O | R | G | A | N | S | T | O | P |
S | E | E | T | O | | B | E | E | N | T | H | E | R | E |
Sat 4/18/2009
F | I | S | H | B | O | W | L | S | | A | B | A | B | A |
I | N | T | O | O | D | E | E | P | | R | O | V | E | S |
G | R | O | U | N | D | S | Q | U | I | R | R | E | L | S |
T | O | P | S | Y | | T | U | R | N | S | O | N | T | O |
R | A | G | E | | J | E | A | N | S | | | G | R | R |
E | D | A | | B | U | R | R | | T | H | R | E | A | T |
E | S | P | E | R | A | N | T | O | | E | A | R | N | S |
| | | G | E | N | U | I | N | E | L | Y | | | |
S | A | R | I | S | | S | E | T | T | L | E | D | U | P |
P | R | E | S | T | O | | R | H | O | S | | I | S | U |
I | T | S | | | G | A | L | E | N | | P | O | H | L |
T | I | T | F | O | R | T | A | T | | C | A | M | E | L |
S | C | A | R | L | E | T | T | A | N | A | G | E | R | S |
A | L | G | A | E | | W | I | K | I | P | E | D | I | A |
T | E | E | N | S | | O | N | E | P | A | R | E | N | T |
Sat 2/21/2009
R | A | Z | O | R | | | T | R | A | V | E | L | E | R |
A | Z | U | R | E | S | | H | E | S | A | L | I | V | E |
G | O | L | E | F | T | | E | L | I | C | I | T | E | D |
A | D | E | | L | A | T | V | I | A | | | E | L | O |
S | Y | M | M | E | T | R | I | C | M | A | T | R | I | X |
| E | A | R | C | L | I | P | | I | N | S | A | N | E |
| | | S | T | E | M | S | | N | A | P | L | E | S |
E | S | C | H | E | R | S | | W | O | K | S | | | |
S | C | R | O | D | | | S | A | R | I | | F | A | X |
C | H | E | W | I | N | G | O | N | | N | I | E | C | E |
A | R | P | | M | O | O | N | E | D | | S | E | E | R |
P | O | E | | A | P | E | S | | R | E | A | D | T | O |
A | D | P | A | G | E | S | | J | U | R | Y | B | O | X |
D | E | A | R | E | S | T | | A | S | I | N | I | N | E |
E | R | N | E | S | T | O | | W | E | E | O | N | E | S |
Sat 11/8/2008
D | R | E | A | M | T | O | F | | A | T | L | A | S | T |
R | E | L | I | A | B | L | E | | T | R | I | F | L | E |
A | L | A | N | L | A | D | D | | M | A | S | T | I | C |
M | A | T | T | E | | M | E | A | | C | Z | E | C | H |
A | X | E | | | H | U | R | L | S | | T | R | E | S |
| | | P | E | A | S | A | L | A | D | | M | I | A |
M | I | D | A | P | R | I | L | | U | R | B | A | N | V |
C | L | O | S | E | D | C | I | R | C | U | I | T | T | V |
C | E | N | S | E | D | | S | H | I | P | A | H | O | Y |
A | L | T | | S | A | D | T | A | L | E | S | | | |
S | O | L | I | | Y | I | P | P | Y | | | E | T | O |
K | N | A | R | S | | G | A | S | | F | A | T | H | A |
I | G | U | A | N | A | | P | O | O | L | C | U | E | S |
L | U | G | N | U | T | | E | D | W | A | R | D | I | I |
L | E | H | I | G | H | | R | Y | E | B | E | E | R | S |
Sun 10/5/2008 FAULT-FINDING
P | A | E | L | L | A | S | | A | C | R | O | S | S | | A | T | T | E | S | T | E | D |
A | N | C | I | E | N | T | | C | H | E | W | U | P | | P | R | O | F | O | R | M | A |
S | E | C | O | N | D | O | | C | I | N | E | M | A | | P | O | R | T | R | A | I | T |
T | W | E | N | T | Y | P | O | U | N | D | N | O | T | E | | P | I | S | T | I | L | S |
| | | | | | Y | P | R | E | S | | | L | A | S | H | | | | L | I | U |
I | V | E | S | | B | E | T | A | S | | P | R | E | T | T | Y | P | O | I | S | O | N |
C | I | T | Y | P | O | L | I | C | E | | E | A | S | E | L | | I | N | N | | | |
I | R | O | N | A | L | L | O | Y | | I | N | N | E | R | | K | E | T | C | H | U | P |
E | I | N | S | T | E | I | N | | S | N | A | G | | | V | I | T | A | L | I | T | Y |
R | D | S | | E | R | N | S | | C | E | L | E | B | R | I | T | Y | P | O | K | E | R |
| | | S | N | O | G | | P | A | R | T | | L | E | A | S | | | V | E | R | O |
B | E | R | E | T | S | | D | I | R | T | Y | P | O | O | L | | T | H | E | S | I | S |
L | E | E | R | | | I | O | N | E | | P | E | A | S | | B | O | E | R | | | |
U | N | I | V | E | R | S | I | T | Y | P | O | S | T | | D | U | M | A | | B | S | A |
R | I | C | E | B | E | L | T | | | R | I | O | S | | U | S | T | R | O | O | P | S |
B | E | H | O | O | V | E | | S | P | I | N | S | | P | E | T | I | T | G | R | I | S |
| | | U | N | U | | C | O | R | O | T | | T | R | E | A | T | Y | P | O | R | T |
P | A | R | T | Y | P | O | O | P | E | R | S | | H | E | A | R | S | | U | N | O | S |
A | N | O | | | | C | P | U | S | | | H | E | R | S | H | | | | | | |
R | I | T | C | H | I | E | | P | U | B | L | I | C | I | T | Y | P | O | S | T | E | R |
A | M | A | R | I | L | L | O | | M | A | I | D | E | N | | M | E | R | C | Y | M | E |
D | A | T | A | F | L | O | W | | E | D | S | E | L | S | | E | S | C | A | P | E | D |
E | L | E | G | I | S | T | S | | S | E | A | R | L | E | | S | T | A | T | O | R | S |
Sat 8/16/2008
S | H | O | T | C | L | O | C | K | | M | S | N | B | C |
T | E | N | U | R | A | B | L | E | | A | L | E | R | O |
G | R | A | B | A | S | E | A | T | | R | E | S | I | N |
E | B | S | E | N | | | R | O | C | K | E | T | T | E |
R | A | T | S | | S | T | E | N | O | | P | L | O | Y |
A | R | I | | S | T | A | T | E | N | | S | E | N | S |
R | I | C | H | A | R | D | S | | A | P | O | | | |
D | A | K | O | T | A | S | | O | N | A | F | A | S | T |
| | | L | E | T | | S | K | I | P | A | R | K | A |
A | S | H | Y | | T | A | C | O | M | A | | K | Y | L |
G | O | E | S | | O | S | A | K | A | | Y | A | W | L |
H | A | R | M | O | N | I | C | | | M | U | N | R | O |
A | R | M | O | R | | M | C | P | H | E | R | S | O | N |
S | T | A | K | E | | O | H | I | O | S | T | A | T | E |
T | O | N | E | S | | V | I | P | P | A | S | S | E | S |
Sat 6/28/2008
Z | I | P | L | O | C | B | A | G | | H | A | R | P | S |
O | N | I | O | N | R | O | L | L | | A | G | O | R | A |
M | R | R | O | M | A | N | C | E | | Y | O | Y | O | S |
B | E | A | M | E | N | G | I | N | E | S | | A | T | H |
I | A | N | | | | O | D | D | S | | P | L | E | A |
E | C | H | O | I | C | | S | O | C | K | A | W | A | Y |
S | H | A | F | F | E | R | | W | A | R | R | E | N | S |
| | | N | I | L | E | | E | P | O | S | | | |
A | L | C | O | V | E | S | | R | E | N | E | G | E | S |
T | A | S | T | E | S | O | K | | S | A | C | R | U | M |
E | R | L | E | | T | R | E | F | | | | A | G | A |
I | D | E | | W | A | T | E | R | H | E | A | T | E | R |
N | E | W | D | O | | S | P | E | A | R | M | I | N | T |
T | R | I | C | K | | T | U | R | N | S | T | A | I | L |
O | S | S | I | E | | O | P | E | D | E | S | S | A | Y |
Thu 4/17/2008
B | E | I | G | E | B | O | X | | B | O | D | I | C | E |
A | C | T | A | L | O | N | E | | E | D | I | S | O | N |
C | H | A | R | L | T | O | N | | H | E | S | T | O | N |
H | O | L | | | T | R | A | C | E | | U | S | N | A |
| | | A | D | O | | | O | A | R | S | | | |
T | E | N | C | O | M | M | A | N | D | M | E | N | T | S |
E | X | A | L | T | | E | B | S | E | N | | A | R | I |
E | C | R | U | | E | L | C | I | D | | H | A | I | L |
U | E | Y | | Y | A | R | D | S | | J | A | C | K | O |
P | L | A | N | E | T | O | F | T | H | E | A | P | E | S |
| | | O | W | E | S | | | E | T | S | | | |
A | X | I | S | | N | E | P | A | L | | | E | G | O |
B | E | N | H | U | R | | O | M | E | G | A | M | A | N |
E | N | D | O | R | A | | P | E | N | A | L | I | Z | E |
T | O | O | N | E | W | | E | X | A | M | P | L | E | S |
Sat 4/12/2008
P | I | T | B | O | S | S | | I | M | P | A | L | A | S |
O | N | E | A | W | A | Y | | F | A | R | P | O | S | T |
S | T | A | T | I | N | S | | O | N | E | O | N | T | A |
T | H | R | E | E | D | | C | L | E | M | | G | E | T |
P | E | D | S | | | P | A | D | | I | S | E | R | E |
U | S | O | | G | R | I | P | | K | E | A | R | N | S |
N | E | W | F | R | O | N | T | I | E | R | S | | | |
K | A | N | S | A | S | C | I | T | Y | C | H | I | E | F |
| | | T | H | E | H | O | N | O | R | A | B | L | E |
S | A | M | O | A | N | | N | O | N | U | | R | E | D |
T | W | O | P | M | | S | E | W | | | T | O | G | A |
J | A | G | | K | I | N | D | | P | A | R | K | A | Y |
U | K | U | L | E | L | E | | T | O | L | U | E | N | E |
D | E | L | I | R | I | A | | A | C | T | N | I | C | E |
E | N | S | U | R | E | D | | T | O | O | K | T | E | N |
Sat 3/22/2008
J | A | B | B | E | R | | C | A | R | E | S | F | O | R |
E | Q | U | I | N | E | | O | N | C | A | M | E | R | A |
L | U | R | K | E | D | | M | T | A | R | A | R | A | T |
L | A | S | E | R | S | | M | I | S | P | R | I | N | T |
O | P | T | S | O | U | T | O | F | | S | T | A | G | Y |
S | L | O | T | | N | O | D | U | H | | | | | |
H | A | P | A | X | | P | E | R | I | O | D | I | D | E |
O | N | E | N | I | L | | | | C | H | A | N | E | Y |
T | E | N | D | A | Y | W | A | R | | S | T | A | T | E |
| | | | | S | I | N | E | W | | E | N | O | L |
N | A | P | P | A | | S | U | P | E | R | M | I | N | I |
O | L | E | A | S | T | E | R | | B | O | Y | M | A | N |
D | I | E | T | S | O | D | A | | E | X | M | A | T | E |
A | T | T | H | E | G | U | N | | R | I | O | T | E | R |
T | O | E | S | T | O | P | S | | N | O | M | E | S | S |
Sat 8/4/2007
B | E | F | O | R | E | T | H | E | O | T | H | E | R | S |
I | T | A | L | I | A | N | A | L | P | H | A | B | E | T |
G | I | R | L | F | R | O | M | I | P | A | N | E | M | A |
D | E | M | I | T | | T | A | C | | D | O | R | A | G |
O | N | C | E | | B | E | N | I | N | | I | L | I | E |
S | N | L | | B | U | S | | T | U | G | | E | N | D |
| E | U | L | E | R | | D | E | C | R | Y | | | |
| | B | E | A | R | D | E | D | L | A | D | Y | | |
| | | O | D | I | U | M | | E | P | S | O | M | |
U | N | A | | S | T | N | | H | U | E | | D | O | L |
S | O | P | S | | O | K | R | A | S | | B | E | N | E |
B | R | I | T | T | | T | A | S | | S | A | L | T | S |
A | M | E | R | I | C | A | N | S | T | U | D | I | E | S |
N | I | C | O | T | I | N | E | L | O | Z | E | N | G | E |
K | E | E | P | O | N | K | E | E | P | I | N | G | O | N |
Sat 6/30/2007
P | A | L | M | | G | I | F | T | E | D | K | I | D | S |
O | M | O | O | | I | N | S | I | D | E | I | N | F | O |
L | A | C | E | | G | U | T | T | E | R | B | A | L | L |
E | R | A | S | | G | R | A | I | N | | O | L | A | V |
M | I | L | | A | L | E | R | | | | S | I | T | E |
I | L | L | B | R | E | D | | D | U | C | H | E | S | S |
C | L | A | R | E | T | | H | U | G | O | | | | |
S | O | W | O | N | E | S | W | I | L | D | O | A | T | S |
| | | | A | S | H | Y | | Y | E | O | M | A | N |
I | L | P | O | S | T | O | | U | S | R | O | U | T | E |
N | E | A | T | | | | U | P | C | S | | D | E | A |
P | E | S | O | | P | A | R | L | E | | D | A | R | K |
A | L | C | O | H | O | L | B | A | N | | A | R | T | S |
R | E | A | L | E | S | T | A | T | E | | B | Y | O | B |
T | E | L | E | P | H | O | N | E | S | | O | A | T | Y |
Sat 6/2/2007
S | C | R | A | P | E | | P | O | S | T | C | A | R | D |
T | I | E | D | I | N | | L | I | M | A | O | H | I | O |
E | V | A | D | E | D | | A | L | A | N | L | A | D | D |
P | I | N | | R | E | I | N | | R | O | T | T | E | D |
C | L | I | | C | A | N | T | A | T | A | S | | | |
H | U | M | P | E | R | D | I | N | C | K | | D | E | S |
A | N | A | I | S | | I | N | G | A | | G | R | I | T |
N | I | T | E | | W | A | G | E | R | | R | A | G | A |
G | O | E | S | | I | N | T | L | | T | I | G | H | T |
E | N | D | | O | N | A | H | I | G | H | N | O | T | E |
| | | E | M | I | N | E | N | C | E | | N | O | T |
O | M | E | L | E | T | | S | A | L | T | | F | U | R |
B | I | G | A | R | A | D | E | | E | R | M | I | N | E |
I | C | A | N | T | L | I | E | | F | I | E | R | C | E |
S | A | N | D | A | L | E | D | | S | P | R | E | E | S |
Sat 5/19/2007
S | Y | M | B | O | L | I | S | T | | S | W | A | B | S |
Q | U | A | R | T | E | R | T | O | | T | H | R | E | E |
U | K | R | A | I | N | I | A | N | | M | Y | M | A | N |
I | F | S | | C | A | S | T | E | | A | M | E | N | D |
R | E | B | A | | S | E | E | P | | R | E | N | D | S |
T | S | A | R | S | | S | T | O | G | Y | | I | I | I |
S | T | R | I | N | G | | H | E | R | | C | A | P | N |
| | | A | L | L | F | E | M | A | L | E | | | |
J | U | G | S | | E | L | O | | F | O | R | B | A | D |
U | S | O | | O | N | E | B | C | | N | E | R | D | Y |
M | E | T | E | D | | E | V | I | E | | S | I | R | S |
B | A | R | G | E | | F | I | E | N | D | | N | I | P |
O | B | E | Y | S | | R | O | N | R | E | A | G | A | N |
C | L | A | P | S | | O | U | T | O | F | T | U | N | E |
D | E | L | T | A | | M | S | O | L | Y | M | P | I | A |
Sat 4/21/2007
L | O | S | T | S | T | E | A | M | | T | R | Y | I | T |
A | N | T | I | P | A | S | T | O | | R | E | U | N | E |
Y | O | U | B | E | T | T | E | R | | A | P | P | L | E |
E | N | T | I | C | E | D | | T | O | P | S | P | I | N |
R | E | Z | A | | | | B | A | R | S | | I | N | C |
| | | | S | N | A | R | L | S | | V | E | E | R |
T | H | E | A | T | E | R | O | F | | B | O | F | F | O |
H | A | R | D | A | C | T | T | O | F | O | L | L | O | W |
E | I | G | E | R | | T | H | E | A | B | S | U | R | D |
B | R | O | S | | C | H | E | S | T | S | | | | |
U | S | N | | F | U | E | L | | | | A | C | T | A |
S | T | O | N | I | E | R | | G | U | M | D | R | O | P |
H | Y | M | A | N | | A | M | A | N | A | L | O | N | E |
E | L | I | S | E | | P | O | L | I | C | E | C | A | R |
S | E | C | T | S | | Y | E | A | V | E | R | I | L | Y |
Sun 4/8/2007 IN OTHER WORDS
C | E | R | A | M | I | S | T | | C | A | R | A | T | | | B | A | I | L | I | F | F |
A | M | A | R | A | N | T | H | | O | X | E | Y | E | | B | E | I | N | G | F | A | T |
D | I | S | A | R | M | E | R | | O | L | D | E | N | | E | N | T | R | A | I | N | S |
| | | T | R | I | M | E | S | T | E | R | | T | H | R | I | C | E | | M | G | M |
L | B | J | | I | N | S | E | T | | S | U | N | P | O | R | C | H | | B | I | B | I |
O | R | A | T | E | D | | B | O | T | | M | O | O | N | I | E | | D | O | G | I | T |
P | O | S | E | D | | G | O | M | A | D | | U | L | E | E | | E | I | G | H | T | H |
| | M | A | S | K | E | D | A | V | E | N | G | E | R | S | | R | O | U | T | E | |
A | M | I | R | | I | T | Y | | E | L | I | A | S | | | D | O | R | S | | | |
M | O | N | O | S | K | I | | W | R | E | S | T | | G | R | I | D | S | | T | K | T |
B | L | E | S | S | I | N | G | I | N | D | I | S | G | U | I | S | E | | A | R | E | S |
L | O | G | E | S | | | I | R | E | | | | O | A | F | | | P | L | U | N | K |
E | C | U | S | | U | N | D | E | R | C | O | V | E | R | F | B | I | A | G | E | N | T |
S | H | Y | | S | P | E | E | D | | O | B | E | S | E | | A | C | C | E | D | E | S |
| | | L | I | E | D | | | S | A | O | N | E | | S | S | E | | B | E | L | K |
| G | W | E | N | N | | S | E | C | R | E | T | A | D | M | I | R | E | R | S | | |
E | L | E | V | E | N | | H | A | U | S | | I | S | A | A | C | | N | A | I | A | D |
N | I | M | E | S | | M | E | T | R | E | S | | T | Y | R | | B | G | I | R | L | S |
T | B | A | R | | C | A | B | E | R | N | E | T | | A | T | E | A | R | | E | L | L |
E | N | D | | B | I | N | A | R | Y | | C | A | R | N | E | L | I | A | N | | | |
B | E | E | R | I | E | S | T | | O | F | U | S | E | | N | E | R | V | E | G | A | S |
B | S | I | N | G | L | E | S | | F | O | R | T | E | | U | N | D | E | R | O | N | E |
E | S | T | A | D | O | S | | | F | R | E | E | D | | P | A | S | S | F | A | I | L |
Sat 2/24/2007
T | A | B | L | O | I | D | T | V | | A | S | P | E | R |
I | F | Y | O | U | D | A | R | E | | S | H | O | N | E |
R | U | R | I | T | A | N | I | A | | L | O | I | N | S |
E | S | O | S | | | I | A | L | S | O | | S | U | E |
D | E | N | | F | E | E | L | S | U | P | T | O | I | T |
| | | F | U | L | L | S | C | R | E | E | N | | |
U | R | B | A | N | A | R | E | A | | | S | P | U | D |
S | H | O | R | | M | A | P | L | E | | L | E | N | O |
H | O | B | O | | | D | A | L | L | I | A | N | C | E |
| | M | U | S | I | C | R | O | L | L | S | | | |
J | A | C | K | E | T | L | A | P | E | L | | S | S | E |
E | T | A | | I | S | I | T | I | | | S | W | A | N |
N | O | D | O | Z | | F | I | N | A | G | L | I | N | G |
G | L | O | B | E | | F | O | I | L | P | A | P | E | R |
A | L | O | E | S | | E | N | S | L | A | V | E | R | S |
Thu 11/9/2006
J | A | M | S | | | B | A | D | G | E | | R | O | O | M |
A | R | E | A | | O | A | T | E | R | S | | A | N | T | E |
M | U | D | D | Y | W | A | T | E | R | S | | G | A | T | S |
I | T | S | D | O | N | E | | | | A | R | M | I | E | S |
| | C | L | U | | D | I | R | T | Y | H | A | R | R | Y |
R | E | H | E | A | T | | N | E | E | S | O | N | | | |
O | D | O | U | L | S | | A | D | S | | | | U | A | W |
P | E | O | P | L | E | O | F | T | H | E | E | A | R | T | H |
E | N | L | | | | D | U | I | | I | L | L | S | A | Y |
| | | F | R | I | E | N | D | | S | A | L | A | D | S |
D | U | S | T | Y | B | A | K | E | R | | P | I | M | | |
A | L | U | M | N | I | | | | A | S | S | A | I | L | S |
I | N | M | Y | | S | A | N | D | Y | D | E | N | N | I | S |
L | A | M | E | | E | S | P | I | E | S | | C | O | L | T |
Y | E | A | R | | S | H | R | E | D | | | E | R | O | S |
Sat 10/14/2006
S | I | T | A | S | P | E | L | L | | A | D | E | L | E |
A | P | O | L | L | O | X | I | I | | R | E | L | A | X |
P | A | R | T | Y | G | I | R | L | | M | A | C | Y | S |
I | N | T | | | | T | R | I | P | E | | A | S | P |
D | A | S | A | N | I | S | | S | O | D | | P | A | O |
| | | L | O | C | | A | T | T | | A | I | N | U |
S | T | R | A | T | E | G | I | C | R | O | U | T | E | S |
W | H | E | N | I | W | A | S | Y | O | U | R | A | G | E |
A | R | B | I | T | R | O | N | R | A | T | I | N | G | S |
P | E | E | S | | A | L | E | | S | I | G | | | |
S | A | L | | A | P | B | | A | T | E | A | L | O | T |
E | D | A | | A | S | R | E | D | | | | A | Z | O |
A | K | R | O | N | | E | L | D | E | S | T | S | O | N |
T | I | M | I | D | | A | L | L | S | E | E | I | N | G |
S | T | Y | L | E | | K | E | E | P | S | A | K | E | S |
Sat 3/25/2006
C | H | A | T | S | U | P | | T | R | A | U | M | A | S |
R | A | D | I | O | F | R | E | E | E | U | R | O | P | E |
I | T | S | A | C | O | I | N | C | I | D | E | N | C | E |
S | T | O | R | K | | O | M | A | N | I | | G | A | S |
T | E | R | A | | C | R | E | T | E | | M | O | R | T |
O | R | B | | G | E | E | S | E | | Q | U | O | T | A |
| | | H | A | R | S | H | | C | U | R | S | E | R |
R | E | S | I | Z | E | S | | C | H | O | K | E | R | S |
E | X | U | D | E | S | | L | A | I | T | Y | | | |
D | I | N | E | R | | T | I | S | C | H | | P | S | I |
S | T | D | S | | C | H | E | S | S | | C | O | A | T |
O | F | O | | A | L | A | N | A | | C | H | I | L | I |
N | E | W | A | G | E | M | O | V | E | M | E | N | T | S |
J | E | N | N | I | F | E | R | A | N | I | S | T | O | N |
A | S | S | E | N | T | S | | S | E | X | T | A | N | T |
Wed 2/15/2006
W | A | L | L | | A | R | E | A | S | | G | L | A | D |
I | D | E | A | | R | O | A | S | T | | R | A | R | E |
F | I | N | D | | M | O | C | H | A | L | A | T | T | E |
I | N | S | I | D | E | T | H | E | L | I | N | E | S | |
| | | E | A | R | S | | | L | E | D | | | |
R | O | U | S | T | S | | G | O | O | D | | F | E | W |
I | T | S | M | E | | A | E | O | N | | T | A | L | E |
A | H | E | A | D | O | F | T | H | E | C | U | R | V | E |
T | E | R | N | | P | A | I | S | | U | R | G | E | D |
A | R | S | | P | E | R | T | | T | E | N | O | R | S |
| | | A | N | N | | | T | H | U | D | | | |
| B | E | S | I | D | E | T | H | E | P | O | I | N | T |
T | E | C | H | N | O | C | R | A | T | | W | H | I | R |
B | A | R | E | | O | H | A | R | A | | N | O | N | E |
S | T | U | N | | R | O | M | P | S | | S | P | E | X |
Thu 2/2/2006
O | B | E | S | E | | S | L | O | B | | A | H | E | M |
L | E | G | A | L | | K | A | M | A | | T | E | L | E |
E | A | G | L | E | | I | D | I | D | N | T | L | I | E |
O | N | S | E | C | O | N | D | T | H | O | U | G | H | T |
| | | | T | A | N | | S | A | S | | A | U | S |
H | O | N | E | | S | Y | R | | B | E | D | | | |
A | M | O | T | H | | K | I | W | I | J | U | I | C | E |
I | N | T | H | E | L | I | G | H | T | O | F | D | A | Y |
R | I | V | A | R | I | D | G | E | | B | U | L | G | E |
| | | N | O | B | | S | E | W | | S | E | E | D |
M | I | A | | N | E | D | | D | O | S | | | | |
A | F | T | E | R | R | E | F | L | E | C | T | I | O | N |
U | N | S | A | Y | A | B | L | E | | R | A | D | I | O |
D | O | E | R | | C | U | E | R | | U | P | E | N | D |
E | T | A | L | | E | T | A | S | | B | E | A | K | S |
Sat 12/24/2005
T | H | E | J | U | N | G | L | E | | A | R | A | B | S |
V | E | X | A | T | I | O | U | S | | R | I | C | O | H |
G | R | A | P | E | N | U | T | S | | C | O | R | B | Y |
A | B | L | E | | | G | E | E | S | | | O | S | S |
M | I | L | | P | R | E | S | S | U | P | | B | A | T |
E | E | Y | O | R | E | | | | L | E | S | A | G | E |
| | | M | I | D | D | L | E | L | E | T | T | E | R |
M | A | L | E | C | H | A | U | V | I | N | I | S | T | S |
T | H | I | N | K | I | N | G | E | V | I | L | | | |
C | O | N | S | U | L | | | | A | N | T | O | N | Y |
A | Y | E | | P | L | A | T | I | N | G | | P | I | E |
R | M | S | | | S | C | A | D | | | V | E | G | A |
M | A | O | R | I | | C | L | I | P | P | I | N | G | S |
E | T | U | I | S | | R | O | O | S | E | V | E | L | T |
L | E | T | G | O | | A | N | T | I | P | O | D | E | S |
Sat 11/19/2005
T | H | E | P | R | O | O | F | | L | A | M | E | S | T |
W | O | V | E | I | N | T | O | | A | Z | A | R | I | A |
O | H | I | T | S | Y | O | U | | T | U | D | O | R | S |
P | O | L | E | A | X | E | R | | E | R | A | S | E | S |
M | S | G | R | | | | M | E | N | E | M | | | |
| | E | E | L | G | R | A | S | S | | E | T | T | A |
H | A | N | D | P | A | I | N | T | | E | X | E | R | T |
O | U | I | | G | Y | M | B | A | L | L | | S | O | N |
A | R | U | B | A | | M | O | T | I | O | N | S | T | O |
R | A | S | A | | J | E | B | E | D | I | A | H | | |
| | | T | H | U | D | S | | | | M | A | G | S |
L | A | S | S | O | S | | L | A | W | Y | E | R | U | P |
I | M | H | U | R | T | | E | T | H | I | O | P | I | A |
M | A | O | I | S | M | | D | E | E | P | F | E | L | T |
O | D | E | T | T | E | | S | E | T | S | F | R | E | E |
Thu 11/3/2005
C | A | P | | | M | U | O | N | S | | C | H | A | R |
A | P | U | | M | E | N | T | A | L | I | M | A | G | E |
R | O | B | | R | U | B | B | E | R | N | O | S | E | S |
E | L | L | | I | S | A | | | S | E | N | A | T | E |
E | L | I | | S | E | R | F | S | | | | G | E | E |
R | O | C | A | | | | A | I | R | | B | O | N | D |
E | X | T | R | A | B | A | T | T | E | R | Y | | | |
D | I | V | I | D | E | D | C | A | P | I | T | A | L | S |
| | | D | E | N | V | E | R | O | M | E | L | E | T |
I | N | R | E | | T | I | L | | | | S | T | A | R |
S | I | E | | | | L | L | A | M | A | | E | V | A |
I | N | C | A | S | H | | | L | E | I | | R | E | D |
T | E | A | M | M | A | N | A | G | E | R | | E | N | D |
M | A | S | C | A | R | A | C | A | S | E | | G | E | L |
E | M | T | S | | E | M | C | E | E | | | O | D | E |
Sat 10/8/2005
H | E | A | D | S | T | A | N | D | S | | P | I | C | T |
I | N | D | O | O | R | P | O | O | L | | A | R | A | W |
G | O | O | N | T | I | P | T | O | E | | P | O | R | E |
H | U | R | T | S | | R | E | V | E | R | E | N | C | E |
A | G | E | S | | L | I | V | E | P | E | R | S | O | N |
S | H | E | | S | I | Z | E | R | | C | H | I | V | E |
| | | C | I | T | E | R | | B | E | A | D | E | R |
C | A | R | O | L | E | D | | W | R | I | T | E | R | S |
O | N | A | G | E | R | | I | H | O | P | S | | | |
M | O | V | I | N | | S | W | E | A | T | | Y | E | P |
P | R | E | T | T | Y | H | A | R | D | | C | O | D | A |
L | E | N | A | H | O | R | N | E | | H | A | D | I | T |
E | X | I | T | | G | O | T | A | M | I | N | U | T | E |
T | I | N | E | | I | V | E | M | O | V | E | D | O | N |
E | C | G | S | | S | E | M | I | D | E | S | E | R | T |
Sat 9/24/2005
G | A | S | B | A | G | S | | R | O | T | I | F | E | R |
Q | U | A | R | L | E | S | | E | V | A | S | I | V | E |
T | R | Y | O | U | T | S | | S | E | L | E | N | I | C |
Y | O | Y | O | M | A | | L | O | R | I | | E | D | A |
P | R | E | K | I | N | D | E | R | G | A | R | T | E | N |
E | A | S | I | N | G | I | N | T | O | | A | U | N | T |
| | | N | O | R | M | A | S | | M | I | N | C | E |
B | I | G | G | U | Y | | | | T | O | S | E | E | D |
A | M | E | S | S | | S | T | R | O | D | E | | | |
D | E | N | S | | H | A | R | D | R | E | S | I | N | S |
P | A | D | D | L | E | B | O | A | T | R | A | C | E | S |
A | N | A | | A | L | I | T | | I | N | H | E | A | T |
S | T | R | A | P | I | N | | A | L | M | A | A | T | A |
T | I | M | R | I | C | E | | C | L | A | N | G | E | R |
S | T | E | R | N | O | S | | S | A | N | D | E | R | S |
Sat 8/27/2005
P | O | T | A | T | O | S | A | C | K | R | A | C | E | S |
I | S | A | T | O | N | E | S | L | E | I | S | U | R | E |
C | O | N | T | R | O | L | P | I | T | C | H | E | R | S |
O | L | S | O | N | | | | P | O | K | E | S | A | T |
N | E | H | | T | O | L | D | O | N | | S | I | T | E |
E | M | O | | E | L | A | I | N | E | S | | N | A | T |
T | I | E | O | N | E | O | N | | S | T | A | | | |
S | O | S | A | D | | S | E | D | | A | P | H | I | S |
| | | K | O | S | | S | E | R | G | E | A | N | T |
B | O | D | | N | I | C | E | J | O | B | | D | A | R |
I | P | O | D | | L | A | N | A | T | E | | A | S | E |
G | E | N | O | M | E | S | | | | E | D | G | E | S |
S | N | A | P | I | N | S | P | E | C | T | I | O | N | S |
A | T | T | E | N | T | I | O | N | P | L | E | A | S | E |
M | O | I | S | T | T | O | W | E | L | E | T | T | E | S |
Sun 8/21/2005 THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS
A | C | M | E | | A | R | C | A | | C | Z | A | R | | A | T | B | E | S | T |
S | L | A | P | S | D | O | W | N | | H | U | T | U | | L | A | R | D | E | R |
P | A | R | A | C | H | U | T | E | P | A | N | T | S | | B | R | I | D | L | E |
I | S | R | | H | O | G | | M | A | R | I | N | E | M | A | M | M | A | L | S |
C | H | I | T | | C | H | A | I | S | | | | | R | N | A | | | | |
| | A | H | I | | | P | A | S | T | P | A | R | T | I | C | I | P | L | E |
| A | G | E | N | D | A | S | | I | W | E | R | E | | A | S | S | A | I | L |
A | D | E | L | A | I | D | E | | V | I | T | A | L | E | | | A | C | N | E |
D | A | M | A | S | K | S | | M | A | S | S | M | A | R | K | E | T | I | N | G |
A | B | A | S | H | | | B | U | T | T | | | P | L | E | X | | F | E | Y |
| | T | H | E | S | T | A | G | E | | M | A | S | E | R | A | T | I | | |
E | S | E | | L | E | E | K | | | P | A | R | E | | | M | O | C | H | A |
P | A | R | A | L | L | E | L | P | A | R | K | S | | T | O | P | S | P | I | N |
S | N | I | P | | | M | A | R | C | I | E | | H | A | L | L | P | A | S | S |
O | K | A | P | I | S | | V | I | R | A | L | | O | R | D | E | A | L | S | |
M | A | L | L | M | A | N | A | G | E | M | E | N | T | | | S | R | I | | |
| | | | A | R | I | | | | | V | O | L | G | A | | E | S | S | E |
P | A | J | A | M | A | P | A | R | T | I | E | S | | R | U | E | | A | T | M |
L | I | O | N | E | L | | M | A | Y | F | L | O | W | E | R | M | A | D | A | M |
O | D | E | N | S | E | | I | S | P | S | | A | A | B | A | T | T | E | R | Y |
T | A | L | E | S | E | | S | H | O | O | | P | R | E | S | | A | S | K | S |
Sat 6/4/2005
S | C | O | O | P | S | | | U | S | S | T | A | T | E |
T | A | N | K | U | P | | | T | A | P | E | R | E | R |
A | R | C | A | N | A | | C | A | P | E | T | I | A | N |
R | D | A | | S | H | H | H | H | | W | H | O | S | E |
D | A | M | E | | N | E | U | | R | E | E | S | E | S |
O | N | E | T | O | | M | C | G | A | R | R | E | T | T |
M | O | R | T | W | A | L | K | E | R | | | | | |
| | A | U | S | T | I | N | T | E | X | A | S | | |
| | | | | S | N | O | W | R | A | N | G | E | R |
B | R | A | S | S | I | E | R | E | | S | E | T | A | E |
L | E | R | O | U | X | | R | L | S | | T | B | S | P |
I | C | E | I | N | | O | I | L | E | D | | I | T | O |
M | O | O | R | H | E | N | S | | R | E | A | L | M | S |
P | O | L | E | A | X | E | | | B | A | L | K | A | T |
S | K | E | E | T | E | R | | | O | N | I | O | N | S |
Sat 4/2/2005
S | P | O | O | L | E | R | S | | T | O | S | S | T | O |
T | I | T | L | E | V | I | I | | S | U | P | E | R | B |
A | N | T | I | G | E | N | S | | P | R | I | M | A | S |
S | C | A | V | E | N | G | E | S | | | N | I | N | E |
H | A | V | E | N | S | | N | E | A | | M | A | S | S |
| Y | A | R | D | | S | O | A | P | B | O | X | E | S |
| | | | | A | I | R | S | E | R | V | I | C | E |
F | O | B | B | I | N | G | | A | R | R | E | S | T | S |
U | N | E | R | R | I | N | G | L | Y | | | | | |
Z | E | R | O | E | S | O | U | T | | L | A | C | K | |
Z | O | L | A | | E | F | T | | C | A | M | E | R | A |
E | N | I | D | | | F | L | O | O | R | P | L | A | N |
D | O | N | E | I | N | | E | N | C | A | S | I | N | G |
U | N | E | S | C | O | | S | C | H | M | U | C | K | S |
P | E | R | T | E | R | | S | E | E | S | P | A | S | T |
Sat 3/12/2005
C | A | T | A | M | O | U | N | T | | C | O | C | O | A |
O | N | O | N | E | K | N | E | E | | O | V | E | N | S |
S | T | A | T | E | D | E | B | T | | R | I | L | E | S |
T | O | S | I | T | | | S | O | D | A | | I | D | A |
A | N | T | L | I | O | N | | N | I | C | E | B | O | Y |
R | E | S | E | N | T | E | D | | S | L | E | A | Z | E |
| | | A | G | R | E | E | D | | E | N | T | E | R |
S | I | E | G | | A | D | W | A | R | | S | E | N | S |
E | N | N | U | I | | S | A | L | A | R | Y | | | |
A | T | T | E | N | D | | R | E | N | E | W | A | L | S |
B | E | A | R | C | U | B | | S | T | E | E | L | I | E |
E | R | N | | I | D | E | S | | | K | E | A | N | E |
A | R | G | U | S | | B | U | T | T | I | N | S | K | I |
S | O | L | V | E | | O | N | I | O | N | S | K | I | N |
T | R | E | A | D | | P | Y | O | N | G | Y | A | N | G |
Thu 3/3/2005
M | E | S | H | | T | I | C | S | | T | O | S | E | A |
A | L | I | I | | E | N | C | E | | A | T | I | L | T |
L | O | N | G | S | N | O | U | T | | L | E | M | M | E |
L | I | G | H | T | S | U | P | T | H | E | R | O | O | M |
| | | H | O | E | R | | L | E | N | I | N | | |
A | C | C | O | R | D | | P | E | R | T | | E | V | E |
S | L | O | P | E | | G | I | D | E | | S | W | A | N |
C | A | M | E | R | A | E | Q | U | I | P | M | E | N | T |
O | R | B | S | | C | O | U | P | | R | E | I | N | E |
T | A | U | | L | O | G | E | | C | E | L | L | A | R |
| | S | T | A | R | R | | O | R | E | L | | | |
A | C | T | I | O | N | A | D | V | E | N | T | U | R | E |
S | A | I | N | T | | P | L | U | S | S | E | V | E | N |
K | N | O | T | S | | H | I | L | T | | S | E | N | D |
S | E | N | S | E | | Y | V | E | S | | T | A | O | S |
Sat 1/22/2005
S | M | A | C | K | E | D | U | P | | S | I | N | E | W |
M | A | D | R | I | L | E | N | O | | E | M | O | T | E |
A | L | O | T | T | O | A | S | K | | C | A | N | I | T |
L | A | R | S | E | N | | H | I | S | S | | O | C | K |
L | I | E | | | | I | O | N | E | | T | I | K | I |
O | S | S | | S | A | N | D | G | R | O | U | S | E | S |
J | E | T | S | E | T | S | | F | I | L | L | E | T | S |
| | | C | R | A | T | | U | P | I | S | | | |
E | T | V | O | I | L | A | | N | A | V | A | J | O | S |
C | H | I | F | F | O | N | C | A | K | E | | U | P | I |
L | E | A | F | | S | T | A | T | | | | M | T | N |
I | N | G | | U | S | F | L | | M | O | S | A | I | C |
P | E | R | O | N | | I | M | P | E | D | A | N | C | E |
S | W | A | M | I | | L | E | Y | D | E | N | J | A | R |
E | S | S | E | X | | M | X | M | I | S | S | I | L | E |
Sat 12/25/2004
U | C | L | A | | E | S | S | A | Y | S | | F | U | R |
P | E | A | S | A | N | T | A | R | M | Y | | U | S | E |
C | R | O | I | S | S | A | N | T | A | N | D | J | A | M |
S | T | S | | S | U | R | D | S | | D | E | I | F | Y |
| | | R | A | E | | | | R | I | B | | | |
P | A | R | T | I | S | A | N | T | A | C | T | I | C | S |
A | R | I | E | L | | S | T | O | P | | S | M | U | T |
I | D | A | | S | I | L | E | N | T | C | | P | B | A |
N | O | T | I | | M | A | S | K | | I | C | E | I | N |
T | R | A | N | S | A | N | T | A | R | C | T | I | C | S |
| | | D | A | M | | | | H | A | S | | | |
E | L | C | I | D | | D | E | K | E | D | | W | H | O |
R | O | L | A | I | D | S | A | N | T | A | C | I | D | S |
I | R | A | | S | E | C | R | E | T | S | A | N | T | A |
Q | E | D | | M | E | S | S | E | S | | B | E | V | Y |
Sat 11/27/2004
P | S | A | L | M | | I | S | L | A | M | A | B | A | D |
O | W | N | E | D | | T | H | E | S | O | U | R | C | E |
M | I | D | I | S | | T | A | T | E | R | T | O | T | S |
S | T | Y | L | E | | | M | T | A | | O | K | O | K |
| C | H | A | | G | L | U | E | S | | S | E | N | S |
A | H | A | | S | O | I | | R | Y | E | | | | |
T | H | R | O | W | O | F | F | B | A | L | A | N | C | E |
V | I | D | E | O | D | E | P | O | S | I | T | I | O | N |
S | T | Y | R | O | F | O | A | M | P | E | A | N | U | T |
| | | | P | E | N | | B | I | L | | E | L | S |
L | I | M | A | | L | E | A | S | E | | F | T | D | |
U | C | A | L | | L | A | M | | | C | R | Y | I | N |
C | A | L | I | F | O | R | N | Y | | O | E | S | T | E |
I | N | A | B | O | W | T | I | E | | B | R | I | B | E |
S | T | R | I | P | S | H | O | W | | S | E | X | E | D |
Sat 10/30/2004
T | H | E | W | A | V | E | | P | I | S | A | N | O | S |
H | E | X | A | G | O | N | | A | C | I | D | I | T | Y |
R | A | D | I | A | N | T | | R | U | N | O | N | I | N |
E | D | I | T | S | | I | D | A | | G | L | A | S | S |
E | T | C | H | | S | T | O | P | O | F | F | | | |
C | O | T | E | | A | L | L | E | Y | O | O | P | S | |
A | W | A | R | D | L | E | T | T | E | R | | A | T | P |
T | O | T | E | R | | | | | | M | S | T | A | R |
S | R | O | | I | M | P | E | R | M | E | A | B | L | E |
| K | R | A | Z | Y | G | L | U | E | | L | E | A | P |
| | | C | Z | A | R | I | S | T | | I | N | C | A |
H | E | G | E | L | | A | S | T | | B | E | A | T | S |
E | L | I | T | I | S | T | | I | W | A | N | T | I | T |
R | E | V | E | N | U | E | | C | O | S | T | A | T | E |
A | V | E | N | G | E | D | | S | E | E | S | R | E | D |
Sat 10/9/2004
A | D | A | M | A | N | T | | U | T | E | N | S | I | L |
B | A | D | A | R | E | A | | K | E | N | N | E | D | Y |
S | T | U | R | G | E | S | | A | L | L | E | W | I | S |
C | E | L | L | O | | | I | S | E | | | O | N | E |
I | S | T | O | | S | O | M | E | T | H | I | N | G | S |
S | T | E | | | M | C | M | | Y | O | N | | | |
S | A | R | A | S | O | T | A | S | P | R | I | N | G | S |
A | M | E | R | I | C | A | N | H | I | S | T | O | R | Y |
S | P | R | I | N | K | L | E | R | S | Y | S | T | E | M |
| | | A | U | F | | N | E | T | | | R | E | B |
D | R | E | S | S | R | A | C | K | S | | L | E | N | I |
C | O | X | | | O | S | E | | | T | I | A | M | O |
U | N | L | A | T | C | H | | C | H | A | B | L | I | S |
P | E | A | L | I | K | E | | A | R | I | E | L | L | E |
S | E | X | L | E | S | S | | W | E | L | L | Y | E | S |
Sat 9/25/2004
L | I | B | Y | A | N | | S | W | I | P | E | S | A | T |
A | R | E | O | L | E | | A | E | R | O | P | E | R | U |
P | E | R | K | E | D | | G | R | A | N | I | T | E | S |
I | N | N | E | R | S | | S | E | N | D | C | A | S | H |
D | E | A | L | T | | | | | I | S | P | | | |
A | D | D | S | | N | A | D | A | | C | O | O | P | T |
R | U | E | | M | E | R | I | N | G | U | E | P | I | E |
I | N | T | H | E | M | E | D | I | U | M | T | E | R | M |
A | N | T | A | G | O | N | I | S | T | S | | R | A | P |
N | E | E | D | A | | O | N | E | S | | M | A | T | T |
| | | A | H | A | | | | | P | O | R | E | S |
L | E | S | S | E | N | E | D | | B | I | T | O | F | F |
E | T | H | E | R | I | Z | E | | A | X | I | L | L | A |
G | R | E | A | T | M | E | N | | C | A | V | E | A | T |
S | E | L | T | Z | E | R | S | | K | R | E | S | G | E |
Sat 9/11/2004
M | O | N | T | E | Z | U | M | A | | S | C | U | B | A |
A | N | Y | D | A | Y | N | O | W | | K | A | Z | O | O |
C | O | N | S | U | M | I | N | G | | I | N | I | N | K |
A | N | E | | | U | N | K | E | M | P | T | | | |
W | E | X | F | O | R | D | | E | M | P | I | R | E | S |
| | | L | U | G | E | R | | D | E | L | A | N | O |
A | P | T | E | R | Y | X | E | S | | D | E | V | O | N |
R | E | H | E | M | | E | S | O | | O | V | E | T | A |
A | N | I | T | A | | D | E | L | I | V | E | R | E | R |
B | I | S | O | N | S | | T | O | N | E | R | | | |
S | N | I | F | F | L | E | | P | A | R | S | E | C | S |
| | | F | L | Y | L | E | A | F | | | C | O | P |
O | T | T | O | I | | M | A | R | L | S | T | O | N | E |
S | E | W | O | N | | E | S | T | A | T | E | L | A | W |
S | C | O | T | T | | R | E | S | T | R | A | I | N | S |
Sat 7/31/2004
J | I | L | L | S | T | J | O | H | N | | E | D | A | M |
O | R | E | O | C | O | O | K | I | E | | C | O | P | E |
C | O | T | T | O | N | E | D | T | O | | H | O | P | I |
K | N | I | T | T | E | D | | | S | P | O | R | E | S |
E | S | T | | T | R | I | P | P | | A | I | M | A | T |
Y | O | G | A | | S | M | A | L | L | S | C | A | L | E |
S | N | O | B | S | | A | N | A | C | T | | T | S | R |
| | | S | H | A | G | G | Y | D | O | G | | | |
T | A | E | | A | L | G | A | E | | R | E | W | E | T |
H | I | G | H | F | L | I | E | R | S | | E | R | N | E |
E | R | G | O | T | | O | A | S | T | S | | I | C | E |
A | C | R | O | S | S | | | C | R | O | P | T | O | P |
T | O | O | K | | P | U | L | L | I | N | H | E | R | E |
R | O | L | E | | A | N | O | U | K | A | I | M | E | E |
E | L | L | Y | | N | U | M | B | E | R | L | E | S | S |
Sat 6/26/2004
M | O | V | E | S | A | S | I | D | E | | A | L | E | S |
I | N | E | R | T | G | A | S | E | S | | L | O | T | T |
D | A | N | G | E | R | L | I | N | E | | P | A | R | E |
S | I | T | | L | E | A | S | T | | R | A | N | U | P |
T | R | I | M | M | E | R | | | P | A | C | E | R | S |
| | | R | O | S | Y | S | C | E | N | A | R | I | O |
H | O | B | S | | | C | H | O | R | D | | C | A | N |
A | H | A | | R | E | A | U | M | U | R | | A | N | T |
N | I | L | | A | P | P | L | E | | | O | R | S | O |
G | O | A | C | R | O | S | S | T | O | W | N | | | |
A | R | C | H | E | S | | | O | V | A | T | I | O | N |
R | I | L | E | D | | L | E | P | E | R | | O | N | O |
I | V | A | N | | C | O | V | A | R | I | A | N | C | E |
N | E | V | E | | T | R | I | P | L | E | B | I | L | L |
G | R | A | Y | | R | E | L | A | Y | R | A | C | E | S |
Sat 6/5/2004
E | N | A | M | O | R | S | | M | O | P | P | E | T | S |
R | I | L | E | S | U | P | | A | R | E | A | M | A | P |
O | N | E | M | O | M | E | N | T | I | N | T | I | M | E |
T | E | X | | | | C | O | R | O | N | E | T | E | D |
I | M | A | | M | U | S | H | I | N | E | S | S | | |
C | O | N | L | O | N | | | | | | | | | |
I | N | D | I | V | I | D | U | A | L | I | S | T | I | C |
S | T | R | A | I | T | O | F | M | E | S | S | I | N | A |
T | H | E | R | E | S | N | O | I | I | N | T | E | A | M |
| | | | | | | | | T | O | S | S | U | P |
| | B | A | T | W | E | I | G | H | T | | A | D | O |
R | E | A | C | H | I | N | T | O | | | | K | I | R |
A | S | S | T | U | P | I | D | A | S | C | A | N | B | E |
S | P | I | E | L | E | D | | P | I | E | H | O | L | E |
H | O | L | D | E | R | S | | E | S | T | A | T | E | S |
Sat 5/15/2004
C | O | O | K | P | O | T | | S | T | M | A | R | Y | S |
U | N | D | E | R | D | O | | T | H | E | R | E | S | A |
S | T | O | N | I | E | R | | R | E | N | A | M | E | D |
P | O | R | T | M | A | N | T | E | A | U | W | O | R | D |
| | | | | | A | R | E | S | | | | | |
G | U | S | S | I | E | D | U | P | | C | A | S | C | A |
O | P | T | I | N | G | I | N | | M | A | S | H | U | P |
F | O | O | T | L | O | C | K | E | R | S | T | O | R | E |
O | N | L | O | A | N | | F | R | E | T | O | V | E | R |
R | A | I | N | Y | | H | I | N | D | E | R | E | R | S |
| | | | | C | O | S | I | | | | | | |
C | A | S | E | O | F | T | H | E | C | R | E | E | P | S |
A | M | I | A | B | L | E | | E | R | I | T | R | E | A |
R | E | T | R | I | A | L | | L | E | F | T | A | R | M |
P | R | E | S | E | T | S | | S | W | E | E | T | I | E |
Sat 5/1/2004
L | O | S | T | I | T | | B | A | R | B | | L | S | T |
O | P | P | O | S | I | T | E | W | A | Y | | A | A | A |
B | U | R | K | I | N | A | F | A | S | O | | T | I | C |
B | L | U | E | | G | R | A | D | E | B | M | I | L | K |
Y | E | N | | G | E | T | Z | | | | I | N | T | O |
I | N | G | O | O | D | | E | M | E | R | S | I | O | N |
S | C | O | F | F | | A | D | A | G | E | S | | | |
T | E | N | F | E | E | T | | P | O | P | E | A | F | B |
| | | B | R | E | T | T | S | | E | N | T | R | E |
C | O | L | E | S | L | A | W | | M | A | T | T | E | A |
R | H | E | A | | | | O | B | I | T | | H | E | R |
I | D | A | T | A | R | B | E | L | L | | C | E | L | S |
T | A | D | | O | U | A | G | A | D | O | U | G | O | U |
I | R | E | | K | I | N | G | H | E | N | R | Y | V | I |
C | N | N | | I | N | K | S | | W | A | S | M | E | T |
Thu 4/1/2004
G | N | U | | M | A | M | B | O | | N | A | T | A | L |
N | A | P | | O | N | L | O | W | | E | R | O | D | E |
A | B | S | | N | O | I | S | S | I | W | N | O | O | W |
W | S | I | N | O | X | I | N | | S | C | E | N | T | |
| | D | O | D | I | | | L | T | R | S | | | |
A | N | E | M | I | C | | O | I | H | O | S | S | I | W |
H | A | D | A | C | | | V | A | M | P | | P | S | I |
E | B | O | N | | H | S | I | M | I | | H | U | R | L |
R | O | W | | T | O | O | T | | | T | E | N | E | T |
N | O | N | I | W | O | O | Z | | F | A | R | A | D | S |
| | | C | O | H | N | | | U | X | O | R | | |
| A | C | H | O | O | | N | O | M | I | N | O | M | I |
S | N | O | I | N | O | N | I | X | I | W | | U | R | N |
A | T | O | N | E | | O | P | E | N | A | | N | E | G |
W | I | N | G | S | | T | A | N | G | Y | | D | D | E |
Sat 3/20/2004
S | P | H | E | R | E | S | | B | L | O | N | D | E | R |
T | R | I | T | E | S | T | | L | I | N | E | O | N | E |
R | E | L | E | A | S | E | | A | S | T | A | R | T | E |
A | L | L | | P | E | N | N | S | T | A | T | I | O | N |
P | U | T | T | | X | O | U | T | | P | E | T | I | T |
O | D | O | R | S | | S | M | U | T | | R | O | L | E |
N | E | P | A | L | I | | B | L | A | H | | S | S | R |
| | | C | O | B | B | S | A | L | A | D | | | |
B | A | D | | P | E | R | K | | C | L | I | M | A | X |
O | D | E | R | | T | A | U | S | | S | E | I | Z | E |
A | A | M | E | S | | I | L | K | A | | T | S | A | R |
S | W | A | N | N | I | N | L | O | V | E | | F | L | O |
T | A | N | N | A | T | E | | P | I | N | K | I | E | S |
O | R | D | E | R | E | R | | J | A | I | A | L | A | I |
F | E | S | T | E | R | S | | E | N | D | L | E | S | S |
Sat 2/28/2004
M | I | X | N | M | A | T | C | H | | U | P | F | O | R |
I | N | F | I | R | M | A | R | Y | | S | E | I | N | E |
S | T | I | C | K | E | M | U | P | | M | O | N | E | Y |
D | E | L | E | O | N | | S | E | W | I | N | G | O | N |
I | N | E | R | T | | M | A | R | I | N | | E | N | O |
D | T | S | | T | O | E | D | | S | T | E | R | O | L |
| | | D | E | P | L | E | T | E | | V | E | N | D |
R | E | F | E | R | E | E | | U | M | P | I | R | E | S |
A | V | O | N | | N | E | T | B | A | L | L | | | |
M | A | R | T | H | E | | R | A | N | A | | S | O | I |
A | C | T | | A | R | G | U | S | | S | P | A | N | S |
L | U | K | E | W | A | R | M | | S | T | O | N | E | D |
L | A | N | I | S | | A | P | P | L | I | E | D | T | O |
A | T | O | N | E | | S | E | E | A | C | T | I | O | N |
H | E | X | E | S | | S | T | A | Y | S | S | A | N | E |
Sat 1/31/2004
U | M | M | Q | A | S | R | | P | A | T | I | N | A | S |
T | R | O | U | N | C | E | | A | B | I | L | E | N | E |
A | H | E | A | D | O | F | | R | A | N | L | A | T | E |
H | Y | S | T | E | R | I | A | S | | T | Y | P | E | D |
A | D | H | E | R | E | N | C | E | | | | T | A | L |
N | E | A | R | S | | E | R | R | S | | S | I | T | E |
| | | N | O | I | R | E | | A | B | O | D | E | S |
S | A | V | A | N | T | S | | T | W | O | F | E | R | S |
A | V | E | R | S | E | | S | H | A | L | T | | | |
V | E | R | Y | | M | U | T | E | | S | E | G | U | E |
E | M | S | | | | P | O | S | I | T | R | O | N | S |
T | A | I | G | A | | S | P | A | C | E | S | O | U | T |
I | R | O | N | A | G | E | | R | E | R | I | N | S | E |
M | I | N | A | R | E | T | | G | A | U | D | I | E | R |
E | A | S | T | E | R | S | | E | X | P | E | N | D | S |
Fri 11/23/2001
| S | H | O | R | T | I | E | | A | S | K | E | R | S |
I | C | E | B | O | A | T | S | | V | I | N | N | I | E |
B | A | L | L | Y | H | O | O | | E | L | E | V | E | N |
E | L | P | A | S | O | | | P | R | O | W | E | S | S |
A | P | E | D | | E | T | H | O | S | | A | L | E | E |
M | E | R | I | T | | A | O | L | | B | L | O | N | D |
S | R | S | | B | E | L | L | Y | F | L | O | P | | |
| | | B | I | L | L | Y | G | O | A | T | | | |
| | B | O | L | L | Y | W | O | O | D | | L | E | T |
A | G | I | R | L | | H | A | N | | E | P | O | D | E |
L | O | G | E | | M | O | R | S | E | | I | N | I | T |
A | T | T | I | R | E | S | | | L | E | N | G | T | H |
R | H | I | N | O | S | | B | U | L | L | Y | B | O | Y |
M | I | M | O | S | A | | A | T | E | L | I | E | R | S |
S | C | E | N | E | S | | R | E | S | A | N | D | S | |
7 Variety puzzles by Byron Walden
Sun 9/21/2008
| | | | | | A | Z | U | R | E | | | | | | |
| | | | | | R | E | P | E | G | | | | | | |
| | | D | I | V | I | N | I | N | G | R | O | D | | | |
| | | A | C | I | D | | | | N | O | R | I | | | |
| | | T | U | N | I | N | G | F | O | R | K | S | | | |
| A | G | E | | O | T | O | L | O | G | Y | | A | S | H | |
| L | O | T | S | | Y | O | U | R | S | | A | R | L | O | |
| A | A | R | O | N | | N | E | T | | A | P | R | I | L | |
| B | L | E | W | U | P | | | | A | S | T | A | N | D | |
G | A | P | E | | G | O | V | | A | L | P | | Y | G | O | R |
A | M | O | | R | A | K | E | | V | I | E | D | | S | P | A |
G | A | S | M | E | T | E | R | | O | B | R | O | T | H | E | R |
A | N | T | I | B | O | D | Y | | W | I | S | H | B | O | N | E |
| | S | T | A | R | | | | | | E | A | S | T | | |
| | | | | Y | S | H | A | P | E | D | | | | | |
| | | | | | T | A | K | E | S | | | | | | |
| | | | | | P | L | A | N | T | | | | | | |
Sun 1/13/2008
J | O | B | S | | | | | | | | S | K | I | P | | |
U | H | O | H | | | | | | | B | O | O | E | R | S | |
N | I | N | E | | F | E | E | | H | A | R | D | R | O | L | L |
G | O | O | D | W | I | L | L | | I | K | E | A | | W | A | Y |
| | | S | O | L | O | S | | J | U | N | K | M | A | I | L |
V | O | W | | R | E | P | O | S | | | | | A | R | N | E |
C | R | A | N | K | T | E | L | E | P | H | O | N | E | | | |
R | A | K | E | S | | | | T | A | U | R | O | | | | |
| L | E | T | F | I | R | S | T | S | E | R | V | I | C | E | |
| | | | O | N | E | A | L | | | | A | S | Y | L | A |
| | | D | R | O | P | P | E | D | C | U | R | T | A | I | N |
A | B | B | A | | | | | S | A | I | N | T | | N | A | Y |
C | O | L | D | D | U | C | K | | C | A | D | I | Z | | | |
T | R | A | | E | N | T | O | | H | O | U | S | E | C | A | T |
S | I | C | K | B | I | R | D | | A | S | E | | L | A | C | E |
| S | K | I | R | T | S | | | | | | | I | L | L | S |
| | S | P | A | S | | | | | | | | G | L | U | T |
Sun 7/29/2007
| | | | | | J | U | M | P | S | | | | | | |
| | | | O | N | E | P | A | R | E | N | T | | | | |
T | H | R | O | W | I | N | T | H | E | G | A | R | B | A | G | E |
R | E | U | B | E | N | | O | R | T | | W | I | L | D | O | X |
A | R | T | I | | | T | W | E | A | K | | | A | R | N | E |
J | E | T | T | I | S | O | N | | P | I | T | C | H | O | U | T |
A | T | E | | R | O | S | S | | E | C | H | O | | I | T | E |
N | O | D | | O | U | S | | | | K | E | G | | T | S | R |
| | | E | N | R | O | L | | S | T | Y | N | E | | | |
| C | R | I | P | | V | I | D | E | O | | A | L | D | O | |
| L | E | G | O | | E | F | L | A | T | | C | I | R | C | |
| A | C | H | T | | R | E | I | C | H | | S | M | U | T | |
| W | I | T | | A | B | C | | H | E | T | | I | G | O | |
| F | R | Y | | G | O | A | | E | C | U | | N | U | B | |
| E | C | S | E | G | A | R | | S | U | B | B | A | S | E | |
| E | L | I | X | I | R | S | | T | R | E | A | T | E | R | |
| T | E | X | T | E | D | | | | B | R | I | E | R | S | |
Sun 7/16/2006
| | | P | A | R | T | L | Y | | | | A | G | E | S | | |
| | P | E | R | I | L | O | U | S | A | S | C | E | N | T | | |
| P | E | R | F | E | C | T | L | Y | I | N | N | O | C | E | N | T |
A | R | I | S | E | N | | T | E | R | R | I | E | S | | F | U | R |
R | I | G | I | D | | | | S | I | L | T | S | | P | A | R | E |
E | D | N | A | | | | | | N | O | S | | D | E | N | S | E |
N | E | O | N | S | | | | E | G | G | | T | O | R | I | E | S |
A | D | I | D | A | S | | H | O | E | | T | E | N | S | E | S | |
| | R | E | G | I | M | E | N | | D | A | R | E | I | | | |
| | | S | U | G | A | R | | Y | O | U | N | G | M | C | | |
| P | E | C | A | N | S | | N | E | W | | S | A | M | O | S | A |
M | I | X | E | R | S | | K | O | S | | | | L | O | S | E | R |
O | R | O | N | O | | F | A | R | | | | | | N | E | X | T |
P | A | C | T | | D | O | R | I | A | | | | A | S | C | I | I |
U | T | A | | N | O | X | Z | E | M | A | | E | N | C | A | S | E |
P | E | R | C | E | N | T | A | G | E | C | O | N | T | E | N | T | |
| | P | E | R | U | V | I | A | N | A | C | C | E | N | T | | |
| | S | O | F | T | | | | T | B | T | E | S | T | | | |
Sun 3/12/2006
| | C | M | O | N | | M | E | T | R | O | | | | |
| | H | O | M | E | | A | U | R | E | O | L | E | | |
| J | O | V | E | S | | P | R | O | P | P | E | D | U | P |
| A | P | I | G | | | | | J | U | S | T | I | N | E |
T | Y | P | E | A | B | | | S | A | T | | S | T | L | O |
A | L | E | S | S | I | | T | O | N | E | | L | O | I | N |
C | E | D | E | | S | H | O | P | | | H | I | R | T | |
K | N | U | T | | H | O | P | P | E | D | U | P | | | |
S | O | P | | M | O | P | P | E | D | U | P | | C | L | E |
| | | P | O | P | P | E | D | U | P | | C | R | I | B |
| A | B | I | T | | | D | U | C | E | | R | O | M | E |
F | I | R | S | | B | C | U | P | | R | O | E | P | E | R |
I | M | A | C | | A | L | P | | | S | N | A | P | A | T |
B | A | Z | O | O | K | A | | | | | E | K | E | D | |
S | T | O | P | P | E | D | U | P | | B | S | I | D | E | |
| | S | O | A | R | I | N | G | | L | I | E | U | | |
| | | | L | Y | N | D | A | | T | E | R | P | | |
Sun 2/27/2005
M | A | D | R | E | | S | P | A | R | S | | D | R | U | P | E |
C | L | E | A | N | U | P | O | N | A | I | S | L | E | S | I | X |
D | E | S | I | G | N | A | T | E | D | D | R | I | V | E | R | S |
O | X | E | N | | E | N | E | M | I | E | S | | E | R | A | T |
N | A | R | Y | | | | N | I | S | | | | L | A | T | E |
A | N | T | | S | W | I | T | C | H | B | O | X | | C | E | E |
L | D | S | | P | I | N | | | | A | I | X | | C | F | L |
D | R | T | | A | T | R | A | | Z | E | L | L | | O | L | E |
S | I | R | S | | H | I | T | T | E | R | S | | G | U | A | R |
| A | I | L | S | | | O | U | R | | | S | O | N | G | |
| | P | U | L | L | I | N | T | O | A | S | P | O | T | | |
| | | M | O | O | R | | | | T | O | E | D | | | |
| | | | P | O | W | E | R | C | O | R | D | | | | |
| | | | | P | I | N | C | H | M | E | | | | | |
| | | | | | N | O | M | A | S | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | L | P | S | | | | | | | |
Sun 1/16/2005
| | | | | T | S | A | R | I | S | M | | | | | |
| | | | G | O | E | S | T | O | P | O | T | | | | |
| | | H | U | R | R | I | E | S | F | R | O | M | | | |
| | G | E | N | E | | | | | | R | E | A | P | | |
| A | U | G | U | S | T | O | P | I | N | O | C | H | E | T | |
C | H | R | I | S | T | O | P | H | E | R | W | A | L | K | E | N |
A | S | U | R | E | | O | T | E | R | O | | P | E | O | N | Y |
R | O | S | A | R | Y | | S | N | I | T | S | | R | E | D | S |
| | | | S | A | T | | | | C | A | T | | | | |
B | A | B | A | | W | R | O | T | E | | O | H | S | T | O | P |
E | P | O | C | H | | A | T | E | S | T | | R | A | B | B | I |
L | O | S | T | O | P | P | O | R | T | U | N | I | T | I | E | S |
| P | O | S | T | O | P | E | R | A | T | I | V | E | L | Y | |
| | N | U | T | S | | | | | | P | E | E | L | | |
| | | P | U | T | S | M | I | L | E | S | O | N | | | |
| | | | B | U | R | S | T | O | P | E | N | | | | |
| | | | | M | I | S | S | M | A | Y | | | | | |