April 26, 2011
Borderline
Essentially a themeless puzzle made manifest by imposing upon myself a silly constraint. (As if there aren't enough contraints as it is.)
I do, willfully, actually put myself in contraints, occasionally. Pandemic gerunds, notwithstanding. Sometime constraints just feel real good.
This one's been languishing in the queue for long enough so, for no particular reason, here i' finally 'tis.
Yes, Across Lite still exists. No matter what CrossSynergy would have us believe.
Click to solve.
April 10, 2011
If you mow your lawn and find a car...
I've always wondered why all those "quote puzzles" over the years have never included the quoted individual as a co-author of the puzzle. That's always struck me as being just a tad rude.
Well, as Jeff Foxworthy says, a "redneck" is someone who embodies and embraces the glorious absence of sophistication. Sorta like cramming seven theme entries into a 15x15 grid and, in order to preserve one rule of construction (that the theme answers are the longest -- in this case -- across answers), breaking another rule of construction (having two 2-letter answers).
And, yes, Across Lite is still alive:
Click to solve.
April 03, 2011
Mini Crosswords
Little bit of a change of pace this week. I decided to make a mini crossword puzzle, and then couldn't stop.
This is where we all get a chance to solve puzzles in spacetime-bending Feyer-Hinman-Erdmann time.
First, the first one.
All puzzles are in Across Lite format, of course.
Click to solve.
Then I tried a grid pattern that was much easier to fill.
Click to solve.
Then I wanted to see if I could make a "pangram" -- using every letter of the alphabet at least once -- with that same grid pattern. Piece of cake.
Then I tackled the single black square challenge.
Click to solve.
Then, just to get a different grid pattern, I went ahead and allowed 2-letter entries.
And finally, as the French say, the "piece of resistance":
