Puzzle 138 - 4x3

Hello again again. Here is yet another small one.

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Puzzle 122 - 15x15: Oval Circle

A real theme for once. It was fun to put together, new symmetry for me. You'll see I made an executive decision to include "unchecked" squares.

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Puzzle 120 - 7x7

A sort of niche companion to my puzzle at 7xwords today (solve that first).

After finishing the one here, you might like to check out this poem. The whole website's really fun.

PS: Also I should link to Vi Hart's video from today

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Puzzle 95 - 9x9: Tragedies

They happened to be nine letters.

A small note on one entry, the unusual four-letter partial. It's there on purpose. Not the "cleanest" but, with the clue, seems better than other ways to fill that corner, especially to avoid crossing more names.

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Puzzle 91 - 21x15: And You

This is something of a tribute puzzle though the occasion only is that we people continue to be home alone. It's also the biggest puzzle I've finished constructing, because stacking the themed part needed all this space. I worked hard.

After solving I do recommend you watch this (the link is obviously a spoiler).

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Puzzle 90 - 15x15: The Year in Film

Hi. So this puzzle came together maybe too fast - the theme as well as the fill. Too many proper nouns, and one square is impossible for sure (guess the letter B). Also I know the puns are sort of inconsistent but ...

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Puzzle 87 - 5x5: A Top-Heavy Grid

Salutations. I took some liberties with symmetry and unchecked squares (and spelling vars.?), but the result here is neat. The clues should be scrutable.

P.S. Making this was fun - I did it first in my head, then checked it with scratch paper, then typed it up.

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Puzzle 80 - 5x2: Street Grid

This one's neat. I found it in the outdoors recently - it just seemed to make words. I had to write the clues. Quite a few proper nouns. The only rule it broke is word length ...

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Puzzle 78 - 15x15: Mish Mash

What a title. I've said before I should stop crossing proper nouns, but I didn't do that in this puzzle so feel free to look things up. At least, that's what I do when I'm solving leisurely. Five full names was fun to put in though.

Anyway the theme is kind of not great, and not quite symmetrical, but I thought it was neatish so I'm posting it. It's my site.

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Puzzle 55 - 15x15: It's Not Happening

Hello. For this, I want to set your expectations so low you have to bend your knees to reach them.

I'll explain dramatically and at length. This grid, like the one I posted last week, has 72 words, which is a little low for a themed puzzle. But unlike last time, I've had major trouble filling it. I could have restarted, and I should have moved around black squares, but I wanted a challenge and it seemed doable. Sorry in advance.

Here are the issues. Because the computer filler couldn't help with the middle right section, I had to fill it by hand, and put in some partial phrases ... and a weird abbreviation ... and a plural name. It's ugly but it holds together. The bigger problem is near the bottom, where the theme answers overlap more; there are some crossing proper nouns that I regret, though most squares should be inferable (maybe not the one with French - there, you should look it up if you don't know).

You might think that (mild spoiler) the Scrabbliness of the words hurt the overall fill, and that's possible in the NW specifically, but putting in all these rare letters was actually pretty accidental. Oh, also there are some words duplicated in the grid. But that fits right in with the structurally compromised fill. And, the theme clues are a little wordy, and possibly nonsensical.

Nevertheless I like the puzzle. And since I don't have an editor, I hope you like it too.

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Puzzle 54 - 15x15: Place Names

It's funny. When I look at old posts I've made here, I can sorta remember writing them, but don't know quite why I did them the way they are.

Anyway, I haven't had a theme on here for a while (more than a month apparently) but this will remedy that.

PUZ

(no PDFs from now on, unless anyone asks me otherwise)

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Puzzle 39 - 15x15: Mind the Gap

Who doesn't love fill in the blanks? This is a puzzle full of them. Every clue here consists of one word and one blank. A few have hyphens. Some words work very well with this kind of clue. Others - do not, and it would be insane to clue them that way. I tried to limit that type in making this, but there are a few... Also there are some names, which you can't hide all that well. But I think a few names are good to have because it makes the puzzle more solvable.

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Puzzle 37 - 15x14: Sports Illustrated

Another theme! In addition to the theme answers, the grid includes two contemporary soccer players (one more famous than the other). You can look them up if you don't know them.

As for puzzle titles ... gee, I wonder. I think my last themed grid (Puzzle 31) could have been called No Funny Business. Does that work? You'll have to solve that puzzle to find out. This one's title also came after the idea. I guess it's reasonably descriptive.

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Puzzle 31 - 13x13 themed

This puzzle's got a theme - but no title, because I couldn't think of one. Also the theme doesn't ... quite work. Two theme clues are good, one's a little off. But that's OK! It's all parsable-ish. Maybe a little figurative, is all.

Filling and cluing the puzzle, I was happy to find three places that could echo answers/clues - but that was mostly unintentional. I used a tightish grid because the theme answers were relatively short. Also this puzzle should be easier than my smaller themelesses - but figuring out the theme could take some thinking.

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Puzzle 7 - 5x5: Thinking Out Loud

A themed puzzle! The title is "Thinking Out Loud." If you get stumped, you might try asking a friend.

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