A light stretch from us given the runup to Midwest Crossword Tournament, but we’ve got a few. Happy solving!
Remember that this is not an attempt to pick the “best” puzzles, and we won’t be commenting as critics. Our approach is best described as “puzzles we solved that we don’t think you should miss.” Kind of like staff recommendations at a local bookstore.
Did we miss your favorites? Add them in the comments!
Bewilderingly: Back Exercise (9/23) by Will Nediger. This is a very “Will” puzzle in the best way. Some of the most memorable puzzles are ones that play with grid topography – rebuses, diagramless, and any number of variety formats are classic examples, but also diagonal symmetry and boundary-pushing tournament puzzles. Will is always happy to let a gimmick override a sense of where a theme should be in a puzzle or how much of the grid it should work with, and it’s a real neat payoff here. – Matt
Los Angeles Times: (9/24) by Stella Zawistowski This puzzle features a delightful theme that cleverly utilizes the circles in the grid. – Jac
New York Times: (9/25) by Peter Gordon. I’m thoroughly impressed with the theme of this puzzle. Even with all three revealers, it took me a while to grasp what was happening in the grid. But when that “aha” moment hit, I truly appreciated the cleverness of Peter’s construction. Hats off for finding so many words that fit the theme. – Jac
Universal: Fall Themeless Week, Puzzle 5 (9/27) by Matthew Luter: This crossword, featuring an impressive 14 entries of 8 letters or more, was a blast to solve. – Jac
Puzzmo: Winter Is Coming (10/2) by Elise Corbin. See what I said above about grid topography? Copy and paste. Plus whatever Rich was going to say; he didn’t leave a note =P. – Matt & Rich
Midwest Crossword Tournament: (10/5). They’re good puzzles. Available for a bit at the link. #3 and #6 were my favorites among favorites. – Matt