#32: Pod Casting

 

[PDF] [PUZ]
difficulty: medium

Totally '90s tribute puzzle this week. Big shout-out to my mom, whose subscription to AARP Magazine - usually an alarming reminder of the mortality of the most important woman in my life - gave me a great cluing angle this week. And while we're here, let's also give a shout-out to my wonderful boyfriend, who watched me sketch this grid out on the back of a newspaper mumbling phrases to myself like "pinwheel arrangement" and "optimal initial Js" while sitting cross-legged on a stool at a pizza parlor and thought, "yes, I am going to continue dating this woman." And hey, shout-out to you for sitting through this crap too, when you could be doing the latest Brooke Husic puzzle instead. Just kidding, you can do both. (Please do Brooke's latest, it's awesome.)

Anyway, applet under the cut. I'll have a "bonus puzzle" for y'all on Monday. (Don't get too excited, it's just a rerun. Uh, not a "rerun" per se. You'll see.) Enjoy.

#31: Hat Trick

 

[PDF] [PUZ]
difficulty: medium

Hey, it's been a while. Two whole months without a QVXword? Perish the thought. Well, I want to get some new puzzles up in advance of what I suspect will be a huge traffic bump off people spamming the link to this site in the Boswords chat sometime in the next month. Plus, I gotta do something special for the one-year anniversary of QVXwordz, right? More on that later.

Anyway, this is a rather gentle, lightly themed puzzle that plays a little more like a spooky seasonal themeless. The grid shape is inspired ever so slightly by Ross Trudeau, who frequently does puzzles with this sort of mirror grid setup - including very recently in a lovely collaborative puzzle done with me and the equally great Sally Hoelscher. (If you haven't solved that puzzle, called "The Space Between Us," do it! It's very fun.)

Anyway, applet under the cut. Will Eisenberg and Frisco gave very useful feedback that made this puzzle just a little fairer. Enjoy! And see you next week.