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| Photo by Bryce Bradford |
Another meta - a week early due to Thanksgiving. Thanks to Abide and Quiara V for test-solving. Leaderboards will beposted over on the XWord-Muggles subforum (https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewforum.php?f=46).
The meta answer is a Tom Petty song.
Submit your responses before Tuesday, November 23 at 12 PM EST at the link below:
Happy Halloween everyone! Bonus 21x puzzle for those of you handing out candy or otherwise just chilling at home tonight.
This month's meta presents a devilish conundrum:
You can't find your friends at the Halloween party. All you know is that they're (group costume!) dressed as a 1980s band. Meta answer #1 is the name of the band. Meta answer #2 is what your friends are wearing as part of their costume that might be making it hard to find them.
You read that correctly: there are TWO meta answers this month. The form has been updated accordingly with two answer slots. However, you don't have to submit both answers at once, or one before the other. The winner will be the first person to have submitted both answers correctly. In the unlikely event that no one gets both answers correct, the winner will be the first person to submit either half correctly, so if you get one of the two, go ahead and submit it! I'll try to have updated leaderboards posted for both answers over on the XWord-Muggles subforum (https://www.xword-muggles.com/viewforum.php?f=46).
Submit your responses before Tuesday, November 2 at 12 PM EST at the link below:
https://forms.gle/cb61UxiqFVLWSVuF9
UPDATE @ 10/28, 5:48 PM EST: 45-Down clue was mostly missing and has now been replaced.
Inktober is a "month long art challenge [in which] every day for the month of October anyone participating in the Inktober challenge creates an ink drawing and posts it online."
I made it to Day 5 this year before running short on time, ability, patience, and, literally, ink (I didn't know that you weren't supposed to use markers until Day 5, when I switched to a fountain pen that promptly ran dry and while I definitely have more ink around here somewhere, that doesn't mean I know exactly where it is...)
There are daily Inktober drawing prompts, and after checking today's, rather than finding that ink, I just based a midi crossword around it. Online only. Hope you enjoy.
I've been waiting to drop this one. Hope you enjoy.
Solving music: Dilated Peoples' "DJ Babu in Deep Concentration," a tribute to Gang Starr's classic "DJ Premier in Deep Concentration"
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| Why spend time searching for free clip art when you can simply draw the image yourself on your phone |
Hello solvers!
It's time for another meta. Week 2 this time.
The meta answer is a classic video game that debuted in 1998.
Submit your responses before THURSDAY, September 30 at 12 PM EST at the link below:
https://forms.gle/iDGbw3eEFWfxQKQRA
This was a hard puzzle to finish constructing. You may have noticed that there was no August meta puzzle, and no announcement regarding the same. I simply overextended myself with work, family and other puzzle commitments to the point where I ran out of the mental energy to construct a good meta for quite some time. They require at least twice as much time and planning as a regular blog puzzle. Hopefully the slump is over?
In any event, some of the products of my other constructing labor appeared recently. I had last week's Spyscape puzzle and last Monday Will Nediger's blog Bewilderingly featured a puzzle I co-constructed with the great Kate Chin Park, aka Kate Schmate of Crosswords Schmosswords.
As noted in the last meta email, I added a few optional questions to the form in hopes of getting a little more info about your solving experience. If you need a nudge to finish the puzzle, you can now note that on the form and exempt yourself from the drawing if you wish.
Have you won a previous week's contest and not received your sticker? If so, I apologize - I'm STILL behind in mailing out the stickers. Please email me (if you haven't already)! It will speed up the process of catching up.
A few months ago I challenged myself to construct a themeless puzzle incorporating the first five words produced by an online random word generator. Part 1 below is the second such grid and the first full puzzle I've produced using this approach. You'll find out what the words are as you go.
More recently, at the end of July, Will Nediger (independently) concocted an even tougher random construction challenge: incorporate five letters selected at random at points in the grid selected at random, and five black squares whose locations would also be selected at random. I took on that challenge as well, and Part 2 is the outcome. The random letters and their locations are highlighted in yellow and the five mandatory "black" squares, the location of which made this a true challenge, are highlighted in pink.
Other constructors who entered the Nediger Aleatory Thunderdome and emerged with solvable puzzles include:
Trent Evans, Grid Therapy: "Random Association 1"
Brian Thomas, Puzzles That Need a Home: "Themeless #57" and the new "Themeless #59"
Thanks to Quiara for test-solving both of these. And to the 00s UK grime sensation Lady Sovereign for the solving music below (it got stuck in my head while constructing, okay?).
META UPDATE: Though I haven't posted one in six weeks, the contest meta puzzles will return soon. I simply hit an idea drought at the same time as I also ran short on time to do the extra tasks related to the metas, like catching up on mailing out stickers to past winners, making spreadsheets, writing clues, sending draft puzzles out to be test-solved, and so forth.
It's been a very long time, but I'm finally back with Lexicon Devil's 100th puzzle. Of course, it's a meta, but it's a l...
