puzzle 004 :: XXXO, XXXXXXXO

hello! last crossword puzzle of the year here. hope you had a better 2025 than i did! here were my fav crosswords of 2025:

• aidan deshong's minesweeper puzzle, nyt :: october 02
• crosstina/agard collab, blog :: july 25
• agard themeless, new yorker :: july 08 
• agard themeless, new yorker :: february 04 
• KAPOW! THWAP! SPLAT! by troy dear, avcx+ :: november 14
• midi by quiara, slate :: october 07
• freestyle 21 by nediger, blog :: november 03
• inferno variations by owen, blog :: jan 12 
• ope, just gonna sneak right past ya, blog :: february 03
• what's the deal with doug?, blog :: february 24 
• sarah sinclair themeless, nyt :: february 14 

and many others that i'm probably forgetting! this puzzle was (spoiler!) inspired by agard's new yorker themeless on march 31st. i thought i would make my own version. some of the fill on this is kinda :-/ buttt i'm happy with how it turned out overall.

thank you so much to erik agard & adam a. for testing!

also here are my favorite albums of the year (all by black musicians, some of whom have been featured on this blog!):

* nourished by time :: passionate ones (AOTY)
* sudan archives :: the bpm
* erika de casier :: lifetime
* pinkpantheress :: fancy that
* rochelle jordan :: through the wall
* swami sound & gum.mp3 :: state of emergency
* dj swisha :: first hand smoke
* klein :: sleep with a cane
* nondi_ :: trax from across the river
* lauren duffus :: can's gone warm 

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puzzle 003 :: color him father

hello! i hope you all are having a nice and spooky october. i did a little remodelling to the blog because before it was a bit of a fixer-upper but now it's a lot prettier and more juxtaquoze(ish) imo.

we are back with a THEMED 😯 NOT SQUARE 😯 PUZZLE!! omg. this was actually the first puzzle i ever made, and it was almost in avcx+! they said that it was very cool but (spoiler alert) there's not just the same thing happening within the theme answers in the puzzle. so i decided to make trader joe's pumpkin pancake mix into pumpkin pancakes and just put it on the blog!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO the great owen for brainstorming with me, making the grid, and test solving (and others but i forgot if you tested oops)! his hidden in plane sight puzzle is one of my favorite puzzles of all time and he inspired me to start constructing! a great constructor, an even better person, and my gen Z sister in the crazy cruciverbalist world. 

hope y'all enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

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puzzle 002 :: 9999999999999999💥

hello hello!!

thank you all for the warm reception on my first puzzle! apparently 153 people tried the puzzle, which is like 140 more then i would've thought would test! 

a LOT has happened in the past 3 weeks like a lot lot... and maybe in the future i'll talk about it but tbh i was really struggling... but crosswords have played a part in keeping me going! still no publication acceptance but we move. another 15x themeless on the docket & this one was created because i had a fabulous idea for 1A's clue and i really really wanted to include 45A and the grid kinda fits it. this puzz. has a lot of nine-letter entries and i really really like the first stack of them. also this is DIFFICULT. probably like a hard nyt saturday, oops. enjoy!

thank you so much to jamixy & frisco for testing and great feedback. until the next puzz (which will be a lot easier i promise)!

  

 

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puzzle 001 & introduction :: digipak

hey!! welcome to the first puzzle on this blog. will any of them be good? we'll see. most of them are gonna be themeless.

notes on the constructor 

• gen z black alternative gay - fill will reflect that
• blog isn't going to be very serious (lowercase clues probably?)
• been told that i have a very distinct clueing voice. also will have LONG clues sometimes sorry i suck at being concise
• kinda suck at mid-length fill (i think this is me being hard on myself oops)

enjoy the first one it's a 15 by 15!! i'm naming it digipak because (spoiler) the grid shape kinda looks like a CD.

will also post an alternative black song with every puzzle that i really love because music is probably my favorite form of art and i love diversifying music tastes. enjoy! 

(also listen to the new nourished by time album please it's excellent. it's called the passionate ones)

thank you to erik, echser, yoghurt, and bonedriven for testing 💗 

 

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