Puzzle 26: Hit Me With Your Best Shot (with Laura Braunstein and the Homeschool Cooperative Class)
Laura and I taught another class this week, and constructed another midi puzzle with them. If you’d like to learn how to construct crosswords, or just watch us construct one, why not sign up for our classes in May and June? As always we try to keep these puzzles super topical, so be sure to solve it now before the whole theme seems irrelevant! (Spoiler alert: this theme will probably continue to be relevant for a while. Even bigger spoiler alert: The theme is about vaccines. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet, go do it now. If you live in New York City, you can even get vaccinated under the giant blue whale at the Museum of Natural History! If only I hadn’t already gotten my second shot yesterday – and also moved out of NYC three and a half years ago.)
Also, you should solve this now so you’ll have your weekend free for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. This is the biggest tournament out there, and the only one that takes place over more than one day. And while it’s disappointing that we still can’t get together in person for this and spend all weekend hanging out at the Marriott bar, it will be lots of fun online. Plus, if you’ve never been to a crossword tournament, this is an easy and cheap way to try one out (minus the aforementioned hanging out at the bar).
Speaking of tournaments, you might remember a little event last year called the Crossword Tournament From Your Couch. Well, the folks (actually I think it’s just one person) behind the Orca Awards did, because they declared the puzzle Laura and I constructed for that to be the second best tournament puzzle of 2020! (Well, tied for second, since there’s just a winner and then “honorable mentions”, but those mentions are listed in date order which put us on top.) What are the Orcas you ask? Well, they’re like the Oscars of crosswords, except that instead of being decided by everyone in Hollywood, they’re just picked by one guy. And instead of a big event where they announce the nominees and then an even bigger event where millions of people watch them give out the awards, they’re just posted on Diary of a Crossword Fiend. And instead of an iconic trophy, you just get your name listed on the website. But, ORCAS is an anagram of OSCAR, so there’s that. Also, whatever — we got an award and I’m going to brag about it.
Enjoy the puzzle, and go get vaccinated!
