Author: Jesse Lansner

Puzzle 29: El Sueñito (with Laura Braunstein and the Homeschool Cooperative Class)

Laura and I made this puzzle with a Homeschool Cooperative 2020 class last week, and then I was too busy to post this for a week. Sorry to anyone in the class who’s been checking this site everyday hoping to see their work. We’re taking a break from new classes for the summer, because we can’t bear to be on Zoom so much when it’s nice out, but we might be back in the fall. Also I’ll be posting some of my own new puzzles any day week month now.

Puzzle 28: Curtain Call (guest puzzle by Brian Herrick)

Guest puzzle today, from Brian Herrick. Here’s what he has to say about it.

I wrote this puzzle pre-COVID, which feels like a decade ago. Stella Zawistowski test solved it and gave great feedback, which included the observation that it is dude-heavy. Which is accurate. I still think solvers would have fun with it, even if the theme is, fairly, a bit old-fashioned. Thanks to Jesse for hosting!

Puzzle 27: Brush Up Your Shakespeare

As I’ve mentioned before on here, I’m a big Shakespeare fan, and part of the Rochester Community Players Shakespeare Program. My goal is to create a puzzle for each play we produce, which was easy last year since we weren’t able to do anything. But we’re back now, with a cool video project called Shakespeare in the Time of Covid, featuring five scenes from Shakespeare plays and two from Shakespeare-inspired plays—all reimagined a bit for our current times. I even created one of the scenes, but you’ll have to guess which one (or just look at the credits at the end).

Even better, after over a year off, we’re now gearing up for our free Shakespeare in Highland Park show, which is a dual-cast, dual-language (English/ASL) production of The Tempest, where each role will be played by both a speaking actor and a signing actor. (And, yes, I have a Tempest-themed puzzle in the works.) Staging a show like this is always a lot of work, and doing so while keeping everyone safe this year is even harder. (The fact that it’s an outdoor show in July, when we expect most of the audience will be vaccinated, makes things a little easier, but we will still have a lot of safety precautions in place.) If you’d like to help out, you can donate to RCP. The more money we raise, the less stressful our production meetings are, and the more time I have to construct new puzzles for here, so everybody wins!

Anyway, this puzzle doesn’t have much to do with the video project, but it is about Shakespeare adaptations. If you’re not familiar with any of them, 17A is a hilarious web comic that’s also one of the best ways to learn about Shakespeare; 31A is one of the best musicals ever made; 38A is an amazingly weird experience that I hope will be able to resume one day; 58A is really fun TV series (though some of the subplots in the second and third seasons are a little weak); and 47A is a kind of meh novella that I used because nothing else fit the theme. Also, there are at least three entries in the fill that are almost always clued with reference to Shakespeare, but which I clued differently. See if you can find them!

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Nate Cardin and Rachel Fabi assembled a great “virtual table” of free puzzles for this year’s ACPT, and they’re a great way to learn about lots of new constructors. (This puzzle is included in that collection, in case you like it so much you want to solve it twice.) You can also solve this year’s tournament puzzles, which aren’t free, but which were all really good.

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!

Puzzle 25: Animal Crackers (with Laura Braunstein and the Marlene Meyerson JCC crossword class)

A while back some folks at the Manhattan JCC heard about the online crossword construction class Laura and I had been teaching, and asked if we could turn it into a longer class for their members. We ended up teaching a four-part class over February during which we constructed a full 15×15 puzzle together.

Thanks to everyone at the JCC who made this happen, and to all the students who participated. If you’re interested in learning how to construct a puzzle, we have a bunch of one-day classes coming up over the next few months. And who knows – maybe we’ll do another month-long program one of these days.

Puzzle 24: Reply Guys (with David Harris)

You: I think that last puzzle required a little too much knowledge of social media memes.
Me: Hold my beer.

I didn’t plan to have two twitter-heavy puzzles in a row, but I wanted to get the last one up before everyone was tired of ShantyTok (which has maybe already happened?), and I need to get this one up because David and I have somehow been working on this for over a year and it’s time to move on with our lives. And by “working on”, of course, I mean “procrastinating for months after receiving updates from each other”. (I don’t want to point fingers here, but at least 10% of the delay was David’s fault.)

Anyway, like many themes this one started with with a bunch of us joking around on twitter (spoilers, obviously), and just kind of spiraled from there.

As you can see, Chris King deserves some of the credit/blame for this idea, but he was too busy to be involved in he actual construction of the puzzle.

That’s all for this week. I promise the next puzzle won’t require any knowledge of Twitter, but I make no guarantees about the puzzle after that.

Puzzle 23: O Blow, My Bully Boys, Blow

If you’ve been on social media over the last two weeks, your doomscrolling has surely been interrupted at least once by a video that looks something like this.

In fact, you’re probably hearing the song in your head right now – which will make solving this puzzle really easy! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then first I envy your ability to not spend all day staring at your phone; and second you should check out this video, or this article – or really just search for 11-Down or 34-Down and you’ll find everything you need to know.

Puzzle 22: Merry Christmas (guest puzzle by Dave Eckert)

I wasn’t planning to post another puzzle this year, but my friend Dave Eckert sent me this one yesterday, and it was so much fun that I immediately asked him if I could share it here. It’s very appropriate to the season (as you might guess from the name), so be sure to solve it before Friday.

Hope to see you all next year, both virtually (I promise to post puzzles a little more regularly in 2021) and in person (we should all have the vaccine in time for at least one tournament, right?).

Puzzle 21: Holiday Treats (with Laura Braunstein and the Homeschool Cooperative Class)

Laura and I taught another crossword construction class for Homeschool Cooperative 2020 this week, and we created another puzzle with them. And just like the last puzzle, it’s relevant to the season. (Unlike the last one it has no connection to any satirical article, but you can’t have everything.)

Hope all of you are enjoying lots of good [12-Across] or [26-Across] or whatever sweet treats you prefer, and that you have had/are having/are about to have a Happy Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/New Year.

Puzzle 20: Fall Guy (with Laura Braunstein and the Homeschool Cooperative Class)

Over the summer Laura and I started teaching an occasional intro to crosswords class with Homeschool Cooperative 2020. This week we decided to try something different, and conducted an intermediate class where we constructed a crossword from scratch with the help of the class. Given the time constraints, we went with a midi puzzle instead of a full-size grid. And given the season we decided to use this classic from The Onion as our theme (spoilers, obviously, so don’t click until you’ve finished solving). It’s a little more upbeat than last year’s fall-themed puzzle, but we kind of need that now.

Big thanks to everyone in the class for their help. If you’d like to join us for one of our future classes, we’ll be doing the intro again on November 17 and then an intermediate class where we’ll construct a new puzzle on December 15. You can also check out plenty of other free classes for kids and adults there, or even offer to teach one yourself.

That’s all for now. If you’re in the United States and are eligible, please take a few minutes to do the following three things. One, confirm you are registered to vote in next month’s elections (there are roughly 20 states where you can still register in person). Two, make sure you are prepared to vote — do you know your polling place location and timings (remember these are sometimes different for early voting), or the logistics for submitting a mail-in/absentee ballot? And three, urge everyone you know to do these three things.