A cool Kickstarter

Perhaps you’ve heard the news? The AVCX, an online crossword service that has been putting out quality puzzles (and paying constructors quality fees!) for fifteen years is looking to expand. It’ll go from being a weekly 15x puzzle to becoming a daily feature with a wide variety of puzzles—themed and themeless puzzles, cryptics, some trivia, and some bite-sized “midi” puzzles (about the size of the puzzle below). And guess what? I’m going to be one of the editors of the midi feature! I’ll be working with Brooke Husic and Enrique Henestroza Anguiano to bring you a wide variety of voices, challenges, and fun experiences. So go check out our Kickstarter!

And while you’re there, you might see that it’s the start of what we’re calling Hype Week. We’re putting out a week of puzzles from all the new features to show you what it will be like when our funding goals are successful. And the first puzzle is a weird little grid by me! Amazing!

If that’s not enough, here’s a little bonus hype for Hype Week. This puzzle is just between you and me, OK? It hasn’t been edited, it isn’t meant to be “fair”, and it’s not as representative of the work we’re going to put out with AVCX. Hopefully it’s still fun. Because this is all supposed to be fun. Enjoy!

(Oh hey wait also I did a puzzle in cahoots with Norah Sharpe as part of her amazing NaCroWriMo! It’s just… peachy.)

Cahoots! (with Will Eisenberg)

Over on Will’s puzzle blog Half-Baked Puzzles we’ve got a freshly baked treat for you. (Well, actually, it’s been in the oven for months, but sometimes you want to cook for a long time at low heat. Anyway.) A fun puzzle with a wild grid. We each constructed half the grid, and then clued the other person’s side—see if you can guess who did what!

More puzzles soon, including some Pride puzzles. For whatever reason (pandemic exhaustion? things are still locked up here in Ontario…) I’ve been very slow to construct puzzles lately, which doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on them! But hey, shout out to the outlets (like Universal and USA Today and Inkubator and… am I forgetting anyone?) who have been highlighting queer constructors this month. Rah! (Oh, and of course go do more of Will’s puzzles, if you aren’t already.)

When lions cross (ft. Brooke Husic)

I was in the studio laying down the tracks for this new puzzle and it was tight, but I knew it needed that something something to push it over the edge, so I called up Brooke and was like “wanna do a guest verse?” and she was like “I’m in” and before I know it she’s rolling up in this limo with her usual entourage and she glides into the booth and starts dropping her smooth fill and her funky clues, BAM BAM BAM, all in one take, and when she’s done I’m like “daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang” but before I get the word out she’s already back in the limo heading off to her next gig. LEGEND.

Themelessish (with Brian Thomas)

Some puzzles have themes, and some puzzles don’t, and some puzzles are in a weird liminal place, like this one. Also, this was my first collaborative puzzle! It’s by me and Brian Thomas, whose puzzles can be found on Puzzles that Need a Home. Brian was a lot of fun to collaborate with, and definitely pushed me to find things I might not have looked for on my own. So yes, enjoy the puzzle, check out Brian’s back catalogue, and hang out with us on my daily crossword stream (11am Eastern, 8am Pacific).