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Puzzle 92: Take a Break

Just a quick break from themelesses for this silly little puzzle, inspired by a phrase that came up in conversation. Warning: one theme entry has some vulgar language; not recommended for kids. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 91: Themeless #23

  I was almost halfway through cluing (an early version of) this when I noticed a short word in the grid duping part of a longer entry. See if you can guess what used to be at 1-Across before I had to rework that section... (Also, does anyone else have trouble deciding whether a ?  is warranted for a clue? There are some obvious, punny cases, but other times it feels like it comes down to a matter of how easily I think a solver will spot a misdirection or some kind of unexpected usage, and that's hard to do sometimes.) Anyway, enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 90: Themeless #22

Tried a central stack of 11s this time, and ended up with some 9-stacks in the corners, as well. Some clues are on the harder side, but hope this won't be too challenging overall. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 89: Themeless #21

I've been having fun making different kinds of themeless layouts lately, in the process of trying to get better at gridding more efficiently. This one has some 9-stacks in the corners and several 10s scattered around the center, and with not too many threes overall. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 88: Themeless #20

Felt some random inspiration to make a triple-stack of 15s and ended up with this puzzle. Hope you're up for a challenge... Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 87: Themeless #19

I'm pretty excited with how fresh and  clean this puzzle turned out, although you, dear solver, will be the true judge of that. Some tricky clues here, but also some fun and easy ones to help you crack in. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 86: Themeless #18

Sharing another challenging themeless puzzle before I get swept into the swing of the spring semester next week. This one started with the spanner at 36-Across, followed by the top-right and bottom-left corners, and then the main diagonal sections fell into place later. I can also declare that this one has ZERO golf content, in case that's been bothering you about my recent puzzles (sorry, I'm building a wordlist). Instead, there's lots of music references (especially Scottish bands, for some reason) and a bit of mathematics. And you should definitely check out 36-Down's lovely flowers on Instagram! Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 85: Themeless #17

First post of 2024! (Challenge: can you estimate how many digits long the factorial  2024! is?) This one started with 1-Across and a hope to maintain some 10-stacks with multiple entry points. Keeping those big open corners, along with the central spanners, forced a few more 3s into the grid than I wanted, so I hope you don't mind a handful of acronyms amongst the 66 entries. Also, a few clues involve long quotations, so the PDF doesn't fit on one page; I'm recommending a browser solve for this one. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 84: Themeless #16

Happy holidays! The season inspired a few entries in this grid, like 15-Across and 63-Across, but there's plenty of other fun stuff, including some recurring motifs in the clues. The word count and grid shape might make this one play a little more easily than usual (lots of 3s), but I'm calling it "hard" just in case. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 83: Themeless #15

Looking for another 15x themeless puzzle? Here ya go! This one has a few criss-crossing 15s and some 9-stacks in the corners. And I've been adding lots of stuff to my wordlist lately, trying to get new things into these puzzles (like 59-Across and 5-Down here). Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution