I made this puzzle way back in July 2019, so it’s one of my earliest solo attempts at a themeless. I think my inexperience shows in a few of the shorter entries, but when I looked through the archives I decided this puzzle was better than I thought it was, and decided to trot it out for you all! Mostly to introduce more people to 3D. (Check out Judith Leiber after you’re done solving for some fanciful — and fantastically expensive — examples.)
Tough as Nails Themeless #39
I’ve been into this 25-block, 68-word grid pattern ever since putting it together for a collaboration with Brooke Husic back in the winter. I’ll admit it generated a few oddball entries this time, but I hope you still enjoy the puzzle!
I figured out how to put PDFs in without embedding them, no thanks to the opaque help from WordPress.
Tough as Nails Themeless #38
I’m having issues with WordPress all of a sudden deciding that I not only want to provide links to download puzzle PDFs, but that I want to embed those PDFs within the post itself. Which is okay for the puzzle, I guess, but I don’t want to go showing you the solution before you’ve even started solving. So this week there’s only an Across Lite file up. I will figure out what’s going on at some point, although I can’t promise it will be soon.
Hope you still like the puzzle!
Tough as Nails Themeless #37
Sometimes I just need one fact that amuses me and I’m off to the races making a puzzle. That was the case here with 37-Across, which seems appropriate since this is my 37th regular themeless on the site. Hope you like it!
Tough as Nails Themeless #36
The seed for this puz was 49-Across, which I basically have memorized and is one of the two ’90s albums I can never, ever live without. (The other is…oh crap, it’d sort of be a spoiler if I said, but let’s just say the artist is Annie Lennox.) Hope you enjoy!
Tough as Nails Themeless #35
This one came out more (not-classical) music than usual for me, although I think you’ll be able to tell what my seed was and that it isn’t one of the music entries. Have fun!
Tough as Nails Themeless #34
No notes on the puzzle today, just a note that at this year’s virtual ACPT, I’ll be running a room to teach people about cryptic crosswords! The room is appropriate for beginners, not experienced solvers, as the curriculum will be the basic rules and clue types, with examples for the group to solve. Please spread the word! I’m an evangelist for this delightful puzzle type and I’d love to see lots of people virtually there.
Speaking of ACPT, I guess my reign as forth-place solver is about to come to an end. I’m not quite as fast as all them twentysomethings! Hoping to hold on to top ten, though.
Tough as Nails Themeless #33
This one’s a bit bigger than the usual — 16×15. So if you’re a smidge slower than usual, blame the fact that there are 75 words in the grid. Enjoy!
Tough as Nails Themeless #32
Here’s the latest themeless!
A general note on my process: I don’t have an editor or test solvers. If I charged for these puzzles, I would want both of those things. But I don’t, and therefore I make no promises about these puzzles being perfect.
If you want to point out an error politely, as happens from time to time, go for it; I do read the comments, and yours will likely help me do better next time. I probably won’t go back in and fix the puzzle, since keeping up this site is something I do on top of a full-time job and making puzzles and trivia for (not a lot of) money. So going back and making things perfect when I could be using that time to make a new puzzle for the site, doing paid work, or hell, watching Netflix, is not something I’m prioritizing right now.
If you want to snark, don’t. At least, don’t do it in the comments. I’ll delete your comment and I won’t change my behavior. Kisses!
Tough as Nails Themeless #31
One puzzle with a nod to the holiday is…one puzzle with a nod to the holiday. Doing it again, as I am today, makes it a tradition, I suspect. Gong xi fa cai, everybody! Note: In my family it is traditional to receive 4-Down until you are married. Then you have to start giving 4-Down to your unmarried relatives. This can get very expensive!
