The genesis of this puzzle is a conversation I had with the lovely Matt Gritzmacher at Crossword Con, in which he mentioned that he’s noticed my shift away from heavy fashion, art, and classical music-based trivia toward more wordplay and accessibility on Tough as Nails. It’s true, I have; I’ve had a bit of a mind shift about how I want people to find themelesses hard, and I no longer feel the need to be, all, “Here is somebody amazing whom I bet you haven’t heard of!” in my puzzles.
But…I decided on the basis of that conversation that it’s been too long since I did that, so here is somebody amazing whom I bet you haven’t heard of. Enjoy!
Also, watch Matt, ACPT god Tyler Hinman, 2024 ACPT champ Paolo Pasco, and me talk speed solving here if you haven’t already.
Crosswords and Trivia by Stella Zawistowski 
Thank you for this puzzle! I found it a perfect combination of challenge, new things, and clues I could manage to get a foothold with. 54A in particular really delighted me. I think my greatest achievement was entering two different wrong answers for 31D, both of which fit all the crosses I had at the time(s)!
Also, I now have some amazing image search results on my screen from looking up 35A. 🤩
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I did the puzzle before reading the post – the aim was definitely on my mind during the solve. Totally workable even with an early-days Tough As Nails level of totally, totally new to me. Appreciate it!
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