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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 104! I’ve now published a numerical puzzle once a week for two years. And since this blog is three years one month old, I’ll say 2/3 ain’t too bad.

School is hard, but this Halloween theme is too good to pass up. I’m stunned there are still Halloween and Christmas themes left, so I’m glad I snatched one up.

I really promise I’ll have the Eclipse answers soon. Really I do.

Today’s puzzle is 16×16, a first for me, and I believe the first time I’ve ever had a 2×2 black box in the grid. Turns out, even by even is slightly tricky. There’s no guess why newspapers are 15×15.

Enjoy the puzzle! Feel free to tell me how okay it was on Twitter. I could use the followers.

Happy Halloween! Onwards to Thanksgiving!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 103!

A themeless today, with a bunch of different stuff in it. I hope you enjoy something in it, and I hope you learn something new from it.

I promise, I’ll post the Eclipse puzzle solutions this week.

All of you folks take care.

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 102! Today’s puzzle is a quote puzzle, which I believe is the first of its kind for me. The quote itself is one I’ve known for most my life, as it was the final quote seen in the film that is shown above. I’m so excited that the quote was able to be broken down symmetrically, and the 17×15 puzzle today was able to contain it. The clues are a little more erudite than usual, which I kind of planned to match the theme material. I hope you enjoy!

Also, I should have the answer key for the Eclipse puzzle set ready by this upcoming Sunday, so if you’re still working on it, you have some more time! If you want any hints, feel free to email me!

Thanks everyone! Enjoy the puzzle!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 101! This puzzle is coming to you while I’m at Myrtle Beach for Labor Day weekend.

This week’s puzzle has a lot going on. I think it’s pretty damn funny. Hope you think so as well. If you don’t, you can get your money back.

Be sure to check out the Eclipse puzzles that were #100 here on the blog! You still have time to finish them!

Also, I want to thank friend-of-the-show Ben Smith for the glowing review he wrote about me for Crossword Fiend, which can be found [here].

Thanks everyone! Enjoy the puzzle!

Chris

ETA: The problem in the clue for 6D has been fixed. I actually noticed this mistake last Friday, but couldn’t do anything about it. I am in fact at Myrtle Beach for Labor Day weekend, and the campground I’m at does not feature wifi at the campsites. So, I’ve been unable to make the update. I finally was able to travel to a spot that did have wifi, and now the problem has been updated.

Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 100!

Today is in fact #100 for Chris Words! We finally hit the three digit mark! To be honest, today’s puzzle set was not supposed to be what I was going to publish to commemorate it. Nevertheless, I’ll save that idea and use it for #105. I wanted to write this set, and there’s literally no better time than now.

I’ve written two Variety Editions already, and this set makes the third.

To quote the cover page:

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Hey everyone! So, because I’ve got to pay the bills to operate this Chris Words podcast thing, today’s post has been sponsored. Also, be sure to use the code CHRISWORDS to apply 10% off on your first purchase.

Thanks everyone, and now, back to the program.

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 99.2!

Today’s puzzle comes from the Chris King archive. I’m sure those of you who write puzzles probably have puzzles sitting on your computer that you made for some special cause, and have seen very little light since then. Honestly, I’d love to solve some puzzles with some very specific targeting. Example, find the UVA Cavalier Daily from the last couple of years and enjoy some Charlottesville-specific clues by Sam Ezersky.

Anyway, today’s puzzle was made with a certain group at USC in mind. I told Twitter that if ten people liked my post, I’d share both the puzzle and the story. So, before you check out the story, solve the puzzle. The story is below, rot13. The link to the news article is not rot13ed.

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Rot13.com

Sbe gur ynfg lrne, V pbagevohgrq gb gur arjfyrggre bs gur HFP Ubabef Erfvqrapr Unyy, juvpu jnf zl ubzr ng guvf fpubby sbe svir lrnef. V jebgr n srj chmmyrf onfrq ba Ubabef Pbyyrtr fcrpvsvp guvatf, naq V ernyyl rawblrq guvf gval bhgyrg. Va gur snyy bs 2016, guvf unccrarq:

Daily Gamecock article

Ab bar tbg znwbeyl fvpx, naq gur vasrpgvba jnf pherq irel fbba nsgre guvf arjf gbbx cynpr. Ubjrire, gurer zvtug unir orra fbzrbar gung yvirq va gur Ubabef Pbyyrtr ohvyqvat gung fbyirq n chmmyr nobhg gur erprag bhgoernx nsgre univat gur prageny gurzr.

Fher, guvf frrzf yvxr n fgenatr guvat gb qb, naq qba’g trg zr jebat, V ybir gur Ubabef Ohvyqvat zber guna nalbar ryfr rire, ohg V guvax guvf vf n terng chmmyr naq va zl gbc 5 shaavrfg rire.

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I hope you guys still like me. I’ve always enjoyed this puzzle, and I hope you do to. See y’all soon!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 99.2!

So, I’m really looking forward to publishing #100 here on Chris Words, but today is not that day. Until I finally have it ready, I’m going to publish some 99s to fill that time in. Today’s puzzle is a nice clean grid with a theme that you might be able to figure out from the title alone. Hope you enjoy it!

Also, Paolo Pasco has a new crossword website! Hilariously called Grids These Days, sounds like it’ll be published every Sunday at noon PST, which is a timing mechanism I can get behind. We all collectively cannot wait for what this site is going to produce.

Also, within the next seven days, I’ll post my recap of the Indie 503! Going to be introspective and sarcastic. Be ready to relive glory days.

Enjoy the puzzle!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 99! This website is getting closer to three years, and we are dangerously close to hitting three digits. I’ve been mighty proud of the last ten CW puzzles, and I’m excited to try out a couple more new things for the site: a co-constructor and a Sunday-sized grid!

I want to thank Paolo Pasco for helping me work on the puzzle for the last 9 months (well, really just in the spurts of September, February, and the last week). As I know many of you know Paolo is the real deal, and it was amazing to work with him for this puzzle. Believe it or not, not too much wordplay is involved with today’s theme, but I hope you’ll enjoy the connection amongst the theme answers, and I really hope you’ll enjoy the clues we came up with. We spared no expense on length, and I think you’ll find clues that are both classic Paolo and classic Chris.

Puzzle #100 is going to be a meta spectacular, and I’m not sure when it’ll go online. Gotta focus on school and writing non-crosswords.

Enjoy the puzzle! Any and all praise will be forwarded to Paolo, and I hope to see you very soon, both on here and in the real world. By the way, I’ll be at Lollapuzzoola, and I hope I’ll see you there!

Oh, and instead of doing the usual co-constructor interview, I let Paolo pick a video to end the post with. He chose the following, and I couldn’t agree more. Enjoy!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 98! Today’s puzzle is the last themeless puzzle before this site turns double digits, and I really hope you enjoy it! True, it is a themeless puzzle, but there’s a challenge found within.

My days are numbered, and I’ve already picked my replacement for when I move on from Chris Words. Who did I select? Feel free to let me know at cking.gow(at)gmail.com if I’m doing the right thing. You might need to do some research for the puzzle so you won’t be befuddled, but hopefully a couple of six-letter words can give you some assistance. 

ANSWER FOUND HERE

As we get really close to the three-digit mark, I want to thank all of you who have been regularly solving my puzzles for nearly three years now. Matt Gaffney once wrote “This guy’s blog is like a neighborhood restaurant that does no publicity or advertising and has no tourist trade, but the same 200 people eat there every week because it’s phenomenal”, and it makes me so incredibly happy that you folks will put up with my need for making puzzles that you have to print out because some cutting assembly is required, or that you have to solve online because there’s links to gifs and Imgur. I so tremendously enjoy writing puzzles for all of you, and I look forward to keep on doing the same thing.

Hey, the Indie 500 is this weekend! Of course, be sure to read my strategy guide before you go, but besides that, I really hope to see you! I’ll be the one wearing the Gamecock hat. It’s going to be a blast, and hopefully, easy as pie!

See you (hopefully very) soon!

Chris