Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 74!

First, I hope everyone’s enjoying MGWCC #421. Since it’s live, we’ll talk about that next week.

The big news for Chris Words is the release of my second Variety Edition! As the creator and main writer of the USC Puzzle Hunt, writing metapuzzles has been a part of me for five plus years now, and now that I have a crossword website, I can make you all play along.

Last year, I wrote The Horseshoe Letter, all about RAs working together at USC, but this year, we go destination wedding.

To quote the cover page of the meta suite:

The summer is now well under way, but the season of course belongs to the people getting married these next couple of months. Summer is certainly the time to get married, but there’s one underlining reason of the reason for the season. What does a summer marriage prevent?

And that is your question to answer for the next three weeks. Head over to http://uscpuzzlehunt.com/summerlovin/ where you can find the PDF of the puzzle suite, made of 15 puzzles plus the meta. Also there is an answer checker, so that can confirm any of your answers.

If you find any errata, please email me at cking.gow(at)gmail.com, and I will post them in the area below.

-On “Something Blue”, be sure to use the fullsized picture for Slide #4, not the thumbnail. All other slides match. This will be updated when I get better Internet.

–On “Rice”, color and position of number is just a visual aid. The numbers, of course, are a disguised clue. Also, “local” should be “couple”.

–Due to an error, the entire puzzle “Bridesmaids” has been fixed. Check to make sure your fifth line starts with “Rice”.

[Sunday 6/26 9:40ish, all errors in the PDF have been fixed. ArcGIS still same issue]

Last year’s time limit was 3 weeks, and that seems like the right amount of time to plan this wedding. By July 17th, be sure to send me your final meta answer. While you’re contacting me, please let me know the successes/struggles you have with any puzzles. I love feedback, and I like giving hints, so there’s never a bad time to shoot me an email.

Also, someone will win a prize. And it’ll be spectacularly unforgettable.

Sorry if this post seems a little short, but I’m currently in a Myrtle Beach campground, and I’ve been using my phone as a hotspot to make most of this happen. Words are a premium, but all good puzzle people know that. The errata of the puzzle will be fixed when I’m Internet capable for it.

I should be back next week with #75, which will be a meta! So until then, good luck with MGWCC, good luck with “Summer Lovin”, and just a general good luck to you!

Chris

Hey guys, and welcome to Chris Words! This might very well be your first time coming to the site, so I just wanted to give you a quick tour of what we have to offer, before you have to go back to your Across Lite file.

The About Me page does a fine job describing, and you’ll be able to find all of my first 73 puzzles at my Archive page. Check out the Fun Stuff page, where you can read three of my “The X-word Files” crosswordese research articles, as well as links to a number of my various crossword research studies.

I publish a recurring sequence of themed, themeless, and meta, and as your sommelier, here are a few suggestions I’d make for you to enjoy RIGHT NOW.

Themed: Series Finales 52, Thanksgiving Stuffing 54, Just You Wait 72, Just Puttering Around 46, Hold Onto Your Butts 36
Themeless: Eleven, Thirteen, Seven, Eight, Twelve
Meta: That’s the Power of Love 50, Heads of State 70, I Could Count on Two Hands 35, Mark My Words 25, Meeting of the Minds 45

Also, I previewed my newest Variety Edition (a mini puzzle hunt similar to P&A Magazine), which was supposed to come out today. The meta coming out today is the one why you’re here, but I am releasing Variety Edition #2 this Sunday at my usual timeslot, and it’s going to be jam packed. Feel free to check out the first Variety Edition here.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for coming by, please subscribe to get your alerts about releases of Southern grown crosswords, and I hope you have fun this weekend.

Good luck!

Chris

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Hey guys, and welcome to Week 73! First of all, I would like to thank Neville Fogarty and Erin Milligan-Milburn for the wonderful Twitter conversation in the last few days that inspired the seed entries. It’s a subject very near and dear to my heart, and it was a joy to put them into a grid. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of stuff that should keep you entertained, so don’t worry if 90s nostalgia is your gambit.

In other exciting news, I plan to release my second Variety Edition! Last year’s The Horseshoe Letter was a huge hit, so it’ll be great releasing this year’s product. It’ll contain 15 puzzles plus the meta, and will be fun for the whole family. And, since I’ll be on vacation starting this upcoming weekend, this set will go online on Friday before my vacation gets into the swing of things. Thus, this will be puzzle #74, but you’ll read more about that on Friday.

I guess I should note that I’m [on Twitter], so feel free to follow me all of you puzzle people. And, I’ve written almost 600 questions on my other site Five Course Trivia, so be sure to give that an email subscribe.

Enough self-advertising. Enjoy today’s themeless, and I sincerely hope you enjoy the meta on Friday!

Chris

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Hey guys, and welcome to Week 72! Besides the source material, today’s puzzle was inspired by puzzles written by Patrick Blindauer and friend-of-the-show Neville Fogarty. Patrick’s puzzle should be apparent, and Neville’s is a bit more subtle, but it’s still there. Also, for all those who are heavily invested in the theme material, I hope this puzzle does it justice. Probably not. Talk about high bars.

Also, Neville made this fantastic observation yesterday, left as an exercise to the reader.

Now, onto the meta!

The puzzle was looking for the appropriate US state, and the four long answers of two-word phrases in this puzzle were, from left to right:

18D – [*Political topic with a lot of heat?] = GLOBAL WARMING
6D – [*Bloody Mary majority] = TOMATO JUICE
25D – [*Confectionary since 1896] = TOOTSIE ROLL
10D – [*Delta Sky Club, e.g.] = AIRPORT LOUNGE

With the title “Heads of State”, the ‘head’ of each phrase gives us the initials GW, TJ, TR, and AL. These initials are also the initials of four different US presidents or heads of state: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. With these four presidents, and arranged from left to right, this should clue you in on Mount Rushmore, a monument displaying the heads of heads of state. With Rushmore as the key, the appropriate US state will be SOUTH DAKOTA.

Thanks to some self-advertising at the Indie 500, and a generous link someone provided in the WSJ puzzle comments (thanks, loyal fan!), we had a total of 56 correct entries for this week’s meta! There were several people who I know solved the meta there in DC, but didn’t submit an answer because they had other things to deal with. Nonetheless, congrats to all those who got it! This week’s randomly selected winner was David Stein. He will join Jon Delfin, John L. Wilson, Jim Quinlan, Eric Maddy, Andy Keller, David Cole, Roger Barkan, Patricia Miga, Erik Agard, Charles Montpetit, Steve Blais, Mike Ruslander, and Matthew Breen in a future section of the site. Congrats David!

I hope to have an Indie 500 recap up soon, which really rests on when I’ll get the drive to write it, and when the organizers say spoiler alert buffer period is up. Themeless next week, so that’ll be exciting. Also, big welcome back to Sam Ezersky.

Well, looks like I’m done writing like I’m running out of time. Enjoy the puzzle!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 71! First of all, if you are joining Chris Words for the first time, a hearty welcome! It was great seeing so many of you over the course of the weekend, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the two sample puzzles I distributed as a sample. Just a little taste of what we here at Chris Words provided for you the solver.

In CW news, I would like to extended the #70 meta another week. There was enough interest at the event to delay a little bit, so I have no problem kicking the deadline a week down the road. And to be fair, I do extended the deadline for ACPT reasons, so no reason not to for the Indie 500.

Also, what a puzzle weekend it was! I would like to once again give a shoutout to Andy, Angela, Erik, Peter, Neville, Kameron, Joanne, Lena, and Sam for writing some damn great puzzles and putting on an amazing event. Like last year, I’ll write a review of the puzzles in a few weeks, after the organizers give the ok for when we can.

This year, I was 42nd out of 77 in the Outside Track, and 82nd out of 117 overall. Honestly, I’m shocked my ranking was as low as it was, since I had three correct solves this year. Last year, I had none, but still ended up 81st out of 100.

Huge congratulations to Roger Barkan, Al Sanders, and Glen Ryan for finishing top 3 in the Inside Track. Due to my flight, I couldn’t make it to watch the Finals go down, but I’m sure they were exciting to watch.

And unfortunately, I am not the defending “joon pahk Award for Worst Handwriting” winner. That title now belongs to Michael Sharp. Ah well. I feel like the fix was in after a no-name won it last year. A hearty congrats to one of the hardest working people in crossword journalism.

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This week’s puzzle is a nice, easy theme for those who need a detox from this weekend’s brain busters. Be sure to submit to me your meta answer for last week’s meta.

Thanks everyone, and it was great seeing many of you all again!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 70! This week’s cover photo is dedicated to the Indie 500, and I hope you’ll come say hello during the event. However, do plan to catch me early. Due to flights, you probably won’t be able to catch me after the event is over. But, I plan on being there early to help out organizing committee move tables or whatever. Indie people have to stick together, amirite?

But hey, since this week’s puzzle ends with a 5 or 0, it’s time for a meta.

For this fourteenth meta of the blog titled “Heads of State”, I’m looking for the appropriate US State. When you think you have it, email me at cking.gow(at)gmail.com with your answer. I’ll accept answers all the way to midnight ET Saturday, June 4th. That’s right, I’m accepting answers even after the Indie 500, in case someone learns about this meta’s existence at the event itself. Hi there, newcomer/returner! I do hope you stick around for more fun!

Oh, and since the Indie 500’s theme is prom, I have a question to ask for the group:

Over/Under – Number of tuxedos worn to the Indie 500 (not including any worn by the organizers) = 4

Feel free to submit your guess along with your meta answer.

Thanks everyone, and I hope to see you in DC this weekend! I’ll be the one wearing a Gamecock hat.

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 69!

Not much to say here, as I wrote most of what I wanted to say yesterday. Today’s puzzle is a puzzle type of seen before but never tried, so I certainly hope you enjoy.

Next week is meta, so be ready for that. Until then, good luck with #69!

Chris

Didn’t get to clue the puzzle for the Sunday noon deadline. This Friday and Saturday has been booked pretty full as I’ve been participating in BioBlitz, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The grid is filled, just not the clues. Expect a puzzle noon Monday.

And in a roundup of various links:
-Time’s running out to register for The Indie 500. It’s going to be great.
-I’m getting closer to my 100th post at Five Course Trivia. If food is your bread and butter, feel free to check it out.
-Congrats to friend-of-the-show Erik Agard for his 200th puzzle (but what he doesn’t realize is that he had a couple of “half” puzzles back in the day, so he might already be at 201 or 202).
-I’m currently working on getting a fourth interview for the X-word Files series. Wish me luck!

New puzzle tomorrow!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Week 68! The last few weeks have been crazy for me, with finals wrapping up, and the transition to my new apartment. But I am now settled in my new place, and I plan to produce new puzzles all summer long!

I return to the blog with a themeless, and I hope you enjoy it. Lots of fun phrases, some making their puzzle debuts, plenty of tricky cluing, but still just enough of “Chris King wrote this puzzle” flair for all.

Also, everyone should go ahead and register for the Indie 500! I’ve already registered, and I hope I’ll see you there as well in a few weeks. It’s going to be great, and they’re going to have pie! I’m sure we all thought it was fun when Eric Maddy, Amy Reynaldo, and joon pahk all raced to finish the final puzzle first, but it might have been more fun if it was a pie eating contest! Thus, another note goes to the organizing committee, and we are one step closer to the baddest ass tournament of all time.

Enjoy the puzzle, and do feel free to share it. No pressure.

Thanks, and see you next week!

Chris

Hey everyone! No puzzle this week, but I should be back next week with a new one. It’s finals week here at USC, so please bear with me during all of this.

But, as tradition dictates, I get to predict the puzzles we’ll see at this year’s prom-themed Indie 500 tournament. Yes, some of my favorite people have gotten back together to write more puzzles, and as a certified clairvoyant, I’ll tell you how it’s going down.

The puzzles listed below would make this tournament the most “out there” tournament in the history of puzzling. Would it be good? Would it be bad? That’s for the online bloggers to decide.

In their website order:

1. Andy Kravis & Neville Fogarty – Wow, what a tag team for the ages! Two titans of the indie industry coming together to construct a puzzle for the tournament. And honestly, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a phenomenal puzzle. But, if I know Andy and Neville, they’re going to put a familiar twist on solving new puzzles. So, their puzzle will be a standard puzzle, solved on an iPad. Using GWU’s extensive library, these organizers were able to reserve enough iPads to enhance the solving experiences. The iPads will be placed face down, and you’ll have to use your thumbs in order to type with this one. There’s too much of this “solving Puzzle 1 in under 2 minutes” nonsense. Have you tried typing answers into Puzzazz or the Times app? Yeah. This isn’t your grandma’s crossword tournament.

2. Erik Agard & Joanne Sullivan – There is no question about how much Erik loves the work of Matt Gaffney. Matt’s puzzles have been direct influences on much of the Glutton for Pun output, and this time, Erik gets to return the favor directly. This round’s puzzle will feature a Week 4 meta. Yep, having a complete solve is only going to get you half way there. In order to get a complete solve, you’re going to have to crack the meta right there with the clock ticking. And it will be a Week 4, and you don’t even get to punch things into Google. It’s going to be challenging and it’s going to be fun. Be ready.

3. Peter Broda & Lena Webb – This is a great combo. Peter has an eye for technical knowhow, and Lena has an affinity for mini crosswords. For those of you who don’t know, Lena has featured a series of typically 5×5 crosswords called L’il High Five on her website. Simple enough. But with Lena as a co-constructor at the Indie 502, I think these puzzles might make their tournament debut. This round will consist of a sprint of 5×5 crosswords. Every contestant gets 5 pages of High Fives, 6 on a page. With 5 minutes on the clock, you have to solve as many of the 30 puzzles as you can in the time allotted. No credit for incomplete ones, just the ones that are finished. No need to worry how awkward 12- and 13-letter answers look in a grid. When they’re all five letters long, we’ll have to see how good everyone’s short game is! (Editors note: Please do this.)

4. Angela Olson Halstead & Kameron Austin Collins – Angela’s/Kameron’s slant for this year is that they want to make sure you relax at this year’s tournament, but want you to have fun as well. So, their puzzle will be a photocopied puzzle from The New York Times’ “Day at the Beach” Crossword Puzzle Omnibus, probably constructed by David J. Kahn. Angela, Kameron, and subsequently David are some of the best crossworders in the business, and they know this puzzle will be an ocean breeze! This doubly-handpicked puzzle will feature both an easy vibe, straightforward cluing, and a darker edge on the paper since that’s where the crease was in the book.

5. Sam Trabucco – The second winner of the annual $500 to the indie constructor with the most crackerjack theme to surprise these solvers. As I’m checking the calendar, it appears that 2016 will celebrate the 90th anniversary of one of the greatest books in American lit, The Sun Also Rises. Keen crossworders will note that the name of this novel is 15 letters, which also holds true for its author and two other novels written by the author. So, Sam’s puzzle will feature three of the four theme answers THE SUN ALSO RISES / ERNEST HEMINGWAY / OLD MAN AND THE SEA / A FAREWELL TO ARMS. Yes, Sam will reinvent the Hemingway theme. How will he do it? We will all find out when we flip over the paper.

And with all of that out of the way, we’ve still got to find a sixth constructor. We’ve only got five so far, so I’m supposed to predict #6. However, I’ll let you decide who it’ll be. Using the Google Form below, place your vote on who will be the final constructor for the Indie 500 2.

And like a wrote last year “Even if all this stuff does come true, it would still be an awesome tournament, because these guys are running it. Even if these are the six puzzles you guys are running, I still hope you put some cool references to the NBA or Pokemon or something.”

Thanks everyone, and hope to see you next week!

Chris