Beneath The Surface

  PDF  -  puz  -  online  -  solution Summer has gone by too fast, and they are saying an early fall beckons for the Chicago area. I've been taking as much advantage of being outside as possible this year, hence the construction docket has been very light of late, but I worked up another mini for this month. Hope you enjoy it!

  PDF  -  puz  -  online  -  Solution 7x7 mini this month--I banged this out in one sitting tonight after not having worked much cryptic construction over the past few weeks. If you like this puzzle, let me know! And if you're looking for more mini cryptic fun, check out  Aaron Riccio's "Sneaky Six" series--they're little but devilish, and full of Aaron's trademark voice and wit.

PDF  -  puz  -  online  -  solution PDF Back to a regular cryptic for this month's blog post. It was fantastic to get so much positive feedback for last month's variety cryptic . I would love to make another one, so stay tuned! In other news, today marks my debut in The Browser Crossword ! (Subscribe to get the puzzle, as well as the entire back catalog of Browser cryptics.) I'm really pleased with how it turned out and very grateful to editor Dan Feyer for the opportunity, and the top-notch editing work!

  PDF  -  Solution PDF I'm proud to present my first variety cryptic! Having once been a [see theme], it was particularly meaningful to me to use [see theme] as the inspiration for this puzzle's gimmick. I hope it brings a lot of satisfaction to work out! PDF only this month. Many thanks to bolgat from the Crosscord server for testing an early version of this and for providing helpful feedback.

  PDF  -  puz  -  online  -  solution Feeling a little proud of myself for managing to be on the ball with a new blog cryptic this month, amidst family/work/other life obligations (as well as keeping up with my American crosswords). This puzzle has a couple clues that I feel might be just on the edge of acceptable grammar, though of course where one draws the line on "acceptable" depends a lot on whom you ask. Let's just say, I like the clues and I think they give a fair and entertaining route to their solutions. Enjoy!

  PDF  -  puz  -  online  -  Solution PDF First post in a while, and it's nice to be back with a new cryptic. Hope you enjoy it!

  PDF  -  puz  -  online  -  solution Last puzzle of 2023. I started off intending to make this a midi but quickly it turned into a full-size grid. 1A's clue was fun to come up with and I hope it will click with solvers. I struggled with 14D for a while, but I like what I came up with for a surface, and in any event it's an entry that has a lot of personal meaning to me.  It's been a year with lots of creative highs and lows in cryptic construction for me. At times I've felt like I've really come a long way with my clue composition skills; other times I feel like I can't write a clue to save my life. Balancing lively fill with clueable fill also continues to be something of a guessing game, though I think my personal philosophy generally remains on the side of taking the liveliest fill I can get and the clues will figure themselves out eventually.  Enjoy the puzzle! And thanks again for checking out my work. Happy holidays to those of you celebrating, and I hope