Beneath The Surface

PDF - puz - online - solution Two reasons this puzzle is very special: It's my first cryptic meta-puzzle ...well, you'll have to solve it to find out. Big thanks to Evan Jenkins for test-solving. I hope this brings you as much joy to solve as it brought me to make.

pdf  -  jpz  -  solution pdf Excited to share my latest Printer's Devilry with you! I've had the itch to write a new one for a while. This 8x8 midi has 18 entries, compared to my last midi in the same size which had 24 (including 16 4-letter words). I wanted to explore the possibilities of using longer entries (6-8 letters) and generally I'm very happy with how things turned out. It was a really good practice at strategic filling; much like in cryptics, the choice of PD entries has a significant impact at the clue-writing stage. Furthermore, fewer entries allows more letters to be checked in both directions and improves grid flow; and of course there are fewer clues to write so it helped me with time management! :-) Barred grid again, hence Across Lite puz format is not supported. I've provided a jpz file for digital solving via Crossword Nexus's web interface , or an app such as XWord . Happy solving!

 I've added some new links to the "Solver Resources" page--worth checking out if you enjoy reading about cryptics, are looking for more puzzles to solve, and/or thinking about making your own puzzles! Puzzle critic Aaron Riccio offers thoughtful takes on what makes cryptic clues work well at his blog, The Crossword Scholar . I've enjoyed reading Riccio's commentary (including on my own work) since he turned nearly full-time to cryptics about 9 months ago. He also writes about cryptics on Twitter ( @thatcrypticguy ) and regularly streams cryptic solving sessions on Twitch . George Ho, who constructs cryptics under the pseudonym Loplop, has compiled a database of over a half million cryptic clues from numerous UK and US sources. Cryptipedia is a wiki for solvers and setters, containing numerous lists of indicators and other material used to create cryptic clues. I've been using it frequently when writing clues for my own puzzles. Are there other resources for