My biggest problem with constructing and blogging these puzzles, small as they may be, each week is that I always feel like I have to be cleverer than necessary. Some part of that may be lingering imposter syndrome, or some might just be due to the community, which by nature is pretty darn clever, and I don’t want to say or clue something stupid or unoriginal. Even these little introductions get me worried that I’m starting the whole puzzle thing off on the wrong foot.
The solution to that, as with solving or writing any puzzle, is to stop thinking, step back, and just DO the thing. Nobody ever constructed a grid by contemplating doing so, and as I’ve said before, what’s freeing about doing a small weekly puzzle is that I don’t get nearly as bogged down in the “What if this isn’t good enough?” weeds that would stop me from ever releasing anything. Here’s what I’m trying this week, I hope you like it, and if you don’t, that’s OK, I’m still learning and I’ll be back next week with another, y’know?
Anyway, the new grid’s up on Crosshare (where you can also download the .puz if you prefer a different interface), and you can also get the PDF below. Shoutout to test solvers skaldskaparmal and Sophie and of course all of you other solvers for encouraging me to keep at this.
The Crossword Scholar 