*picks up blog, blows off dust, coughs for an awkward amount of time, reaches for inhaler*
Oof, hi friends! It’s been quite a while since we’ve posted a puzzle here and we know that makes you sad and really owe you an apology [citation needed], so we’re sorry. We’ve been super busy with a related venture, our Cryptic Crossweird outlet. We won’t ramble too much about it here, but it’s been going very well and we’re so pleased and thankful for all the support we’ve received, so if you’re one of our subscribers, thank you! If you’re not, and you enjoy solving cryptics, we hope you consider subscribing for only $2.50/mo. Okok, with that somewhat entirely shameless plug out of the way, let’s get to why you’re here: a new blog puzzle!
This is a collab between me (Dob) and Dan Schwartz (aka Babka and Paprika’s dad)! Dan is a solver extraordinaire (did you know he wont the B Division at ACPT this year?! oops sorry, Dan), streamer, and constructor. He recently had a cryptic published in our aforementioned outlet and it was fantastic.
This one is a themed American-style crossword, which I was lucky enough to be a part of after Dan asked if I wanted to be. Of course, I immediately said yes and we had a really good time coming up with the themers and cluing. Here’s what Dan has to say:
“thanks dob!”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Big thanks to the one and only Norah Sharpe for the test solve and valuable feedback, some of which we even listened to. Link to the fullscreen solve and ipuz download below. Thanks for solving and please try to enjoy each clue equally.
