Guest Midi by Ken Stern

I'm super happy to be hosting a midi puzzle by Ken Stern today, which I learned from his notes below is his first solo puzzle in thirteen (!!) years. What an honor! :) Ken is a great guy and a fun constructor and it was a blast to work with him on this puzzle. One of the things I like best about both working with and hosting other constructors is that it gives me an endless opportunity for learning. That's also something I like about solving crossword puzzles in general. 1-Across was something that I got to discover through editing this puzzle, and it's something that I am now happy to know. Continued learning is by far one of my favorite things about making and solving crosswords, and I continue to be surprised by all of the amazing stuff I come across. I hope you enjoy today's mouth-watering offering! 🧩

Here's Ken: This is my first solo crossword in 13 years, and my first attempt at a freestyle grid. I took Amanda up on her open offer on Twitter to publish a puzzle -- you already know how wonderful (and daily!) her puzzles are, but she also has a really keen eye as an editor -- if you are working on a puzzle, she will undoubtedly help you help it better, as I'm grateful to her for doing with this one. Thank you, Amanda! This puzzle is also partly inspired by an interview with Sid Sivakumar (who you might be aware has his own crossword site at sidsgrids.com) in which he talked about including more world cuisine in puzzles. 1-Across is not my native cuisine, but I certainly enjoy both eating and spelling it. Finally, if you haven't already, I hope you'll make a donation to a COVID or racial justice charity and pick  up Grids For Good (gridsforgood.org), the collection of 44 excellent original puzzles, to which Amanda and I both contributed.

.puz file