Guest Themeless by Malaika Handa

 

I'm couldn't be more honored to be posting a themeless by our 7xwords queen/overlord Malaika Handa today! I've had such a great time solving those puzzles (and her others!) and really enjoyed making one or two as well. Her name is showing up all over the place these days, and I'm really happy to be adding Brain Candy to that ever-growing list! Definitely check her and her stuff out if you haven't already -- she has a really unique voice that's a ton of fun. This themeless was totally untouched by me, so you'll really get to see Malaika shine in all of her glory. Enjoy! :)

Here's Malaika: So grateful that the one and only Amanda Rafkin is hosting one of my crosswords! I always do a little happy dance when I see her name on that day's New York Times puzzle / Universal puzzle / USA Today puzzle / 7xword / Inkubator puzzle / etc etc. I hope you enjoy this sassy little themeless, whose seed came from, where else, Twitter. (follow me pls xoxo.) If you'd like to solve other Malaika Puzzles, I've got plenty over on my website, and one coming up in the Boswords summer tournament. (I am very very excited for the Boswords puzzle!!)

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Demi Themeless by Erik Agard and Brooke Husic

 

We are a fortunate bunch today, because we get not one but two brooke/erik collabs! Feel free to enjoy this one as an appetizer or as a dessert in your puzzle meal that includes today's USA Today crossword, which was also written by them. What a way to end the week! I'd say "enjoy," but with a pair like this that goes without saying!

From brooke and erik: "we leave it to the solver to decide who said the quote in the 23-a clue to who. for another agard/husic collab, head over to the usa today."

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Midi Puzzle

 

Excited to be back with my first midi puzzle in a little while. Trying to keep the ball rolling over here! I hope this adds some joy to the start of your week! :)

PS: um, brooke...do we need to have a conversation?

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Trivial Pursuit #2

 

Excited to be able to come back so quickly with another Trivial Pursuit puzzle --  the bite-sized nature of these really make them easy to fit into my schedule! I really appreciated all of your kind words after the first one, and I hope this one is just as fun for you. Big thanks to Brooke for test solving so this little guy could be as fun as possible. Enjoy!

Amanda

Demi Themeless by Brooke Husic & Amanda Rafkin

 

Brooke and I love making puzzles together. This sure as hell was no exception! 

PS: the clue for 6D was inspired by Nate's tweet (spoilers)

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Trivial Pursuit #1

It's been a little while since I've been able to post anything over here, which makes me sad, so I'm extremely happy to be able to pop in today with a new type of puzzle I'm calling Trivial Pursuit (sorry Hasbro) because 1) it's all trivia, and 2) it's a mini puzzle so it really is a fairly trivial pursuit for you as a solver. Normally, I tend to eschew trivia-heavy puzzles, but one of my favorite parts of the puzzle making process is the element of clue writing that involves research. Through the process of cluing, I've come across so many strange, unique, and interesting facts that I thought it could be fun to explore a puzzle based entirely around that premise, but on small scale. It also doesn't hurt that so many puzzle people happen to be big trivia buffs! I hope you find this bite-sized bit of trivia/puzzling fun to be interesting and entertaining. Back with more puzzles soon, I hope!

Amanda

Variety Puzzle: Get The Picture?

 

Back again with a "Get The Picture?" variety puzzle, which is a crossword devoid of any language-based clues. Instead, each entry is represented by a picture that either directly or in essence describes the word in the grid. I've done one of these before and they're sort of a unique challenge to make in that all of the entries in the puzzle have to be something that can be described pictorially. For instance, entries like "EAT AT" or "I THINK SO" are basically a no-go since they would be too hard to clue with only a photo. I ran one of these back in September as well, so if you like it and you missed the first one, feel free to dive into the archive and dig that one up too. Maybe next time I can try for an even larger grid size. I hope you find this to be a fun and bite-sized addition to your solving rotation today!

Amanda