Themeless by Amanda Rafkin & Ross Trudeau

 

I've been too emotionally preoccupied to post any puzzles this week, so it is now with the collective sigh of a nation that I am happy to return with a themeless puzzle by me and Ross Trudeau. If I'm not mistaken, Ross and I have collaborated on somewhere between 30 and 40 puzzles since the dawn of our relationship. It truly is a collaboration for the ages and I can honestly say that I wouldn't be puzzling as I am if it weren't for him. As such, we've done just about every method of collaboration possible in terms of how we've gone about tackling a puzzle. This particular one was divided in such a way that Ross ended up being responsible for most of the grid and I ended up being responsible for most of the clues. This puzzle was made shortly after I'd started trying my hand at making themeless puzzles, and even though Ross is a theme machine, he can still be caught with his hand in the themeless cookie jar, as you get to catch a glimpse of today. These days, I probably make about the same number of themed puzzles as themeless puzzles, though as I say that I'm also staring at a big batch of half-completed themeless puzzles that I need to get around to finishing. Woof. We hope this puzzle (or at least a certain part of it) feels a little extra special in your heart today as we look forward to a more hopeful future with a new president-elect and a woman of color VP preparing to take office. The work is only just beginning!

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Puzzle #23: Guest Themeless by Brooke Husic and Will Nediger

 

Two fantastic people, one fantastic puzzle! I truly couldn't be more pleased to be running this phenomenal themeless by Brooke and Will. Great entries, incredible clues, and a 37-Across that's close to my heart for more than one reason, one of which being where I went to college (click here after solving to see what I mean). I don't want to say any more because I want you to be able to discover the joys of this puzzle completely on your own. I have no doubt that you'll be just as blown away as I was! Enjoy, and welcome to November!

Here's Brooke: Working with Will is the best, and I'm really proud of this puzzle we made together. I love Will's clues for 37-A and 47-A. I'm also very happy to be back on Amanda's site and am super grateful for her hosting this guest spot and being an all-around stellar friend!

Here's Will: Working with Brooke is a delight too! She wrote too many clever, creative clues for me to list, so you'll just have to dive right into the puzzle! Many thanks to Amanda, whose work I greatly admire, for the guest spot. 

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Halloween Midi

 

When I was a kid, Halloween was my favorite holiday. And while I may have outgrown trick-or-treating, I still enjoy many of the traditions that come with Halloween -- namely, pumpkin carving with apple cider and donuts, and watching my list of annual Halloween movies. The list includes Practical Magic, Halloweentown, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the film around which today's puzzle is based. I've recently added Beetlejuice to the list in recent years as well. The two grid-spanning entries going across are related to the film in question, and in your down clues you'll find some quotes from the film to really put your knowledge to the test! Here in Hollywood, there's a movie theater owned by Disney called the El Capitan that screens this film every year. And, since both the film and the theater are owned by Disney, they have a ton of the original props, sets, and costumes from the film on display in the theater. (The same is true for The Nightmare Before Christmas). Because of COVID, this of course isn't happening this year, but here's hoping the tradition returns in full force next year! I hope you all find a safe way to celebrate today! When I carved pumpkins with my niece last night, I carved "2020" into my pumpkin because I honestly couldn't think of anything scarier. Happy haunting!

Amanda

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Theatre Thursday #23

Happy birthday to the lovely lady pictured above, whose life story inspired the musical at 11-Across. The film version, starring Barbra Streisand, was the highest grossing film in the United States in 1968, and the show boasts such hits as "People" and "Don't Rain On My Parade". Sorry not sorry if either of those earworms get stuck in your head for the rest of the day 😊🎭

Amanda

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Midi Puzzle

 I don't know what it is, but the past couple midis I've made have been just so much fun to construct and even more fun to clue. I hope this translates into your solving experience! The clue for 4-D might indicate that the entry itself may elicit a chortle, but I have to say writing the clue definitely elicited a chortle as well. Hope your week is off to a nice start! 🧩

Amanda

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Puzzle #22: "A Little Bit Extra" by Amanda Rafkin & Ross Trudeau

 

It's great to be back with another Amanda/Ross collab! I wish I'd remembered to set this to post last night, but alas I didn't remember until I sat down this morning to watch football, so here were are to provide you with a puzzle to do over lunch instead of over breakfast! We hope you enjoy!🧩

Here's Ross: I think the idea for this puzzle came to me when I was considering bringing my cat on a 2-couple podding trip, and the revealer was my best frame for bringing my cat too. (I didn't).

Too bad, Ross. I think that would have been a memorable trip.

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Midi Puzzle

 

I've been enjoying the Boswords themeless league so much, and last night's was particularly exciting because it was my puzzle being solved! If you've heard the crossword world talking about it and you're not yet participating, you can still go to the Boswords website and sign up and even get a discounted rate. Or you can just purchase the pack of puzzles if you can't show up live every Monday night. But the conversations have been a ton of fun to watch, as have been the live solves from some of the community's best speed solvers. All in all it's been something really fun to look forward to each week. I made this midi puzzle while I was still riding high on the excitement of this week's tournament. I hope you enjoy! 🧩

Amanda

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