puzzle #16: doubling season (with totcho)

 

hi all! this puzzle comes to you from the minds of me (as usual) and totcho, who among other things is known for being good with photoshop and being familiar enough with magic: the gathering to have incepted this puzzle in crossweird's chat. that was almost two months ago and i honestly forget exactly how it happened but i'm glad it did because i think this puzzle turned out really well!

this was totcho's second time constructing - the first being Tabula Rasa - and honestly he's a natural. tons of the good, clever, funny, etc. clues in this puzzle are from him. we refined it all together but he came up with some fantastic cluing angles. i don't know if he plans to get into puzzle construction himself but you all better keep an eye out just in case!

this puzzle is very heavily themed around magic: the gathering, a card game that's too complicated for its own good and too expensive to get into. however, you need not be familiar with it to solve the puzzle.

this puzzle is called doubling season after an iconic (and much too expensive) magic card (unofficial printing shown above), because it has double the constructors, double the themes, and probably around the same amount of fun. we hope. and thanks to slugbiker for the very helpful test solve!

lastly, it's totcho's birthday today!! what better gift could i give than to give him his crossword constructor debut right here on this blog? so if you like this puzzle, tell us! the birthday boy deserves it. i will humbly accept the praise along with him, of course.

SPOILERY MAGIC STUFF TO EXPLAIN THE THEME FOR NORMAL PEOPLE: [1] [2]

.ipuz | .puz | .pdf | puzzleme fullscreen

 or click the link below. enjoy!

puzzle #13: hell, i could eat

not much to say about this one. i made this puzzle as a distraction from working on another puzzle, so i guess that's where i'm at now. i have, like, 4 puzzles up in the air currently, which is funny because 2 weeks ago i had about half of one.

thanks so much to Ariel for the test solve! as always, if you solve it, like it, love it, hate it, stream it, let me know! i'd love to hear your thoughts and/or watch the solve.

.ipuz | .puz | .pdf | puzzleme fullscreen

or click the link below. enjoy! 

puzzle #9: they ring, ring, ringin'

alright yooo what's up! just when i thought "i'm completely out of ideas for puzzles", this one came to me in the shower and i rushed to my computer sopping wet to make it. i fried my PC and my downstairs neighbors are complaining about water dripping from the ceiling, but this puzzle is so good it's worth it.

thanks to Ajay for test solving! and as always, please ping me on twitter or discord if you solve this on stream somewhere, i want to watch!

 .ipuz | .puz | .pdf | puzzleme fullscreen

 or click the link below. enjoy!

puzzle #7: states of affairs

i am SO GLAD to get this puzzle out there. i came up with the theme a couple weeks ago, had to totally scrap it halfway through when i realized 3 of my 4 themers ended with "tion(s)" and it was ugly, came up with new ones, wrestled with the fill more than usual, and landed on this. i hope it was worth it!

thanks very much to Frisco for test solving. enjoy!! 

.puz | .pdf | puzzleme fullscreen

or click below!

puzzle #5: hamming it up

back with another puzzle! this theme was in the works for a couple weeks while i struggled to come up with enough entries that worked together. i think it ended up pretty well, though i don't think it's groundbreaking (in fact, i'd be incredibly surprised if this theme weren't done before, but i didn't check so as to not feel obligated to scrap the puzzle entirely).

big thanks to quiara vasquez for test solving, and big apologies for accidentally sending her a slightly unfinished puzzle.

puzzle #4: hey! listen!

fair warning: this puzzle isn't intended for general audiences! i think it's still doable if you aren't in the target demo, but if you don't confidently understand what the title means, you might have a hard time.

regardless, i needed to make this puzzle as soon as i realized the theme worked out. hopefully at least one person out there appreciates it as much as i know i would if i were solving it. 

big thanks to quiara vasquez and jake eakle for test solving this one! applet after the jump, enjoy!

puzzle #1: god, godder, goddess

i recently started reading a book about the greek myths, having been frustrated for years that i don't know anything about it. it's very cool! i'm not finished the book yet but i had to put it down to make this puzzle as soon as i got the idea for it.

this is my first crossword puzzle! i'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, and 42-across is the entire reason it exists. it came together amazingly after that (by which i mean it's amazing that it came together at all).

thanks very much Ajay and personman on crosscord for test solving! applet after the jump.