pocket squares

Can you spell B-A-N-D-W-A-G-O-N?

I was thinking about 17-down after cluing it this week and reflecting on how little I ever learned about drawing throughout my entire time in school. Every now and then I try to draw a person or a tree (either as a doodle or, god forbid, in order to show someone something) and I honestly think that the product is usually indistinguishable from what I would have produced in kindergarten — maybe even worse, because I had more imagination back then. The amazing thing is, I have a whole folder full of papers I scratched on in, like, first grade, somewhere in my room. Why do we bother keeping this stuff?  Don't get me wrong — I'm all for fostering creativity in schools. But students are allowed to give up on things like instrumental music, theater and other hands-on pursuits as early as fifth and sixth grade. Why did Mrs. Olsen have to keep scolding me with "Buzz, buzz, buzz" as I somehow drew a diagonal line on the whiteboard, in her eyes, the "wrong way" year a...

Before we get to today's puzzle, I have another one to share – in the newspaper! I'm making my debut in the Universal Crossword , which is edited by David Steinberg and Amanda Rafkin and syndicated in places like the Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and, my personal favorite, the Merriam-Webster website (behind a... YouTube ad? sure).  It's especially exciting to be part of Universal's pride month series, and to have slipped in entries re. my morning drink of choice, Philip Glass, Lady Gaga, public transit, and of course the theme itself, which you might get a kick out of. You can solve it here  or download the Across Lite file or PDF instead. Back to this blog: an extra treat for you! I've been wanting to mess with size a bit more, so today we're playing with a midi-ish 10x15 with cluing inspired by some delightful 7xwords I've been doing recently. Hope you enjoy!

It's June! The birds are chirping, humidity is setting in, and I need a new bike chain. This theme is an homage to a book I stumbled upon in rural Minnesota last month on my way home to Illinois. When things are fifteen letters, you start scheming! Happy pride month! 🌈🎉👑

Big news! If this is your first time checking out this website (and, if today is May 14, 2021, it is) then welcome to the debut of my crossword blog! I'm excited to share my indie puzzles here in a more organized and accessible way. I'm jumpstarting the site by loading in all my puzzles from this year, and you can check any of them out now! If you've been a member of my informal email list – no sweat, that list will continue! And if you haven't but want these in your inbox, welcome aboard. In non-blog news, I wanted to let you know that I started off the week determined to use the revealer DOGDAYSOFSUMMER (15). As I've begun to realize, one of the most important skills in construction is knowing when to give up, and I did so after about 90 minutes of trying to fit SUN NYOBAMA, BICHON FRI SE, MON GREL/KO MON DOR, AL SAT IAN and (brace yourself) S WED ISHELKHOUND into something workable. Also unclear how summer would have factored into this. If you end up finding succ...

Believe it or not, it's May already. And you know what that means...