Well met, puzzlers!
We’re just cruising along through the summer crossword tournament season. The only good thing about remote competition is that I get to “go to” pretty much anything I want. This week I’m excited about Lollapuzzoola, which is happening on Saturday, and I’m glad to be able to count friends among the puzzle constructors and fellow solvers!
I solve crosswords for fun, and do so pretty quickly. I am earnest about trying to improve my skills, and will push myself on Saturday to go as quickly as I can. That said, I’m absolutely nowhere near the superhuman solvers that can fly through these puzzles a full minute or two faster than me. I’d like to give a special welcome today to the extra-brave souls that are tackling their puzzles this week downs-only. My sincerest wishes that today’s themeless offering won’t be too rough on you. I also just so happen to have a gentler puzzle running today in the Universal, a great venue that’s of my favorite daily solves!
Take care, folks. Enjoy, see you at the big game on Saturday, and I’ll be back next week with a themed puzzle!
Square Pursuit 
I had 8 squares that could have been multiple letters before giving up. Especially bad crossings at 1A/1D and 46D/59A. There’s hard and then there’s unfair, and too often your puzzles fall on the latter. When you use obscure proper nouns, make extra sure to cross them fairly. 4D can be clued in a multitude of fairer ways; when you clue it in terms of a niche proper noun that crosses another proper noun in 1A, this becomes a game of “guess one of 26 letters,” which isn’t a particularly satisfying game to play.
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Ugh! I’m so sorry those crossings were no fun. I’m going to make a revision at the two intersections you mentioned and hopefully future puzzles will land a little more smoothly for you. Thanks for the feedback and for trying the puzzle!
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