Hello puzzle people!

I hope your weekend is going well so far. I’m absolutely thrilled to offer you a bonus puzzle this fine evening. It’s a collaboration with star constructor Brooke Husic!

I first solved Brooke’s work in USA Today, where I was struck by her inventive cluing and finely wrought grids. Many of you, and I as well, have enjoyed her individual voice in guest spots on other puzzle blogs. Constructing with her was highly educational, and a real treat!

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From Brooke:

Steve and I started talking after I was super impressed by his Universal puzzle a month ago. Now that we’ve collaborated, I’m 10x as impressed with how deliberate and thoughtful Steve is around every aspect of gridding, cluing, and inclusivity/framing, and I’ve learned so much from working with him. It’s an honor to be featured here and I’m excited for future puzzles from this shared byline!

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Be safe, have fun, and enjoy our themeless collaboration! Back with a regular offering on Wednesday!

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Hello, dear solvers! For me, and you perhaps, puzzles are an important escape from the world. Please permit me a brief aside about humanism and crosswords today.

Because I believe silence is complicity, I feel compelled to express my outrage over the murder of George Floyd and the violent crackdown on peaceful protestors and journalists in its wake. As a crossword person, I’d like to amplify a couple of voices in our community right now.

Two of our brightest stars in crossworld are using their art to support organizations in the Black Lives Matter movement. Erik Agard is offering some of his great puzzles with your donation to a 1StruggleKC. Paolo Pasco is offering a typically excellent creation of his own as well as some puzzles from other constructors (including myself) with a donation. His website also links to some informational resources which I encourage you to explore if you’re sufficiently fired up and curious.

Thanks for hearing me out! Be learned, stay safe and enjoy! Back with a themed offering next week!

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Hello hello hello, puzzle people!

I’m so happy to be able to throw a new themeless onto the pile of amazing puzzles people have been making these past couple of weeks. We’ve just been swimming in excellent crosswords and I’ve been talking with all sorts of cool nerdy people and learning a ton. It gets me charged up to put new grids together, and then I get the extra pleasure of having you solve them.

Stay safe and enjoy! Back next week with a themed offering.

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Hey there, puzzle people!

I’m still out watching the birds every day, and all of a sudden it seems like spring has sprung. The cold rains of April have blown away and in their wake come blossoms, bugs, and warm weather. It sounds like it’s time for some cooling refreshment.

It’s themeless week at Square Pursuit, and I can assure you that this puzzle supplies absolutely no cooling refreshment, but I hope it brings some challenging entertainment. Try a scoop!

Back next week a themed puzzle that’s a bit different. Take care, stay safe, and enjoy!

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Bon appétit, puzzle people!

It’s pasta night err… themeless week again, and this time, I decided to step up to a personal layout challenge. There are all kinds of cool ideas popping up on crossword blogs these days and I’m feeling inspired. I feel lucky and incredibly thankful to be able to solve and create and learn from others right now. Here’s hoping the puzzle looks pretty and stumps you just the right amount!

May all your pasta nights be delicious. Back with a seasonally-themed puzzle next week!

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It’s another holiday week for many of us in crossword land, and I hope this week’s challenge is hard enough give you a bit of extended entertainment! If you’re celebrating something yourself this week, please stay safe and accept my warmest wishes. If not, I wish you a happy non-holiday week full of springy weather and plenty of puzzling and joy!

So here’s your themeless puzzle. Enjoy and let me know what you think! It’s been great to meet and talk to other solvers and constructors because of this blog so far. Back with a timely themed puzzle next week!

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Hello, puzzle people!

For almost twenty years now, I’ve been going to eat numbing hot Sichuanese food on the Framingham/Natick line in my state of Massachusetts. If the term “Natick” is unfamiliar to you, it’s a square in a crossword grid that sits empty because the two crossing entries are too hard to solve and won’t cancel each other out. I hope you don’t have this experience today. If Sichuanese food is unfamiliar to you, I recommend you try some as soon as restaurants open back up in your locality. It’s a wonder.

It’s Themeless Week again at Square Pursuit, and I’ve been riding hard on the themeless train since Byron Walden’s excellent championship puzzle in this previous weekend’s Crossword Tournament From Your Couch. If you haven’t solved it, you can head over there now and grab it for free, along with the others, and consider making a charitable donation in return.

My themeless this week may be a bit gentler than usual, but you’ll have to tell me. May it be full of numbing hot flavors and devoid of Naticks. Enjoy, everybody! Back with an apt themed puzzle next week.

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Welcome back, people! It’s themeless time again at Square Pursuit.

Thanks so much to everyone who has given me support as I’ve been getting this puzzle blog off the ground. It’s been a fascinating way to interact with the community so far, and a great reason to keep the creative wheels turning.

There are a few autobiographical moments in today’s offering, and I hope there’s something fun in there for everybody. My estimation is that this puzzle is a touch more challenging than the first themeless, but you’ll have to let me know. Enjoy!

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Hot dang, it’s a 15×15 themeless!

The more puzzles I make, the more I’m able to appreciate the subtle genius of the constructors I admire.

I’ve been writing music for decades, and have found that the way towards burnishing that craft has been doing it regularly, again and again, and watching the lesser elements fall away as the the core mechanism gets stronger. As I’ve gained musical fluency, I’ve come to sound less like someone trying to compose meaningful music, and simply more like myself. In this spirit, I’ve chosen to lean into constructing some themeless grids of my own in hopes of seeing that same sort of gradual refinement, and if possible, to put something personal into these little squares.

By which I mean: enjoy the puzzle people, and tell me what you think!

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