"Cash Purchases," by Paul Coulter

Constructor's Comments

This started several years ago as a Sunday grid called "Heaven Cent."  It was puns on currency that no one wanted.  So it sat idle in my rejects file along with hundreds of others until David's call for submissions.  Then I reviewed them all, submitted some as is, and refreshed other theme ideas into something better.  I'm glad David liked this one and, as usual, that he was so helpful with improving it.  I hope solvers found it ". . . something completely different," as Monty Python liked to say.  SPLAT.  Oops, forgot about that giant foot.

"Save Now!" by Doug Peterson

Constructor's Comments

Split-word puzzles usually feature the splits in the centers of the theme entries—for example, a "split END" inside SCREEN DOOR or a "split PEA" inside HOOP EARRING.  For this theme, I thought it made more sense to have the DOORs as "wide open" as possible.  I hope you enjoy the puzzle, and I also hope you're done with all your holiday shopping!  As for me, I'll be avoiding the mall until we're well into 2019.

"Noms de Plume," by Jim Holland

"Common Core," by Jim Quinlan

"Finding Your Purpose," by Blake Slonecker

Constructor's Comments

My daughters eat a lot of cereal and play a lot of board games.  So this theme came together while I drank coffee and watched them go about their lives.  Histories of all sorts litter my bookshelves.  So there was another theme entry from the detritus of daily life.  The songbook reference, though, was a late addition and new to me—one of the quirky entries that you pick up in putting together a grid (and David's gift).  My favorite clue is at 1-Across (my wife's), and my favorite answer is at 1-Down (mine)—good places for each.  This is my first published puzzle, so I'm grateful to David for being open to a rookie.

"The Royal Court," by Chris King

Constructor's Comments

This was a fun one to put together, and the key was 36-Across is a nice 15-letter entry.  I'm also partial to 46-Across, as that two-word phrase is a part of the wonderful exchange seen here:

This was a nice, clean puzzle, and I hope you, the solver, enjoyed it and maybe learned something new.  I want to thank David for publishing my very first major outlet puzzle.

Also, if you want to see more of my brand of things, I have a blog at Chris Words with a whole backlog.  I've heard some like it.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

"Thoroughly Themeless VI," by Brian Thomas

Constructor's Comments

I love this puzzle and had so much fun constructing it!  I chanced upon the center stack and knew I had to flesh out the rest of the grid.  The biggest sticking point came with finagling the black squares in the middle, but once those were in place, the other corners fell together pretty well (at least I think so).  This one is a personal favorite of mine, and I hope solvers enjoy it.

"Free for All XXXVII," by Annemarie Brethauer

Constructor's Comments

For lots of constructors, the most compelling part of crossword construction is creating clever themes or lively clues (both good things).  But I get most excited by collecting words and phrases and creating themed dictionaries to put them in.

For this crossword, my debut with The Puzzle Society, I looked in my "themeless" dictionary—"A for effort" through "zoot suit"—hunting for words and phrases I hadn't been able to work into a themed puzzle.

I found COCKAMAMIE, which made me think of my father, the electrical engineer, who used this word to describe anything not up to his standards.  Originally I had THINGAMAJIG in the puzzle, but David Steinberg had me rework the puzzle to clear out some obscurities, and I just couldn't keep . . . whatchamacallit?  Oh, yeah, THINGAMAJIG.

However, I was able to keep SEE NO EVIL crossed with GONE GIRL.  (I recently read the book—couldn't put it down.)  Since there aren't too many television characters whose names are instantly recognizable, I was happy to work in OLIVIA POPE.

The entry I like the least:  NAIL BED.  I hope you enjoyed the solve.

"Free for All XXXVI," by Christopher Adams

Constructor's Comments

It shouldn't be any surprise that the seed entry for this one was SAME SEX MARRIAGE, but the rest of the grid took awhile to come together before I found the stack in the NW.  I originally only had ELENA in the grid, partially because I was more focused on finding a good stack to start.  But when I started focusing on the rest of the grid, I didn't have to think twice to go with the full name, and I'm very glad that it fit perfectly.  The rest of the grid came together nicely, and I'm somewhat proud of the BRANDYWINE/HARD CIDER overlap, even though (or, perhaps, especially because) they're not related at all.

The original grid did have an extra pair of black squares (at the I in SETI and W in WAND), which led to an overabundance of short fill outside the two main stacks, as well as perhaps a few too many Scrabbly letters.  But David's suggestion to knock out those squares resulted in better fill overall and some good long downs to boot.  He also suggested CREME EGG for 4-Down, a vast improvement over my original CREMATES; it's things like this that make me glad to work with David and very appreciative of the work he does.

Otherwise, as always, I hope you enjoyed this puzzle; if you want to get in touch, or just solve more puzzles, here's my site.

"Free for All XXXV," by George Jasper

Constructor's Comments

In a nod to my comic book years, I added PHANTOM ZONE to the grid after starting with ANTIPASTO and PALEO DIET and was fortunate to have HEISENBERG fall into place.  I noticed that I had the right number of blank squares in an 11-letter Down fill to incorporate WALTER WHITE, allowing this themeless puzzle to have a sort of mini-theme in two of the longer entries.

The SEPTEMBER entry began as SIX-MEMBER, to be clued as [Minimum-size jury], which David felt might be a bit of a stretch, so a change was made there.  The lower-right corner was also improved to rework an awkward construction by David's suggestion of JUVENILIA, a word I've never seen in a crossword puzzle and that conjures up a distant connection with PHANTOM ZONE, at least to me.

"Free for All XXXIV," by Mark Diehl

Constructor's Comments

Smooth and breezy solve for me today—how about you?

Sure, you might say that I have an advantage since I constructed the puzzle, but that was months and many puzzles ago, so it actually felt pretty fresh to me.  And I actually stumbled a bit with GORGONZOLA and SUZY Q.  I also had YES INDEED initially, then YOU BETCHA, before correcting it finally to YOU BET I DO!  It's fun when I can challenge myself, too!

"Free for All XXXIII," by Erik Agard

"Free for All XXXII," by Paolo Pasco

Constructor's Comments

Started with READ THE ROOM and the surrounding stack and filled outwards.  This grid is chunkier than I'm used to, but I really like how this one came out.  The flexibility of options for ?????CREDIT and SCHOOL????? really helped fill those NW and SE sections.  I think I made this a few weeks after prom—could you tell from 17-Across and 23-Down?

And!  Props to David for his editorship as usual, since there was a major dupe in the original grid that totally slipped my attention.  MVP, I tell you.

"Free for All XXXI," by Andy Kravis

"Free for All XXX," by Greg Johnson

"Free for All XXIX," by Andrew Kingsley

Constructor's Comments

The seed entry for this puzzle was ADULTING.  After my friends had prepared dinner or their taxes, they'd say "#adulting," which was both sad and crossword-inspiring.  I was happy to get TAQUERIA in there as well, as my partner and I are big fans of tacos around Boston (try Tenoch Mexican if you live in the area!).

"Free for All XXVIII," by Brian Thomas

Constructor's Comments

What I'm most excited about with this puzzle isn't actually the southeast stack, where I began the construction, but how nicely the northwest came together, despite being the last section to fill.  A BIT FISHY is a super-fun entry and probably my favorite in the puzzle—as far as I can see, it hasn't appeared anywhere else yet.  Hope all can find something to enjoy in this themeless!

"Free for All XXVII," by Evan Kalish

Constructor's Comments

You might imagine the impetus ("seed entry") for this puzzle:  MSNBC HOST, a wonderful car accident of consonants.  I liked being able to go all in on the blue state theatrics with CHAI LATTE and CARBON TAX—crossing McCAFE, of course.  These entries effectively fixed the layout of the grid, as well as entries out through TOE TAG and TEXAS TEA.  Working east I couldn't help but complete the string SOT- with SO, THAT'S IT?—a phrase that's almost impossible not to speak in your mind with dramatic flair . . . and possibly arm gesticulations.  I love seeing phrases like that in crosswords (another great example:  I KNOW, RIGHT?).

While the top half of the puzzle coalesced rather quickly, the bottom half took much more work.  For my second set of seed entries, I chose to focus on the dynamic duo of APPLE LOGO over REALLY, NOW?—two more entries that, to my knowledge, are making their crossword debuts here.  I personally love them both—two phrases that are imbued with an outsize dose of meaning/symbolism.  I attempted dozens of fill options before David helped me settle on what you see here.

It is my hope that my constructor notes are entertaining for solvers and insightful for budding constructors.  I would say that, particularly with this puzzle, my fill preferences tend to skew a bit toward the avant-garde.  In practice, what this meant was that while I thought MSNBC HOST and APPLE LOGO were refreshing and vibrant, the initial venue to which I submitted it had doubts as to whether they were a bit too arbitrary/contrived (aka "green paint").  Allowing in APPLE LOGO could open the floodgates to a whole slew of other (and possible more arbitrary) answers:  Toyota logo, Target logo, BMW logo . . . all technically valid things, but where would you draw the line?  Totally understandable.  Re: the former, I feel somewhat vindicated by the obituary titles in numerous publications surrounding the death of Ed Schultz recently, though I see how an entry like this could be a matter of taste.  MSNBC HOST is not something you normally say in everyday conversation—it's more of a specialized descriptor.

Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed my first published themeless puzzle!

"Free for All XXVI," by Andrew J. Ries

"Free for All XXV," by Ned White

Constructor's Comments

I originally made this puzzle (for another publication) with a fairly strong subtheme spinning off the idea and intimations of 1-Across, and it became so negative and grumpy-inducing that it left an unpleasant vibe.  So the subtheme, over several drafts, largely dissipated, thanks much to David's encouragement and guidance.  I feel happier with this version, though some of the answers aren't as marquee-ish as I'd like.  That's usually the goal of themeless constructors—to pack the puzzle with knock-'em-dead, sparkling long answers and still have clean fill for the glue.  Regardless, I hope you have fun with it.