The puzzle paid tribute to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament by dropping the letters A, C, P, and T, respectively from the four theme entries in the grid. “Eliminating the Competition” by Barany and Friends was another strong crossword with clever letterplay involved. (You can check out my full post on the puzzle here.)
In a year that saw the Times called out several times for tone-deaf and insensitive cluing, to have a puzzle dedicated to the increasing awareness of other gender options was great.Īnd it certainly didn’t hurt that Ben’s grid was tightly constructed and each of the variable M or F entries worked well. I want to start with Ben Tausig’s “Gender-Fluid” quantum puzzle from The New York Times in September. From The New York Times, The LA Times, and The Washington Post to Peter Gordon‘s Fireball Newsflash Crosswords and our own Free Daily Puzzle on the Penny Dell Crosswords app, I tried to sample as many constructors and outlets as I could. I solved more crosswords this year than any other year I can remember. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the crossword - the one hundred and third, to be precise - and I thought I would celebrate the day by sharing some of my favorite crossword puzzles and clues from this year.
