Blocked Cryptic #5: Three of Hearts, Eight of...

The cryptic zoo is expanding! No shenanigans going on in this one though: all wordplay is normal (or, at least normal for my style of puzzles), but there’s a “nina” - cryptic slang for a hidden set of words/phrases/anything that’s relevant to the puzzle or somehow thematic. Hope that the puzzle is fun to solve, and that the hunt for the extra layer is rewarding.

For pencil-and-paper solvers, enjoy the pdf here, and for online solvers, check out the interactive tool right below. Sadly, puz files don't allow for fancy colors, but if you wanna solve in Across Lite, here's the download link. Enjoy!

Solutions document to come hopefully soon. Wishing an easy fast to anyone celebrating today - g'mar chatimah tovah!

Guest Puzzle #1: A Cryptic with a Purpose (by MentalPlayground)

Hello all! Wishing a Shanah Tovah to all those who celebrated the past weekend! Read to the end of the post for a relevant (and hopefully sweet!) bonus puzzle :)

We've got a special guest on the blog today! MentalPlayground is one of my favorite people to co-solve (and co-construct!) puzzles with. From the true home of cryptic crosswords, he's been blogging (and cryptic-ing in general) for longer than I have, and it's always fun to get a British twist on things, so I'm sure you'll enjoy his offering. Here's his commentary on the puzzle:

I've been enjoying avid's puzzles for a while now - so I'm delighted to appear as a surprise guest on his site! This grid may not have any funky rules, but I hope the theme is enjoyable! It's a passion of mine, but I can't tell you what it is for obvious reasons. Also avid apparently likes it too - which is great! I hope you enjoy the solve!

I had an absolute blast solving this puzzle: 22-Down is very funny, 13-Across is super interesting (and slightly wicked - worth it though!), and 9-Down has a hilarious surface. Find the puzzle below in interactive form, or here as a pdf!

Lastly (and leastly), here's the "snack" I promised above, in cased you missed it! Solution right below, so don't scroll too far. (Minor error: first enumeration should be 3 4, not 4 3)

it’s b-side is “revolution” [4 3; first letter]
mp3 player discontinued in 2017 [4 4; last letter]
where parts of bereshit take place [6 2 4; last letter]
___ adams (brie larson character in ‘scott pilgrim’) [4; first letter]
home of stonewall inn [3 4 4; last letter]

— David G (@d_avidgold) September 18, 2020

Solution: hey jude, ipod nano, garden of eden, envy, and new york city are all APPLES (sorta) dipped in HONEY, my way of wishing all of you a sweet 5781 :)

Barred Cryptic #4: Global Warning

Hi all! Apologies for the late post - I'll be moving my publication date to Sunday night for the forseeable future, just so I can keep up with school stuff during the week.

This puzzle is hopefully more immediately approachable than my previous ones - it's still a variety cryptic, but the instructions are a lot shorter than usual. The theme entry is just one entry on a long list of possible "Green Policy Now" slogans that I believe in and would love to fit into a crossword. Whether or not you enjoy the puzzle, make sure you're registered and ready to vote in November! This puzzle is me urging you to consider giving your votes to candidates who are making progressive climate change policy a priority.

Anyways, here's the pdf file, and for online solvers the grid is below. Haven't had time to finish up the solution grid, but I'll try to post it within the week. If you get stuck, click on the "Reveal Letter/Word" button in PuzzleMe for a quick hint! Best of luck, and enjoy!

Update Feb 2021 (wow that's late): Solution is up here!

Blocked Cryptic #4: IV Drips

Back to the world of variety puzzles! To celebrate the start of the fall semester, I've combined my majors of linguistics and mathematics to create some appropriately numerical wordplay. For non-mathy folks, don't worry! You don't actually need to do any math to solve the puzzle. The final answer may be more punny for those who are familiar with the theme entry, but for those who aren't, a quick Wikipedia search should clear it up rather quickly. One other important note: the five letter word in the final answer is very much not a dictionary word, but it should be inferable.

Onto the puzzle! Enjoy this one in any form, but prepare for some light scratch-paper bookkeeping if solving online. You can find the pdf here, the puz file here, and the interactive version below!

For clue-by-clue explanations, the solution document can be found here! Enjoy the puzzle, and to all the students, teachers, faculty and staff members going back to school: I wish you luck! Stay safe, stay healthy, and happy puzzling!

Blocked Cryptic #3: Major Seventh

Hello all! Hope the last two variety cryptics have been fun diversions. No such offering today, just a standard cryptic with a theme and a fresh grid shape. If you want more themed indie cryptics, look no further! On the site of fantastic constructor and good friend Mental Playground, you can find a puzzle I helped clue for another friend's birthday. If you enjoy half-American, half-British puzzles like that one, I'd also recommend you check out MP's collaboration with yet another friend of ours: incredible constructor Steve Mossberg. It has a fantastic theme and some delightfully absurd surfaces - check it out! Cryptic collaborations have been great fun so far in my experience, and if anyone wants to take a crack at constructing or cluing with me, please reach out! I'm always happy to meet new people in the crossword community, and would love to see more people constructing cryptics.

Today's puzzle is called "Major Seventh," and it has a slight theme that should be clear from the central across entries. For pencil and paper solvers, here's the pdf, and for Across Lite fans, here's the puz file!

Finally, here's the solution with entry-by-entry wordplay explanations if you get stuck. Good luck!

As a side note, thanks to all who have emailed with feedback! It has been immensely useful, and I'm grateful to everyone in this community for helping me to make better puzzles - please continue to let me know if and when you find mistakes. I especially need to thank my test-solvers, who have been great at catching my errors - any of the residual ones that find their way into the puzzles here are fully my own fault, and I apologize in advance.

Barred Cryptic #3: Funky Behavior

Hello All! So much to say in this post, but feel free to skip right to the puzzle/download files if you don't want to read my ramblings.

First off, congrats to all who participated in Lollapuzzoola this weekend! I had a great time co-solving with my family, and enjoyed seeing everyone's puns in the Twitch stream :)

On a totally different note, some exciting news about cryptics on this blog: PuzzleMe supports barred cryptics! They're a pain to input, but for any online solvers: I hope that me including it will make life a bit easier! In addition, I was able to add hints to each clue for this puzzle, telling you what kind of cryptic clue it is. Let me know if you like this, or if there are other types of hints you'd like to see instead.

Finally, a warning: this puzzle has some... substandard... clues which involve slightly “hidden” transformations. For example, while “loser” wouldn’t signify anything in most standard clues, here, it might indicate dropping an R, after you re-space the word as “lose R.” These can be tricky, so if you’re hesitant to try and find them on your own, I’ve ROT-13’ed a list of all such clues below, also including how you need to read the words that need reparsing. They're marked as "Funky Transformations" in the hints tab of the interactive puzzle below, which I think sums them up nicely. Anyways, onto the puzzle!

For pencil and paper solvers, here's the pdf, and for all who need clue or theme explanations once you're done, here's the solution! Hope you enjoy! Prepare for a non-variety cryptic next week, which'll have a theme near and dear to my heart.

Hints for the "Funky Transformations:" va gur svefg s pyhr, "hapnfg" zrnaf gb haqb gur "p nf g" genafsbezngvba: "pvgehf > pvpehf," juvpu arrqf nantenzzrq. va sbhegrra q, ernq "abo" nf "ab o," fb erzbir n o sebz bar jbeq gb trg nabgure. va fvkgrra q, jung unf punatrq orgjrra "unz" naq "uzz"? gel gb qrfpevor gur genafsbezngvba fhppvapgyl.

Blocked Cryptic #2: Snake Cryptic, or Snyptic

The cryptic hiatus is over! I've returned with a new contender for "cutest puzzle mascot:" the snake at the center of this cryptic grid. What secrets does he hide? Solve to find out!

As with my first two puzzles, I strongly recommend printing the pdf out if possible, but I've made an interactive version avaliable below, as well as a puz file if that's your prefered medium. Note that numbering differs from platform to platform, as some are less tolerable of un-numbered entries.

Finally, here's the solution with entry-by-entry wordplay explanations if you get stuck. Enjoy! As always, please share feedback with me on Twitter @d_avidgold or via email to davidg2358@gmail.com.

As a side note, I'd love to feature more constructors/setters on the site - if you'd wanna co-construct a cryptic, an American themed or themeless, any kind of variety puzzle, anything puzzle-related at all: drop me a line! Especially looking for new, diverse voices to introduce to the wonders of cryptic construction - it's a beautiful (but, at times, outdated and behind on the times, in my opinion) form that hasn't seen the progressive change that some American puzzling has, and I'd love to do any part I can to change that.