Half-Baked Puzzles

 Hi friends, Back with a themeless today. Thanks to Kelsey and Alex for their help and suggestions with this one.   Last weekend was the St. Louis Crossword Tournament--my first chance in-person to meet up with crossword folks. It was an absolute blast! Meeting so many people who love solving puzzles was a joy. If you've ended up here via the free puzzles table, I hope you find some puzzles on this blog that are fun for you. There's a good mix of difficulties, themed and themeless puzzles, as well as cryptics, so I hope you'll take a look. If I didn't get to say hi to you this time around, hopefully I'll see you soon! .puz PDF Solution   Mmm, mascarpone-stabilized chocolate whipped cream fruit cups

 Hi pals! Super excited to be back with another cryptic today. There's been no end of really great indie cryptic puzzles lately, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intimated by the volume and quality of cryptics out there lately. The more I learn, the more I feel I have left to learn. Still, I remain committed to being the best setter that I can be. To that end, Steve Mossberg and kormad were both invaluable with their feedback on this one. I'd love to hear from you as well. PDF .puz   Solution and parses   Mmm, oatmeal creme pies