Half-Baked Puzzles

 Hi friends,   Today's puzzle is a themed offering, and a lesson in striking while the iron is hot. It's one of my oldest crossword ideas, but I was never quite able to make a grid that I was happy with for it. Years later, I revisited it. I did find my grid-making skills had improved, but I dithered in making and cluing it. By the time I sent it around and got feedback from venues, I got told by not one but two different editors that they already had a very similar puzzle in their queue. Such is life! I still love this theme, and I'm happy I finally managed to make the puzzle a reality. I'm excited to see the different paths people took with a similar concept as well, so keep your eyes peeled for those other puzzles.  Thank you to Geoffrey Schorkopf for invaluable help in testing this puzzle!   You can find Shannon and I over at The Defector .      If OneDrive prompts you to log-in, try opening in a private window.   .puz PDF Solution  ...

 Hi friends, I'm back, and a bit earlier in the week than I usually publish. If you solve the puzzle, you might find one reason why, but what better to do on New Year's Day than solve some crosswords? I hope your 2025 is filled with good friends and good solves. Thank you to Norah and Steve for testing this one! No .puz file or PDF this week. You'll see why when you see the grid. Mmm, chocolate nut toffee crunch   Amuselabs direct link Created by Will Eisenberg with the online cross word builder from Amuse Labs

 Hi friends, Got a themed collab with Alex Boisvert this week, coming at you in an oversized grid! Alex is the wizard behind Crossword Nexus and the AVCX solving interface .   It was so great to see so many good friends at Lollapuzzoola last weekend. Tickets are still available for the Midwest Crossword Tournament , both in person and online, so I highly recommend getting one! I'll see you there. Mmm, white chocolate cherry cookies .jpz .puz   PDF   Solution Created by Wil Eisenberg and Alex Boisvert using crossword creator by Amuse Labs

 Hi friends, Still recovering from ACPT here! It was an incredible whirlwind, and I saw so many of you there, and missed so many of you who were there too. I'm hoping to write up something more comprehensive at some point, but for now I'll just say it was an amazing experience. Today we've got a themed puzzle with my favorite collaborator, Shannon . Hope you enjoy! You can also find our work by donating to These Puzzles Fund Abortion 4 , in yesterday's USA Today, and various other outlets.    (If these links prompt a login to OneDrive, try opening in a private window) .puz    PDF   Solution Mmm, blood orange olive oil cake  

 Hey gang, It's been a little while since my last puzzle here! But I've been busy elsewhere: you can find collaborations with Norah Sharpe in Lemonade Disc o (a cryptic), AVCX Trivia , and These Puzzl3s Fund Abortion . I also had the most recent AVCX Cryptic ! It was a joy to work with Nate Cardin, and I'm very happy with how it turned it out! I've now had a puzzle at all of the various AVCX branches (Classic, AVCX+ (themeless), Lil AVC X (midi), Cryptic, and Trivia)! I'm very grateful to all the incredible puzzlemakers over there who I've gotten a chance to work with along the way. Alright, enough of that. Here's what you came for: a friendly themed puzzle.      .puz   PDF   Solution     Mmm, carrot cake

 Hi friends, Super excited to bring you a guest puzzle this week from constructor extraordinaire Paolo Pasco . You can find his work in the New York Times, AVCX, cryptics at the New Yorker and the Browser, and generally you'll find him anywhere quality grids are found. This puzzle was made for me (!) as part of a "Secret Snowflake" (aka Secret Santa) exchange on the crossword Discord where a bunch of us made grids personalized for our giftees, and then gave them anonymously. Now that we've all been unmasked, Paolo graciously gave permission for me to run this puzzle here. It was truly one of my favorite puzzles of 2022, and I think you'll love it too. Paolo says: "HONORED TO BE ON THE BLOG, TO CELEBRATE ONE OF THE GREATS NO LESS—HOPE YOU ENJOY!"   .puz PDF   Solution   Mmm, apricot hamentaschen

 Hi friends, Back today with a themed collaboration with Norah Sharpe ! Inspired by her "fruit talk" lecture, we think you'll find it fun and full of juicy details! Many thanks to Steve Mossberg for his help in testing this one-check back in on Square Pursuit when Hannukah begins for a delightful series of little cryptic puzzles each night! Norah says: "Did you know that a strawberry isn't really a berry and isn't even a fruit at all? 🤯 Those "seeds" on the outside? Each one is a single achene, a category of fruit that also includes sunflower seeds. The red fleshy stuff is just the part of the flower where the achenes grow. TMYK 🌈 🤓 😚" .puz PDF   Solution Mmm, mascarpone cake with red wine prunes  

Hey friends,  Got a fun collab today with Chris Adams of arctan(x)words . Chris was instrumental in getting this theme set to fit into a grid. With unusual symmetry and some other trickery, we managed to pack a whole lot of theme into the puzzle, and I'm grateful for his efforts to make this one work. We're also grateful for the help from Norah and Brian in helping get this one in shape! Chris says "i'm very glad to have been able to help with this puzzle, i think it came out well, thank you to will for reining in my weirder tendencies, there's more coming from me very soon, etc. etc." and by etc. he means some very fun stuff indeed! .puz   PDF Solution Mmm, brownies with maple cream cheese frosting

 Hi friends! Here today with an easy themed puzzle for you. I think this should play a bit more straightforward than usual, so put your speed-solving caps on and get to it!   No promises, but we might shake things up next time with a harder-than-usual themeless. In any event, thanks to Kelsey and joshsolves for helping to test this one.   .puz PDF Solution       Mmm, pine nut tart with walnuts and rosemary

 Hey folks! Happy to be back with a themed puzzle this week I think you'll find lightly challenging. I've got a themeless and a cryptic more or less ready to go, so we'll see if I can't publish weekly for a bit. Hope everyone's summer has been going great! Mine's been filled with disc golf and brewery patios. Many thanks to Norah Sharpe and Steve Mossberg for their help with this one. As always, go solve their puzzles.   .puz PDF   Solution Mmm, strawberry cheesecake

 Hi all! Themed puzzle on the easier end of things for ya this week. If you're a subscriber to AVCX , I have this week's themeless puzzle. I hope you'll give it a try--it's a good one and I'm very proud of it. If you're not a subscriber, you can always purchase an individual puzzle, and mine can be found here See you next time! .puz PDF   Solution   Mmm, poppy-seed hamantaschen

 Hi friends, Themed puzzle for ya this week. I think you'll find it a light challenge, with a few tricky clues, and hopefully a fun theme! Many thanks to Alex Boisvert for helping in testing this one. If you'd like to try some other puzzles by me, I've had a few lately: One in Spyscape called "Vertical Infiltration," a Universal puzzle called "Fantasy Sports," and an AVCX midi titled "Schrödinger's Cat." It's been a thrill working with some great editors, including Will Nediger, Brooke Husic and David Steinberg, who definitely elevate my work, so go check those out! .puz PDF   Solution   Mmm, parmesan-herb breadsticks

 Ahoy!  Today's puzzle is themed, and hopefully not too hard. Thanks to Steve for the test solve.  .puz   PDF   Solution Mmm, monster cookies  

 Hi everyone! Another themed puzzle for you this week. I think you'll find it a light challenge. Thanks so much to Norah for helping test it. .puz   PDF Solution     Mmm, orange rolls

 Happy Holidays! This will be the last Half-Baked puzzle of 2021, and it's a themed puzzle I think you'll find lightly challenging! Thanks to Jacob Cohen for testing, go check his stuff out! .puz PDF Solution     Mmm, pumpkin pie

 Hello again! Today's puzzle is themed and should be fairly easy! Hope it goes down smooth for you. Thank you to Frisco for test-solving this week. .puz PDF   Solution Mmm, Oatmeal Creme Pies (not featured in this puzzle!)  

Have we got a fun one for you today!   If you don't know who Sid Sivakumar is, you're in for a treat: Beyond fantastic puzzles at the New York Times and other venues, you can find tons of great puzzles on Sid's blog , including a tricky pack of themelesses that are raising money to help Afghan women . And Sid is the editor of the crossword at The Juggernaut , where puzzles feature themes and clues related to the South Asian diaspora. Sid was generous enough to share this theme and grid with me, and in typical crossword fashion, it sat on the back-burner for a while. I asked if I could write the clues, and Sid was nice enough to say yes! I'm very happy with how this puzzle turned out, and I hope you will be too. Thanks to Steve Mossberg for testing! .puz PDF Solution   Mmm, mango ice cream  

 How's it going!? Today's puzzle is themed, and hopefully nearer to the easier end of things. Thanks to Benjamin for testing!   See you in a couple weeks for a puzzle featuring one of your favorite constructors.   .puz   PDF   Solution   Mmm, banana bread  

 Hi everybody! Themed puzzle this week. If you recognize the title this puzzle will be right up your alley--if not, I encourage you to solve it and work the theme out anyway! Thanks to Steve Mossberg for testing! .puz PDF   Solution Mmm, Salted Nut Rolls

 Hope you're having a good one!  Today's puzzle is themed. Thanks to k0rmad and Quiara for helping test it out. Hope you enjoy! Next week's offering might be... a little different? We'll see. Consider yourself forewarned.   Mmm, carrot cake cupcake with lemon-cream cheese frosting   .puz   PDF   Solution