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Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:03 pm
by tonyrobots
So, long story short, I started getting into crossword construction about 5 years ago, and made a few puzzles, but then life circumstances changed and I was pulled away for a while. Now I find myself with a little more time on my hands (ahem) and am thinking about getting back into it, with an eye on metas in particular. But I thought it would be fun to share these oldies from 2015 and hear what you all think. Do keep in mind some of the clues are a bit dated (one in particular, sadly), but I just re-solved these last night and they mostly hold up.

Enjoy!

https://squares.io/p/tonyzito/bundle/1

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:31 pm
by FrankieHeck
tonyrobots wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:03 pm So, long story short, I started getting into crossword construction about 5 years ago, and made a few puzzles, but then life circumstances changed and I was pulled away for a while. Now I find myself with a little more time on my hands (ahem) and am thinking about getting back into it, with an eye on metas in particular. But I thought it would be fun to share these oldies from 2015 and hear what you all think. Do keep in mind some of the clues are a bit dated (one in particular, sadly), but I just re-solved these last night and they mostly hold up.

Enjoy!

https://squares.io/p/tonyzito/bundle/1
I just clicked on the link and started...but on squares.io, are other users going to click and then have my answers in the grid? I've only used this for group solves before, so not sure how it works.

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:41 pm
by tonyrobots
Oh, I’m not sure, I’m new to it as well. Just seemed like a nice, easy way to publish. I think the collaborative space would be on your particular puzzle url, not from anyone who comes in through the rather generic link I posted. But do let us know if you encounter any gatecrashers!

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 8:03 pm
by KayW
FWIW I brought the pages up and the grids were blank. It looks like it gives you an option to save your work, tho I'm not sure how it identifies you when you come back. As a test (and I sure hope I didn't screw this up for others - if it does please let me know and I'll erase) I saved my work on Continental Drift. When I clicked on the link again from the same device, my work was there. When I clicked through from a different device, the grid was blank.

I enjoyed and almost completed Continental Drift, but I have 4 squares I can't suss (so far) at the crosses of 69 and 72 across and 44 and 65 down.
Nice cluing for 29D.

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 9:26 pm
by FrankieHeck
This is fun! I've completed Continental Drift and Ninesquare, but they weren't easy and I did cheat on a few squares. (I'm no super solver, though. Grids have become a means to a meta for me lately.) And I'm finding Themeless #1 really difficult. But there's some fun stuff in these. I enjoyed 69A in Continental Drift, once I figured it out!

I ended up linking squares to my google account, so I should be set!

Edited to add: I might have to wave the white flag on Themeless 1, but I *finally* figured out 57A on Themeless 2. :lol:

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:19 pm
by tonyrobots
Thanks so much for giving them a shot! They certainly play a little harder than I intended, partly because of some "trying too hard" cluing, but mostly because of some awkward, esoteric fill.

FWIW, I couldn't accomplish it with the software, but "Continental Drift" is meant not to have those lines of vertical blocks along the NE and SW, but rather to be shifted as if the bottom half of the (16x15) grid got moved one square to the right. (Hope that makes sense.) Doesn't affect anything tangibly, but I thought it would be an interesting visual effect to go with the theme.

More to come, thanks again for playing!

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:33 pm
by Al Sisti
Is there a way to print them? I like to solve sitting out in the sun.

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 1:25 pm
by tonyrobots
Sure...Here's a dropbox with PDFs and .PUZ (Across Lite) files:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h90mvlx4x8b4 ... xTA4a?dl=0

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 11:53 pm
by Al Sisti
I really enjoyed these... Continental Drift was especially clever!

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:26 pm
by boharr
These were fun. Difficult in spots but satisfying.

Re: Some puzzles I made a few years back

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:42 pm
by tonyrobots
Thanks all! Excited to get going again, will share when I have something for "playtesting"