Negroni's Cocktails, new variety cryptic series w/ meta

[negroni]

Hi all,

I’m launching a Patreon with a new variety cryptic crossword series called Negroni’s Cocktails. These cocktail-themed puzzles will each have a hidden answer, or meta, and the year’s set of puzzles will encode a final answer for the whole year. For 2024, I will release 6 puzzles, one every 2 months, starting this Saturday, February 17. You can become a member on my Patreon page at https://patreon.com/negronis_cocktails, for $1 or $2 per month. Sign up before Saturday to get access to the Patreon posts and receive an email with the first puzzle. The web site, http://www.negroniscocktails.com, has more info and will include a submission form and leaderboards once the puzzle is live. I’d love to have some of you on board, and I hope you enjoy the puzzles.

Cheers!

Negroni

[negroni]

The February Cocktail is now live, and the No Help Leaderboard (http://www.negroniscocktails.com) is open for a week until a version with more instructions is posted. Join at https://patreon.com/negronis_cocktails to get access. Cheers!

Negroni

[ChrisKochmanski]

Hey, that was fun!

Looking forward to the next five!

[Andrew Bradburn]

This was fun, but quite difficult without instructions.

[Naptown Kid]

I highly recommend this Patreon site. The week without instructions was certainly challenging, and in fact, I didn’t solve fully until instructions were posted. But I was
encouraged to see that l was on the right track. I didn’t feel like the cluing was super obtuse, but the whole structure was clever with a great payoff.A variety cryptic with a meta-type solve in the end and a cocktail theme. What’s not to like?

[Abide]

Adding it to the Meta Calendar.

[schmidzy]

I know I'm late to the party, but I just subscribed and have been enjoying chipping away at this one over the past couple days.

@negroni What's the deadline for solving to get on the leaderboard? (Apologies if I'm just blind and you already said in your post.)

[negroni]

There are a lot of people coming in late to this one, so the All Solvers leaderboard will be open until at least Saturday, March 16. Enjoy!

[Abide]

Subscribed Thursday. One of the best dollars I've ever spent. (I solved the one without instructions.)

[Dannyvee]

That was cool— glad I signed on

[negroni]

The solution to the February Cocktail will be posted on March 30, so you can still get on the solvers list until then. Cheers!