Puzzle 262 – “Buried in the Stacks”
puz here / pdf here / solution here / full screen here
Though it would have been fun to solve in person, I had a great time Sunday in the online division at the Westwords tournament. And I was fortunate enough to come in second. Tip of the hat to Dan Schwartz for coming in first! Excellent puzzles all around at this one; if you didn’t compete but you’re interested in playing some great grids, you can still order a puzzle pack on their site.
I wanted to try a new grid shape in this week’s blog themeless, and I wound up with this kinda fun pile-up of mid-length entries at the center… hence the title of this one, referencing that middle stack directly. I don’t think there’s anything *too* tough buried in that stack. But I will admit that there’s a little bit of fill in this one that made me say, probably a better blog puzzle than one to send out. Still, I hope you’ll find it a fun (and mildly tough?) solve.
As always, comments are welcomed. Happy solving, yall. Hope you enjoy.
Congrats on 2nd in Westwords online! That was a fun puzzle, thanks. As an intermediate solver, the stacks were intimidating at first, but I was able to get it all. I appreciate when constructors share about constructor-side experimentation and challenges such as shapes, it makes it more interesting to solve knowing a bit about the “behind the scenes” process.
Glad you powered through! Yeah, having the longer top/bottom and left/right stacks intersect each other at a corner is unusual, and it lets you do some fun things with that opposite diagonal. But it also is more restrictive to fill for sure.
A nice, smooth solve, Matt!
Hi Jeanne – I’m just curious if you are related to Mike Breen, an NBA TV host?
Hi Seattle DB,
No relation, and, surprisingly, you’re actually the first person who’s ever asked me that!
TY for the reply, and I just solved one of your puzzles in the last week that was published in a major mainstream outlet. Congrats!
Thanks, Jeanne!
Good one thanks!
You’re welcome, as always.
Hi Matthew – I’m in tune with your constructing style, and I’m always a day late on commenting on Crossword Fiend. But I gave you a “shout out” for ORCA “Clue of the Year” for 17A: “Person put in a cast before they break a leg?” And the answer is: “actor”.
And now I’m curious if that clue is something that you’ve seen before, or if it’s totally original?
I’ve seen clues for ACTOR that pun on cast before, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone put those two pieces of the clue together. I do always check the clue database on Crosserville before I nail down a punny question-mark clue, making sure no one has published it before.
TY for the reply, and like I’ve written before, I believe you are a rising star in the CrossWorld!
You rustled up a good one here, a fun solve.
Aww, many thanks.