PUZZLE 29: IT'S A NATIONAL HOLIDAY

[ACROSS LITE | PDF]

Solving Music: LamazeP - Love Song

IT'S HATSUNE MIKU'S BIRTHDAY JUST LET ME DO ONE TRIBUTE PUZZLE OKAY

(EDIT: DAMMIT MIKU'S BIRTHDAY IS THE 31ST!!!! people on Twitter were celebrating it so I thought it was today but that's because it's already the 31st in Japan. whatever, this blog runs on Japan time now I guess)

I made this puzzle a while back and never got to cluing it; when I realized today was Miku's birthday and I didn't have anything prepared for it I had to finish this up and post it; the fill is admittedly rough, but I hope the theme carries it.

(Oh yeah, I should probably mention that this has a similar theme to a collab puzzle that'll be on this blog at some point in the future. That puzzle actually gave me the idea for this one, so when that collab drops just keep in mind that this one is the rip-off. kthx)

Speaking of collabs, I recently did a guest puzzle over on Et Tu, Etui?, which is probably my favorite indie puzzle site rn. They do self-aware shitposty puzzles, and they're so bad that they're hilarious (example: today's puzzle has NAM clued as ["Man up!"] and ARYA clued as [___ Stark? "Yes" (dialogue in "Game of Thrones", I guess)]). It's the kind of humor I've been wanting out of puzzles for a while, and I'm so happy someone's doing it, and that I was able to guest over there.

Enjoy the puzzle! (please)

SOLUTION:

Join the crossword Discord Server, where we talk about puzzle solving and construction!

PUZZLE 28: DOUBLE DIGITS (themeless)

[ACROSS LITE | PDF]

Solving Music: Mafumafu - Jigsaw Puzzle

(Warning: The music video for this song has some flashing images; if your eyes are sensitive to that kind of thing, this video of the song doesn't have any of that.)

As you can see up top, I'm trying out the PuzzleMe applet for these posts now! Hopefully this is way more convenient for folks who'd like to solve these puzzles in-browser. Let me know if you have any issues with the solver.

Sorry for the weird hiatus, btw; I've been busy with some other puzzle stuff, including a few collabs that should be showing up here and on others' blogs in the near future. There should be more puzzles here in general in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for them.

I wrote this puzzle exclusively so I could use 1-Across; I've been playing a ton of Project DIVA lately, and 1-Across is a neat technique that I thought would work well in a puzzle. If you're interested in Hatsune Miku and other Vocaloid music, I highly recommend Project DIVA; it's really addicting, and the newest game, Project DIVA Mega Mix, is available on Nintendo Switch.

Also! Lollapuzzoola is tomorrow; if you're gonna be participating in that, make sure to join the Crosscord server on Discord; we'll have a channel set up for Lolla talk, and we'll be playing some Jackbox games after the tournament (anyone's welcome to join in for Jackbox, even if you aren't participating in the tournament)! Hope to see you there!

SOLUTION:

Join the crossword Discord Server, where we talk about puzzle solving and construction!