Puzzle Notes

Hello to all of you cryptic heads! This week, we have a puzzle from seasoned cryptic constructor Steve Mossberg. It was a joy to get to edit this crossword and work with Steve. Same as last week, this is also my debut as a cryptic editor (co-editor, because I couldn't have done it without the mentorship of the lovely Francis Heaney)! I hope you all enjoy solving this as much as I did.

A little about Steve: Steve Mossberg (he/him) is a music educator living with his family in the Boston area. He makes cryptic crosswords for The Browser and variety cryptics for his subscription service Square Chase. His smaller, gentler 'quiptics' have been helping to ease new solvers into the hard stuff for a whole year on his free blog Square Pursuit. In addition to Steve's cryptic work, his US-style puzzles can be found in most major crossword venues. As an avid solver, he's thrilled to have the AVCX cryptic in his life and couldn't be happier to be making his debut here as a constructor!

As always, feel free to reach out to us at cryptic@avxwords.com. If you're newer to cryptics, check out our handy solving guide, and check out #crypticclueaday for daily practice!

Happy solving!
Claire & the AVCX Cryptic crew