Puzzle Notes

Hi friends: 

As promised, this week's puzzle is a guest offering, and it comes from young David Steinberg. It is 4/5 in difficulty, and titled "Inside Dope." Hope you like it!

David is editor of the Orange County Register crossword, as well as creator of the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, an effort to comprehensively digitize old New York Times crosswords, as well as to present research, interviews, and commentary about historical puzzles. It's a vital resource in modern puzzling.

Meanwhile, I regret that the AVCX (or its editor, anyway) won't be at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament this upcoming weekend. Thanks to the internet, I am now a man of the cloth, and will be marrying some friends during the tournament, precluding attendance. However, look out for various of our agents and associates if you happen to be going! And don't forget to buy some old AVCX puzzles to practice, if you're competing.

Yours,

Ben and the AVCX crew [avxwords.com, @AVCXWord]