December 1, 2023 - "Ransom Notes" (themeless) - Richard D. Allen, edited by Ada Nicolle

Difficulty ● ● ● ○ ○

Puzzle Notes

Dear Friends:

Ringing in the last month of 2023 with a 66-word themeless by Richard D. Allen (his first for AVCX+!), titled "Ransom Notes." We think this one is tricky in places -- Richard says it's like taking candy from a baby cobra. We've never tried doing that, but it sounds like it might be tough!

Richard Allen's work has appeared in the New York Times, Fireball Crosswords, AVCX Classic, AVCX Trivia and elsewhere. He also publishes the crossword blog Lexicon Devil. He is the proud owner of an AVCX mug. You can find him on Discord as ricky_billingsgate and on Bluesky at @ambivalentricky.bsky.social.

Hope you're staying warm,

the AVCX+ crew

avxwords.com | @avcxword | @lilavcx | @avcxcryptic | @avcxplus | @avcxtrivia