Puzzle Notes

Dear friends,

August Miller's AVCX Classic debut is called "Edge Play," at 3.5/5 difficulty, and has (as you can see) some intriguing stacks.

August writes: "I am a dairy and vegetable farmer based in Western Massachusetts, on Nipmuc and Mohican land. This puzzle was motivated in part by my rediscovery of Hyrule (after many years) during the pandemic. I hope you enjoy it! (I am also tentatively trying out a blog this year, which you're welcome to visit if you promise to keep your expectations appropriately low.)"

Meanwhile, congratulations to Julianna Froggatt and Michael Chirico, who are the (randomly chosen from more than 100 entrants) winners of last week's contest, to which the answer was HARRY HOUDINI, whose bridge jumps you can read about here. Thanks to all who solved and/or entered the contest. The prize is a copy of Anna Shechtman's new puzzle book, which you can pick up here.

Lastly but definitely not leastly, a plug for a new puzzle pack called These Puzzles Fund Abortion 4. TPFA4 is a pack of crossword puzzles created around the belief that everyone should have access to safe and affordable abortion care. Constructed by an all-star group of puzzlemakers and editors [I am excited to be one of the editors -ed.] who are passionate about Reproductive Justice, TPFA4 contains 20+ original, brand-new puzzles centered around social and reproductive justice themes. The set includes 3 midi crosswords (2 standard, 1 cryptic), 15 American style crosswords, 2 cryptics, a variety puzzle, an acrostic, and a variety puzzle suite.

The puzzles will be officially released on March 15, but you can pre-order them by donating now. Check out their site for more details.

Yrs,
Ben and the expanded AVCX crew
avxwords.com // @avcxword // @lilavcx // @avcxplus // @avcxtrivia // @avcxcryptic