August 31, 2016 - "Problems With the Economy" - Ben Tausig

Difficulty ● ● ◐ ○ ○

Puzzle Notes

Hi friends: 

Your editor, Ben Tausig, is up this week with "Problems With the Economy," a 3.5/5 toughness puzzle. Enjoy! Tausig also wrote the New York Times crossword for this Thursday, which has a theme that people might like.

Thanks to all who submitted a solution to Paolo Pasco's meta from last week--there were 218 of you. Our winners, drawn randomly, are Wayne Brooks and Michael Furdyna, who each receive a free three-month subscription extension. See attached for the solution, or head over to Crossword Fiend (from Monday of this week) for a full explanation of the meta. And congrats to all who solved. The most satisfying emails were either the jokes, or the jubilant first-time meta completers.

Finally, a quick plug for Joon Pahk's Outside the Box Puzzles, a variety puzzle service. OtB includes rows gardens, metas, something differents, and much more. Last year they ran 75 puzzles, and a full subscription is just $30. If I may add, Joon is also one of the loveliest and most brilliant people in the puzzle world, and it's a delight to solve his stuff. His subscription drive is on now. Learn more here.

Peace,

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