Puzzle Notes

Dear subscribers: 

This week's puzzle is "The AAB List" from Tyler Hinman. It's 3/5 in difficulty, a bit of a break after last week's barnburner.

Speaking of which, we received 111 entries before the deadline, and the random winner of the contest is Peter Hesterman. Peter selected a six-month AVCX subscription. Congratulations to everyone who entered.

Opinion was sharply divided on the difficulty of "Your Table is Ready," ranging from "I didn't find the puzzle all that difficult," "Difficulty six stars out of five? Nah, I'm not that smart. Most entertaining, though," and "Hey, it wasn't *that* hard, even without paper," all the way to "Tough but enjoyable, "Not elementary at all. This puzzle was cray-cray," and "Holy s*** that was hard."

Opinion was nearly unanimous on how much you liked it, though. Solvers said "Bravo," "This raised the already high bar for you all," "Masterpiece of a puzzle," and my favorite, "I feel better, faster, stronger, puzzlier for having done it." Congrats to Francis on an effort being whispered about as an early puzzle-of-the-year candidate.

Finally, get ready for a colorful 23x23 bonus contest puzzle this week. As a subscriber, both the puzzle and entry are free. Puzzle and details coming very soon.

 -Ben and the AVCX crew [avxwords.com]