March 26, 2014 - "Draw Swords" - Brendan Emmett Quigley, edited by Ben Tausig

Difficulty ● ● ◐ ○ ○

Puzzle Notes

Dear subscribers: 

Brendan Emmett Quigley's "Draw Swords" is 4.5/5 in difficulty. Good luck!

If you haven't yet, be sure to read Crosswordfiend's write-up of the 2013 Orca Awards, which recognize the best crosswords of the previous year. AVCX contributor Francis Heaney was (deservedly) named Constructor of the Year, with several of his AVCX puzzles nominated for awards or otherwise praised. Brendan won Best Freestyle Crossword for a puzzle on brendanemmettquigley.com, and some of his other work was nominated for Best Crossword of the Year, Best Gimmick Crossword, and Best Clue. AVCX contributor Patrick Blindauer won Crossword of the Year for one of his New York Times puzzles, and Anna Shechtman's AVCX puzzle "Flipping the Script" was nominated for Best Gimmick Crossword. All in all, a great showing! Congratulations to everyone.

If you missed any of these great puzzles, and need to catch up, click through for Anna's "Flipping the Script," and Francis's "Seasonal Staff," "Your Table is Ready", and "Heisenberg Uncertainty."

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