January 30, 2019 - "Disappearing Act" - Craig Mazin and Jeff Chen, edited by Ben Tausig

Difficulty ● ● ● ● ●

Puzzle Notes

Dear Friends:

We have a collaborative guest puzzle this week. "Disappearing Act" by Craig Mazin and Jeff Chen is 5/5 difficulty. Godspeed!

Craig Mazin is a film and television writer-producer. His work includes the upcoming HBO miniseries "Chernobyl," which will air in the first half of 2019. He is also the co-host of the popular screenwriting podcast "Scriptnotes." This is his AVCX debut. Welcome, Craig!

Jeff Chen is a writer and crossword puzzle maker, and an AVCX veteran and pal. His first book, ULTRABALL: LUNAR BLITZ (HarperCollins) was released in Jan 2019.

In addition to the puzzle, please find attached a poster for a phantasmagoric, ultra-luxury crossword tournament (Crucachella? The Fyll Festival? (h/t to Deb Amlen for that second one)). The band names were created by combining adjacent entries in various 2018 AVCX puzzle grids, with each chosen by the puzzle's author. You are welcome to imagine the constructors (influencers all) sun-soaked and blissful on a yacht in a promotional video for this tournament. (There is no hidden meta in the poster, so while we encourage you to enjoy it, don't get too conspiratorial).

Yrs,

Ben and the AVCX crew

avxwords.com // @avcxword