Puzzle Notes

Dear Friends:

Wyna Liu's "AVCX Themeless #45" is 4.5/5 difficulty.

This puzzle is guest-edited by Amy Reynaldo, who has been a dear friend of the AVCX since forever, and who perhaps more than any other person keeps crossworld in orbit, especially with her blog crosswordfiend.com. In addition, she has been a puzzle editor for many years. We're happy to have some of Wyna and Amy's work as part of the Crossword Women's March this month.

Speaking of Crossword Fiend, that blog published its annual Orca Awards a little over a week ago. Byron Walden, Wyna Liu (twice), Brendan Emmett Quigley and Francis Heaney, and Paolo Pasco were all nominated for awards for puzzles they ran in the AVCX in 2019, and Francis won BEST GIMMICK CROSSWORD for his 'Going Way Too Far," which if you missed you can download free from our archives. Congratulations to everyone, and to our friends who published outstanding work in other venues as well.

Next week we'll have a fun themed puzzle from Aimee Lucido, plus a contest and book announcement.

Be well,

Ben and the AVCX crew

avxwords.com // @avcxword