xwordswithbabka

Hello again! As punishment for obliquely referring to my puzzles as "art" in the last post, I've decided that every stupid idea I have is going to become a crossword. That'll teach me!! Here is one example of, apparently, where my brain is at. It's in .jpz format, you should be able to download it from the solver below. I'm not bothering to test solve it. I really want to stress that this puzzle was made in less than 24 hours. Try to enjoy!!

Hello! This is a puzzle I started like a month ago, but didn't finish cluing until this week. There's some heavy stuff in the next paragraph, skip it if you just want a (hopefully) fun crossword. As it happens I am severely depressed, and I cannot stop the flow of negative thoughts. I was hoping to finish this puzzle before the election, and say something about how I never worked hard enough, but, fittingly enough, that didn't happen. I'm having something of a crisis. I believe the future is foreclosed to us, that any dream of anything I consider to be good is dead, and that the world is genuinely a hopeless place. Life will now be like those viral videos where a jigsaw puzzle is destroyed as soon as it is finished - needlessly cruel, forever. I believe all of this, and yet - I'm going to fucking make crosswords??? Really??? This is the problem. But I talked to my dear friend Joe , who told me that while crosswords may be insignificant, making and solving them h...

Hello again! I know I basically just posted a themeless, but I really want to get this puzzle out. The seed here is a song I've been listening to over and over again ( spoiler link ), and I feel like this puzzle has "end-of-summer" vibes. I wanted to get this out before summer officially ends, so I stole a Robyn Weintraub grid figured out a crossword somehow and here we are! Thanks to Quiara for the test! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hello! It has been a while! I took sort of a break from constructing crosswords due to mainly not having ideas, but also because I legitimately was doing other things. It's been a long and good summer! I turned 38, made new friends, got to visit several beaches, and some other things happened . Overall I am happy and I think that is meaningful and positive. This particular puzzle is one that I wanted to submit for publication but I didn't feel it was good enough. I want to do more themelesses because I still don't feel like I have a handle on them. (Wow I am really selling it!!) I hope that you like it anyway. The seed entry is something that has bothered me for (checks notes) 22 years. I should also probably mention that I made tiny "danandbabka" stickers! These were meant to be handed out at Lollapuzzoolla, but they didn't arrive in time. I now have a bunch of them that I will be bringing to the Midwest tournament . I've made a form to fill out in ca...

Hello! I am writing this a few days after getting back from Westwords , which was so much fun! Serious thanks to the tournament directors, volunteers, and constructors for creating an incredible experience. I'm so glad I decided to make the trip out west. Babka was sad to miss it but happy that he has a new water dish. I made this puzzle to bring to Westwords - for some reason I thought it was a good idea to make an NYC shitpost puzzle to hand out? I honestly don't remember why. Norah tested this! Please make sure to watch the linked video for other unused theme ideas. [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hello! I had one of those intrusive thoughts recently, and decided I needed to make a mini crossword out of it. Norah Sharpe helped with figuring out the grid, and even tested it! Will I see you at Westwords this weekend? I hope so!! (Unless you are one of the first 17 names on this list ! Stay inside!!!) [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]