xwordswithbabka

Hello, here is another puzzle! I want to get better at making themeless puzzles, but the only way to actually do that is to keep making them?? What a bunch of shit! Well, please enjoy this offering. To be honest I think it is okay! I am going to try to keep making puzzles because the alternative is to be alone with my thoughts, and who wants that?? Thanks Quiara for the test! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hello! This is my first blog puzzle of 2025. Like most of my puzzles, it was inspired by overhearing a song. I don't really love counterfactuals, but I am interested in the ways we make choices and the impacts they have throughout time. My mom has a post-it she keeps with a quote from the author Ted Chiang that says, "The things we are told are inevitable are in fact contingent. And the things that we are told are impossible are in fact achievable." That doesn't have anything to do with this puzzle, I guess, I'm just thinking about my mom. Anyway - please try to enjoy the puzzle. Because it's about something that I think only I will find interesting, I didn't test solve it. I'd also like to pre-emptively apologize to my friend Bob , I'm very sorry!! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hi there! I like to make puzzles that are very silly, and this feels like one of the stupidest ones yet. I hope you enjoy it somewhat! Thanks again to Norah for testing. It feels weird to be at the end of the year, especially because this is the first one in a while that I can remember where I haven't been looking forward to the year to come. One thing that I'll to try to do to keep myself going is to make more crosswords. I'd also like to put this out there: if you're reading this and you are interested in making crosswords, hit me up!! I don't know that much but I will at least encourage you and maybe help you get started. I also would really like to collaborate more! I'm just going to put my email here !! Why not!! Thank you again, all of you!! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

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 ]