xwordswithbabka

Hello! Babka and Paprika, pictured above, usually don't sit so close to each other, so this is a big step for them! They're still not exactly friends but I'm hoping they will be able to tolerate each other a little more and maybe not fight so much and/or destroy everything. This week's puzzle has maybe my favorite clue I've ever written? I hope you enjoy it! Norah gave me some guidance on it and it was test solved by cl3ver. Thanks everyone! [ .puz ][ Direct Crosshare link ]

Happy new year! It is January somehow? Sometimes the idea of the new year doesn't excite me, but in this case I am happy about the idea of spending the new year making crosswords, solving puzzles, meeting new people and hanging out with Babka. Today's crossword is about the inexorable march of time! Unfortunately, I am one of those people for whom the 90s will always be twenty years ago, despite how that's not the case. So to celebrate the new year, and to measure the ever-growing distance between me and what I remember, I wanted to make a puzzle about things from ten years ago - 2013, when I was [age redacted], Obama was president, and "Breaking Bad" aired its final season. Other things happened! I picked out a few of these things, and there were so many that it ended up being a 21x21 grid. I had to leave some out in order to make everything work. I'm not sure if the puzzle is successful - the theme is just "these things are ten years old." And ...