xwordswithbabka

Hello! Since the last time I posted here, I had my first cryptic puzzle published by AVCX . Let me tell you this is a huge milestone and an incredible honor! I want to thank the entire AVCX staff as well as my editor, Steve Mossberg, for making it the best it can be. I hope there will be more puzzles to come but idk!! For anyone who came here from AVCX somehow, Babka is the shorter-haired orange cat and Paprika is the medium-haired orange cat. But here is a blog puzzle for you today. Normally I want to fit as many theme ideas into a puzzle as possible, but since Ingrid kept giving me "Unfillable" I decided to pare back and only do three themers. I hope you don't feel cheated! I think it worked out okay. I also decided to keep in an embarrassing mistake I made in the fill, as a reminder to myself that I need to double check what I'm doing. Thanks to Kate Chin Park as well as Roy Johnson for test solving! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hello! Today we have a very special puzzle, a collobaration with none other than Norah Sharpe ! Norah and I have collaborated on a number of puzzles and working with her is always a joy and a privilege. She basically sent me the entire grid and theme already made and asked me if I wanted to work on it. I am lucky to have a friend like Norah in my life! You can see above that there will hopefully be a Babka and Roxie collab in the future. Norah says: "I love making puzzles with Dan! You've already seen us three times at LAT and once at Universal (and more new places to come!) so I can't believe this is my first appearance on babka's blog!! So excited 🙂 🙂 🙂 This one came about because one of us said something dumb in a twitch chat - imagine that! Thanks to Will for the test, and make sure you check out his kickin' new Browser ." [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]