xwordswithbabka

Hello! Sometimes you put a lot of hard work and thought into a puzzle, and sometimes you say "what are the dumbest bird puns I could make?" This puzzle was not test solved!! Good luck!! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hello, there is a very special puzzle for you today: a collaboration with the world's greatest human, aka my spouse Sarah ! Some of you who watch my Twitch stream may have seen her recently coming by to solve cryptics and American crosswords with me. I mentioned to her that I wasn't sure what the puzzle for today is, and then she pointed it out that this will be the last puzzle that goes up before Thanksgiving, so how about something related to that? And then she came up with the theme and two of the answers just like that. It turns out she is a secret crossword genius!!! We worked on constructing and cluing together, and I felt like it was very fun. I'm so glad that she wanted to be a part of this! Here is what Sarah wants to say: "Ummmm...wow! Thanks for the kind words, Dan. In the spirit of reciprocity, let's just all take a moment to acknowledge that Dan is a NOT secret crossword genius . Now that we got that out of the way...this was really fun! I'm ama...

Hello! Thanks to everyone for the feedback and kind words about my cryptic puzzle from last time. I definitely want to keep making them! But something else very exciting happy this month, which is that I made my print debut ! Universal Crossword published a puzzle by myself and Shannon Rapp that I'm really proud of, and it was so cool to see it appear in papers around the country and online in a bunch of different places. Thanks to everyone on Twitch who streamed it as well! Inspired by this success, I wanted to make another themed puzzle that I thought could appear in syndication, and came up with this 16x15 with three themers. But I'm worried that it might have trouble getting accepted. What am I doing wrong???!? Thanks to Shannon Norah Sharpe for the test solve. Please let me know what you think, and let me know if you stream it! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Here is a new puzzle for you, and it's a cryptic!! I've secretly wanted to make a cryptic this whole time!! I've been interested in cryptic crosswords for a very long time, but have never tried to make one myself because I didn't know how. But meeting people through crosswords over the last year (?) has finally given me the courage I need to try one. But making a cryptic, just like solving a cryptic, is extremely difficult!! So for guidance I turned to the one and only Steve Mossberg aka Square Pursuit aka Square Chase aka The Cryptic Mensch™. Steve was extremely kind and generous in helping me figure out what I'm doing, and very patient as we worked over these clues. I am very grateful to Steve for all of his help! If you have feedback on this puzzle, I would love to hear it because I would like to keep making cryptics and want to get better at it. Also, while this crossword does not have a theme, there are a few answers meant to be an homage to two of the gr...

Hello! Here with a new crossword for you this Monday. If you're anything like Babka, then you hate Mondays and love lasagna. Still, though, I hope you enjoy this puzzle! This puzzle was test solved by (checks notes) Kelsey Dixon ?!?!?! Holy shit! Thanks so much for the test solve Kelsey! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hello! It's bread week here for this next puzzle! The theme was suggested by my amazing spouse , because Babka (pictured above in loaf form) loves bread. He loves it so much that he will steal the top of your sandwich, run with it to the other room, and growl when you try to take it from him. Do you remember that commercial where Oprah said that she loves bread? That's basically Babka. This puzzle is a 17x17, and was edited and test solved by the incredible Norah Sharpe . We actually have a collab that is going to be coming out within the next month, so I'll be sure to post about it when it comes out, or you can check a paper (?!?) near you. If you solve or stream this puzzle, please let me know what you think! Hope you enjoy! [ .puz ] [ Direct Crosshare link ]

Hello, I think it's time for a proper themeless! Don't you?? This puzzle has 70 words and is my first stab at making a themeless grid and puzzle. I'm hoping there I'll be able to make more. Thanks so much to Will Eisenberg for the test solve! [.puz] [Direct Crosshare link]