Crossworld News and Notes: The New Yorker Expands
and ACPT is less than a week away
Kinda quick turnaround from the last News & Notes, but big news demands it: The New Yorker is expanding to five puzzles a week, with themelesses Monday to Thursday, and a themed puzzle on Fridays, and adding to their constructor lineup, to boot.
From The New Yorker:
Our themed crosswords will be constructed by a rotation of experts, many of whom will make their New Yorker débuts in the coming months. For the themeless crosswords, we welcome three new recruits—Brooke Husic, Will Nediger, and Paolo Pasco—to our esteemed lineup; they join Erik Agard, Patrick Berry, Kameron Austin Collins, Elizabeth C. Gorski, Natan Last, Wyna Liu, Aimee Lucido, Caitlin Reid, Anna Shechtman, and Robyn Weintraub.
The themeless puzzles will continue to grow easier as the week progresses, with the previous Wednesday and Friday puzzles moving to Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, and a “beginner-level” themeless on Thursdays. Themed puzzles on Friday will be “of light-to-moderate difficulty” brought to you by “a rotation of experts, many of whom will make their New Yorker débuts in the coming months.”
The New Yorker has not missed a step since spinning the puzzle up a few years ago. Its top-notch editing team and constructor lineup make it a can’t-miss part of the crossword ecosystem, and now there’s more of it!
It’s cutting it close, but registration remains open for both the in-person event or for virtual version the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, CT next week. The whole Daily Crossword Links team will be there in person — be sure to say hi!
One aspect of in-person tournaments I’m thrilled to have back is the table full of puzzles made by attendees. Long before Crossword Twitter was what it is today, and before I started this newsletter, it was as good a way to find new blogs and puzzles as any. Rachel Fabi and Nate Cardin spearheaded a Virtual Puzzle Table for last year’s online-only tournament. I don’t believe anything similar is in the works this year, but we’ll be sure to collect all the puzzles and ensure they’re shared either through the daily newsletter or News & Notes here.
Since the last News & Notes, Daniel Bodily (3/17), Jess Shulman (3/24) made their NYT debuts; Kaitlin Hsu (3/21), Angela Pai (3/25) made their USA Today debuts. Congrats to everyone!
Big shout out and thanks to Corbin at The Fordham Observer, who passed on a few more college newspapers running puzzles right now, after making the astute point that these puzzles at any one publication are somewhat cyclical. We’ll be incorporating these into the daily newsletters, but if you want a head start:
These Puzzles Fund Abortion Too is a pack of sixteen fantastic puzzles with reproductive and social justice content from an all-star lineup of constructors and editors to raise funds for the 2022 National Abortion Access Fund-A-Thon, building on a similar pack from last year. Led by Rachel Fabi, Claire Rimkus, and Brooke Husic, the fundraiser’s initial goal is to raise $35,000. All funds will be split equally among seven abortion funds. Donate here and your puzzle pack will be delivered by email in 1-3 days. A free companion puzzle, “Too Soon” and accompanying essay from Brooke is available at Just Gridding!.
“Toward a New Understanding of the Honeypot Puzzle Fragments” is a compact zine of crossword puzzles and a work of historical fiction by Parker Higgins and Ross Trudeau. The 12 puzzles within are indie crosswords with a modern voice and a twist that fans of the New York Times Spelling Bee will love. Pre-order on Kickstarter.