hubcrosswords

Puzzle #46: Christmas Songs (BEQ)

I love my daughter, Tabitha. She's the best. Really. I don't think there are enough superlatives out there for me to use on her. She loves music as much as her own pop, and she just Goes To Town with her own Spotify account. Favorites? You bet. Utter disdain for certain songs? Boy howdy. Tabitha is a budding music snob, and I love it.

This year Tabitha began playing Christmas songs in very early November. That's way too early. Everybody, please refrain from all things Christmas until Th...

Puzzle #45: Go Figure (EC/HR)

We're pretty limited in how much our puzzle-formatting software will let us depart from QWERTY et al. Here we make use of one of the few nonalphabetic options we have.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #44: Puns for Breakfast (BEQ)

For some reason, I attempted to achieve Inbox Zero late last year. I didn't quite achieve the pinnacle of having no emails at all, but I did manage to get it down below 50. Hey, what can I say? All my outstanding jobs and things that need to be done are each individual emails. Anyway, I bring this up because in the process of deleting thousands of useless or no longer applicable emails, I uncovered a lot of ideas for puzzles that I never made. 23-Across was in one of those emails an...

Puzzle #43: When Animals Meet (EC/HR)

Sometimes when we go out for a walk around the neighborhood we bat punny theme ideas back and forth. This was one of the ones that tickled us enough that it stuck. They don't always.

-EC/HR

It's also time for your quarterly installment of a bonus mini Marching Bands and Themeless Challenger (both by BEQ)... yay!

Puzzle #42: Game of Chants (BEQ)

Sometimes there's just the perfect title to go along a puzzle you have a hard time believing that wasn't the starting point in making it. This is one of those times where the theme idea came first, then the perfect title.

-BEQ

Puzzle #41: Original Recipe (EC/HR)

From that great astronomer-cook Carl Sagan, one of our favorite recipes.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #40: Title TK (BEQ)

Earlier in the fall I sent out one of my puzzles to my test solvers, but I couldn't come up with a title for that particular puzzle. So, I just dropped in the industry standard placeholder "Title TK," meaning whatever it's going to be called, it's coming later. One tester said that's a title for a different theme, namely the one you are getting today.

-BEQ

Puzzle #39: Oh, the Irony! (EC/HR)

We're confident the factoid presented here is true, or at least was true at the time of publication, without regard to gender. (You'll see what we mean.) That's assuming a certain person's tenure hasn't ended yet. (We hope you'll see what we mean!)

-EC/HR

Puzzle #38: Halloween's Canceled (BEQ)

My town canceled Halloween because of course they did. So, my family and some other families worked around that by hosting our own trick or treating for our kids because of course we did. Water doesn't stop at a rock, does it? Anyway, this puzzle's indirectly influenced by my town's decision.

-BEQ

Puzzle #37: Mash-Ups (EC/HR)

It might've been that 15-Down we had on our staycation in Pennsyltucky that inspired us to make this puzzle. Just maybe.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #36: NFL Audibles (BEQ)

My favorite sport. A theme concept that I don't dip into all that often. Hopefully adds up to a fun crossword.

-BEQ

Puzzle #35: 3 x 7 (EC/HR)

Remember a couple weeks ago when we featured trios of 7-letter words? In the world of crosswords, 7 x 3 is not at all equal to 3 x 7, so we figured we'd do both. The big challenge this time around was not repeating ourselves. You'll see what we mean....

-EC/HR

Puzzle #34: Beast Mode (BEQ)

When you're like me and you make a lot of puzzles, inevitably you will come up with practically the same theme. There will be that moment when you go, "hang on, this sounds familiar." Panic kicks in, and if we're going to continue this scenario, you won't be able to find whatever theme you are convinced you inadvertently came up with all over again. Now the panic kicks in even more so because wouldn't that just be like you to not be able to find such a puzzle because your file management...

Puzzle #33: 7 x 3 (EC/HR)

For the math-challenged out there, that's a total of 21, which happens to be the number of squares Across (or Down) in a standard Sunday crossword. Perfect for featuring a handful of 7-letter wordplay trios.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #32: School Daze (BEQ)

Nothing I like more than when a celebrity geeks out when their name appears in a puzzle, especially one that I made. No spoilers, but here's an Instagram post of a celebrity doing just  from today's puzzle.

-BEQ

Puzzle #31: United Food Workers (EC/HR)

These are tough times for workers in the food service industry, without a doubt. We have a few suggestions for ways to reward all the long-suffering employees when business picks up again (and it will!).

-EC/HR

Puzzle #30: Capitalization (BEQ)

Shout out to the better half of Hub Crosswords for the inspiration for this puzzle. They had found the wordplay in 51-Across in a puzzle of theirs that I had solved this summer. I wondered if that could be extended to a full batch, and this is the result.

-BEQ

It's also time for your quarterly installment of a bonus mini Marching Bands and Themeless Challenger (both by BEQ)... woo-hoo!

Puzzle #29: Bean Bag (EC/HR)

This one's in honor of Beantown (a.k.a. The Hub), where these puzzles got their start. With a tip of the hat to all you fans of the versatile legume... you know who you are. 

-EC/HR

Puzzle #28: What, a Racket? (BEQ)

My daughter Tabitha took, hang on a minute ... (counts on fingers) ... five weeks (!) of tennis camp this summer. She got a lot better, but she's by no means a wunderkind, yet. That is to say we're not moving to Florida anytime soon so she can take up tennis full time. This puzzle goes out to her.

-BEQ

Puzzle #27: Recovery (EC/HR)

We couldn't stop doing this silly dance routine, so we made a puzzle about it. There... we feel much better now.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #26: Two Heads Are Better Than None (BEQ)

I recently gave a certain band a second look (no spoilers, you'll know who I'm talking about when they appear in the puzzle). I'd sort of written them off as one-trick ponies, and perhaps they are. But, I'm coming around to them.

-BEQ

Puzzle #25: By Design (EC/HR)

Fashion-forward or far-fetched? When it comes to punnery, we often walk a tightrope. Balancing on a catwalk this time, we give expression to some fairly outrageous couturiers.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #24: I Love Crosswords (BEQ)

Love is kind of a strong word. Let's just say I like-like crosswords instead.

-BEQ

Puzzle #23: Poetic License (EC/HR)

No particular rhymer reason for inflicting this poetpourri of groaners on you. Guess you could say we've taken a turn for the verse, with no holds bard. Okay, we'll shut up now...

-EC/HR

Puzzle #22: Make It a Double (BEQ)

Merl Reagle used to make sure to put the funniest answer at the last entry the solver would get so it gave the crossword a feeling of a comedian's routine. Saving the best for last to go out with a bang. I try to do that with mine, but for whatever it's worth, my favorite (the subjective "best one") came first. C'est la vie.

-BEQ

Puzzle #21: Monkey in the Middle (EC/HR)

Do kids still play the game we're alluding to? A.k.a. Keep Away or Pickle in a Dish, it's sort of a reverse form of dodgeball. Instead of avoiding the ball, the kid in the middle of the circle tries to catch it. Hey, that's what passed for social networking before smartphones. Here's our cruciverbal take.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #20: Playing Hard to Get (BEQ)

Love him or hate him (and there are plenty of people who are members of both categories), there's no debating he comes up with some really interesting soundbites. Dig in.

-BEQ

Puzzle #19: Twenty-Ones (EC/HR)

We take advantage of the extra real estate in these Sunday-size crosswords to feature a variety of things with a "21" connection, each weighing in at 21 letters.

-EC/HR

Puzzle #18: Book Nook (BEQ)

With titled puzzles, you have the option of pushing the gimmick further because you don't have to take up space in the grid explaining the whole damn crossword with a clue ending with something like "... and the theme of this puzzle." We call them "revealers." These Hub Crosswords always have a title, and so we don't usually have many revealers that often, unless of course, you need one to make the theme pair up symmetrically. This is one of those times.

-BEQ

Puzzle #17: Consonantcy (EC/HR)

What if we only had consonants as constants, leaving us to supply vowels of our own choosing? Here's a sampling of some identities in our imaginary vowel-fluid world.

-EC/HR

But wait... there's more! You also get your quarterly bonus Themeless Challenger and Mini Marching Bands today.