Josh Solves

This puzzle is dedicated to the smooth jazz playlist of covers that played every morning while my partner and I ate breakfast on a recent vacation in Mexico. The Nora-Jones-ification of pop hits you forgot about led to many a “Wait, is this Aerosmith?” and similar.

This is the first cryptic crossword on this blog, which I understand is not for everyone. There are many great resources on how to solve a cryptic, and I’m aiming to have a page dedicated to resources for solving (and constructing) puzzles debuting here soon. In the meantime, don’t worry, I have a couple regular crosswords in the works.

Big thanks to Brandon and Ryan for their test solves. Solving a cryptic and leaving detailed notes on a bunch of clues is no small feat and this puzzle is dramatically better than what either of you was given, thank you. (When I asked Ryan what of his I could promote, he told me about ducktiles.com, which has become my cryptic crossword anagram go to since he introduced me to it, so, thank you for that as well!) Thanks to Layna for all the intangibles, this puzzle wouldn’t have been made without you.

And as always, thank you for solving it. If you’re streaming it, enjoying it, find a mistake or just want to give my serotonin levels a quick boost, drop a comment here or hit me up on twitter or twitch.

Link to puzzle on Amuselabs: Vacation Cryptic

Easy to print PDF downloadable below, if that’s your preference.