Josh Solves

Happy early thanksgiving to those who celebrate, I bring you a midi (24 clues) cryptic crossword with no association to the upcoming holiday. It does however feature a few clues I am extremely proud of, including my first use of a type of wordplay that still feels very new to me when I see it as a solver.* Oh, speaking of there’s a complete list of the counts of wordplay at the bottom of the page, if that’s something you’re interested in, go down to the **. Lastly, this is my first themeless puzzle, which feels very strange as my usual fare is to shove as much theme into a puzzle that I possibly can. But this was freeing. I think 6A and 20A are my favorites in this puzzle, and if you can find a theme that has room for both I am excited to find out how you did it.

And… wait this is where I usually put a youtube video that shows my cultured and refined taste as an internet user. Um… I’ve been playing a bit of Hitman on stream recently (when not solving puzzles like I usually do) and its mostly due to Atrioc’s speed runs (I am not speed running, I’m not pretending to be that good), but I think this video is a pretty great little window into something pretty cool?

Many thanks go Loplop, who gave excellent feedback as always. I have again included hints for each clue by providing the piece that is the straight definition (and take no shame if you do! Do the puzzle the way you enjoy it!). Thanks for giving it a go!

Link to puzzle on Amuselabs: Themeless #1

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

*Letterbank is the wordplay I hadn’t used before.
**Wordplay counts (approximately, some clues use multiple types):
1 letterbank
1 pun
1 &lit?
1 anagram
1 cycle
2 reversals
2 hiddens
2 double definitions
2 homophones
3 initials
and a bunch of charades