Josh Solves

Hello folks, it’s been a minute. Last I posted here the Goblins were taking over and I was thinking about what kind of post I should write to celebrate 1 year of making puzzles for this blog. It has been an exhausting few months at the Solves household, but we arrive at the present healthy and employed and engaged to be married.* Hopefully more puzzles to come as the good stress of planning a wedding takes the place of the bad stress of living in America in 2023. This cryptic started on stream as a way to procrastinate for packing for an upcoming trip. I did eventually pack and go on that trip, as well as finally finish this puzzle.

So about this puzzle: my goal for an ever funkier grid shape may have finally reached its apex, the total number of black squares in this 11×11 is 27, giving it a better ratio than some of my non-cryptic crosswords, and my favorite clues are probably 17D, 2D, 24A, and 27A. Huge thanks to dadgumituh of The Rackenfracker for giving this a test solve and giving some excellent feedback. If you don’t like something in the puzzle, its probably something that was pointed out to me and I chose to stick with it anyway.

Link to puzzle on Amuselabs: Cryptic Themeless #3/The Packing Avoidance Cryptic

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

*Fun fact, the picture used in Puzzle #1: Vacation Cryptic is the view from where I proposed.