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It has been said that a career in puzzle making will slowly but inevitably lead to insanity. Unfortunately I can’t find an exact source for the quote. I saw it in a Will Shortz book, and he cited “a British puzzle maker” as the speaker. No matter. For years I thought it was kinda bullshit anyway. I mean, you have to be a little nuts to make puzzles to begin with, so the journey to insanity can’t possibly be that far of a road to travel. It’s sort of like saying when BEQ makes puzzles, it will slowly but inevitably lead him to having a beer. I mean, that’s a foregone conclusion anyway, isn’t it?
I have begun reconsidering that quote, lately. I suspect that Mystery British Puzzle Maker X might have had children. I do believe the combination of writing crosswords plus raising a toddler is pushing me further to the edge of insanity much faster than I could have ever imagined. Or maybe that’s just the exhaustion talking. I don’t know. One thing’s for certain, I had to do something about me losing my mind (a bit). And I did. And what do you know? That became the inspiration for today’s crossword.
Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.
Great puzzle! Had to work all the way around the edges and then finally saw what you did.
Like the puzzle. Maybe it’s a northern conceit, but in the South, 37D is plural without an “S.”
Man, you set the bar even higher with this one. Incredible construction AND a ton of fun to solve.
Puzzles / Insanity — “One Across, Two Down” / mystery by Ruth Rendel/ wacko consumed with/by cryptics.
I never got the trick. Rebus puzzles always flummox me unless I expect a rebus.
Nice!
[BTW: If you think toddlers are tough, wait about 10-12 years. Good luck.]
Thanks. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out what was going on there in the middle. And then I did. And smiled.