THEMELESS MONDAY: [ ACROSS LITE][ PDF]
PROGRAMS: [Across Lite] [Adobe Reader]
Little bit of inside baseball for those that don’t know or don’t care about the terminology in crosswordin’… That black square just to the right of the square numbered “9” is called a “cheater.” It doesn’t have any effect on the overall puzzle, it just shortens 1-Across by a single square and supposedly makes the constructor’s job easier. Hence “cheating.” Hardly anybody notices, unless they seem especially egregious. I’m not saying that’s the case with today’s puzzle, but aesthetically, that bunch of black squares in the cheater area kind of resembles an apostrophe to my eyes. And frankly, it’s kinda hideous. But I hope nobody else cares except for us weird crossword obsessives.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
1A threw me for a loop, but Googling it, I see that it’s very current.