This week’s puzzle is another affirmation of distance community building. I made it with the help of 100 attendees at the second of two How to Make a Crossword sessions. We got it all done (minus the clues) in about 15 minutes. But before I talk about the puzz, a related human interest aside:
Jessie and I had a surprisingly engaging virtual dinner date last night. Not that we didn’t fully expect our two guests–relative strangers when dinner began–to be scintillating conversationalists. But because we’re not overly optimistic about the possibilities for genuine community and relationship building in a post-eye contact world.
We stand corrected. Dinner lasted almost four hours, and we feel like we’ve made a genuine human connection that delivered many of the same mental cookies on offer in an IRL double date.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The revealer for today’s puzzle is MIND IN THE GUTTER (15) [What one prone to dirty thoughts has, and what you might need to solve this puzzle].
It’s a classic parse-some-genre-specific-words differently puzz. A tried-and-true formula that will never not work for me as long as the revealer is fun and the wackily-clued themers not *too* wacky. ROLLING PIN [Result of finishing half a split?] is my favorite clue-answer pair.
Stay safe, everyone. Much love.
-Ross