by Sally Hoelscher, Quiara Vasquez, & Ross Trudeau

[.puz][PDF][Solution] 👶🏼🧓🏾 Difficulty: 4/5

Today’s puzzle was co-authored by two people whose websites I regularly visit. And you should too!

Sally, crossworld’s most congenial Iowan (in a strong field), writes a daily review of the USA Today crossword on her Sally’s Take blog. And Quiara, crossworld’s most reliably scrabbly constructor, maintains an indie crossword site of her own, QVXwords.

I’d like to get right to this week’s puzzle, which was a blast to put together. Thoughts and spoilers after the jump. Thanks to Wouter for test solving!

Just a quick N.B. from me (Ross):. We subdivided the fill and cluing of this puzzle to correspond to the GENERATION we most closely identify with: Sally in the NW, Quiara in the NE, and yours truly in the center south.

Sally: I got involved with this puzzle by responding to a tweet looking for a constructor of a certain generation. In a characteristically-Generation X move, the first thing I did was look up the generational guidelines to make sure I really fit the definition. Born in 1965, I’m on the cusp of Generation X (1965-1980 according to some sources) and the Baby Boomer Generation. Because of the grid constraints, this puzzle was a fun challenge, requiring many iterations to discover the best fill. It was interesting try to fill my corner of the grid from a Generation X-perspective. What does that even mean? I finally realized it was my default perspective! Thanks to Ross and Quiara for the opportunity to collaborate! If you’re ever in need of a Generation X perspective, let me know!

Happy solving, friends!