by Aaron Paulsen & Ross Trudeau

[.puz][PDF][Solution] Difficulty: 3/5

I write to you from a Manhattan just beginning to bestow the glory of spring on New Yorkers, so this’ll be a short post as Jessie and I are eager to hit the pavement. Beyond a mutual affection for al fresco sidewalk brunch and unexpected Art Deco building facade details, we both happen to just absolutely love *walking* big cities. Yesterday we logged more than nine miles, mostly around Bleecker street, Chelsea, and midtown, and spent much of it craning our necks like proper tourists to pick out the various gargoyles dotting the Chrysler Building, Woolworth’s, etc. And today shall be no different!

Many thanks to Tara, Matt, and Stefan for test solving today’s puzzle. Thoughts and spoilers from my cherished co-constuctor Aaron “Scoots” Paulsen after the jump!

Aaron: Ahoy there and Avast! Had a lot of fun constructing this with Ross, the Queequeg to my Ishmael (vice versa?), and it certainly feels like a very Ross+Aaron collab. By which I mean we’ve duomaniacally  found ourselves…I think more than once…diving down an impromptu whale-pun spiral on Ross and Parker’s Twitch stream. Though I think the spirit of competitive pun-upsmanship (name of our whaling vessel?) is much better served in a grid! Et voila. 

You can follow me on twitter @ScootsBaboo for bad jokes and Instagram @aaron_paulsen_ for my amateur art and foolish stories!

Ross: Happy solving, friends!