themeless no. 39

long time no see!

i made this puzzle to help alex test some software (is software even the word for it? don't fact check me on this) and now i'm posting it here so more people can solve it! i hope it's fun and breezy. 

since this wasn't a puzzle built for the blog, this post is more a "proof of life" than anything—i know i keep saying this and have little to show for it, but i'm always trying to find my way back here. with me, the perfect is often the enemy of the done, which prevents me from posting here as often as i would like. i'm still trying to be better about this, and you'll just have to believe me that i'm a lot less insane about it than i used to be. eventually i will get 100% better about it, but in the meantime just know that this blog will never be dead or defunct. 

dribs and drabs:

• the crosstina zine vol. 2 is imminent-ish, for real this time. here's a teaser image. i'm hoping to have it ready by mid-late september.
• the atlantic games hub is now on instagram! i would be honored if you gave us (aka me lol) a follow, and let me know what kind of content you want to see! 
• when i'm not here i do have puzzles elsewhere! i had one at defector in may that i'm really pleased with and would love for you to solve 

anyways, here's a puzzle. alex also made me a solver for the blog that has something we're calling kelsey mode! what does that mean? i guess you'll see! thank you alex! (if you hate it, you can always toggle it off) (i think) (jk you can't!) (you might need to hard refresh for it to work) (check out his patreon while you're at it!)

cheers!

themeless no. 38

some things i've been thinking about (because this is my blog and i can say what i want before i tell you about the crossword i made):

• the interview where alysa liu says, "i love struggling, actually, it makes me feel alive". trying to get on this wavelength, honestly!
• this tweet of perfect photos of the only man i've ever loved, george harrison
• i asked someone if he knew where i could get a chicago common brick, because i've always liked them and wanted one, just to have in my home. he offered me one of his own, and left it on his stoop for me to pick up. it made me so happy, i love it so much.
• i saw nirvanna the band the show the movie—i can't think of the words to describe it but it's really a triumph and has a lot of heart, and you should see it if you can! it's so incredibly cool that we have it because of state-funded art programs.
• midnight sun by zara larsson 
• my horoscope app usually feels like its negging me, but the other day it said "it's weather, not climate" as a version of "this too shall pass" and i was like wow that's good i should write that down
• i had a work trip last month, and we had a long conversation about sincerity & earnestness, and it all boiled down to the whole idea of "don't kill that part of you that's cringe, kill the part that cringes," and i'm trying to work on that.
• i turned 33 last month, which is amazing. i had a perfect day with my favorite person (myself). getting older is great, and i love it, and i have no concept of what 33 is supposed to be or feel like or what i'm supposed to do with it, which is very freeing; it's harder to micromanage yourself into misery in the pursuit of something this way (i hope)! life is harder than ever, but i am also the happiest i've ever been.
• i've been trying to enjoy ordinary days, in which i am present and calm and able to give thanks for ordinary days. 
• 
  
  
  
  

anyways, here's a crossword that i made today to distract myself during a hockey game THAT DID NOT GO THE WAY I HAD HOPED. the winter olympics are dead; long live the winter olympics. love you, be safe.

themeless no. 37

sometimes a 15-letter entry jumps out at you, and the urge to put it in a puzzle can't be silenced. i wouldn't say this is my best work, but it is my work, and i think it's fun. 

volume two of the zine is definitely underway, but i'm taking my time with it! i had really hoped to at least officially announce it this month, but it will probably be closer to the end of the year. here's a sneak peek! 

on a more serious note— if you've ever solved a puzzle on this blog, you know that my heart, my soul, and my love has always belonged to the city of chicago. as you've probably heard, ice and the national guard have been bearing down here lately. as i make this puzzle, men in fatigues are swarming my neighborhood and installing plate scanners. people in my neighborhood have been battered, abducted, and worse. children are afraid to go to school; their parents are afraid to pick them up. they show up at doctors offices and bus stops. people are being dragged out of cars and detained for daring to look nervous when a man in a mask with an semi-automatic rifle knocks on their window. they're descending on apartment buildings from blackhawk helicopters in the middle of the night and zip-tieing crying children. they're using chemical weapons in grocery store parking lots. if this isn't homegrown, domestic terrorism, i don't know what is. it is completely arbitrary that any of us are safe and happy in this life, and so many of us are not. if you can, please consider donating to ICIRR (or a local org. that is fighting to protect your friends and neighbors); i would appreciate it. 

that's all i've got for now. if you download the file, i'd suggest reading this blog post and using the new crossword nexus solver!

APPLET FOR MOBILE SOLVERS | PUZ DOWNLOAD | JPZ DOWNLOAD

if you're solving on a browser, keep reading!

themeless no. 36 feat. erik agard

 

as i'm sitting here to write the intro for this blog post, i find myself with both too much and... nothing to say, which is... i can't unpack all of that right now. so here—i'll shut up and keep it simple. below the cut is a themeless puzzle; it's a 21x; it was made by me and erik; we hope you like it. 

OKAY WAIT— i will say that i like the poster. making movie posters doesn't really move me like it used to, and i was so excited and energized by this puzzle that i felt it needed something wholly unique. i hope you like the poster, too. but that's secondary. i hope you LOVE the puzzle, and it's okay if you like the poster.

and now a word from my co-conspirator:

thank you to kelsey for having me back on the blog! enjoy! 🙇🏻‍♂️

.jpz | nexus solver | full screen solve | (if you really need a pdf i will make one i guess just ask)

p.s. there will be a zine vol. 2 this fall 

crowstina aquafina: rows garden (feat. alex boisvert)

happy new year's eve eve! i said i wasn't going to rush and put out a puzzle for the sake of putting out a puzzle (something i'm really, truly, finally leaving in 2024 is weird notions about my own productivity! comparing yourself to other people is a thief of joy!), and i was true to that! alex came to me a few weeks ago and asked if i wanted to do a puzzle, and the timing worked out! a rows garden puts up a bit of a fight in construction—it's a lot of killing your darlings, and finding new darlings, and having a lot of difficult conversations with yourself about words like ANAEROBIC. but we did it! it's here! just under the wire! we hope you like it.

in alex's words—happy new year everyone!

(brevity is the soul of wit)

and don't worry, we had it test solved. any lingering issues are actually 100% kate's fault.

a while back, i declared that i had discovered the meaning of life, and that it's three relatively simple things: 

1. wearing sunscreen
2. finding/creating/multiplying joy
3. a little bit of mischief  

i stand by that, but want to add one other thing—hell is not other people! i'll be taking that with me into 2025, and hope you are all able to take forward things that serve you and leave behind things that don't. onwards and upwards! 

NOW, WHERE SOLVING THE PUZZLE IS INVOLVED: YOU HAVE SOME OPTIONS!

FULLSCREEN LINK [HERE] or EMBEDDED SOLVER below the jump!

some stuff

a mere FRACTION of all the amazing photos i was sent of the zine out in the world

this may be my fifth attempt to write a post-mortem about the zine. each time i've gotten through maybe about half of what i wanted to say, read it back to myself, and realized that i was just floundering. the thing is this: i don't think i can put words to how much the response to the zine meant, means, and will continue to mean to me. to put some numbers to my speechlessness, i originally thought, "40 copies seems like a generous estimate". at the end of the day, i wound up sending more than 150. they went everywhere, from across the street, to hawaii, alaska, and even a couple to australia. i heard from high school friends, girls from my sorority, and also connected with solvers i'd never been introduced to before. so many people left warm, earnest, exceedingly kind, and moving messages, and each one of them is now permanently etched into my brain (at least temporarily overwriting my constant thought of 'what if everyone actually hates me and doesn't care if i live or die?'). i was moved to tears by the outpouring of support and love—i was so scared to share this project, in fear that it would not be well-received and, instead, the very opposite happened. i'm honestly still dazed by the whole thing.

so thank you, thank you, thank you. just like anyone, i get lonely and, oftentimes, it's not a great situation when it's just me, alone, with what's going on in my head. i can very confidently say that the warmth i am still feeling from this project has really buoyed my heart in a lasting way. i can't believe i'm tearing up AGAIN as i type this—embarrassing! thank you.

ideally, i would have capped this post off with a puzzle, but it's just not in the cards. i didn't want to force myself to make something just to say i did it when this post had a very clear intent. i may get another puzzle up before the end of the year, but i might not! i'm (for once in my life) not going to worry about it (too much). if i don't see you, have a safe and happy holiday season; wear your sunblock; tell your people that you love them. 

xoxo

crosstina aqua-zine-a, vol. 1

i posted my first crosstina puzzle on october 31, 2021—a bamboozling three years ago. i'm not really sure where the time has gone, both in terms of crosswords or just my regular, degular life. i knew that i wanted to celebrate the occasion of this passion project turning into a threenager, and that i wanted to do it with more than a regular puzzle. (i did briefly consider a rows garden, but that was easier said than done) (which is not to say that this was easy either lmao). i've spent a lot of time thinking about what it means that crosswords are essentially ephemera, and i decided i wanted to create something with more permanence—something that was visual and tactile. so what i did was make a crosstina zine—a crosstina aqua-zine-a, if you will. with some art, some personal thoughts, some personal photos, and 14 midi puzzles. i hope you like it, but it's okay if you don't! it's very personal, and i'm very proud of it.

i want to thank kate, for listening to all of my unhinged ideas (always, but especially with this), alex for some tech support, and will nediger for test-solving. there are extended thanks, including one for you—yes, you!—within.

if you would like to indulge me* ** and receive an actual, physical copy of the 20-page zine in the mail, please fill out the google form here: google form

* i really, truly, genuinely want to send these to anyone who wants them. *extremely sabrina carpenter voice* please, please, please take me up on this

** i bought cute stamps and everything please i'm begging 

you can also solve the puzzles online, in acrosslite/xword/the nexus solver by downloading them here: zip file download

additionally, you can download the PDF of the zine, including the essays and accompanying foofaraw here: pdf download (answer key)

thank you all so much for everything, from the bottom of my heart.

xoxo