On this month of Bastille Day, I have la langue française on my mind as we make a “French Exit” together. I spent three years living in Paris in my 20’s and it was an amazing experience—I still miss a well-made butter croissant to this day. The British phrase “French exit” is always funny to me because the French have a similar phrase for ghosting a party early, except it throws the attribution back across the Channel: “filer à l’anglaise”!
For this puzzle, there’s an extra element that might not be immediately obvious when solving through .puz, so take a look at the solution pdf below afterwards. Enjoy!
Welcome to Pride month with a dragtastic Sunday-sized puzzle that commands you to “RuVeal Yourselves!” in collaboration with rising star Chandi Deitmer. She brought an amazing theme concept, and I’m excited about what we put together with our combined Drag Race fan knowledge. You can find Chandi’s puzzles at the Atlantic, the Inkubator, and also other exciting places soon!
In other crossworld news, the USA Today is releasing a set of pride-themed puzzles this month, and mine is available now on this 1st of June! Download the USA Today crossword app for best results, and hope you enjoy double the fun today.
Prepare yourself for another collaboration, this time with the illustrious Brooke Husic of xwords by a ladee (andmuchmore), and a theme with some “Big Changes” for you to unravel! And big thanks to Steve Mossberg of Square Pursuit for a test solve on this one as well. Third person blurb incoming…
Brooke thought of a very “big” theme idea, and spent some time with Enrique finding theme answers where the meaning totally changes. They gridded and clued the puzzle together, and arrived at something they’re pretty proud of. Brooke worked her magic on much of the cluing, and loves the results for 35A, 64A, 3D, and 37D in particular. Enrique very much agrees with those. They absolutely enjoy working together and have more puzzles/projects in the pipeline, so keep your eyes peeled!
We’re getting into the wet season with April, so what better time to check if we’re feeling “Right As Rain” or not? I love that this gives me a chance to do vertical symmetry for the first time in this series, and I hope you enjoy how that works with this puzzle’s theme!
We’re at the tail end of winter, but I can relate to all the “Late Risers” out there still hiding out in the warmth under the covers—so here’s a tricky Thursday-grade puzzle for you all. Solve it first thing in the morning or whenever you have a spare moment, and I hope you enjoy the theme!
It’s time to “Hear, Hear!” the good news about a puzzle collab with the illustrious Matthew Stock. I suggested this theme idea knowing he’d deliver great theme material, and I think we ended up with a fun final product. He’s also been continuing an impressive run of crosswords at various venues, including the fresh USA Today, where he happens to have a puzzle up on this very day! Go check it out.
Some words from Matthew: Thrilled to be back on Datalexic, and with a collaboration no less! I’ve always admired Enrique’s work, so it was a real treat to team up on this puzzle. My favorite themers are 17- and 46-Across, and my favorite clues are 20-Across and 5-Down (both Enrique’s, I’m pretty sure). Hope you enjoy!
To start off the new year fresh, it’s time to get “Iced Under” and cool off! Hope you enjoy this tricky, oddly sized puzzle. It’s best solved on paper if possible, and when you’re done be sure to check out the solution pdf too.
A couple updates: The Mexican Midis pack was a success, collecting over $500 in donations toward a campaign supporting pandemic relief for migrant farmworkers! I’m now releasing the pack freely, so if you didn’t get a chance to pick it up yet, here’s the zip file.
As for themed midis going forward, I’m happy to have shared a bunch in 2020, ranging from simple three-part concepts to a multi-layered meta. To help keep this crossword series sustainable for me, though, I’ve decided to scale back this year to just the monthly full-size puzzle. But midi fans can rest easy—they might still show up in the occasional puzzle pack down the line.
Update: Scroll to the bottom of this post for an explanation of the meta answer!
In celebration of a year of puzzles at Datalexic, and also of this being the 25th puzzle to appear on the site, here’s a meta midi that envisions a “Royal Screwup” scenario! Send the correct answer to [email protected] to be entered in a raffle for a 1-year subscription to the AVCX, Inkubator, or Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest, for you or someone you think would enjoy it.
For those new to meta crosswords, please read this gentle intro by Matt Gaffney first, and if you find yourself stumped feel free to use the internet and/or e-mail me for a hint to the meta. Answers are due by Sunday night (12/20), and I’ll announce the winner on twitter the next day. Here are your instructions:
The meta answer to this puzzle is the last name of an actress who played a superhero on film.
Thanks to Matthew Stock for test solving an initial draft of this, and to my partner Vince (who has no meta experience) for verifying the “gettability” of the meta!
To find the meta answer, we need to look at the crossword’s central revealer PRINCESS CUT as well as the starred answers TINA, ARIE, ELLE, and MONA. The trick is that each of these answers has a letter “cut” from the name of a Disney princess, to make the name of another notable woman:
- A is cut from TIANA of “The Princess and the Frog” to make TINA
- L is cut from ARIEL of “The Little Mermaid” to make ARIE
- B is cut from BELLE of “Beauty and the Beast” to make ELLE
- A is cut from MOANA of “Moana” to make MONA
In order, the cut letters spell out the meta answer Jessica ALBA, who played the superhero Invisible Woman in two “Fantastic Four” films.
“The Language Of Film” is universal, right? So said the reel before each movie started rolling at the old UC Theater in Berkeley back in the day. I hope this slightly tricky puzzle brings you the satisfaction of watching a Hitchcock double feature in a velvety chair with a big tub of popcorn (extra butter). Enjoy!
We’re covering “Base Ten” notation in today’s themed midi, but don’t worry, no complicated math needed to solve this one! Hope you enjoy the wordplay in this silly breather after a very stressful start to November. Please stay resilient and continue practicing self care when you can… and what more delightful way than by solving crossword puzzles?