Couple links for you: First up, a rather embarrassing article about yours truly ran on CNBC earlier this week. The best I can say about it is that Tabitha took a nice photo of me.

And a couple of you have been asking about how you can get your hands on the t-shirt I was wearing at the ACPT. Well, you’re in luck, and they’re back in stock. (Okay, there’s not a stock per se, but you can get your hands on one). Buy one for yourself, and another for the fan in your life.

Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.

Thanks to everybody who chipped in for this summer’s mini-drive. Truly appreciate it. If you gave and haven’t received your bonus puzzle, get in touch. Like I had promised before, the one randomly selected donor who will receive a custom puzzle for their very own is Joan McGovern. Congrats, Joan! And thanks once again everybody.

Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.

The summer drive is still rolling. Let me give you the quick pitch: the site remains free, please enjoy the puzzles guilt-free. I know many many of you do and for that, I am pleased. However, if you’ve been enjoying the work and you’ve got a couple of extra beans in your pocket, it does help with some administrative costs. Suggested donation of $20, please and thank you, through PayPal or Venmo preferred, but there’s always Zelle (to the email in the “get in touch” link coming up), checks, hell I’ll take crypto. Get in touch. Long form appeal is here.

Everyone who can contribute will get two bonus puzzles as a thank you: one themed, one themeless, both Sunday- (read: super-) sized. And one randomly selected donor will get a customized puzzle from me. Thanks to all who’ve been able to chip in thus far.

Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.

The summer drive is still rolling. Let me give you the quick pitch: the site remains free, please enjoy the puzzles guilt-free. I know many many of you do and for that, I am pleased. However, if you’ve been enjoying the work and you’ve got a couple of extra beans in your pocket, it does help with some administrative costs. Suggested donation of $20, please and thank you, through PayPal or Venmo preferred, but there’s always Zelle (to the email in the “get in touch” link coming up), checks, hell I’ll take crypto. Get in touch. Long form appeal is here.

Everyone who can contribute will get two bonus puzzles as a thank you: one themed, one themeless, both Sunday- (read: super-) sized. And one randomly selected donor will get a customized puzzle from me. Bump it up to $30 and I’ll throw in a year of Marching Bands! Thanks to all who’ve been able to chip in thus far.

Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.

Twenty-nine of the answers in this crossword are too long and won’t fit in the spaces provided. Each of these answers will either begin or end in the gray square immediately before or after it, or appear in both. When the puzzle is done, all the gray squares will have been used exactly once, and the letters in them (reading left to right, line by line) will spell out a quote by Stewart Francis.

Thanks to Alex Boisvert for helping with the digital version of the puzzle up above. (The Across Lite version might be a bit dodgy, but hey, it’s your life). Looks like Alex is a fan too, as he too made a puzzle based on Stewart’s one-liners.

The summer drive is still rolling. Let me give you the quick pitch: the site remains free, please enjoy the puzzles guilt-free. I know many many of you do and for that, I am pleased. However, if you’ve been enjoying the work and you’ve got a couple of extra beans in your pocket, it does help with some administrative costs. Suggested donation of $20, please and thank you, through PayPal or Venmo preferred, but there’s always Zelle (to the email in the “get in touch” link coming up), checks, hell I’ll take crypto. Get in touch. Long form appeal is here.

Everyone who can contribute will get two bonus puzzles as a thank you: one themed, one themeless, both Sunday- (read: super-) sized. And one randomly selected donor will get a customized puzzle from me. Thanks to all who’ve been able to chip in thus far.

Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.

The summer drive is still rolling. Let me give you the quick pitch: the site remains free, please enjoy the puzzles guilt-free. I know many many of you do and for that, I am pleased. However, if you’ve been enjoying the work and you’ve got a couple of extra beans in your pocket, it does help with some administrative costs. Suggested donation of $20, please and thank you, through PayPal or Venmo preferred, but there’s always Zelle (to the email in the “get in touch” link coming up), checks, hell I’ll take crypto. Get in touch. Long form appeal is here.

Everyone who can contribute will get two bonus puzzles as a thank you: one themed, one themeless, both Sunday- (read: super-) sized. And one randomly selected donor will get a customized puzzle from me. Bump it up to $30 and I’ll throw in a year of Marching Bands! Thanks to all who’ve been able to chip in thus far.

Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.

The summer drive is still rolling. Let me give you the quick pitch: the site remains free, please enjoy the puzzles guilt-free. I know many many of you do and for that, I am pleased. However, if you’ve been enjoying the work and you’ve got a couple of extra beans in your pocket, it does help with some administrative costs. Suggested donation of $20, please and thank you, through PayPal or Venmo preferred, but there’s always Zelle (to the email in the “get in touch” link coming up), checks, hell I’ll take crypto. Get in touch. Long form appeal is here.

Everyone who can contribute will get two bonus puzzles as a thank you: one themed, one themeless, both Sunday- (read: super-) sized. And one randomly selected donor will get a customized puzzle from me. Thanks to all who’ve been able to chip in thus far.

Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.

Gentle reminder that the annual summer drive starts again, uh, today. It bears repeating that the crosswords on this site are free. Solve ’em, get your friends to solve ’em. That’s what they’re there for. Stop reading this now, dammit, and come back after you’ve solve the puzzle up above. Okay. So yeah, free. However, there are some housekeeping bills that keep the lights on, and therefore, these modest drives. Those familiar to the program (special shout out to all the mad and bad folks who’ve been there since day one back in 2008!) know the drill: if and only if you’ve been enjoying the puzzles these last couple of months, and if and only if you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket, please consider a couple throwing a couple of beans in the old tip jar. Suggested donation of $20, please and thank you, through PayPal or Venmo preferred, but there’s always Zelle (to the email in the “get in touch” link coming up), checks, hell I’ll take crypto. Get in touch.

As a thank you, everyone who can chip in will get two bonus puzzles. One themeless, one themed, both Sunday-sized. Oh, and why not super size it? Throw in another $10 and I’ll put you on the latest Marching Bands mailing list.

So let’s repeat, twice weekly, you get free puzzles from your favorite constructor with a crazy beard. Enjoy them, guilt-free. Sharing is caring and all of that. But once again, a small donation does help keep things choogling. Here’s a reminder that the summer drive is a quickie: it ends on July 6th, wherein I’ll pick one name out of a hat and I’ll make them a custom puzzle either for themselves, a loved one, or a mortal enemy. So thanks again for all who can chip in.

Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.

Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.

Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.