CROSSWORD #128

ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ FIREPLACES] 
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]

PROGRAM: [Java]

PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ FIREPLACES]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]

There was a handful of perceptive solvers out there who came across my unannounced hidden message in Monday's puzzle (click here if you wish to look for it before I just give it all away). I was trying to go with a subliminal message, and perhaps it was just a little too subliminal, or entirely lost altogether. Damn it! Note to self: you might want to announce hidden messages next time

Or, make the hidden message sexier. Subliminal lascivious messages. I shoulda known that one too. I've been forced by Liz into watching "Mad Men" too. Peggy knows sex sells, even if Don doesn't buy it. Note to self #2: put more "sex" in the puzzle next time.

So anyway, running along the middle of Monday's puzzle in consecutive entries (37-, 38-, and 39-Across) read the message: TIP / IF YOU CAN / PLEASE. A couple others felt that two other entries ANYTIME (33-Across) and IT'S EASY (57-Across) were additional come-ons. Not intentionally, but we'll take it. Tip of the hat to Charles Hull for being the first to discover the message (and to follow through on the request).

So, with that being said, if you liked the puzzles this month, and you have a little bit of extra money, please consider a tip donation ($10, $20, or $30). Like I have said before, I will never charge for the puzzles, ever. But there are costs to keeping this running smoothly. Any contribution helps.

As an added thank you, I will hide the first and last names of one randomly selected donor in a puzzle next week. Just like I hid the message Monday. So if you want to make my life a living hell, and your name is Zbigniew Brzezinski, you know what to do.

Share the puzzle. (Oh, BTW. After messing around with the idea for this one, and eventually settling on this gimmick, I realized it was similar to some work that La Liz Gorski does time and again. So here it is, my stab at a Gorski-esque puzzle, months after I said I'd do it. So there.) New one on Friday. (But if you wanna help me make it, go on Twitter, now.)