ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Big ups to Tyler Hinman for pointing out one of the entries in the above puzzle. If you aren't already following Mr. Five Peat himself on Twitter, you'd better get on that posthaste. You may just learn a thing or two about speed solving.
Speaking of speed solving, it's official: I've come out of retirement. I'm, ahem, back, baby! I'm like the Brett Favre of the crossword world, except, I uh, haven't won anything. Wait, no, I came in second in the E division back in 2000, so I got some cheap-ass trophy around here somewhere. Yeah, big frigging whoop. Fine, let the record show: it's been four years since I came in the completely improbable slot of 123 (out of 498) at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
A lot has happened since. Mainly, I've been making puzzles for these tournaments instead of competing in them. But, then again, I've been solving substantially more puzzles thanks to Alex Boisvert's brilliant and free (with a suggested donation) program Crossword Butler. Couple things going against me, though: I'm over the hill now, and the playing field has suddenly sprouted up Speed Solving Terminators like Dan Feyer and Howard Barkin. So once again, I'll be aiming for that upper middle quarter-ish section.
Where am I competing you might ask? Lollapuzzoola. Three weeks away, folks. Get psyched. Get ready. Noo Yawk Sittay, here I come!
More stories about my training to come later. Watch this site.
As always, I would like to remind you that if you enjoyed the puzzles from this past month, a small donation of $10, $20, or even $50 will help the site chug along smoothly. As a means of saying thank you, I will send a t-shirt of your choice from the Gift Shoppe to one randomly selected donor. Thanks again.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
Brendan Emmett Quigley creates custom-made puzzles for all occasions: birthdays and bar mitzvahs, anniversaries and retirements. You name it. Need a puzzle for your website or your publication? He can do that, too.
Brendan's custom work clients have included The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, BeerAdvocate, Boston Magazine, De Beers, The Decemberists, ESPN, The Improper Bostonian, Lollapuzzoola, McSweeney's, Phish, Reflexive, The Smithsonian Magazine, St. Martin's Press, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and Andrew Weil.
Call (617) 2-999-BEQ or click 
