This is no ordinary crossword post!!! It's my contribution to the Tabula Rasa project spearheaded by the inimitable [government name redacted], known around crossword parts as meatdaddy69420. Part of their explanation is below, but honestly I think you should click on over to their blog and read their full write-up. It's only a few paragraphs, you can handle it! GO. Did you go? Are you back? Wasn't that a great post?! Ok so then as long as you're not a liar, you can skip the quoted section.
One of my favorite things about crossword puzzles is seeing the many ways that different constructors will clue a single word - for just a moment, you get to peer inside the mind of someone else and at the expense of sounding cheesy, it's a lovely, intimate moment. Not only that, but I also frequently find myself thinking "man, I wish I would have thought of that cluing angle!" and it's a testament to the diverse skill sets and talent in our lil' community. The main goal of Tabula Rasa was to pick everyone's brains by sending them a silly grid with fun fill and words with a handful of different cluing angles. I also wanted to get new constructors involved - building your own grid for the first time is not only intimidating, but can also be cost prohibitive during *gestures at world events*. I wanted this to be an approachable opportunity for new constructors to get their foot in the door, and I'm very pleased to say that I think it was successful in that. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I just hope everyone had a lot of fun doing this and I'm really grateful for everyone's enthusiasm about the project! There were 19 (!!) puzzles that came out of the Tabula Rasa project, all using the fabulous grid created by meatdaddy, and each clued by the individual contributors, who have a range of experience levels, ages, styles, genders, ethnicities, interests, and approaches to crossword puzzles generally. Some folks, like me, are posting their puzzles on their blogs; for a number of others, meatdaddy is hosting the puzzles on their site. Many of those ones are by new or even first-time cluers, which is rad. I guess strictly speaking you can only "solve" one of these 19 puzzles (and it doesn't have to be mine!). But that's ok, because the point here is to look at all the clues. I've looked at the 9-ish puzzles that are online so far at the time of posting and it's been the most fun I've had in ages. I especially loved looking at the ones on meatdaddy's site by folks who don't have their own blogs and have less or no construction experience. They are SO GOOD!! As for my version of this puzzle, I adored the grid meat put together, and I had an absolute blast cluing it. I think the result is a super-fun, medium-difficulty, fairly cheeky themeless. Puz and .puz after the jump. Enjoy!
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