Graeme's Puzzles

  Did someone say Arbor Day? Oh, they were saying Labor Day? And that was days ago? Well, okay. There goes my introduction. Here's a fun little grid with a tree in the middle and some Gizmo  Graeme charm. Thanks to Ben Walker and the illustrious  Sam "Frisco" Seventeen  for testsolving. Enjoy! New Gizmo coming soon. Arbor Lang Syne, Graeme "Gizmo" Thwomp Created using crossword creator by Amuse Labs

  What kind of blogger would I be if I posted one mediocre puzzle and dipped? I can at least post two. Warning: contains a word that shows up in Dictionary.com but doesn't have an actual definition so I'm not sure why it was flagged with 50 on STWL, a super amount of dupes, a few pitiful attempts at question mark clues, the surname of a "Survivor" contestant, the game that killed Apollo, foreign languages aplenty, young ski prodigies, Bingo Hand Job, TikTok trends from months ago, a clue featuring Bob Weisz, green eggs erasure, and Shitterton. Enjoy, Graeme "Gizmo" Thwomp Created by Graeme Thwomp using crossword maker by Amuse Labs

 Hello, my name is Graeme. You most likely know me as Gizmo Thwomp. One year ago today, I took on that mantle and started publishing satirical crosswords, mostly of a Something Different variety. I've been a puzzler since I was a young child. I have fond memories of solving the puzzles in my local newspaper, from the Jumble to the not-very-good crosswords. I stayed up for hours scrolling through /dev/joe's MIT Mystery Hunt Index. I distinctly remember searching "2017 mystery hunt blog" every day after it ended, hoping for a blog that linked to an archived site so I could start admiring the puzzles and solutions myself. I was 10. When I was 12, I submitted a puzzle to the New York Times. It was an 80-something word themeless. I got a personal email back from Will Shortz, praising a few aspects of my puzzle and kindly explaining the issues with its publication. After that, I didn't make any crosswords (although I still made many puzzles and puzzle hunts for family b...