Crossword #1: Gourmet Freestyle
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 birthdays and so on).
When I was 15, I made a blog called Gizmo's Puzzles. I posted a "freestyle" grid I had made in Qxw and sent the link to my puzzle hunting group for their amusement. It was fun. I made another in the same day, then another the next day, and although the gaps between them became longer I felt like I was getting better and better.
The support, love, and attention for the Gizmo blog has been frankly incredible. I never dreamed when I started that my puzzles would be solved in Twitch streams, that I would be able to collaborate with names I only knew from the Crossword Fiend blog, that my clue would make a puzzle passed out at ACPT totally unreadable. All this, as a 16-year-old kid still trying to navigate through high school, who most people would only associate with crosswords because I'm the only one with the New York Times subscription doing them in class.
My time as Gizmo Thwomp is far from over, but Gizmo has his Graeme just as Ettu has his [REDACTED]. I have things far from figured out, but I've decided I want to dip my toe into "real" crosswords again. I'll be posting on this blog both themed and themeless ("freestyle") puzzles.
I hope that you'll provide me the support, criticism, and advice I need to grow as a constructor and a person. I'd like to pave a path to where I can go to events, make friends, and seek publication. Every moment of laughter, frustration, or realization you've had with a Gizmo puzzle means the world for me. I hope, that as both Gizmo and Graeme, I can continue to make funny, frustrating, and fun puzzles.
Thank you,
Graeme "Gizmo" Thwomp
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