puzzle one hundred: bob dole can eat my pant

we made it to 100 puzzles!!!!! that's like 10 but zero-er!

puzzle ninety nine: themed (not, that is!)

i finally managed to break the record for fewest themes in a 15x15 puzzle!

puzzle ninety eight: cash deposit

oops don't accidentally pay me for this puzzle!! haha how to set up venmo

puzzle ninety seven: having a lit time

this puzzle makes me feel 23-across!

puzzle ninety six: themeless, i think. i forget

i'm not gone yet! but this is so long! (see below for grid version)

puzzle ninety five: i have nothing to say

was not able to finish this puzzle on time but had to put it up anyway! #grindlife

puzzle ninety four: follow directions!

make sure to follow the directions closely! there are four of them.

puzzle ninety three: times-worthy

i sent this puzzle to the new york times and to the other times, and both of them rejected it. their loss!

puzzle ninety two: i'm so excited, queen!

this puzzle is going to make you go [quip]!

puzzle ninety one: googoo gaga - mason prendergast guest puzzle

guest puzzle from mason prendergast, who is now the youngest constructor ever! mason is only five months old! eat your heart out, guinness!

puzzle ninety - poppin' fresh

this mini is full and poppin' with all my favorite, freshest entries! 

puzzle eighty nine: hubba hubba

hubba hubba, it's a puzzle!

puzzle eighty eight - right on target

a nice and easy mini puzzle for you take aim at!

puzzle eighty seven - lights, camera, re-action - craig etui guest puzzle

after yesterday's puzzle, my brother craig (who i hate so much) sent me this puzzle and threatened to testify against me in my upcoming trial (even though i paid him off specifically not to do so) if i didn't run it today.

puzzle eighty six - lights, camera, re-action

thanks to will nediger for the inspiration! it was hard finding enough theme answers but i did it!

puzzle eighty five - behaving recklessly

paying tribute to brooke husic with the diagonal symmetry! here's the inspiration (that's crossword slang for "stealing the grid shape"). also, been working on my wordlist and curating juicy seed entries, and it really shows here! if only there was a way i could share the fruits of my labors! 🤔🤔🤔🤔

puzzle eighty four - themeless mini - paul bufano guest puzzle

guest puzzle today! more about the construction below!

I'm Paul Bufano!

Hi, I’m Paul Bufano and I’ve been a solver for years. I have never legally constructed for money. Until now. (Thanks for the $450, Et Tu!) This grid started as an idea and I’m excited to see it blossom into a small chicken, laying its eggs of knowledge into the minds of many. However, this puzzle did not merely appear from the ashes like a grave apparition, it was forged from steel and grit, and is a testament to the bucolic man.

I knew in my heart of hearts that this grid had to be 4 squares wide and 4 squares tall. I called Will Shortz to ask if he could make an exception to his 15 by 15 rule, to which he responded “It doesn't tickle me”.

I started this grid in Microsoft Excel. Initially I had everything typed out in one cell, before realizing it would be more effective to make use of the entire grid in the spreadsheet.

First draft of the puzzle

Jeff Chen and I had a deep discussion about the appropriate amount of boxes in a 4 by 4 grid. He argued that the “16% black squares” rule should stay in place, whereas I debated the possibility of utilizing four blocks (finding myself daunted by the grid size already). After trying several grid patterns with me and solidifying the black square placement, Jeff graciously allowed me to pay $200 for his word list and sent me on my way.

The decided block pattern

Rejected block patterns:

Oops! Unchecked square.

Too evocative.

Back-up plan.

Now onto the filling. I continued working on grid paper to free-write some potential fill ideas. Eventually, I was able to come up with this improvised grid:

I made sure to direct my focus to add sparkly entries into my grid. For example, AREA is a unit of measurement, whereas QAT is a word with a Q. There were some compromises in the fill, but I believed any trade-off could be redeemed with a clue.

After rigorous test-solving by a group of trained individuals, I was shot down like a kamikaze pilot in the Great War. The dupe AREA and AREA seemed to rub solvers the wrong way. After considering the possible Natick, I looked for other dupes in the grid. There may have been many others I was unawares of!

A part of me was wondering whether ARE and AREA were even too similar. I didn’t want to have to scrap my days of work, to pare my grid like some kind of ape. I debated cluing AREA as the partial “ARE A”, but after a lengthy personal phone call with my lawyers, I decided against it. In the words of Will Shortz: “Any dupe is a CLOM (crossword liability, omit mercilessly)”.

I added CLOM to my word list. [Sidenote: potential theme with CLAM? Now That's A POW.]

I devised an algorithm using machine learning, in which I googled onelook.com. The plan was to scrape Jeff’s word list and determine which words were suitable for the standard crossword puzzle. From there, I would need to calculate the clue ratio and BRAM score of each entry, and then using that, I would look over each entry in the word list in isolation and see which ones I liked. OneLook was imperative to this process.

Who knew constructing was such hard work!

After 1000s of OneLook searches, I was able to find entries that match the criteria I was trying to meet: solver-friendly and also fits inside of a grid and also clue ratio of 3. For example: POET, POEM, etc.

A work in progress!

I was at the home stretch, with my words carefully chosen and the grid determined. Then it was just trial and error, filling and unfilling and refilling and reunfilling, all while flipping through the collection of encyclopaedias sprawled on my desk/floor/etc. Then: huzzah! The grid was finished.

The completed grid

Crosswords are like golf: the higher the numbers the better

In stupefied glory, I landed on the carefully-chosen entries I have right now. Now onto the clues: each entry was clued with a deeper respect that connects with myself and hopefully solvers after hours of delicate research.

ALA clued as [Pie ___ mode]. 

AAA clued as [Small battery size]. 

LAVA clued as [something obscure].

Data for the developers

If new constructors can take away one lesson from all of this, it's that constructing is easier than you think. I think I read maybe once that perhaps Patrick Berry probably takes a full year to fill a standard 15 by 15 puzzle. 

puzzle eighty three - low word count themeless

i've been experimenting with low word count themeless grids lately, and I finally managed to crack thirty words in a 15x15 grid! it's all thanks to patrick berry's sage advice: "when choosing between adding dodgy entries and adding cheaters, always go for the cheaters." great advice!

puzzle eighty two - eef freef

my lawyers have confirmed that nothing in this puzzle is a copyright infringement! 

puzzle eighty one - cue laugh track

bonus points for solving this while listening to a ten hour loop of your favorite laugh track, hahahaha!

puzzle eighty - BREAKING

breaking: something very important has just gone down!

puzzle seventy nine - the real mccoy

this puzzle was inspired by tom mccoy's talk about linguistics in crosswords! i don't know what that means, but it's provocative! also this puzzle is almost consonantless!

puzzle seventy eight - oops! all dupes - will eisenberg guest puzzle

guest puzzle from will eisenberg, who says: "i was using the clue deduper when my house was struck by lightning. hopefully it's still solvable!" 

puzzle seventy seven - tight connections

making some very tight connections today! 

puzzle seventy six - a 4d experience

more fun, lawyer approved grid art today that i don't have to pay royalties to paolo pasco for! and even better, an immersive, 4d experience from start to finish! 

puzzle seventy five - pascos

thirteen of them! check and mate, paolo! (also the name comes from paolo pasco of notsidsgrids.com, who is known for using those shapes! when contacted for permission to use his name for this puzzle, he didn't respond.)

puzzle seventy four - portrait mode

fun fact: you can make the finished grid your iphone background! it fits perfectly!

puzzle seventy three - getting in shape

this puzzle was shaping up to be a nice midi, but then shape happened!

puzzle seventy two - digital art

let's get digital, digital! (but not in the same way that let's get digital got digital!)

puzzle seventy one - switch it up

this puzzle can't be displayed in puzzle me! but there is a puz file, so use this link!

puzzle seventy - word ladder

it's both a word ladder and a tribute puzzle to someone who really loves word ladders!

puzzle sixty nine - normal themeless

hey guys! posting a nice, normal themeless today! no gimmicks, no crazy clues, no weird fill! enjoy!

puzzle sixty eight - say

after say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, and other puzzles, it's time for just say!

puzzle sixty seven - what?

what?

puzzle sixty six - quote puzzle

i thought about making a joke here, but between one across and seven across, you can make your own joke! bonus points if you make a quote puzzle with that joke! bonus bonus points if it is funnier than this puzzle! (warning: it will be very hard to be funnier than the quote in this puzzle, but that doesn't mean you can't try!)

puzzle sixty five - damn

blast from the past! by which i mean [googles] only four years ago...damn, that felt so much longer ago :-(

puzzle sixty four - would not be surprised if you DNFed immediately on this one

got all my letters back, and i'm making up for the recent lack of letters today!

puzzle sixty three - threedoku

people liked the sidoku, so here's another similar puzzle!

puzzle sixty two - with all due respect

looking forward to watching your favorite crossword twitch streamer's favorite crossword twitch streamer solve this on a crossword twitch stream! only one way to react to it!

puzzle sixty one - letter-less crossword

after the vwllss md and the ooae ue, only natural that i do a letterless crossword, especially since i forgot to renew my subscription to all twenty six letters like i said i was going to yesterday!

puzzle sixty - later, letters!

my construction software subscription to all twenty six letters ran out. renewing it tomorrow!

puzzle fifty nine - false!

you thought a 5x5 mini would be easy? 1- / 6- / 7- / 8- / 9-across!

puzzle fifty eight - crimes i've committed

[i had a blog post here but my lawyers advised me to delete that and not post anything until the trial is over.]

puzzle fifty seven - relevant meme

see if you can remember what inspired this puzzle!

puzzle fifty six - unread my lips - ada nicolle guest puzzle

ada nicolle finally sent in another guest puzzle after i called her out at 43-across! ada says: 

"hi y'all! this is one of my favourite themelesses i've made cluing-wise. took the liberty of writing some et tu-inspired clues. hope you enjoy!"

puzzle fifty five - ascent into madness - jake eakle guest puzzle

guest puzzle from jake eakle! he notes:

long time viewer, first time caller. it's been a real delight to jump into the construction community at this particular moment in time, and alongside invaluable feedback and exposure to the experts on the crosscord server, et tu, etui? has been a big part of that. so i can't think of a place i'd rather make my debut, and i believe i've created a puzzle that might well find a home at your fine establishment.

i agree! it was a very fun puzzle! it is also a bit challenging, but it is very fun!

puzzle fifty four - the tribute puzzle that nobody asked for - sid sivakumar guest puzzle

another guest puzzle from the esteemed sid sivakumar of sid's grids fame! also, the title is wrong, because this is my favorite movie of all time and i definitely asked for this puzzle!

puzzle fifty three - hypothetical crossword - shen bapiro guest puzzle

shen bapiro had a wonderful gecxwords puzzle recently that was honoured by will nediger; this one should get honoured too! [note to self: wire will nediger $11 CAD before posting this puzzle, then delete this note.]

puzzle fifty two - anti-knight crossword - paolo pasco guest puzzle

another fun crossword from paolo pasco! no word on whether this was also rejected by the cracking the cryptic people, but it has a fun sudoku constraint! squares that are a knight's move apart must be different letters!

puzzle fifty one - let's get digital

let's get digital, digital! let's get digital, digital!

puzzle fifty - ooae ue

puzzle fifty! woo! taking the l on this one, and also every other consonant! that's right, this is a consonantless puzzle, or as the title says, ooae ue! no consonants will appear in the puzzle! also, unlike the vwllss md, y is a vowel and might show up in the puzzle!

puzzle forty nine - spirit-forward - jessica goldstein guest puzzle

jessica goldstein sent me this puzzle and i love it! the background is *chef's kiss* and the song is an absolute banger! also, jessica wants me to say "good morning to everyone except ben shapiro"!

puzzle forty eight - alive meme

mmm...tasty meme (but not, like, in a vore way or anything!) 

puzzle forty seven - commercial break

i got a pop-up ad in the middle of constructing and i couldn't get rid of it so i constructed around it! at least it's AD and not ADrian lol get it!

puzzle forty six - name brand pt. 2

apt (and i do mean apt!) grid art! bonus points for guessing what yesterday's puzzle was! ;-)

puzzle forty five - name brand pt. 1

apt (and i do mean apt!) grid art! bonus points for guessing what tomorrow's puzzle is! ;-)

puzzle forty four - interactive puzzle

wow! my first interactive puzzle! really excited for this one! let me know what you get after solving this puzzle! it's different for everyone! that's right, it's customized just for you :-)

puzzle forty three - i'm not sick, i'm twisted

for my whole life, i didn't know if i even really existed. but i do, and people are starting to notice.

puzzle forty two - puzzle for eboys and egirls

inspired by will's guest puzzle, but differently than this puzzle! gotta give the eboys and egirls what they want!

puzzle forty one - my minecraft gf (gf = grid fun)

grid art! it was very therapeutic to color in all of those squares, especially after yesterday's boring guest puzzle! if only there was a game where i could similarly build things block by block!

puzzle forty - schedule - craig etui guest puzzle

this is a guest puzzle by my brother craig. craig lives in the suburbs with his wife and two kids. craig is an accountant. his favorite color is clear. craig is boring. i hate craig.

puzzle thirty nine - say, say, say, say, say - adam aaronson and jack joshi guest puzzle

guest puzzle from adam aaronson and jack joshi, or so they say! they sent this to me asking if i wanted it as a guest puzzle, and when i saw how good it was, what else could i say? and what else could the constructors say?

apparently, they've got a lot to say! constructor notes: we've been huge fans of et tu etui since the very beginning, so we're pumped to be making our debut here! we're good friends who met each other last year at uiuc. you may recognize adam from his nyt and indie puzzles, and you should keep an eye out for jack as a budding cruciverbalist as well! we hope you find this puzzle, dare we say, sensaytional!

p.s. this is not related to say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, or any other puzzle; at least, that's what the lawyers want me to say.

puzzle thirty eight - owo is this?

crossword grid art is the greatest! 

puzzle thirty seven - i'm lovin' it mini - ada nicolle guest puzzle

inspired by one of the answers in "notation", ada sent me this mini puzzle! it's tasty, and i'm lovin' it! 

puzzle thirty six - obligatory ska puzzle

lots to say about this puzzle! to quote ria quoting me quoting 100 gecs quoting ria: gec gec gec gec gec (15).
also you should listen to the song after solving this puzzle! it's such a great song!

puzzle thirty five - notation

really fun puzzle today, imo! unfortunately some editor (whose name i'm not going to say but which totally rhymes with shill warts) said it didn't tickle him, whatever that means. his loss tho!

puzzle thirty four - now watch me quip

quip puzzles are the best puzzles, am i right or am i right? (i'm right!)

puzzle thirty three - PUBLISH ON AUGUST 8 DON'T FORGET

timely puzzle that i'm sure all the fans out there will just eat up!

puzzle thirty two - please stop making dumbass grids you're not even making sense

i miss vine :-( they had all the good good stuff to watch over and over and over and over. now the only thing i can do is make crosswords about my favorite vines and hope that these bring back my beloved vine :-(

puzzle thirty one - funniest shit i've ever seen

had to include the funniest shit i've ever seen in this puzzle! couldn't not share it!

puzzle thirty - 13 down

if you want a challenge, solve this downs only! hint: sbe uryc jvgu gur qbja pyhrf, tb gb ebg13.pbz. cbt.

puzzle twenty nine - cracking the crossword - paolo pasco guest puzzle

another guest puzzle! paolo pasco made this puzzle as a tribute to my site! he said he sent it to a youtube channel that shall not be named first, but they said no. their loss! i don't know how to do this electronically but here's a download link! [paolo adds: it was cracking the cryptic. cracking the cryptic rejected my puzzle.]

puzzle twenty eight - wraparound

not quite as tricky as yesterday's puzzle, but definitely inspired by it!

puzzle twenty seven - can you believe this shift - ricky cruz guest puzzle

guest puzzle from ricky cruz, who is really putting the "ricky" in "tricky" here! please read the instructions first!

ricky notes: "glad to host this shifty puzzle on et tu etui! i've been wanting to drop a shift for a while, but i know that kind of shift post wouldn't fly on my blog. hope you guys enjoy my shift!"

puzzle twenty six - welcome to 'ell

inspired by will's guest puzzle, i 'ad to 'ave a go at one myself!

puzzle twenty five - sidoku

branching out into other puzzles! this is a "moderately challenging" themed sidoku with diagonal symmetry.

puzzle twenty four - emphatic denial

oh yes!

puzzle twenty three - extremely online - will nediger guest puzzle

another guest puzzle, this time from will nediger! i am extremely online and extremely excited to share this one!

puzzle twenty two - uwu awoo

will shortz insisted i put a certain entry in the puzzle, so i did! (bonus points for guessing which one!)

puzzle twenty one - play that song

like this puzzle, this puzzle is about one of my favorite songs!

puzzle twenty - what a wonderfilled world

this is a nice, yummy puzzle!

puzzle nineteen - ode to joe krozel

this is an ode to joe krozel's quintuple stack (spoilers!) but with a good proper symmetrical 15x15 grid!

puzzle eighteen - say, say

this is not related to say, say, say or say, say, say, say! enjoy the left right symmetry!

puzzle seventeen - double or nothing

every box in this crossword contains either two letters or zero letters! (for every empty square, type an o)

puzzle sixteen - somethent differing - guest puzzle by ricky billingsgate

what the flipola!! another guest puzzle!! ricky billingsgate sent me this grid and i thought "awooga i gotsta share this!!"

puzzle fifteen - yeah, i'm a gamer

finally managed to get under sixty words and sixty black squares! themed center stack and some really nice wide open corners :-) nobody does it like me!

puzzle fourteen - XxX - ria dhull guest puzzle - the meta answer is a band

another guest puzzle! ria dhull (of the recently-started gecxwords, which is super fun!) sent me this guest meta (!!!) which is super genius, and so i had to share it with you!

pzzl thrtn - vwllss md

ths pzzl s vwllss, s dn't ntr n vwls n th grd! thr r n n th pzzl f tht hlps! gd lck!!

spuzzle stwelve - silly shenanigans

so, so sweet!

puzzle eleven - keep it in - the meta answer is a song

this is a meta puzzle! the answer is one of my favorite songs!

puzzle ten - say, say, say, say

not related to my first puzzle, because this one doesn't have a meta!

puzzle nine - something different - sid sivakumar guest puzzle

another day, another fan puzzle! this time it's by sid sivakumar (of the highly esteemed sids grids dot com!!!) and is another something different puzzle! lots to love here, especially the center stack!!

puzzle eight - the fifth element is cute - chris piuma guest puzzle

squee! a fan puzzle sent to me by chris piuma, whose birthday was yesterday (happy birthday!) and who solves my puzzles at megaphonicfm every morning! i loved this puzzle and had to share it you! 

puzzle seven - something different

every entry (except for two!) in this puzzle is made up, but at least the clues are all straightforward! good luck! message me if you want any hints!

puzzle sex - crassword - ada nicolle guest puzzle

this is a guest puzzle, which is all the rage these days! ada nicolle sent me this because she thought i would like it, and i do! she says it was already solved on the arctanxwords stream, which hasn't solved any of my puzzles yet, but megaphonicfm and scootsbaboo have, and that's been fun to watch!

ada notes:

"the inspiration for this puzzle started a few weeks ago, and"

anyway this is a downs only puzzle with pretty clean fill! well, kinda clean fill. ok, maybe the fill isn't that clean. but it's still a good puzzle!

puzzle five - themeless midi

getting in on the midi craze!

puzzle four - tribute puzzle

a tribute puzzle for the bestest constructor ever!

puzzle three - what's this?

what's this? it's another 33-acwoss!

puzzwe two - hewwo

hope you wike my bwog. i'm an awts student.

puzzle one - say, say, say

hope you like my blog. i'm an arts student.