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Rows Garden #75

ROWS GARDEN 75 — HARDER

ROWS GARDEN 75 — EASIER

Rows Garden 75 Harder — Solution

Rows Garden 75 Easier — Solution

Passing the hat this week. Twice a year, (May and November) I will ask for donations in order to keep the site running and ad-free. I appreciate everyone’s help, and it’s with your support that the site continues to grow. I am very blessed to have some excellent friends and fans that continue to support me in my career. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. As we did last year, I’m going to donate a percentage of the donations to a charity to-be-determined. Haven’t picked one out yet, and if you have any worthy charities, feel free to let me know.

Paypal is the easiest way to donate (see the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar), but if snail-mail is more your thing, shoot me an email and I can send you my address. A few of you have opted to donate this way, and it’s always cool to get a piece of mail, right? But I’d rather not broadcast my address on the internets and expose my soul to spambots, so an email would be the safer choice.

As for this week’s puzzle, I like it. This is the first puzzle I’ve done where the “seed entry” isn’t in either the first two Rows; instead, it’s there at C1. There was some interesting letter combinations there that didn’t work so well up top, so I slid it in the third row and made it work from there. Hope you like it!

2 Comments

Andrew J. Ries, May 15th 2012 | Tags: ,
Posted in Puzzles, Rows Garden

Rows Garden #74

ROWS GARDEN 74 — HARDER

ROWS GARDEN 74 — EASIER

Rows Garden 74 Harder — Solution

Rows Garden 74 Easier — Solution

Not much to report today. Just got back from opening our family’s cabin in northwestern Wisconsin, a Ries tradition that’s always good for a good laugh or two. My favorite sporting event of the year — the Kentucky Derby — came and went, and I didn’t win the impromptu $5 buy-in pool that we had going during our cabin opener. And I suppose it’s a good thing I didn’t place an official bet this year, as my horse-to-watch, Gemologist, was a big bust. Interestingly, I rooted for Union Rags, the favorite at the race’s start as it turned out, but merely because his 9-letter name would have made for a good A-Row entry in a Rows Garden, especially if he became a serious Triple Crown contender by winning the Preakness in a couple of weeks. Ah, but PREAKNESS is a 9…

Oh, and this was cool: as I stated last week, there was a feature of me and Aries Puzzles in my local newspaper last Sunday. In the mail today, I received a personal letter from Earl Potter III, president of my alma mater, St. Cloud State University, who congratulated me on my success. I can assure you that’s the first time that has happened. Maybe I can just show that letter to my mom this weekend for her Mother’s Day gift. No? OK, I guess I can throw in some flowers, too. Love ya mom!

1 Comment

Andrew J. Ries, May 8th 2012 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Puzzles, Rows Garden

Rows Garden #73

ROWS GARDEN 73 — HARDER

ROWS GARDEN 73 — EASIER

Rows Garden 73 Harder — Solution

Rows Garden 73 Easier — Solution

Cool weekend! First, I won the Marbles-sponsored crossword tournament at the Mall of America, getting revenge on what is quickly becoming a hard-fought Twin Cities crossword rivalry with Victor Barocas, who bested yours truly on the big boards in March at the St. Paul tournament. Vic’s a great guy, though, so the rivalry doesn’t get past more than cordial trash-talking. And I got a chance to meet some more local puzzlers, and I even got my uncle Rick to compete, and he was able to finish all 3 puzzles in the time allotted. I reminded him that being able to do that isn’t something to be looked upon lightly, and congratulated him for his efforts. It wasn’t so long ago that I myself found Tuesdays and Wednesdays challenging to complete.

And then on Sunday I was reminded that the local daily paper was running a spotlight on Aries Puzzles. I had done the interview a few weeks ago and I had forgotten that it was running, so it was a nice surprise. What’s better, they featured a video of me solving a crossword on their website, which you can see HERE , along with the article.

Those who “like” Aries Puzzles on Facebook already know this, of course, which reminds me: if you want all your Aries Puzzles-related news when it happens, be sure to “like” this site (see the sidebar). After you do that, enjoy this week’s offering!

4 Comments

Andrew J. Ries, May 1st 2012 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Puzzles, Rows Garden
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