I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did. Happy New Year to you all.
If you’re still in the giving mode, consider a donation to Aries Puzzles. See the Paypal DONATE button on the right sidebar. Thanks to all who were so kind to donate so far.
See you in 2011!
Happy holidays everyone! I now realize this is the last offering before the holiday weekend; too bad I couldn’t get anything holiday-related in this one. I was contemplating a puzzle with a seed entry of STOCKING STUFFER up there in B1, but I guess the ship’s sailed on that one. Hmm…maybe in December 2011.
If you’re in the giving spirit, please consider donating to Aries Puzzles. I’ve added a one-click donate button to Paypal that you can find on the right-hand sidebar. We are a new venture here in cyberland and any financial support is greatly appreciated. For what it’s worth, the time that goes into constructing one of these puzzles runs in the 10-12 hour range. If you are enjoying the puzzles and can afford to give a little, please consider donating. If you can’t afford to donate, feel free to pimp the site in other ways — go ahead, post it as your Facebook status!
Again, have a happy and safe holiday and enjoy this week’s puzzle, perhaps, with your families.
Welcome back! If you’re new to Aries Puzzles, where have you been all this time?
Since I last posted a puzzle, I celebrated a birthday. 25 years old and going strong. Aside from the foot of snow that dumped on St. Cloud (it could have been worse — see the Metrodome) and the lackluster effort from the St. Cloud State Huskies, getting thumped at home at the hands of Colorado College, it was a stupendous birthday. Did I mention my girlfriend bought me a Kindle? Kinda awesome. Aside from the fact that I can now run for U.S. Congress, that was by far the best part about the day!
Constructing these Rows Gardens is a blast, and I hope they are as entertaining to solve. I had the pleasure of doing a Patrick Berry Rows Garden on Saturday and again got to marvel at the silky-smoothness of his fill. More difficult than most Berrys, I thought, and I guess I’m relieved to hear that some of the best solvers in the country also struggled with it. Anyways, I hope you’re enjoying my offerings here. I’m getting better at constructing as I continue, and my test-solver Jon Delfin thinks this week’s offering is the best one yet. Let me know if you agree.
With the mashing of two Rows entries, there are some possibilites for some humorous word and phrase combinations in these puzzles. SPOILERS OF PAST PUZZLES now: A few weeks back we had “kindergarten dramamine,” for instance, something that could probably be useful for some mothers of hyperactive kids. Last week we had “middle east scaremonger,” an apropos current-events mash-up. Feel free to counter with any other amusing RG mash-ups.
As a side note, Patrick’s RGs feature a sparkling touch of whimsy with the first A Row entry in that it is flower or garden related, either in the answer or the clue. I’ve tried my best to do something of the same, but the rule is far from iron-clad. Don’t try to strain yourself with this week’s A Row by only thinking flowers — it’s got nothing to do with anything botanical or garden-related.
Enjoy!
