Aries Puzzles

ROWS GARDEN 60 — HARDER

ROWS GARDEN 60 — EASIER

Rows Garden 60 Harder — Solution

Rows Garden 60 Easier — Solution

Thanks to all who gave their ideas for different puzzle types. There were multiple calls for Some Assembly Required, which is the one form that I’m the least familiar with. I think I’ve done one of those in my life — I rarely print-and-play puzzles anymore, and it’s a form that obviously requires it. I’ll definitely give a crack at constructing them, but don’t expect those for a while. Someone mentioned Riding the Waves, which is an awesome idea — the most Rows Garden-esque puzzle type, in my humble opinion. I clicked with those right away, so I might give that a try here pretty soon. Basically, stay tuned — I’ll fiddle with some of these various types and keep honing my cryptic skills, and I’ll hopefully post some of my efforts here soon.

Meanwhile, I hope you all caught Patrick Berry’s beautiful Rows Garden in this Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. If not, get to it! And I’d like to plug Trip Payne’s upcoming meta puzzle suite, which you can sign up for via Kickstarter. Trip’s already raised enough money to fund the project, so it’s definitely a go, and if you know any of Trip’s work (he’s got three Rows Gardens on his site, Triple Play Puzzles), you know you’re in for a fun ride.

Enjoy #60! Can’t believe we made it this far.

ROWS GARDEN 31 — HARDER

ROWS GARDEN 31 — EASIER

Rows Garden 31 Harder — Solution

Rows Garden 31 Easier — Solution

Thanks to all those loyal readers who pointed out an inaccuracy in last week’s puzzle (for those who haven’t solved it yet, don’t continue reading past the spoiler space.)

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Very surprised I was to find that ADLAI STEVENSON was in fact not the first divorced presidential candidate on a major party ticket. As two readers pointed out, they found a source that stated that James M. Cox, 1920 also-ran in the year of Warren Harding’s landslide, was in fact the first divorced candidate. Now, Cox had remarried by the time that he gained the nomination, and Stevenson remained single after divorcing his wife in 1949, but the fact remains that I was wrong. Interestingly, the source which confirmed the trivia for me was a TIME piece during the 1952 campaign…and it’s this source that’s cited as giving rise to the common misconception that Stevenson was the first divorcee to win a nomination. I guess TIME isn’t as ironclad of a source as I thought it was…

But the nice thing is, hopefully, that solvers got a chance to write in Stevenson’s full name, and especially not those dreaded initials that keep popping up in puzzles all the time (AES, to be specific). He is and probably always will be the only ADLAI option there is for crossword constructors. But alas, sorry for the inaccuracy, and I hope not to fail you this week.

For those interested — and I know you are — Trip Payne has posted a third Rows Garden on his website, Triple Play Puzzles. It’s a toughie, but if you know Trip’s work, you know that’s it’s quality stuff and I definitely recommend it. While you’re in the mood, hop on over to Patrick Berry’s site and do any of the seven Rows Gardens he’s posted there, or any of Patrick’s other delightful variety formats.