Aries Meta - "First-Class"

For the fifth Thursday this month, I've got a meta crossword! Puzzle lovers undoubtedly are familiar with meta crosswords, whose rise to mainstream popularity over the last decade must be primarily attributed to Matt Gaffney, who writes metas for his Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest as well as the Wall Street Journal.

This meta, titled "First-Class," is a toughie - let's figure a solid Week 4 on the Gaffney scale. Consider yourself forewarned! The meta answer is a five-letter article of clothing that's missing from the grid. Submit your answer via email by 7 PM on Wednesday, February 12th. One randomly-chosen correct entry will receive a free 2-month Aries Puzzles subscription of their choice! If the winner already is a subscriber, they would receive a 2-month extension to their subscription.

I'm considering adding meta puzzles as a regular feature of the site, so if you enjoyed this puzzle, let me know in the comments or your submission email! I've got ideas for metas involving non-standard crossword formats such as cryptics and Rows Gardens as well, so if this sounds like something you'd like to see more of around here, do let me know!

Happy solving!

Aries Meta "First Class" - PUZ | PDF | Grayscale PDF | Solution (PDF)

January FREE RG

Back with the first FREE RG of 2020 - as always, hope you enjoy!

January FREE RG - PDF: Hardest | Harder | Easier | Easiest | Solution

January FREE RG - RGZ (for solving in the Rows Garden app for iPad/iPhone, Android, and Kindle Fire)

Aries Cryptic #22

Here's the first cryptic of 2020! This puzzle started with 22-Down, which also happened to be the test solvers' favorite clue. I also enjoy the 12-Across and 28-Across clues, as they feature wordplay techniques that aren't so common in cryptics. Hope you enjoy!

Aries Cryptic #22 - PUZ | PDF | PDF - Grayscale | Solution

Aries Throwback - "Imperial Exit"

Back with this month's Throwback puzzle, titled "Imperial Exit," which is a 78-word, 38-block puzzle. This puzzle originally appeared in 2018 in The Growler magazine, whose puzzle I write along with Victor Barocas. The Growler is a food and drink magazine and specifically a craft beer magazine, and this puzzle is very much at home in a beer-themed publication. Cheers!

Imperial Exit - PUZ | PDF | PDF (Grayscale) | Solution

January FREEstyle

Here's the January FREEstyle, which is a 70-word, 30-block puzzle. This puzzle started with the squarish 6x5 chunks in the top left and bottom right. As a keep-it-simple grid challenge, it was a worthwhile exercise. Hope you enjoy!

January FREEstyle - PUZ | PDF | PDF - Grayscale | Solution