Banking Deposits #1 - Standard (PDF) | Harder (PDF) | Solution (PDF)
This month's variety puzzle is the exciting debut of a brand-new format called Bank Deposits! Inspired by letter banks, this puzzle type is an interesting twist on the "rows and regions" style of variety crosswords. There is a final answer to arrive at, as fully explained in the instructions. There are two difficulty levels offered: Standard, which discloses enumerations for the Rows answers, and Harder, which only provides notations such as "2 words" and "Hyph." According to test solvers, the Harder version put up a decent amount of resistance, so try the Standard version unless you're looking for an extra-spicy challenge. PDF only for this "maiden voyage" of this format.
When it comes to new formats, solver feedback is especially appreciated. I'd love to hear if you loved this, hated it, or somewhere in between, as that gives me a good idea of whether this format is something worth further exploration. Don't hesitate to leave a comment below or send me an email. Hope you enjoy solving!
[8/2/2026: New versions of the puzzle have been uploaded. No clues have been changed, but the instructions have been clarified and now include a visual sample, and the presentation of the Banks clues have also been tweaked. Thank you to solvers who have suggested these tweaks! -A.R.]
On the Rows Garden front, the first two Six Packs this year have been released to a good response from solvers, and work on the next Six Pack is well underway. If you're late to the Rows Garden party that's been going on here since 2014, now is great time to get caught up. For the first time, I'm running a special on the Full Archive, which includes all 468 subscriber puzzles released since 2014. Save $50 and scoop up the Full Archive for $199, the lowest-ever per-puzzle price that I've offered. This offer will be available for a limited time only, so jump on it now before it goes away!
Thanks for the puzzle Andrew. I will give my opinion later in the week.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew! This was fun; I love trying out new variety word puzzles. I'm glad I opted for the Standard my first time around, as I found that plenty challenging. I found the solver instructions a bit confusing. I'll send a suggestion for some rewording in a separate email. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteLiked it! Got a clue partly wrong; (my bad, it wasn't that hard) but the meta fell right into place. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt took us a while to figure out the directions, but after we got going, it was fun. The BANKS were very tough for us. One suggestion - it was hard for us to see the BANKS clues without including the letter of the BANK in front of it, so we read "dangerous gas" as M _ _ _ ge _ _ us g _ s at first. Thank you for a new diversion!
ReplyDeleteFun new format, I like it! Thanks to Rick and Cindy's comment I added a noticeable period after the Banks clues so that part didn't confuse me, but I'd like better font/spacing/kerning (not sure the correct term) for the banks. Right now there is plenty of room for some of the letters but others are very squished in. The Standard version was plenty hard this time because it took me a long time to even figure out what a letter bank was, and the directions were a little confusing at first. However, I feel confident enough now to try the Harder version, I hope you make more of these puzzles!
ReplyDeleteI've added an end parenthesis (one of these -->) on the Banks clues' A through M lettering to hopefully avoid that confusion. I realize the spacing might not be ideal but I've tried to make it as clear as possible. Will continue to tweak - Microsoft Word can be difficult when it comes to things like that. I've also included a visual aid to the instructions to hopefully make the Bank mechanism clearer. Thanks to all for your suggestions!
ReplyDeleteThe tweaks help! May we be so bold as to offer one more? The visual aid for the SAMPLE BANK makes it look like the banks need to contain words, not just the proper letters. We had to go back and check if we'd done them wrong.
DeleteFun puzzle, Andrew. Lot of moving parts; I expect this was hard to design (?). Harder version was moderately hard; nothing like a Section Eight, but challenging enough to get stuck momentarily a couple times, and be a lot of fun. I liked it very much.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this one- lots going on and just challenging enough. I hope to see more!
ReplyDelete