Monday, September 3, 2018

Suite Sixteen announcement + New One contest results

I'm very pleased to announce that Suite Sixteen, a set of 16 themeless puzzles designed to showcase 16-letter entries, is available now! It costs $10 Canadian (a steal for you Americans); head on over here for more details, for a free sample puzzle, and for a link to purchase the suite.

Speaking of Suite Sixteen, it was also the prize for last week's contest puzzle, New One. The contest asked you to identify a burger chain that would have made a good fifth theme entry. So what were the four theme entries in the grid? The most prominent Across answers were SWEATER WEATHER, WAIT WHAT, FEEL FREE, and THOUGHT THROUGH, all of which consist of two words where all but one of the letters are the same, and in the same order. (For example, both words in SWEATER WEATHER consist of the string WEATER plus one more letter.)

The burger chain that fits the pattern is SHAKE SHACK, as 76 solvers correctly sussed out. (A few solvers thought of Steak 'n Shake at first, but that doesn't quite fit the pattern.) The randomly chosen winner, who received a copy of Suite Sixteen, was Ed Brody. Congratulations!