I’ve been wanting to create my own crossword puzzles since I was a kid, but never quite got around to it. Earlier this year I decided to renew my commitment, and tweeted a bold claim:
Mark my words: within 3 months I'm going to publish my first self-constructed crossword puzzle, and within 3 years I'm going to have one published in the New York Times.
— Daniel Jalkut (@danielpunkass) May 26, 2020
Let’s see, June, July, August. Yup, I missed that target. But FOUR months later, I’m ready to catch up, and share the very first puzzle I’ve ever completed. I call it “Three Podcasts and a Blog” because I set out to build a puzzle around the “theme” of names of podcasts in the Apple developer/technophile scene. Only after I was almost done with the puzzle did I realize I’d included one blog that, in fact, has no podcasting counterpart. You’ll see the clue marked “oops!”
If you want to solve the puzzle, I encourage you to download and use my own Mac app, Black Ink. If you don’t have a Mac or would prefer to solve on paper, I’m also including a PDF so you can download and print it:
Seeing as this was my first foray into the art of puzzle-crafting, I’m sure there will be lots of issues with the puzzle. Hopefully it’s still fun, especially for folks who are acquainted with Apple-related podcasts and blogs. Let me know what you think!