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My Constructor Went to Japan and All I Got Was This Laozi Puzzle

The “Golden Temple,” 17 Across (March 2025)

Words: 76

Average Length: 4.84

Kon Nichiwa! Or, if you’re solving this in the morning, ohayo!  There’s lots of scrumptious Japanese fill in here, kind of like a 15×15 bento box.  Chopsticks optional.  Matane (see you soon – in this case, next Wednesday for a midi puzzle entitled “Puns, Anagrams, and General Goofiness”).

If you’d like to read all about my Japan trip, please visit my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.com. I also just posted an essay there called “Thoughts onTWA (Traveling While American)”. Please check it out if you’re interested.

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3 replies on “My Constructor Went to Japan and All I Got Was This Laozi Puzzle”

This was a fun one!

Have you read The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon? The literary references here reminded me of it. It’s a wonderful slice of life that shows how people are people across millennia. Catty judgments over wearing colors out of season, sharply funny descriptions of court officials, banal crappy days, the beauty of fresh snow, the joy of spring… It’s not like a novel you can just read straight through (or maybe that’s a me problem), there are sections I spend more time reading annotations than the text.

The book references are always a nice bit of your puzzles. Sometimes you like books I hated but more often they’re old favorites, and you’ve suggested new books I ended up loving. The Man Who Could Move Clouds was spectacular! Thank you for that one especially. Even the hated books are ones I picked up and finished, and wanting to rant about it is better than boring.

Anyways. Thank you for publishing these in such an accessible way. Crosswords have offered frequent glimmers of joy during a rough time.

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Thank you so much! I think this was the nicest, most meaningful comment I’ve ever gotten! And thanks for the book recommendation. I’m definitely going to read it.

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