Gratitude Down the Acrosses

Words: 74

Average Length: 5.16

Several years ago, I posted a Thanksgiving puzzle (“I’ll Never Be Your Feast of Burden”) that was chock-full of Thanksgiving-related entries.  (I’ve slightly updated that puzzle, but it still shows my relative construction inexperience back then, particularly with so many 3- letter answers.) 

This year, I wanted to try something different.  Today’s grid has nothing related to the holiday in it – but if you read down the first letters of the Across clues, you’ll see my heartfelt expression of gratitude to everyone who solves my puzzles.

Speaking of gratitude, I need to single out fellow constructor Jeanne Breen for special thanks.  Because of the constraints imposed by the Across cluing, some of those clues were a bit clunky as first drafted, to put it kindly.  Moreover, the original version of the SE corner was drecky, which isn’t a word but should be.  I asked Jeanne if she had any ideas, and she not only greatly improved the most troublesome clues, but came up with a whole new SE corner that is leagues better than the original. 

Jeanne is a talented constructor of all manner of word puzzles, which you can – and should! – match wits with on her site, In Pursuit of Puzzles.  Follow her, and while you’re at it, follow me if you’re not already doing so!  The more followers we constructors have, the more visible our puzzle sites are in search results.

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