Surprise! The first guest puzzle at Datalexic has arrived, and it’s a doozy of a Saturday-level themeless by Steve Mossberg, crossword constructor extraordinaire over at Square Pursuit. This puzzle won me over right at 1-Across, and is packed with great stuff throughout. Steve’s a real mensch, and I’ve had the pleasure of talking shop and collaborating with him recently, which has been a joy—I’m excited to get the chance to share some of his work with you all!
Notes from Steve: I’m thrilled to be making my guest puzzle debut on Datalexic. I’m a regular solver here, and I hope this themeless is as fun for the readers as it was to make. Enrique and I have some really fun common ground in puzzledom, and it’s been a pleasure to collaborate with him and host a wonderful puzzle of his over at my blog Square Pursuit. The grid you are about to solve has some not-so-subtle references to a bit of that aforementioned common ground, as you’ll discover right away. Enjoy!