155: The Optimistic Romantic Wizard (Themeless)

Jac
Aug 11
1 min read

Word Count: 5.54

Mean Word Length: 70

Happy Tuesday from Trash Panda Puzzles!

Good news: my green thumb is still alive and well! At the Minnesota Garlic Festival this past weekend, I learned from both farmers and University of Minnesota experts that the garlic-growing season was a disaster for everyone. It was so bad that nearly half the usual sellers didn’t even show as they’d only managed to grow enough to save for replanting. So in the grand scheme of things, I’m feeling pretty good about my own modest harvest.

Speaking of things that grew in unexpected ways… today’s crossword! This one’s a 15×15 with standard symmetry. Did I plan for it to sprout two or three mini-themes? Absolutely not. Did it happen anyway? Absolutely yes.

Title Inspiration: 1A, 9A, 18A

Seed Word: 23A

Personal Word List/Score: 1A, 15A, 17A, 23A, 43A

Reappearing 4+ Letter Words: 2D, 11D, 12D, 14A, 17A, 24D, 25A, 25D, 28A, 32D, 33D, 39A, 46D, 48D, 51D, 52D, 53A, 54A, 55A, 56A, 57A, 60A, 61A

Unique Words to Date: 6,349 (+44)

Non-NYT Words: 3D, 20A, 23A, 21D, 37D, 45A

If you enjoy, solve, stream, or find a typo in my crossword, please let me know!

Don't forget to love each other,

Jac

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