Heaneyland!

A little knowledge

My latest crossword is in today's Onion -- but you can download it right here as a pdf (or as an
Across Lite file, if you'd rather).

Words and music

Hello all. It's time once again for my latest crossword in the Onion! If you don't follow the exciting scuttlebutt of the crossword industry, you may be unaware that Across Lite, a popular free solving program, is free no more. So I will no longer be pointing you to download links for that program. If you already have it, here's the puzzle in the correct format. Or as an alternative, here's the puzzle as a pdf.

In non-crossword news, I will be performing several of my original songs this Thursday at Cinco de Maestro, which would be entertaining even if I weren't involved, and which you can buy tickets for here if that sounds like your sort of thing.

Web of clues

My latest Onion crossword is inspired by the ill-fated "Spider-Man" musical, and features my suggestions for some songs from the U2 oeuvre that Bono and the Edge might be able to reuse while they're busily revising the show for its opening on the infiniteenth of Neverember.

(Download Across Lite here if you need it.)

Contest results...from...spaaaaaace!

Thanks to everyone who entered my "Sudoku in Space" contest; I received 23 entries (and 1 "dammit I am stuck on one of these!"), from which the winner by random draw is ... Lance Nathan! Everyone else wins the consolation prize, which is the opportunity to buy the book and gush copiously about it in their review on Amazon or B&N. Seriously, though, thanks for solving, and I appreciated all the compliments that accompanied people's entries. The other entrants were (in alphabetical order):

Jackie Anderson, Sarah Callahan, Tim Harrod, Tyler Hinman, Jeremy Horwitz, Robert Hutchinson, Dan Katz, Michael Lewis, Eric Maddy, Matt Matros, Stefanie Newhouse, Kiya Nicoll, Joon Pahk, Al Sanders, Xtina Schelin, Jeffrey Schwartz, Andy Silikovitz, David Stigant (the first to submit), Kurt Storm, Michael Sylvia, Byron Walden, and Scott Weiss.

Oh yes, and here are the answers! They're pop-ups, so people who are solving after the fact won't accidentally run across spoilers:

Lunar Sudoku
Parallel Universe Sudoku 1
Parallel Universe Sudoku 2

Incidentally, if you enjoyed these puzzles, you are also dead certain to enjoy "Mutant Sudoku" by Thomas Snyder and Wei-Hwa Huang (which I edited and did the illustrations for, but that's not the only reason I'm partial to it), so if you happen to be purchasing my book and need to toss something else into your cart to reach the free shipping minimum, consider giving that a shot as well. And I will see more of all of you...in the fuuuuture!

Sudoku ... in ... Spaaaaaaace!

That's right, everyone: Huzzah! (Or whatever the futuristic sci-fi equivalent of "Huzzah!" is -- "Fraktastic"?) My new book is out today: "Sudoku in Space"! I'm super-pleased with it, and it's available at all your standard online joints such as Amazon and B&N, in real-world bookstores, or from this very blog, if you are the winner of the Exciting Solving Contest below!

A few things

First off, today's crossword in the Onion is by me. The Onion crosswords don't have titles, but if they did, this one would be called "Aw, Dry Up".

In other crossword-related updates, outgoing NY Times crossword blogger Jim Horne cited my "Flag Day" puzzle in his year-end wrap-up as his personal choice for "puzzle of the year". Thanks, Jim!

Finally, here's an embedded version of a short video I made a little while ago during the heyday of people posting identically-structured Xtranormal videos about acting/writing/singing/you name it:

And finally (I lied about the previous "finally"), my next puzzle book "Sudoku in Space" will be out in just a few weeks. It contains nearly 200 full-color sudoku variant puzzles (of many different types), all personally constructed with the loving care I bring to all my work when I'm not slacking off or cranking out a hack job for a fast buck. I've gotten my hands on a prerelease copy and it looks great. You can preorder it now (Amazon, B&N) or keep your eye on this space if you'd like to try your luck, because I'll be posting a solving contest in about a week, and will be randomly drawing one correct solver to win a signed copy.