the inferno variations (dissonant grids #2-3)
wow. just wow. i am completely and utterly stunned by the reaction that the first puzzle has received. from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who solved it; i'm so glad you're along for this ride.
the reaction also made me realize what i want from this blog. at first, i was sharing the puzzle with people from all parts of my life, and i got a lot of confusion/anger/concern. this makes sense! i think you need to be really into crosswords to really get this blog, and i'm okay with that. lesson learned. so if you're reading this and crosswords are something just kinda new to you, solve at your own risk.
for this month, i made two (!!) puzzles, called the inferno variations.
this is a little bit of a different approach than december; they're more like vignettes than whole stories. as such, they are simpler, and use fewer mechanics to hopefully make you feel fewer emotions. i hope that doesn't ruin the experience- the puzzle i have slated for next month is back to the complicated-story-with-lots-of-mechanics, so if you don't like this one, stick around.
keep on solving/analyzing/commenting, but please know that whereas the last puzzle was proof-of-concept, these (and all future puzzles) come more from the heart. so, they're a little tender.
lastly, to elevate the theme, let me tell you that these depict the two biggest symptoms for me of depression. beyond that, though, no content warning is really necessary!
oh, and again, no meta answer. there will be one next month tho...
thanks to Frisco, Kiran, and lukey for testing!
inferno variation no. 1: "it's hard to get out of bed"
inferno variation no. 2: "it's hard to know what i'm feeling"