So I got super into writing and playing crosswords recently, after I started playing with some of my friends. (My original motivation actually was to get revenge on Will Schortz for writing clues that are incomprehensible to 20 year olds by writing my own that are incomprehensible to 70 year olds lol).

I have now made like almost a dozen I think, and anyways it occurred to me today that I can share my crosswords publically on here, and maybe some people would be interested.

I've only uploaded one so far, you can find it right here, (this one's just a nice simple Monday puzzle, good for beginners, and I think the theme and grid came out pretty elegant, though I will say some amount of Minecraft knowledge is pretty necessary for this one I think)

More will be soon to come if people like these though :)

On Calling Out Antisemitism... in the Crossword

So I like to do crosswords. It's fun, sometimes I learn random facts, it exercises my brain, and that jolt of satisfaction when I figure out the gimmick brightens my day. I usually do it on the Washington Post, which is the same as the LA Times, mainly because it's free (though these days I pay for the WP in large part because I like Alexandra Petri's pieces, but I digress.)

So there I am, working on the Sunday crossword at work on a quiet Monday morning, and the clue is "sanctimonious sort." Could be many things, I skip it and continue. Slowly, as I get some of the crosses, I say to myself, "surely this isn't going to be 'pharisee'. I'm gonna be so mad if the answer is 'pharisee.'"

The answer was Pharisee.

If you don't know why that's a problem, in brief: The Pharisees were the precursors to modern Rabbinic Judaism, and that word has been used by those enacting violence upon us for centuries-- throughout blood libels, Inquisition, crusades, expulsions, etc. When "pharisee" means "sanctimonious, hypocritical, self-righteous, etc." and "pharisee" also means "Jew" even of the historic variety, it tends to be extremely bad news for the actual living Jews of whatever era it is.

So I wrote the editors of the LA Times and the Washington Post, and I said so. I told them about the history of the term. I told them that at a time when antisemitism across the United States is rising alarmingly, it is, at best, deeply irresponsible of the newspapers to allow this insidious conflation of Judaism with moral corruption and hypocrisy to appear in what ought to be a light-hearted game.

And you know what? I got a response from the LA Times within hours apologizing for the harm and saying they'd reached out to the crossword writing company to discuss it. I got a response from the acquisitions editor, who had spoken with the crossword editor, conveying their sincere apologies, saying that they were unaware of the antisemitic implications of the term, and they would never intentionally cause harm. They thanked me for bringing it to their attention, and also thanked me for my suggestion of an alternate clue ("Contemporary of Jesus").

We on Jumblr and in the Jewish community offline have spent so much time talking our throats hoarse and our typing fingers sore about the harms of antisemitism, especially since October 7. I know many of us are feeling frustrated, burnt out, and hopeless. We start to wonder what the point is, when none of it seems to be making a dent. I almost didn't send that email. I almost let it go. I let myself be distracted by work, forgot about it for a week or so until something reminded me and I got angry all over again, and then I sent off an email that I expected to be buried in the inbox to maybe get a response in a month or so, because even if it never got read, at least I knew I had written it. But it did get read, and it got shared with the relevant people, and they cared.

Sometimes people listen. Sometimes they learn. Sometimes, all it takes is one person saying "hey, this hurt me."

I'm taking the win today.

Gossip buddies!

My commissions are always open if you'd like me to draw your characters!

Day 88

guess who started playing assassins creed. why is leonardo da vinci so blorbo-coded

since luke said that timtum only ever says his own name, i choose to believe tontu just somehow understands him perfectly to the confusion of everyone else

They like his ass

death grips personified

7.22 | Lost City Part 2

“Following. Still. You. Not.”

More crossword since y'all enjoyed my last one!

auroras-void.tumblr.com/crosswords/2-12-2024

This ones just a chill Tuesday themeless. (Accidentally broke the NYT grid layout rules once for 39A, but don't worry about it).

jason & santi grandpa domesticity is so important to me

Sherlock and John do crosswords together that’s all I have to say

Things I spend way too much time on: figuring out floor plans of fictional character's living spaces.

Red’s apartment in Baltimore <3

be honest, are you guys into butches who get really into playing nyt puzzles?