Tales from the Cryptic

Cryptic Mini #000000117:   "Banshee Attacked Dinosaur" difficulty level: 😶‍🌫️ why do I always write these after midnight, when all my joke juice has been depleted? the answer: [write punchline here]

Cryptic Mini #000000112:   "Slow Down There, Half Pint" difficulty level: are you gonna make me say it? I'm calling it: 2025 is finally the year I'm going to max out my cryptic mini odometer. Two down... 999,999,887 to go!

Cryptic Mini #000000110:   "OnlyFans Dandy" difficulty level: 🙃 Hi here's another puzzle, hope you like it. Sorry, it's too cold for jokes!!

Cryptic Mini #000000108:   "Boxes of Recalled Aluminum" difficulty level: what can i say hello world! i've been down in the cryptic mines since last time... anything big happen in the past two weeks? No? well, in case you still need a distraction, here's a little ditty. enjoy!

Cryptic Mini #000000104:   " Overheard in Roadhouse " difficulty level: okay... this one might be hard I'm back from the woods! It's nice to see the cryptic mini factory hasn't completely fallen apart. unless....? Oops my copywriter is getting really lazy. You already know I'm back from the woods. You already know the cryptic mini factory hasn't completely fallen apart. unless...?

Cryptic Mini #000000101:   "Whips in Congress" difficulty level: um... fun? Hello again! *awkward silence* ... that's it! Enjoy the puzzle. 😊

Cryptic Mini #000000096:   "Fat Duck" obscuration level: 🌓 (you win some, you wof some) Been awhile since I did a full 7x7! Enjoy all the 7s. Warning: there's one particularly raunchy clue in here. Relatedly, I would like to pre-emptively apologize to the 🇮🇹 community.

Cryptic Mini #000000091:   "Call Siri's Line" obscuration level: 🌓 (stuck in the middle with you) One of the clues... is a bit blue. Apologies to any nice old grannies who are doing this indie cryptic crossword on blogspot dot com.

Cryptic Mini #000000088:   "Necromancer's Court" obscuration level: 🌕 (big wheel o' cheese) Been awhile since we had an easy cheesy puzz on here! So here ya go. Enjoy :)

Cryptic Mini #000000081:   "The Foremost Threesomes of Pasadena" obscuration level: 🌓 (you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll 🤔) Happy leap day to all, and happy 12th birthday to Ja Rule! I wish I had had the foresight to write a clue in his honor. Oh well, I'll do it next year in 2028!

Cryptic Mini #000000077:   "Scandinavian Cream Soda" obscuration level: 🌒 (it's rough out there) Wow, it's Thursday already? Ok here's one that started as a 🌑 but I tried to scale back a bit. Maybe not enough? Who knows! Who knows what any of this means? No, literally... can someone explain to me what the heck I'm doing?

Cryptic Mini #000000073:   "Tolstoy's Russian Nesting Doll Store" obscuration level: 🌓 (demoted twice from a 🌑) It's the end of the year, and you know what that means! Time for our Tales From The Cryptic Wrapped™️! A longtime annual tradition that we've been celebrating since ...*checks notes*... March. Well, here's the data for how many puzzles of each type that our Cryptic Mini Factory put out this year (this doesn't include midis or larger: Looks like I need to give you more 🌕s... but that'll have to wait until next year! For now, here's a jet-black 🌑. >:-) totally average 🌓 (updated after some early returns)

Cryptic Mini #000000070:   "Decay of Einsteinium" obscuration level: 🌑 (bonne nuit, lune) *presses finger into ear* I'm being told by our fact-checkers that the French translation of the book is actually titled "Bonsoir Lune". So I guess we'll have to run a correc-- oh wait, hold on, I'm also being told that we don't have any fact-checkers. So we don't have to change anything. Oh, and now I'm hearing there is no "we"... it's just "me" (no oui, just moi).... And wait what's this? I'm being told that, at long last, this bit is dead. RIP this bit. You died doing what you loved (?). Anyway folks, thanks for watching. Bonne nuit and bonne chance.

Cryptic Mini #000000069:   "Webinar for Port Authority" obscuration level: 🌔 (darkness on the edge of moon) My 69th cryptic mini! Kissinger is dead! What a week! 🍾

Cryptic Mini #000000066:   "Bike Hawk" obscuration level: 🌑 (it's always darkest before you hit Reveal) Okay I think this might be a 🌒 but I wasn't sure, so I erred on the side of scaring you away. If you're still here, then thank you for your bravery. If you're gone... I miss you! 👾

Cryptic Mini #000000062:   "Eat Up, Schmuck" obscuration level: 🌑 (100% spooky) Okay, I know last week's puzzle was tougher than advertised. I'm sorry. To make up for it, here is.... one of the toughest puzzles I've made 😈. Happy Halloween, sickos!

Cryptic Mini #000000061:   "Take the L" obscuration level: 🌓 (mooning with just one cheek) some of the clues here might be 🌔, and some might be 🌒. So apologies if 🌓 is the only kind of clue you like. Not that I have any idea what that means, this moon scale seems to change from week to week. Maybe I should switch to a bigger scale, like... every Pokemon? This puzzle is definitely Oshawott (not that I have any idea what that means). Anyway, enjoy!

Cryptic Mini #000000057:   "Electro House" obscuration level: 🌓 (harvey-dent-ass moon) I love making cryptics! Not much else to say today lol. Enjoy!

Cryptic Mini #000000052:   "Peeps & Stickers" obscuration level: 🌔 (dark roots growing in) This is probably more of a 🌕 but I wanted to leave room on the scale to soften things a bit... Hope you enjoy solving it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Cryptic Mini #000000049:   "Don Mario" obscuration level: 🌑 (i pray 4 u 🙏🏻) [NB: After some feedback, I modified 1A to make it easier (but still tough! get those crosses!). Apologies to the 5 people who tried the puzzle already today. Shoot me an e-mail and you'll get a full refund!] It's hot out! Stay inside and stress over a tiny crossword for hours :-)