It’s a Saturday in August, which means Lollapuzzoola 8 (a.k.a. Lollapuzzocho) is upon us! I’m here at the tournament, solving some puzzles (hopefully solving them well) and helping to promote indie crosswords throughout the land. Come say hi to me if you’re here.

As for today’s 68-word themeless: I’m not sure why, but I’m a fan of the unusual looking grid structure. I’ve used it once before, in Themeless 10. If you tilt your head 45 degrees to the right, it sorta looks like…..I dunno, maybe a fist? Yeah, let’s go with that — it’s a fist that punches you in the face with Word Chicanery! Also, yes, the clue for 23-Across was a little wink from me, and I realize that I put 27-Across in a fairly recent Devil Cross puzzle. I needed it to help me out of a jam on this one.

Last thing: in case you missed it, I was quoted alongside many other fine crossword constructors in Caleb Madison‘s recent BuzzFeed listicle of indie puzzlers’ favorite clues. Don’t worry if you have trouble figuring out the answers to that quiz — I think I got maybe just four of them, not counting my own. I’m looking forward to seeing BuzzFeed puzzles…..PuzzFeed, if you will.

That’s all for now. Good luck to everyone at Lollapuzzoola, and I’ll see you all with a new puzzle next week.