Post updated on Sept. 27 — see below.

Bonus Puzzles:

Alright, so, Announcement Time! If you missed today’s earlier posting, there’s a new Mild-to-Medium difficulty puzzle up. And today is indeed my 31st birthday.

Devil Cross is only about eight months old, but I thought I’d mark today as the beginning of my first Devil Cross tip jar drive. And I’m stealing a page from Brendan Emmett Quigley to boot: between now and October 25, I will provide two never-before published Sunday-sized (21×21) bonus puzzles for anyone who donates $10 (clarification: they’re all ready to go). One is themeless, and the other is a variety Something Different grid — you know, the type of puzzle where there’s a lot of made-up shit, but you can still solve it anyway if you tackle the short answers first and then make out the longer, tortured answers from there.

As you can see from the top of this post, both bonus puzzles are set at Spicy difficulty. And though I have it in my FAQ, I should probably reiterate my little caveat about Devil Cross: sometimes I put NSFW terms in my puzzle. Hopefully that’s okay with y’all.

Like my other indie crossword brethren, I intend to keep providing you with free puzzles as long as I have the time and sanity to do it. But if you’ve enjoyed my work thus far as much as I’ve enjoyed creating it — and I hope you have — please consider chipping in a little money to help support my devilish crossword habit. Any donation is fine and I’d appreciate it a lot, but you’ll get the extra two puzzles by e-mail for the $10 tip.

You may enter your donation by clicking on this handy little PayPal link. There’s also this button below:

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement this past year. I look forward to seeing you back soon!

Update I, 9/25/14 @ 3:10 pm ET: There was an earlier problem with the PayPal buttons in the post, but they should be fixed now. If they’re still not working for some reason, I’m told that the button in the sidebar should do just fine.

Update II, 9/25/14 @ 3:15 pm ET: Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that today is also the 8th birthday of Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle. That website was arguably the single biggest influence on me in helping me become a better constructor. So wish him a happy birthday too, and may he have many more blogging years ahead of him.

Update III, 9/27/14 @ 1:40 pm ET: Thanks to all who have donated thus far. I’m attending my brother’s wedding today and driving from Chicago to Philadelphia on Tuesday and Wednesday, so if you plan on donating and I don’t get the puzzles to you right away during that time, I haven’t forgotten. Just sit tight and I’ll get them to you as soon as I can.