It's a Wild World (with Dan Schwartz)
Today I have a collaboration with friend of the blog/excellent cryptic solver/amazing cat owner Dan Schwartz! We collaborated months ago on another puzzle that is very good and fun (in my totally unbiased opinion), and I hope you find this one very good and fun too! (And while you're at it, check out Dan's blog for more excellent puzzles.)
Dan came to me last spring and asked if we could use one this puzzle's themers somewhere. I spotted a theme it could belong to, and the rest of the puzzle came together from there. We initially tried to target this one for mainstream publication, so the clues may be a little less unhinged than usual (though still full of our personalities and interests). After a few rejections, we've decided it fits better as a blog puzzle, particularly since the themer that inspired the whole puzzle might be better known to blog audiences than newspaper audiences.
From Dan: "I had never seen 20-Across in a crossword before, and asked Rose if we could make a puzzle around it. She came up with this theme for it because, again, Rose is an incredible genius. I hope you enjoy this puzzle, we certainly enjoyed making it!"
