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Let's Have A Ball!

◆◆ · By Ollie · Published 2023-12-31T17:00:59.999Z

Hi everyone! Happy new year and best wishes for 2024! I hope you enjoy this new puzzle. Let me know your thoughts :)
Spoiler thoughts: In all honesty, I'm not super happy with this grid or fill. I originally had a much larger ball-shaped Sunday grid that I abandoned because of fill problems... This one seems boring in comparison. The theme of having a bunch of answers with "BALL" as a downward cross is fun in concept, but constricted the grid to include a lot of 4x4 squares I had to work around (It also meant I had a lot of repeating letters, which made it harder to fill with interesting words). In other puzzles, I've seen this solved by just having an "invisible" block in between ball and a separate down answer, and in the future I might employ that. Regardless, after a lot of fiddling with the solve, I think I turned out something at least publishable. Enjoy!
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Comments

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  • Sendhil Revuluri 3:50 · 2023-12-31T20:32:04.543Z
    Fun solve! I didn’t find it boring at all. I did get Naticked at 43A/37D and was skeptical of 68A/64D (since this is my introduction to both the show and the actor).
    • Yoti 31:33 · 2024-01-01T06:08:59.752Z
      The arrow clues were fun. Thx for fun NYE puzzle.
      • Jacob Reed 13:22 · 2024-01-02T16:11:18.469Z
        Arrow clues and overall theme was super fun but the full stumped me. Especially with arcane knowledge crosses. Particularly ALANA/TNIA, FNMA/SALTILLO/HELU, SAIGA/EGLI, EMME/ENSEAT. Those were all words or people I was totally unfamiliar with. I suppose FNMA is some kind of abbreviation for Fanny Mac? But tough fill for me.
        • frostyjhammer 🤓9:24 · 2024-01-04T22:02:12.441Z
          Fun puzzle! Where in the world is 63A a thing? The entry can be two things in teh States, and neither is a brainstorm.
          Play today's daily mini crossword
          1A
          ___ Romeo (sports car)
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          Across
          1. 1A
            ___ Romeo (sports car)
          2. 5A
            Enter gradually, as water
          3. 11A
            Long, long time
          4. 12A
            Something you might use to tell the future
          5. 15A
            Ruthless tactics, with "playing"
          6. 17A
            "Did I say something wrong?"
          7. 19A
            "Princess of Power" of cartoons
          8. 20A
            Theater ticket abbr.
          9. 21A
            Story
          10. 22A
            Famous person, for short
          11. 24A
            Nervous laugh
          12. 26A
            Greeting in Rio
          13. 27A
            Author LeShan
          14. 29A
            Preparation period
          15. 32A
            "Everything else" category: Abbr.
          16. 34A
            ___ Lanka
          17. 35A
            Surprise
          18. 39A
            Item for clothing storage
          19. 41A
            Young socialite, for short
          20. 43A
            Goatlike antelope
          21. 44A
            Opposite of dethrone
          22. 46A
            Type of milk
          23. 48A
            Spill the beans
          24. 49A
            Go back and forth
          25. 52A
            Zilch
          26. 53A
            TV alien
          27. 56A
            4G ___
          28. 57A
            Bare minimum
          29. 59A
            Game you can find in an arcade
          30. 61A
            Condition treated with Ritalin, briefly
          31. 63A
            Brainstorm
          32. 66A
            Leftover
          33. 68A
            TV host Stewart
          34. 69A
            Mexican linguistics term for a glottal stop that means "little skip"
          35. 70A
            Blue dye
          36. 71A
            Action you might do to 7D
          37. 72A
            Shade you might achieve with 70A
          Down
          1. 1D
            Sounds at a spa
          2. 2D
            Wife of Jacob
          3. 3D
            Predicts, as weather or the future
          4. 4D
            "My Dinner With ___"
          5. 5D
            Sheath for swords
          6. 6D
            ___-Pater, old astrologer
          7. 7D
            Shoelace hole
          8. 8D
            One who might use 12A
          9. 9D
            "How was ___ know?"
          10. 10D
            Seagoing: Abbr.
          11. 13D
            ROFL alternative
          12. 14D
            ↓
          13. 16D
            ↓
          14. 18D
            Narcs' org.
          15. 23D
            Some MIT grads
          16. 25D
            Australians lost a war to them
          17. 27D
            Noted plus-size model
          18. 28D
            Singer Celine
          19. 30D
            __ boredom (endure extreme tedium)
          20. 31D
            Part of QED
          21. 33D
            Gourmet cook
          22. 36D
            Capital of Laos
          23. 37D
            "___ e salvo!" (Verdi aria)
          24. 38D
            ↓
          25. 40D
            ↓
          26. 42D
            New Year's event depicted six times in this puzzle
          27. 45D
            Ill-fated ship of 1912
          28. 47D
            Little piggy
          29. 50D
            Hawk
          30. 51D
            "Que ___?" (Spanish greeting)
          31. 53D
            Spring mo.
          32. 54D
            Tells it like it isn't
          33. 55D
            Low-cost home loan org.
          34. 58D
            Pie-in-the-face sound
          35. 60D
            ↓
          36. 62D
            Carlos Slim ___ (world's richest person in 2011)
          37. 64D
            "The Haunting of Bly Manor" actress Miller
          38. 65D
            ↓
          39. 67D
            "Give ___ whirl!"
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