Welcome once again to Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up, a weekly opportunity to have a little fun and to get your brain in gear for the regular Sunday Puzzle (which posts Sunday evenings at 8 pm Eastern time).
As I’ve mentioned before, one of the hardest things about doing these puzzle diaries is figuring out what to spotlight in the verticals each week. That’s why I like using themes.
Tonight we return to a theme I’ve used before but which seems especially appropriate to use in election years: Candidates Worth Supporting.
I don’t expect any pie fights over tonight’s selection. It’s someone I think we all can agree is a great candidate. But I’ll be using the same theme tomorrow night and you might want to bring some pie along for that one just in case as it will spotlight a candidate I suspect nobody on this site is even considering voting for.
Could it be Ben Carson? Donald Trump? Sean Hannity? Find out tomorrow…
PS: Very exciting news! Michael Holmans, who provided the primary-candidate-themed cryptic crossword Candidates Ahoy! three weeks ago, will be providing another politically-themed cryptic crossword for the January 31 edition of Sunday Puzzle. I’ll post reminders tomorrow and next week, and will try to mention it in comments (if I can find a way to relate it to a diary’s topic).
If you have friends who enjoy great cryptic crosswords, please pass the word along to them as well.
And for anyone unfamiliar with cryptic crosswords and how they work, you can find easy examples each week in The Nation, more challenging ones each month in Harpers, and you can find a good explanation of the rules and tricks here.