An olio of updates

The Crossword Fiend Forum looks a smidgen different now. Using a technical suggestion from the incredibly helpful Will Johnston, my admin/husband fixed it so that the forum will fit into a smaller browser window without making the user scroll left and right. I know little about poking around in the innards of a website, but luckily I have friends and spouses who know what they're doing. Well, one spouse, anyway. (The other ones are technologically inept.)

Emily Cureton, the artist who's been making those cool daily crossword drawings all year, has concluded that project. Darn! The Sunday NYT crossword that Tony Orbach and I constructed won't get the deluxe Emily treatment. If you've always wondered what else Emily does, don't miss Rex Parker's interview with Emily.

There's a new link in the sidebar, to Justin's Puzzles. You may remember seeing Justin Smith's byline on some recent New York Sun crosswords. Justin's puzzle site contains a batch of "Metacross" crosswords that have a meta-puzzle for the solver to figure out after filling in the grid. The more final answers you figure out and send to Justin, the more points you'll rack up on the leaderboard. There are also "Metapic" picture puzzles to work a different lobe of your brain. Check it out.

There are changes afoot at the New York Times site. The crossword forums that have had avid devotees for a decade will be discontinued in a couple(ish) weeks as the Times moves to a blog-based format. Jim Horne will write that blog, and his NYT crossword database will also be moving to the NYT site. I'll update the sidebar links when the new site goes live.