August 02, 2009

Vacation time!

I'm leaving for Washington, D.C., Monday morning, so I've lined up a terrific slate of Distinguished Visiting Bloggers to write about the week's puzzles at Diary of a Crossword Fiend.

Janie will still be writing about the CrosSynergy puzzle each day. The indefatigable PuzzleGirl will be covering the other usual puzzles Wednesday through Friday. And on Monday and Tuesday, I'm pleased to present three new guest bloggers:

  • Crosscan, our Canadian friend, will review the Monday NYT and LAT crosswords. He can share his real name with you if he wants, but I won't out him here. Some people are ashamed of their crossword habits, and an American puzzle addiction could be a dangerous thing for a Canadian accountant to admit to. He could lose his citizenship, I'll bet.
  • Jordan Chodorow blazed onto the crossword scene at the Crosswords West tournament in L.A. this spring. He was in first place heading into the final round, when the ACPT-seasoned Erics (Maddy and Levasseur) snuck past him. Jordan will write about the Tuesday NYT and LAT puzzles.
  • Dan Naddor is the newish hotshot constructor whose work appears frequently in the L.A. Times. He'll take on Brendan Quigley's blog puzzle on Monday (likely a "Themeless Monday") and Matt Jones's Jonesin' puzzle on Tuesday.

I'm looking forward to seeing what these assorted new voices have to say, and my family is looking forward to not losing me to crosswords for a couple hours a day!

I'll be going to Wisconsin in a couple weeks, so you'll be treated to another new blogger for the Sunday, August 16, crosswords. Constructor Sam Donaldson (who is not the ABC News Sam Donaldson) will fill in for me then.

Many thanks to Janie, PuzzleGirl, Crosscan, Jordan, Dan, and Sam! And to Shark and Dean Olsher, who filled in for me in July. I appreciate the break, and know you'll all enjoy the fresh perspectives on the puzzles.