Good morning, everyone! Two things to discuss today: First, this is the most difficult puzzle I have ever made. I believe it’s my only 9/10, and in making new puzzles, I have tried to replicate the difficulty of this one and have always come up short, arriving at something that’s difficult, sure, but not exceedingly challenging. I find this puzzle deliciously challenging, though not impossible. Second, I will be releasing puzzles every other week from May through August. This upcoming summer is a busy one for me, and I would always rather promise something I can guarantee than come up short. So, you will see me again on May 12, then May 26, and so forth and onward.
Today, we follow Allen (he/him), Essie (she/her), Farah (she/her), Layla (she/her), and Marvin (he/him), five friends eating fruit. A riveting conceit, I know. To solve, either print out this PDF or use this online solving service. If you encounter any issues or have any feedback, please leave that here. This puzzle’s answers will be included next week, and please find last week’s answers at the bottom of this newsletter.
Please enjoy, my friends!
Things I’ve been loving lately:
Challengers (2024). Genuinely maybe just the hottest film of all time. Tennis is life but life is sex but sex is power but power takes the shape of the game of tennis. This film has brought out the basest side of me; I’m over here giggling and kicking my feet and watching every cast interview under the sun. Lord help me. I’m gonna see this twenty thousand more times.
La Chimera (2023). It’s the year of Josh O’Connor, baby. He’s exquisite in Challengers and he’s exquisite in this. Throughout the whole film you get the sense of the death of the old world and the exponential path toward industrialism and how those intertwine with personal loss. How do we move on? Can we? This is just such a magical, special tale about history and loss.
Challengers score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. I told you. If you could be “down bad” for a film, that’s what I am right now. I need to go to the club and dance to this score immediately. It’s not a want. It’s a need.