Bar games

I CREATED A SPIRAL CROSSWORD for a zine I make with Acre Design Co for Able Seedhouse + Brewery, my first foray into puzzle-making after a lifetime of solving. The new issue will hit the taproom in November for Able’s first anniversary (including a photo documentary I did of Frankenhouses in Minneapolis’s Longfellow neighborhood).

Instructions: This spiral contains two series of words, one reading inward from 1 to 99, the other reading outward from 99 back to 1. Every space is used exactly twice. Work from both sets of clues to complete the puzzle.

INWARD

1-5: She was played by Madonna
6-11: There are several in every family
12-16: Alternative to Airbnb
17-22: It crowds many a café table
23-26: Last stop before the final
27-34: Dessert made with lady’s fingers
35-42: Curt instruction to a barber (3 wrds.)
43-47: Larger than large
48-53: House in Le Havre
54-59: Like trumpets on game day
60-63: Letters after lambda
64-69: Members of the Mille Lacs and Mississippi River Bands
70-77: C₆H₁₂O₆
78-83: Home of the National Sports Center
84-88: Hanged, _______ and quartered
89-92: Spacious
93-99: 1973 Woody Allen film

OUTWARD

99-94: Strip again
93-85: Assad’s conflict (2 wrds.)
84-79: First stage of grief
78-74: Make foolish
73-68: Time to be home
67-63: Elegant trinket
62-56: 9 or IX
55-52: Loo in Quintana Roo
51-45: Kind of cat or twin
44-40: Smashingly successful
39-32: Incan ruler crowned in 1563 (2 wrds.)
31-24: Nautical
23-20: He has fun with Dick and Jane
19-14: No-frills place to flop
13-9: Windy City stopover
8-1: Tone of SuperPAC ads, often