It's official: I am now a Best Crosswords contributor! "Autumn Leaves" was published today, and I'm really looking forward to stats and feedback! From what I've seen, the site has a significant following. You can solve the puzzle yourself, either by following the link here or printing the image below. The rest of this post will discuss puzzle highlights, so beware of RAMPANT SPOILERS AHEAD . All right, let's get to it. First off, a straightforward Monday theme, with long Across entries highlighting the progression of leaves in fall, from GREEN BERET to YELLOW STONE to ORANGE CRUSH to DEAD RINGER. I'm both new at crosswords and a big believer in clean fill, so to keep my grid flexible and full of possibilities, I kept to the standard minimum of 42 theme squares (in the classic 10/11/11/10 setup, no less!), and the maximum word count of 78. I'd encourage any fellow rookies to check out Nancy Salomon's article for aspiring constructors , where sh
Crossword Puzzles by Jared Goudsmit. Spoilers ahead!