Lollapuzoola 2023

We did this year’s Lollapuzoola as a two part event on Tuesday night and Sunday morning at my house. Aaron and Emily came over and we got right to solving!

Warmup Puzzle A Cascades

Thoughts: It took us a while to realize the diagonal unshaded squares were answers too! This was one of my favs from this year’s puzzles.

Time: 6:12

Warmup Puzzle B Freestyle Midi

Thoughts:

14A: We sing this song all the time, especially now that we have a baby in the family.

4D: Still would like one of these- maybe some day.

Time: 4:53

Warmup Puzzle C Twinlets

Thoughts: Cool concept, we enjoyed figuring out which clues went with each side by solving a section at a time.

We had 34D as STRATUS and couldn’t figure out what 56A CE_ESO_Y was.

Time: 24:56

1 Smash It!

Thoughts: Not my favorite theme of this year’s puzzles, clues were straightforwards and easy.

Time: 8:26/20:00

2 Block Parties

Thoughts: Cute theme, love a rebus

45D: Luckily, we had KPop fanatic Emily at the table

55D: Avery played this at work and couldn’t knock down anyone!

71D: These are the only earrings allowed in gymnastics

Time: 12:39/30:00

3 Wrap Stars

Thoughts: A 3d puzzle! So cool! It was harder for us to find the clues than normal.

Time: 13:37/30:00

4 Deflation Theory

Thoughts: We solved the puzzle, but didn’t get the theme.

21A: A childhood favorite artist – our Dad played this song ALL the time.

79A: he he

Time: 28:21/40:00

5 Party Animal

Thoughts:

109A – This one made us giggle

Time: 16:02/40:00

Championship Final

Thoughts: We abandoned team solving and went head to head. Aaron gave Avery a handicap by solving his puzzle with the Express clues. It was a bigger handicap than he expected, and he needed a few hints to finish.

Aaron – ~27 mins on Express

Avery – 9:39 on Local

Themeless Midi

Aaron – 4:47

Avery – 10:47 with 1 mid-puzzle poopy diaper change