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Last week we had a series of eight mini-puzzles, the answer to which was a heading you might see on an artist’s portfolio. And indeed there was a heavy art theme; with two exceptions (well, one if you solved the original version – more on that below), the grids represented famous paintings:
The original version of the puzzle had a grid depicting Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With here. It, like the painting, contained a highly offensive term (I censored it, Rockwell did not). You can read more about that here; mid-week I replaced it with something different – a very famous photo, also featuring an icon of the Civil Rights era:
Once you found all those artworks, the series title was your clue to focus on the first names of the artists (Claude, Andy, René, Vincent, Ieoh, Neil/Norman, Grant, and [keeping it casual] Sandro); in order, their first letters spell out the artistic form CARVINGS.
Once again, I stretched the limits of reasonable crossword fill in a few places to make these little bits of grid art – I hope you’ll forgive me for weird entries like ILASH, KOLOA, and MIVI. But be thankful that I took another shot at the Van Gogh, my first draft for that grid was just hideous.
One regret, once I got to the end, is that I managed to choose eight – no, make that nine – works of art all by men, only one of whom isn’t a white guy.
43 solvers submitted the right answer. Next up is Puzzle #11, a 15×15 called “Do Like I Do,” and also Puzzle #11a, a little 9×9 called “The More Things Stay the Same, the More They Change.” puz and pdf options below.
011_dolikeido (link to .puz file)
The answer to metapuzzle #11 is a farm animal.
011_staysame (link to .puz file)
The answer to metapuzzle #11a is a fruit smaller than a baseball that could have been a seventh theme entry.
Update, Friday 5/24/19: having received very few solutions to #11, and some incorrect solutions to #11a, I’m providing updated versions of the puzzles below. The new #11 is meant to be a bit easier, with the help of some new clues (they’ll stand out if you get the pdf version); the new #11a is the same, but the meta prompt has been rewritten as follows: The answer to the metapuzzle is a word that could have been in this grid with the clue “*Fruit smaller than a baseball.” (This doesn’t change the prompt’s meaning but might help you avoid a trap a few people have fallen into.)
Submit your answers using the contact form by Monday, May 27 at 11 p.m. Pacific Time. I’ll post the solution, and a new puzzle, next Tuesday.
To keep up with the puzzles:
Twitter @pgwcc1; follow the blog for email reminders; rss feed if you’re set up for that.
PGWCC 
You mean to say that 4-down, BLOKE, in the Son of Man puzzle wasn’t thematic?
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I didn’t notice it until I was doing the solution write-up! Bonus theme material I suppose, but it’s off-center, and the positioning of the guy in the painting seems very intentionally precise – in fact, I found myself wishing I’d caught it and *not* included it, for that reason.
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