NYT 7:54 (Amy) 
(3.13 avg; 31 ratings)
Newsday 7:30 (Amy) 
(4.00 avg; 8 ratings)
LAT 7:19 (Amy) 
(3.36 avg; 14 ratings)
CS 6:46 (Ade) (3.70 avg; 5 ratings)
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NYT 5:21 (Amy) (3.45 avg; 30 ratings)
LAT 8:35 (Gareth, paper) (4.10 avg; 15 ratings)
CS approx. 55 minutes (Ade) (2.87 avg; 15 ratings)
CHE 9:21 (pannonica) (3.94 avg; 9 ratings)
WSJ (Friday) 12:21 (pannonica) (3.57 avg; 7 ratings)
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NYT 5:22, 1 error (Amy) (3.74 avg; 34 ratings)
Fireball 4:58 (Amy) (3.50 avg; 7 ratings)
LAT 8:55 (Gareth, paper) (3.29 avg; 17 ratings)
CS 9:23 (Ade) (3.56 avg; 9 ratings)
BEQ 5:45 (Ben) (3.93 avg; 7 ratings)
Hello, Thursday solvers! You like challenge and you like creative puzzles. Check out Patrick Blindauer’s latest suite of meta-puzzles, Space Puzzlefest. Each of about a dozen crosswords is hiding a secret answer, with each puzzle using a different twist. At the end, solvers work to combine all the meta answers to uncover a final answer, and if you nail that, you might win a prize! The grand prize drawing on February 27 will give one lucky correct respondent a copy of Sun & Shadows, a book of Vogonesque poetry by erstwhile NYT crossword editor Eugene T. Maleska. (I sure don’t know what Vogonesque means. That’s half the charm right there.) Click the Space Puzzlefest link above to buy your ticket to journey into Patrick’s mental outer space.
crossword about 5 hours to write
(3.40 avg; 36 ratings)
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NYT 4:56 (Amy) 
(2.71 avg; 45 ratings)
AV Club 6:06 (Amy) (3.91 avg; 11 ratings)
LAT 3:55 (Gareth) (4.00 avg; 16 ratings)
CS 7:38 (Ade) (3.50 avg; 4 ratings)
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Jonesin' 4:28 (Amy) (4.00 avg; 1 rating)
NYT 3:01 (Amy) (3.23 avg; 22 ratings)
LAT 2:40 (Amy) (3.50 avg; 13 ratings)
CS 13:18 (Ade) (2.63 avg; 8 ratings)
Xword Nation untimed (Janie) (3.90 avg; 5 ratings)
Newsflash from Pete Muller:
The 2015 MMMM starts today, Tuesday January 20, and once again features a mega-meta hidden in the 12 monthly puzzles. Since there’s a modicum of prestige associated with being among the first to crack it, I’d appreciate it if people could avoid comments speculating on what unusual puzzle features may/may not be related to the mega-meta. If you’d like to try the puzzles, you can sign up for free at pmxwords.com.
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NYT 2:58 (pannonica) (3.63 avg; 26 ratings)
LAT 3:18 (pannonica) (3.82 avg; 11 ratings)
CS 10:51 (Ade) (3.20 avg; 5 ratings)
BEQ 5:00 (Amy) 
(4.27 avg; 15 ratings)
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NYT 8:39 (Amy) (3.42 avg; 30 ratings)
Reagle 7:35 (Amy) (3.04 avg; 12 ratings)
LAT 22:15 (Gareth, paper) (2.79 avg; 7 ratings)
Hex/Hook 10:51 (pannonica) (3.17 avg; 3 ratings)
WaPo 14:51 (Sam) (4.08 avg; 12 ratings)
CS 22:49 (Ade) (3.64 avg; 7 ratings)
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Newsday 10:36 (Amy) (3.50 avg; 9 ratings)
NYT 5:29 (Amy) (3.96 avg; 26 ratings)
LAT 5:12 (Amy) (3.88 avg; 12 ratings)
CS 8:33 (Ade) (3.00 avg; 7 ratings)
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NYT 21:11 (Ade) (3.16 avg; 34 ratings)
LAT 13:07 (Gareth, paper) (3.21 avg; 12 ratings)
CS 9:36 (Ade) (3.07 avg; 7 ratings)
CHE 6:58 (pannonica) (3.21 avg; 7 ratings)
WSJ (Friday) 10:22 (pannonica) (4.20 avg; 15 ratings)
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