Oklahoma (Sunday brunch: June 2, 2013)

American Red Crosswords
Donate here and solve

I'm actually a Sooner by birth: I was born in Fort Sill while my father was serving his hitch in the Army.  Though I haven't been back since, the recent spate of tornados in Oklahoma brought that connection to mind, so let's dedicate this week to recovery and rebuilding there.

You can help by supporting Lutheran Disaster Response (the beneficiary of our local Oktoberfest) or the American Red Cross.  If you want a crossword connection, Rex Parker and Patrick Blindauer edited an all-star cast of constructors who contributed puzzles for their Sandy relief project called American Red Crosswords.  Donate and solve.

Regularly-scheduled puzzles for the weekend include a pair of acrostics: one is by Mike Shenk in the Wall Street Journal: it was fairly easy, especially if you picked up on some particularly apt word choices.  The other is by Hex in the New York Times (behind the paywall).  Deb Amlen of Wordplay says it's for procrastinators.  The June bonus puzzle for NY Times subscribers is also up: it is by Fred Piscop and is called "Candy Shop."

Hex's puzzle at the National Post is blogged as always by Falcon.

While looking at the list of American Red Crosswords constructors, I discovered that Andrew Ries has a puzzle site, with a monthly Rows Garden.  I'll tackle the latest and let you know how it went.

Also new this week is a shop at Patrick Berry's site.  There you can purchase The Crypt, Patrick's big collection of cryptic and variety puzzles.  I've had an enjoyable time working through those the last coupla months.

Nathan Curtis has a Snake Charmer for us.  The first solver to comment said it was fairly easy.

(posting early since Sabers has a tournament: check back for updated links)
(OK, links are updated.  Sabers finished 13th in a decent field of 25 at the prestigious Mr. Ma Open: came from behind to win his first elimination bout and then lost to the third-place finisher)