Since I started releasing the Ubercross Abecedaria back in January, I knew that “U” was going to be the hardest puzzle to get ready. I wasn’t really happy with how it had come out, but I wasn’t sure what the fix for that was. Light surgery, heavy surgery, or just a do-over?
In the end, I went with something close to the do-over option, changing everything within the giant U, including most of the black squares. I’m better at building than I was, but the idea behind the U-section…well, if the whole Ubercross Abecedaria is a crazy idea, then U is that, squared. And the other work that I’ve mentioned elsewhere, along with preparations for The Journal of Wordplay #3, has obliterated what was left of my lead time.
As you can see from the snapshot above, I’m about 60% done filling the U back in again. I’d be hard pressed to finish by Tuesday even under ideal conditions, but also, Janice and I are taking a break this weekend to head up to Ohio and meet our friends at the FuMP—the Funny Music Project. I’ll send you some updates from that front! But in the meantime, the U section is definitely going to need another week. Possibly two, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!
(The good news is that after finishing this section, the editing that the last five sections need will feel like a light October breeze...!)
Could you elaborate a bit on the term Abecedaria, T? I think an Abecedarium (single) is an ABC-book which has a letter of the alphabet on each page. Abecedaria (plural) indicates more than one of those books. Since you do each letter once... o, wait. It's plural because of the small letter puzzles that also go from a to z!