Brendan Emmett Quigley's crosswords are awesome

Crossword geeks like myself might recognize Brendan Emmett Quigley’s name from the many New York Times puzzles he’s penned. Like all great crossword constructors, Quigley has a unique style — in his case, it’s heavy on pop-culture references and clever use of slang. So I’m pretty jazzed about his new website, BrendanEmmettQuigley.com, where he’s been giving away free crossword puzzles of his own invention. They’re packed with even more up-to-the-minute TV/movie/music shout-outs than you’d ever see in a big newspaper puzzle. Last week he did a whole grid (spoiler!) based on the Twilight books, and another one built around a foul-mouthed David Cross punchline. Both were damned tricky but also funny and rewarding.

Quigley made the case for his kind of crosswording in a recent post: “Shouldn’t puzzles reflect the zeitgeist? Shouldn’t puzzles be for the people who can wax poetic about Lost and recite pages upon pages of Lil Wayne lyrics? Can’t puzzles reference both viral videos and video games?” Yes! Exactly! It’s like he’s writing these puzzles expressly for crossword-lovin’, EW-workin’ me. (He also seems to be a possible EW reader, so big props for that.) Anyone else digging Quigley’s puzzles?

More on crossword puzzles:
Crosswording legend Merl Reagle created a special Must List Crossword for us in ’06
“Who’s going to watch a TV show about crosswords?”, Annie and Slezak asked. Uh, guys, me?
Crossword documentary Wordplay got a B review, but a solid A on DVD
Lindsay Soll got addicted to Crosswords DS on her Nintendo DS Lite this summer
The Simpsons did a great crossword tie-in ep this season