We're pleased to have reached more than ten times our goal for this BackerKit campaign! Thank you for all your support of our puzzle antics. 

Before we get into our feature for this update, have you tried our riddle polls? We've passed the halfway point in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" riddles. You can see the latest attached to this update.

Mindspaces is our new book of marching bands puzzles. It's not your average collection of variety crossword puzzles, for a couple of reasons.

A marching bands is a typically 13x13 square, where the clue answers are entered in two ways. In each row, you enter two answers consecutively. In each band, you enter a string of answers reading clockwise, starting in the upper left corner of the band. So, your row answers might be crossed by answers reading to the right, down, to the left, and up. Here's a sampler to show how it's solved.

Here's a typically sized 13x13 for you to solve.

We pushed this familiar puzzle type well beyond its typical limits. The grids in this book range from the 7x7 sampler above all the way up to 23x23. The rule of two answers per row never changes, so whereas a 13x13 might have a 6-letter answer followed by a 7-letter answer in a given row, a 23x23 might have a 9-letter answer followed by a 14-letter answer. They get harder to make and solve when they get bigger. Here's a much bigger puzzle, on two pages.

The other feature of Mindspaces is Mike's puzzle essays on creativity. These were written to share a process for being creative when your brain doesn't let you. It's a process that allowed Mike to create all these puzzles as a form of mental adaptation. If you're a creative person, and you have some issues with getting your mind to cooperate with your creative goals, this approach might help you.

As you can see, Mindspaces is an odd book. It combines puzzles and creative thoughts into a unique mix. If you'd like 111 very cool puzzles plus some helpful creative tips, add a copy to your pledge. You can either pledge at the Space Shark (Digital) or Space Shark (Physical) level for a copy, add it as an add-on, or go all out and get it as part of The New Sharks or All the Sharks. However you get it, we think you'll enjoy it for quite a while.

Thanks for all your support!

Sharky