Eights and Nines
Our attempt at a slightly easier hard puzzle — bulls***! (You’ll have to decide whether it’s an “eye” or a “hit.”)
We very much enjoy coming up with new puzzle formats, but we also relish getting to shine the spotlight on some classics, such as today's, which we've seen called "square gears" because it interlocks 3x3 regions of clockwise and counterclockwise words.
What makes these puzzles a pain for us is that many letters appear in four different intersecting answers, making them quadruply checked (and it's always harder on our end to construct a highly checked grid). What makes these puzzles a pain for solvers is that because any given answer can be entered clockwise or counterclockwise, getting two neighboring answers isn't always enough to confidently enter them in the grid — plus, the four corners of the grid each have three consecutive unchecked letters. The former matter is merely cruel, but the latter is regarded nowadays as poor sportsmanship.
On the one hand, we swear fealty to traditional forms, and on the other hand, we believe strongly in playing fair. Today, the fair hand prevails: We’re giving you both the rotational direction of each answer, and the letters that belong in the corners of the grid. Thanks to test solvers Andy and John, and editor juff, all of whom endeavored upon the harder ruleset of the puzzle to vouchsafe for you this one.