Happy Pride Month! Before we get to the monthly contest, I have the answer to last month’s BONUS PUZZLE for you.

May’s bonus puzzle, which used all five of the January-May monthly contests, asked solvers to find a type of book. The trick (if it can even be called that) was to go back and look at the answers for the January-May contests: in chronological order, GONE GIRL, ULYSSES, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, D‘AULAIRE, and EAST EGG. The first letters of those five answers spell GUIDE, which is indeed a type of book. (I accepted both GUIDE and GUIDEBOOK/GUIDE BOOK.) There were 25 correct answers to the bonus puzzle – well done to all of those solvers! As I mentioned last month, those of you who solved the bonus puzzle get an extra entry in the prize drawing for June… as long as you also solve June’s puzzle.

Speaking of June’s puzzle, let’s get to it! I’m very excited to say that, this month, Ariadne’s Crossword Library gets to publish its first puzzle by a guest constructor. This month’s contest puzzle is “Step and Repeat” by Hannah Binney. The meta answer is a 19th century novelist.

Hannah Binney has been constructing crosswords since 2020 and has had puzzles appear in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Universal, AVCX, and Puzzmo. You can find her full bio over on our Team Ariadne page under Featured Constructors.

To submit to the contest, send an email with your answer in the subject line to damefoxwords@gmail.com. The contest deadline is 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday, June 8. The solution, as well as the name of the randomly chosen winner, will be published on Tuesday, June 10.

AcrossLite (puz) file can be downloaded here.

PDF for download is below.

Happy solving!

Ex libris Ariadne