Ho-ho-holy Christmas cracker it’s December.

Sorry, that was terrible. Moving right along.

Before we get to the puzzle, some housekeeping to take care of. I am delighted to report that submissions to ACL from imaginative and talented guest constructors have gone way up in the last month, and we are on track to have many of next year’s contests (yes, I do plan on continuing this next year!) constructed by people who are not me. This is very exciting, but if I am going to publish puzzles by constructors other than myself, I need to be able to promise them fair compensation for their work, and I can’t do that without some help. Consequently, I am putting out a renewed call for donations. If you are interested in contributing financially to this project so that I can promise fair constructor payments, please head over to the Support ACL link to find information about how to contribute. There is also information on that page about other ways in which such contributions may be used. If you are not able to contribute financially right now, that is absolutely fine, and just by solving these puzzles, you are supporting this site (thank you!). ACL puzzles will continue to be available for free to all; payment is not required for accessing the puzzles or for submitting to the monthly contests.

Onto the contest! This month’s contest puzzle is “Gift Wrapping” by Emma Oxford. The meta answer is a character associated with the holiday season.

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 Standard Time on Friday, December 5. The solution, as well as the name of the randomly chosen winner, will be published on Sunday, December 7.

AcrossLite (puz) file can be downloaded here.

PDF for download is below.

Happy solving!

Ex libris Ariadne