The loop.

How does this strike you? Not sure of the stress pattern but I like the way the uppercase M is more apparent.

I think that's getting there, the last one. Nice work, Craig.

Good, here's a go at swash versions of it.

Yes. Really good solution to the dark join. Yes.

Riccardo, thanks for that comment, which got me reflecting on the top part of this T, and how the contrast pattern is really alien to the font. Another light bulb went off and I realized that not only this piece, but almost every other part of the font that didn't look quite right to my eye has the identical problem: a stroke that modulates like a broad-nib rather than split-nib pen (i.e. that uses translation rather than expansion). Moreover, some of the things I was most excited about (like that reversed Y tail) take a more daring approach to more sudden expansion of stroke. So I've been rethinking a bunch of glyphs, most especially those with prominent horizontals (TLZ257). Feels like a real breakthrough. I'll post an update some time soon.

Wow!

I still maintain that you could do something along these lines with X.medi swash:

Here are all those new swash Xs.

(* the last line is the old X.init and X.fina for comparison)

X_I ligs

Oh boy, I just realised that you've done a lot of amazing work on this since I last read and contributed to this thread. I just want to say I'm mightily impressed by your work, and your stamina. I'm not sure if I dare offer too much critiquing help at this stage, though. As I'm still learning how to make basic letterforms, typographic ornamentation at this level is something I simply do not feel I have much knowledge on.

Still, that "t" in "marxist" is glorious. It looks like the SW ball of the "XI" and "XI" ligatures should go a little deeper, optically they sit a little high on the baseline, I think. That new "M" shape is wicked. And I think I have to second Tiffany's view on the "N", though then the "U" is probably a little wide too. Make sure their widths are harmonious with the width of the "H".

Keep it up! How many glyphs do you have now?

It sits at 210 glyphs; that will grow quite a bit when I get to adding the diacritics. I don't know how it got so big considering there's no lowercase! :-)

Don't be modest about your critical authority, your suggestions are always helpful and welcome.

Amazing! Haven't been here for some time, and now I see all this!
When, oh when is this going to be a font we can all use? (Could even be a "normal" ttf)
:-)

@ kyrmse: Thanks for the encouragement. It feels like it's entering the home stretch, but unfortunately I can't give a deadline for release more specific than "soonish"!

@johnnydib: Thanks to you too. Yes, with the font set for swash, it will recognize when a letter appears at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. By that I mean I've had to program it that way, with a byzantine (and probably laughably inefficient) set of rules I made up myself. Here's a thread I started which helped along the way:
http://typophile.com/node/60990
So it starts with one lookup that says ignore these rules for anything with a letter preceding this one (to separate out the initial positions), then if it's an X before an ascender, use the special X.init, else if it's a K or R before a descender, use the special K.init or R.init, else replace the letter with its .init version. (Yes, you can use opentype classes and would really need to to stay sane.)
Then it has a lookup that says ignore these rules for anything with a letter following this one (to separate out the final positions), then if it's an X after a descender, use the special X.fina, else replace the letter with its .fina version.
Then it has a lookup that says ignore this rule if the letter is K, Q, or R followed by a descender (to prohibit tail crashes), then change out the letters that have .medi forms to those.
Then it has still more complicated coding for the X.medi (since that has to take into account both the letter before and the letter after).

Okay, some questions:
(1) What do you think of doing this with the Z.init?

I like the third £, but I think maybe try a loop on the bottom left?
N: hmm, yes, I'm not sure either. Are there any other, crazy ideas you can try?? ;)

Yes, 10 is promising. What about giving it something like the right leg of 6?

That new pound sign is a very strong shape! Greatness! Nice association, Riccardo. I see something of this in it as well. Your last "N" is very clever, and becomes a defining glyph, as it now shares the "eaten by white"-characteristic of the "M" loop, "A" and "4" (and possibly others). I think this is a keeper. I was going to suggest joining the Z.init swash to the foot serif, just as you did. Perhaps the loop is a little too large? Your glyph substitution demo looks mouthwateringly promising. What's your thoughts on the optimal size range for Ambicase, by the way?

So, I liked that new N but in context it kept looking backwards to me... So I flipped it!

The difficulty is the design is trying to split the difference between a lowercase form (a 100%:0% counter relationship) and an uppercase form (50%:50%). So I guess the question is, if I make the diagonal more diagonal, will the roundedness of the hump be enough to suggest the lowercase even though the overall shape is far closer to uppercase. Here's some adjustments: 0 is as above, 1 narrows the hump, 2 is the same with the thin stroke on the right kicked out a touch (which I don't think works).

That new N/n is insane. In a good way.

:-)

Aw, this is difficult. Number 1 is in my opinion the most harmonious shape, while number 3 is possibly the best choice for this typeface. Still, number 0 is perhaps the most conceptually correct.

Think I'll use N #3.
Here's some work on swash forms of D: new D.init which I'm not sure about, new D.fina which I'm sure is better, and thinking of cutting D.medi.

I should have specified old and new, but glad to hear you like the second line as that's the new!

Thanks for the compliment.

What do you think of this idea for a swash form of /E/?