BWS Puzzle 3: Billboard ̶H̶o̶t̶ Not 100

One thing I mentioned in my intro post on this blog is that I made crosswords with indie rock themes for a music blog back in the day (10ish years ago). Lately, I've been looking through those old puzzles, as well as the digital equivalent of scraps of paper with theme ideas scribbled on them. Today, I took one of those ideas and turned it into a proper puzzle!

I doubt this puzzle would work at any crossword publication: the theme is a little loose, and the band names that form that theme are not all widely known. Still, I'm working on making better fill and clues these days, and I think this puzzle will give you a fun, reasonable challenge.

Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome.

Download links: [puz] [pdf] [solution]

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Puzzle 92: Take a Break

Just a quick break from themelesses for this silly little puzzle, inspired by a phrase that came up in conversation. Warning: one theme entry has some vulgar language; not recommended for kids. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Puzzle 91: Themeless #23

I was almost halfway through cluing (an early version of) this when I noticed a short word in the grid duping part of a longer entry. See if you can guess what used to be at 1-Across before I had to rework that section... (Also, does anyone else have trouble deciding whether a ? is warranted for a clue? There are some obvious, punny cases, but other times it feels like it comes down to a matter of how easily I think a solver will spot a misdirection or some kind of unexpected usage, and that's hard to do sometimes.) Anyway, enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

BWS Puzzle 10: Midi Themeless #5 - harder clues

This post has the "harder clues" version of today's 10x10 themeless puzzle, both in the embedded applet and the download links below. If this proves too challenging, click this link here for the "easier clues" version of the very same puzzle. I want to briefly comment on this puzzle's grid, too, because I've been trying to experiment with and learn more about grid designs lately. I've seen a lot of really cool and innovative grid symmetries and designs (some of which I mentioned in a recent post ) and I've been trying to apply some of those ideas to my own puzzles. This particular grid (shown above, top-left) uses one basic shape: that wide L thing with 5 blocks along and then 1 block around the bend, so to speak. That basic shape recurs four times and, overall, the grid does have standard rotational symmetry, but it almost doesn't look like it should. I'm particularly intrigued by how this grid turned out because of the word lengths it...

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