Skip to main content

BWS Puzzle 5: Midi Themeless #1

Yes, two new puzzles today!

I've been feeling inspired to try making more themeless puzzles because of some recent experiences: 1) participating in the #BOSWORDS Spring Themeless League (just Choppy clues for me!) and 2) watching a Twitch stream of people collaboratively writing clues for a themeless puzzle. Both of those have completely blown my mind this week. (Before starting Boswords two weeks ago, I didn't even know what Twitch was! 🤷‍♂️)

I'm working on some 15x15 themeless puzzles, but none of them are quite ready to share, so I thought I'd start with a smaller grid. I took one of the 10x10 grids I used often in my book of "Mini Math Crosswords" [*] with two length-10 themers, and I just cut out one pair of black squares, so now there are two stacks of two parallel 10s with another pair of 10s running perpendicular to both of those stacks. My plan is to use this grid (and other variations) to practice making good, snappy fill and writing tough clues.

[* I now know that "mini" means more like 5x5 or 7x7, and "midi" is used for 10x10ish. I honestly didn't know that until after making the book!]

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

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

Labels:
Location: Cambridge, MA, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

Puzzle 87: Themeless #19

I'm pretty excited with how fresh and  clean this puzzle turned out, although you, dear solver, will be the true judge of that. Some tricky clues here, but also some fun and easy ones to help you crack in. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution
Post a Comment
Read more