This puzzle is inspired by some awesome work that other constructors have done lately in experimenting with grid shapes and symmetry. I want to shout out a few examples before introducing my puzzle:
- Matthew Stock (Happy Little Puzzles) has a recent themeless puzzle with translational symmetry, meaning the black squares consist of a few shapes that have been slid across/down the grid. (In mathematics, these are called "translations", in contrast to "reflections" and "rotations".) Check it out here in this link.
- Brian Thomas (Puzzles That Need a Home) has a recent themeless puzzle with diagonal symmetry, meaning the black squares are symmetric across the "main diagonal" of the grid (top-left to bottom-right). Check it out here in this link.
(Side note: I actually have a puzzle with diagonal symmetry set for publication later this year! I'll say more about that here on the blog when the time comes...) - Brooke Husic (xwords by a ladee) has done a lot with grid symmetries and sizes, as well. Check out the "flipcard view" of her blog to see all of the visually striking examples at once!
- Malaika Handa (7xwords) and Paolo Pasco (Grids These Days) have a recent themed puzzle with reflective symmetry, meaning the black squares are symmetric across a central axis. In this example, it's the vertical line through the center of the grid that forms that axis. Furthermore, it has grid art, meaning some of the black squares form a shape or image that is relevant to the puzzle's theme. Check it out here in this link.
- You should also check out Malaika Handa's interview with the Boswords team from last week's event. They discuss her awesome 7xwords project, which is a wonderful combination of crosswords, combinatorics, and coding.
- You should also check out Paolo Pasco's recent puzzle that's a tribute to Jessica Walter and Lucille Bluth.
Now, what's going on in my puzzle here? It's mostly themeless, but there is one thematic element: the grid! This one has rotational symmetry, meaning 180 degree symmetry around the central point of the grid, but that's standard for crosswords. The special part of this one is that the shapes formed by the black squares are related to each other in a particular way. There is a clue about this in the puzzle itself, but I'll let you find that on your own...
I aimed for a medium difficulty on this one. There are 68 words with a few long entries, so it might play fairly tough for some of you; to balance this, I tried to clue some of the shorter fill at more of an easy level to help you crack into the grid.
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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