BWS Puzzle 17: Midi Themeless #8 (extra hard)

I started off wanting to make a nice, medium puzzle, or at least one for which I could write both easy and hard clues. But I was also feeling inspired by some recent themeless puzzles I've solved* that feature wide open grids with lots of white space, especially around the middle. I'm thinking of Ryan McCarty's "Chasm" McGrids, some of Brooke Husic's demi themeless grids, and Will Nediger's Freeform Freestyles, among others.

* well, I admired the grids and filled in a few squares, but "solved" is generous

This puzzle is my humble attempt at those kind of grids, but on a much more manageable (for this mere mortal) 10x10 scale. In the process of keeping the middle of this grid open, I ended up with some challenging but gettable fill. And then I kept coming up with pretty hard (I think) clues, so I gave up on the easy/medium possibilities and just tried to make this really tough but hopefully still fair. If it proves too tough, check back this weekend for a smooth rhyme time puzzle 😎

And in case you're curious, the only seed entry was 11-Across. The rest, including the cross-reference to 11-Across, just fell into place.

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

Download links: [puz] [pdf] [solution] Direct link: [play online]

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