This puzzle is a tribute to a legend who recently passed (RIP). Upon hearing the news, I committed myself to making some  kind of tribute puzzle, and I noticed a certain pattern that would make for a good theme. However, the lengths didn't match up too nicely, which is how I ended up with this blatantly asymmetric puzzle in a 15x17 grid. Still, I hope that's not a distraction from the contents of the puzzle and my overall expression of admiration and gratitude for this person. 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 ]

My numbering scheme tells me that almost half of all the puzzles I've posted here have been of the midi themeless  variety, so... I hope y'all enjoy them! I like making them because it's a chance to highlight some fun entries or clues without necessarily building a whole 15x puzzle around them (that's 15-Across and 4-Down, in this one), as well as a way to experiment with grid shapes and symmetries and have something to show for it (that's diagonal symmetry and a pretty low black square percentage, in this one). They're also sooo much faster to make than 15x puzzles, like, disproportionately so, in my experience! I think this is a  medium-hard  difficulty overall, and I'll err on the hard  side just because of a few proper nouns. 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 ]

  This puzzle is inspired by two events that happened yesterday!  One of them is referenced in the central answer in this grid, which then ties into a couple of other answers, as well as the puzzle's title (which, by the way, is almost but not quite  the same as my first entry in this "Grid 'n Play" series where I experiment with themeless grids). The other was Brian Thomas's crossword construction Twitch stream yesterday afternoon that taught me a lot about how to approach themeless grids and inspired me to try for a low word count puzzle. What you see above is the grid I ended up with: it has 62 words (yay), 46 black squares (meh), and an average word length of 5.77.  It has standard rotational symmetry, but it almost  looks like it has diagonal symmetry. In fact, if you just slide one pair of those pyramids over one step, then you get a grid that is symmetric across both  diagonals . Be sure to check out Brian's Twitch ( link here ) and his blog ( link...

  This is the closest to a "standard" 15x15 themed crossword puzzle that I've posted in awhile, so I hope you enjoy! The idea was inspired by an upcoming event at my place of employment, and I found a couple of entries to go along with that one. Overall, I'm calling it a "mini theme" because it's not especially inventive or tricky, but it's just enough for a fun, little puzzle like this one 😊 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 ]

  As promised after the weird "Anagranimalums" puzzle , I'm posting a few more standard themeless crosswords, but I'm also continuing to explore diagonal symmetry in these midi grids (8x8 to10x10 ish). I like how this one turned out, with a bunch of intersecting 8s and then some 3s and 4s scattered around to hold it all together. This is also the first time, I'm pretty sure, that I have used the top-right/bottom-left diagonal as the axis of symmetry. (Because of matrices and linear algebra, I am accustomed to seeing diagonal symmetry across  the "main diagonal" from the top-left to the bottom-right .) This one started with the 6-Down / 18-Across combo, which I highly recommend watching. (I had to track down DVDs from my local library, and you might, too.) And regarding 1-Across, yes I was there at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston for the taping, somewhere in the 4th row! I can see the back of my head at one point in the show, but only because I know where to...

Huzzah, more diagonal symmetry! I used it recently with  Midi Themeless #9  because some seed entries crossed in just the right way, and I'm using it this time because it allowed for several long answers to squeeze into one area and helped the whole thing feel a little more like an open themeless grid, despite its size. Plus, I just think it looks nice 😊 As usual, some entries may be inspired by recent stuff: current events, or things I'm watching, or (in one case, in this puzzle) things I find myself saying at the dinner table, etc. 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 ]

  This puzzle is weird, wild stuff ! It started when I remembered recently the connection between 17-Across and 18-Across, so I sought more examples like that. That's what you'll find in the starred entries around the grid (and hinted at, albeit convolutedly, in this puzzle's title). As I filled in the rest and started to write clues, I noticed there were tons  of linguistic connections beyond just those starred entries. So, I ended up cramming this puzzle full of cross-references, many of them entirely unnecessary. I'm sorry if this ruins the solving experience for some of you, but I hope that others of you will get some extra enjoyment out of all of this! Either way, I promise to have some more "normal" themed and themeless puzzles coming soon... 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 ] ...

  Time for another Rhyme Time puzzle! I read a book with my daughter recently that mentioned 10-Across, and the other theme entries popped into my head from there. Constructing this one was especially interesting in the grid design stage. (I'm not sure if I'll ever make a puzzle with these exact 7x12 dimensions again, but who knows...) And although this is a pretty small puzzle and I aimed for an easy difficulty overall, it does have a high proper noun density, so I'll label this medium,  just in case.  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 ]

Check it out, diagonal symmetry! I didn't start out with that idea for this puzzle, but I realized it would work well with a couple of the 10-letter seed entries. I like how everything turned out, with the confluence of intersecting 10s toward the bottom-right*, as well as the sprinkling of mathematics in the entries in the top-left*. * I've realized recently that I really don't like the NESW convention for referring to grid sections. I  can understand why it's used, but I honestly struggle to remember which way is East and which is West, in a way that I very much  don't  with Left vs. Right. So, I plan on continuing to use top/bottom & left/right instead. Hope that's alright with y'all. However, I'm unsure about one particular square in this grid. It  could  have been an S, pluralizing both of the entries crossing there, but I ended up making it a black square. This increased the black square count beyond what I was hoping for, but there were alread...