Huzzah, a 15x15 themed puzzle! I hope you find this one fun and fresh. And listen to 20-Across. 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 one is a a full-sized puzzle with mirror symmetry  and an interesting theme, I think. I had fun finding the rest of the theme entries after the idea came to mind when I read 18-Across' name recently. Some of them may be obscure to you, but I think they're gettable from the crosses and the theme idea. I'm not totally pleased with the arrangement of blocks in this grid: 47 blocks is a lot, and I acknowledge that the "flow" from top to bottom is restricted. So, I'm wondering if anyone has better ideas for how to manage a theme set with many mismatching odd lengths like this one (5, 9, 9, 11, 15). I did try to arrange some of them as downs, but nothing worked out just right. (I'm open to suggestions and advice here!) 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 out this funky 11x9 grid! I tried several different ways to fit this theme set -- with lengths 8, 7, 8 -- into a smallish grid while also leaving room for some decent fill, and this is what came out. Just in case it's not clear, the long downs (3D and 6D) are not  part of the rhyming theme, but I hope they're interesting enough that they add to the solving experience. Let's call this one hard  because of a few clues, but I hope it's enjoyably tricky overall. I also hope you're enjoying these midi rhyme time  puzzles, overall. Looking at the three theme entries here, as an example... I'm just not sure how else I could fit those entries into a larger theme set. So, my thinking is that these puzzles are a way for me to feature some fun, fresh answers while also giving you, dear solver, something thematic to tie it all together. As always, let me know if you have any comments or suggestions about these puzzles. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Construct...

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...

  As promised last time , here's another smooth rhyme time puzzle! I gotta admit, I'm having fun coming up with these mini themes based on rhymes, and making the puzzles has also been especially helpful for learning how to design a grid and get decent fill. In particular, I'm allowing myself to experiment with grid sizes, but I'm still trying to keep these rhyme time puzzles roughly in the "midi" size category. As you can see, this one came out as a 10x10, and I even got the theme entries placed symmetrically around the outside of the grid. And I categorized this as "medium" but I was less confident about that choice than I have been for other recent puzzles, so let me know if this one plays too easy/hard for you. 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 in the previous post , here is a (hopefully) nice and easy puzzle for your weekend! I made some tweaks to the 10x10 themeless grids I've been using lately and ended up with this one: there's a ton of 3s and 6s and not much else. Some of the 6s form a theme, too, and I bet I'll be able to make more like this, which is why I've labeled this (ambitiously, perhaps) as #1 in a series. As usual, some inspiration came from my life, as my 3-year-old daughter has been all about rhyming lately. (Example: "Cucumber the bucumber the doocumber!") We've also read the book referenced in 6-Down a lot recently. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome. (In particular, I'm wondering... is this too easy?  More like this one? More like this but harder? Let me know 😊) Download links:   [ puz ]   [ pdf ]   [ solution ]        Direct link: [ play online ]

I'm having a lot of fun making these 10x10 themeless puzzles, so here's another! On the constructor side of things, I am finding these immensely helpful for pruning my word list and gaining experience in filling a grid with decent entries. On the solver side, I hope these "bite-size" puzzles are quick and fun. And just like with the previous puzzle, I've written two sets of clues for this puzzle so you can choose the challenge that is appropriate for your level. This post has the "easier clues"  version of this puzzle. While writing these clues, I honestly had my parents in mind! They've told me my puzzles are tough for them, so I'm hoping this one is... well, maybe not necessarily super easy , but I did try to make sure this one is doable for them :-) (If you're looking for more of a challenge, click this link here for the  "harder clues"  version of this very same puzzle.) Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedba...

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. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome. Download links:   [ puz ]   [ pdf ]   [ solution ]

This post has the "harder clues" version of today's puzzle, both in the embedded applet and the download links. Click this link here to open a post with more information about this puzzle, as well as the "easier clues" version of it . Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome. Download links:   [ puz ]   [ pdf ]   [ solution ]

I'm continuing to work on themeless puzzles this week, and I'm finding these 10x10 puzzles to be a good size for practicing filling and cluing. They've helped me hone my word list and problem-solving skills while constructing. For this particular puzzle, I wanted to work on cluing and setting an appropriate level of difficulty. To do that, I actually wrote two different sets of clues for the same puzzle. I'm calling them the "easier clues" and the "harder clues" because I'm only certain of how they compare to each other. For y'all out there solving: I'm hoping you might share your thoughts about which version you tried and whether it played to your expectations. Below is the "easier clues" version, both in the embedded applet and the download links. Click this link here to open a post for the "harder clues" version of the same puzzle. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is alway...