Have you seen the awesome 7xwords website yet? Check it out! The index page shows you all 312 possible 7x7 crossword grids (subject to a few standard rules as described on the "why?" page ). That amounts to a new puzzle six days a week for all 52 weeks of the year and constructors could claim a grid for a certain day in advance. When I first heard about this project on Twitter toward the beginning of the year, I was really intrigued and hoped to take part. I looked for a date that was not imminent (so I could worry about making a puzzle later) but also not too far off in the future (so I wouldn't have to worry about forgetting until the last minute). I picked April 3 because it was soon-ish and also not within a day of a holiday. I didn't even think to look at what the grid would be, so I'm glad it ended up being something manageable (the image at the top of this post). A few weeks later, when I started working on the puzzle, I looked for interesting people bor...

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. ...