Long time no see! I'm sharing a new puzzle in the hopes of kickstarting my crossword construction machinery again after a long period of intermittent activity. I do have a few new crosswords out there since I last posted on this blog: 15x15 themed contest puzzle for the Joint Mathematics Meetings, January 2023 23x19 themed contest puzzle for MAA MathFest, August 2022 15x15 themeless puzzle in MAA FOCUS magazine, June 2023 (You can also find those in a big list on my website of all the mathy crosswords I've published.) Other than that, though, crosswording has been an occasional solving activity for me in recent months, but not so much a constructing activity. In part, I've been pretty busy with other work and life stuff: for instance, check out my book on voting methods , this teaching presentation , and this website ! I also have an amazing 5-year-old daughter who loved the  Grids for Kids puzzle pack  that came out recently. All that has made it...

Just a silly little puz this week with a few rhyming phrases. Not a lot to say about it, just have fun! In other news, I'll be participating in person at the Boswords 2022 Summer Tournament this weekend. Hope to see some of you there! And if you haven't yet, check out the Redstone Crossword Puzzle App ( App Store link & Google Play link ) for two puzzle packs from me: 1) twenty-five 7x7 themeless puzzles in the Minis-Midis & Hard categories, and 2) ten standard-sized themed puzzles in the 15x15 & Medium categories. I'm working on releasing another pack of both of those puzzle types, so stay tuned for more! In the meantime, the ko-fi "tip jar" is open, if you'd like to to buy me a ☕ and fuel more puzzle-making:  https://ko-fi.com/wordsxing    Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome. Download links:   [ puz ]   [ pdf ]   [ solution ]        Direct link: [ ...

Just a small, rhymey puzzle this week. Hope this one is fun and easy-breezy. You might even pick up a few music suggestions from the clues 😄 Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome. Download links:   [ puz ]   [ pdf ]   [ solution ]        Direct link: [ open in new tab ]

  I have spent every day this week with my daughter and it has been absolutely wonderful. Heading into 2022 has me feeling introspective and, admittedly, sometimes dismayed, but every moment spent with her is truly joyous, which also has me feeling optimistic. And this puzzle was inspired by a chat about rhyming words with her today. I hadn't planned on posting a puzzle at all, but I mentioned 9-Across, and she came back with 15-Across, and eventually... it's almost midnight, but I made it: one last puzzle for 2021! I hope it gives you some joy, somehow. 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 was inspired by a Tweet that I caught on my feed a few months ago. When I saw it, I said, "BINGO, rhyme time puzzle right there!" I was happy to think of a third rhyme to round out the set and then this little puzzle fell into place. [SPOILER alert: here's that Tweet .] I typically aim for these rhyme time puzzles to be pretty easy, so I thought I'd change it up and make this one a little more challenging. I think the fill is pretty fair, but there are more tricks and misdirects in the clues than usual. So, I'm calling this one hard  but I think it's more of a fun, just past medium  and less of a mind-bending hard . Big thanks to all-star test solver Norah Sharpe for trying the puzzle and pointing me to a section that needed improving. I think this version is much better, thanks to her feedback. Speaking of Norah and midi puzzles, after solving this one, you should go to her site for Bricks , a series of fun 9x9s (which are also available on the R...

  This puzzle was inspired by 16-Down. As I note in the clue, my 3-year-old daughter loves the Cosmic Kids Yoga  YouTube channel : they have fun, interactive videos where the host, Jaime, tells a story that engages children through yoga poses. When I heard 16-Down mentioned in one video, I knew I had to make a rhyming theme around it, and I was lucky enough to find the other three answers you'll encounter in this grid. (And for 7-Down, I was lucky that it was actually "a thing"! I just thought of it as a rhyme but didn't know it was actually from a current show.) I think this will be fairly easy , overall: a few proper names, but some simple short fill, as well. 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 almost looks and feels like a themeless puzzle, with this wide open grid. Indeed, just 6 blocks in a 7x10 grid amounts to 6/70 = 3/35 ≈ 8.57% of the grid, which is the lowest I've been able to achieve in any puzzle. Still, I think the shorter fill and knowing the rhyming theme will help you crack into the puzzle. Just now when I did the calculation 3/35 , I noticed a pattern in the decimal digits that is quite interesting and reminds me of another fantastic number: 142,857. If you multiply that number by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, the result is a cyclic permutation of the same digits; for instance, 142,857 × 4 = 571,428, found by starting at the 5 and "wrapping around." I'll leave it to you to read a bit about this number and it's connection to 1/7, and then ponder why you think that same pattern shows up in the 3/35 calculation I mentioned. Finally, this is set to post on the Friday just before the 1st week of classes of my Fall 2021 semester. I expect to be p...

Just a fun and easy rhyme time puzzle! This was inspired by hearing 23-Across in a TV show and quickly realizing that 17-Across could go with it. I searched my brain and the internet for other possibilities but nothing good came up (although I did find  [theme spoiler alert!]   this obscure tumblr blog  that you may very well be interested in). This is my first time sharing a puzzle with  mirror symmetry , as well! I like how this grid fits the two theme answers and several long down bonuses, and I'm hoping the abundance of 3s and 4s will make this one truly  easy-peasy  and fun to solve . 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 ]

  Sound the chimes, it's time for rhymes!  I had already thought of three of these rhymes before realizing there's an extra thematic element to them. Then, the fourth entry came to mind and I realized it fit that theme, too! I don't know if I'll ever be able to make another rhyme time + extra theme puzzle, so I hope you really enjoy this one. Perhaps the extra thematic element will give you some hints and help you solve the puzzle. In any event, I realize there's a lot of names in this puzzle (by necessity, at times), so I'm struggling with deciding on a difficulty level. I've decided to call it hard difficulty  overall, but I also eased up the clues for some proper nouns via wordplay hints (especially in the bottom-right corner, where constructing stalled a bit). I hope this makes the puzzle more feasible and interesting for y'all. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome. Download links:   [ puz ]  ...

  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...

  Time for some rhymes! This one started with 15-Down and 25-Across, and the rest came to mind after. I hope you enjoy the rhyming theme, even with how similar some of them are. There are a few amusing cross-referenced clues that I hope you get a kick out of, as well. Working on the grid here was especially interesting and instructive. With all the possible ways to intersect the theme entries, I explored a ton of different grid sizes and layouts before finally settling on this wide one, with (almost) all of the action in the middle. It's maybe not quite in the "midi" category (17x9=153, which is 68% of 15x15=225), but oh well. 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 ]

  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 ]

  I had fun making that "rhyme time" puzzle last week , so I kept my mind open to some rhymes this week. My daughter watches 31-Across every single day (truly cannot recommend it enough!), and a few other theme entry ideas came to mind from there. I had trouble fitting some of them together while maintaining a decent midi-sized grid and reasonable fill, but I think the clues in this final version will give you some entertainment value, at least 🙂 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 ]