I just dusted off this grid I worked on a while ago and forgot about. I revamped the fill and almost changed the pattern of blocks but then remembered why I liked this one: it has symmetry along both diagonals (which implies standard 180-degree rotational symmetry, as well). There's a nice flow with the interlocking 11s all around, although next time I'll try it without that block right in the center (swapping four fours for two nines [say that ten times fast]). After all that, I ended up writing the clues for the seed entries (12-A and 3-D) last, aaaannnnnd... here we are in the present moment. 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 ]

Just another small themeless puzzle this week. I quite like this grid layout because it has both 90° and 180° rotational symmetry and no 3s!  Indeed, the length distribution goes like this: 16 x 4 letter entries, 16 x 6 letter entries, 4 x 7 letter entries, and 2 x 11 letter entries. (In fact, if you shorten those fingers of blocks to be all three squares long instead of four, that makes the grid much more chasm -like in the center and opens up four more 11 letter slots around the middle.  Hmm, I wonder if I could actually fill that grid...) 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 a new tab ]

This grid has mirror symmetry in both directions: left-right and top-bottom. What would you call that? I suppose it's not technically dual symmetry:  I think that means 90-degree-rotational symmetry in a square grid, but this grid here is rectangular, not square. Let me know if there's already a common term for this kind of double-mirror symmetry, or if you have an idea yourself! Regarding the stuff in  the grid: some fun long answers, some silly clues, and some educational clues (especially 20- and 21-Down, a person I want you to know about). But, overall, I tried not to make anything too challenging, so I hope this plays as a smooth medium  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 ]

  Huzzah, a full-sized, themed puzzle! I tend to post mostly midi-size puzzles on here, but I doubt there's really a good home elsewhere for this particular puzzle. As the title indicates, you will be well served by any prior knowledge of physics, science, and mathematics, but you don't need  any such expertise to solve the puzzle. It would just really help because, in addition to the theme answers, I peppered the fill with plenty of science-related entries and clues. (In particular, [spoiler alert] you may want to look back to this post about my puzzle on 7xwords for more info about one entry in this puzzle.) You may also notice one blemish of asymmetry here: there's an extra black square just to the left of where 66-Across begins. I didn't need  to add this to make the grid fillable at all, but I did need it to make the entries in that corner more reasonable and science-related. I'm hoping that, like me, you either won't care/notice at all, or you'll thin...

  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 puzzle is inspired by some awesome work that other constructors have done lately in experimenting with grid shapes and symmetry. I want to shout out a few examples before introducing my puzzle: Matthew Stock ( Happy Little Puzzles ) has a recent themeless puzzle with translational symmetry , meaning the black squares consist of a few shapes that have been slid across/down the grid. (In mathematics, these are called "translations" , in contrast to "reflections" and "rotations" .) Check it out here in this link . Brian Thomas ( Puzzles That Need a Home ) has a recent themeless puzzle with diagonal symmetry , meaning the black squares are symmetric across the "main diagonal" of the grid (top-left to bottom-right). Check it out here in this link . (Side note: I actually have a puzzle with diagonal symmetry set for publication later this year! I'll say more about that here on the blog when the time comes...) Brooke Husic ( xwords by a ladee ...