I felt inspired to construct over the last few days for the first time in a while and ended up with this wide midi puzzle that's lightly themed and probably not too challenging. I hoped to post this yesterday, Tuesday, but didn't quite finish in time. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf solve fullscreen solution

Just a quick break from themelesses for this silly little puzzle, inspired by a phrase that came up in conversation. Warning: one theme entry has some vulgar language; not recommended for kids. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

Something different today: a 7x7 easy, themed mini designed for kids! My daughter is off to kindergarten in a few weeks (😲) so I've been spending a lot of time with her this summer (🤗). She has enjoyed working on the Grids for Kids puzzle pack  with me, so I wanted to make a special puzzle just like those but with some of her interests included. The paired theme answers here (9-Across and 12-Across) fit together well and reference some books she has been loving, too. She ended up "solving" the puzzle with lots of guidance from me, but I do believe it's doable by anyone who is able to read the clues. (If you're so inclined, please try it for yourself and let me know what you think about the age-level.) Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! puz pdf fullscreen solution

I made this puzzle a while ago as part of a pack of themed puzzles for the Redstone  puzzle app but totally forgot they don't allow oversized grids, like this 16x15 one. So, I'll just share it here for y'all to enjoy, while also saying... You can now find a bunch of new puzzles from me  on the Redstone  app! Just like the last time I released some puzzles there , you'll find two packs: 15x15, themed, medium difficulty: This pack contains 10 puzzles with themes of various kinds -- some wordplay, some trivia -- but nothing super tricky. If a theme felt too easy, I tried to balance it out with some more challenging fill, aiming for a "medium" solving experience overall. 7x7, themeless, hard difficulty:  Each of the 25 themeless mini puzzles in this pack has a bunch of 7-letter entries (for fun and tricky cluing) and 3-letter entries (to help you get a foothold while solving). (If there's enough interest, I could make those puzzles available in puz or pdf for...

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: [ ...

  I like experimenting with different size grids that support theme sets that probably otherwise wouldn't appear in standard puzzle outlets. This one started with 19-Across, and then I found 24-Across and 36-Across in a word list, and that seemed like enough for a puzzle, even though it's not a particularly inventive theme. Maybe this is more like a midpoint between a fully themeless puzzle (with no "connective tissue" among the entries) and a fully themed puzzle (with a tightly-defined, exhaustive set of theme entries); hence, the "lightly themed" tag on this post. However you interpret it, I think there are some fun entries and clues in this one, and solving will hopefully teach you some things and tickle your brain. 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 hope you enjoy this silly puzzle! It all started when I was listening to a song by 26-Across and thought, "There's gotta  be a way I could use this name." After 34-Across came to mind, it was only a matter of figuring out how to fit everything into a grid, and I somehow ended up with this wide, short, mirror-symmetric oddity. Some of the corners and pockets may play like a tough themeless, but I hope the puzzle being "lightly themed"  overall will help you assemble everything together. I think this puzzle is a good example of something that could only ever appear on a crossword blog. Where else are you going to see a theme set consisting of just a 25 and a 15? (Speaking of which, I think the only possible connection I could make to the current holiday season is that one of the theme entries here is 25 letters long, and there's a holiday on the 25th this month. There's no special reason to run this puzzle this week; it's just what I happen to have r...

I have been working on variations of this theme for a while and I think something like this could work as a full-size puzzle, but this is the best I have so far. Let me know if you have similar ideas and want to discuss! (In particular, I wonder if something involving the  Four Tops might work...) This is also a funny grid with theme answers in the long downs crossing a central revealer, and with non-theme answers of the same length sandwiching that revealer. Perhaps not the best layout, in general, but I think it works out alright for this puzzle. And I hope you enjoy some of the bonus fill, including those central non-themers and the 7s in the top-right/bottom-left corners. In other news, I made my print puzzle debut* with the Universal crossword this past Saturday 11/13! (The puzzles are only available online for a couple of weeks afterwards so I can't link to it anymore. And to be honest, I didn't even get to see it in print myself until a couple weeks later because I assu...

Happy Halloween! 🎃🎸👻🥁🦇🎵💀🎹 I thought it might be fun to celebrate with a concert, so this puzzle's theme entries are all appropriately-named bands who are putting on a Halloween show for you. I'm sure something like this has been done before, so rather than scouring lists of relevant band names, I stuck to whatever came to my mind from the bands that I know of. Sure, not all of them are widely known (and at least one of them is really obscure, although that one's my favorite of the bunch by far), but I think I put enough hints in the clues that you'll be able to suss everything out. You'll notice several other answers and clues pertaining to music, as well, to go along with the main theme. In other news, the most recent Sunday puzzle (10/24) over at The Atlantic is mine! Check it out on their site where it will be available for the next week only. (I believe it disappears two weeks after publication date, unless you have an Atlantic  subscription.) Although...

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...

  Here's a 9x9 grid with diagonal symmetry along the top-right to bottom-left  diagonal. I just want to note that the mention of a "diagonal" in the clue for 4-Down refers (implicitly) to the other kind, the top-left to bottom-right  diagonal of a matrix. I think there are some fun entries (I like 3-Down and 11-Across) and clues (I like 6-Down and 14-Across) in here, and I'm guessing a  medium  difficulty, hoping that the short stuff will give you plenty of ways to crack into it. 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 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 ]

  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...

  Just a silly mini theme for this puzzle! It started with me always wanting to get 22-Across into a puzzle and wondering what else could go with it. I think these three resulting theme answers are fun phrases, and there are some interesting clues and answers in the rest of the fill, too. 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...

  Happy Pride! This puzzle's title is a descriptor but also a hint to the theme. It was impossible to find matching theme entry lengths so I had no hope for any kind of symmetry in the grid, but I tried to balance that with some fun long fill and easy-to-get short fill, plus some clues you'll learn from. Photo taken June 1, 2021 on Harvey St. near Alewife Station, Cambridge, MA Many, many thanks to Norah and Rasa for test-solving! This puzzle will be more enjoyable for you all, thanks to their helpful comments. Check out Norah's Puzzles , especially this recent one (a collaboration with David Ritterskamp ). And check out Rasa's 7xwords puzzle , as well as a collaboration with Brooke for the  USA Today puzzle . I hope you also try the USA Today  and Universal Daily  puzzles all this month as they feature themes and constructors that celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. And you can get more great puzzles, while supporting helpful charities, from the Queer Qrosswords ...

  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 ]

  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 ]

  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 ]