Back to some experimentation with diagonal symmetry! I started this puzzle with the 14-Across / 3-Down crossing and tried to carve out some corners from there. The other spanners kinda fell into place, and I think the rest of the fill and clues are pretty fun and interesting. Let me know if this plays a little harder than usual; I tried to to make it tough but fair 😊 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 ]

  More experimentation with mirror symmetry! This is also my way of working on making stacks  in themeless puzzles. I still don't feel adept enough at gridding or wordlist-managing to make a consistently solid, full-sized themeless grid, so these midi-sized puzzles are one way I'm working on those skills. Anyway, I think this one has some interesting spanners and a few fun clues, 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 ]

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 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...

  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 ]

  Back to challenging midi themeless puzzles, after last week's easy rhyme time :-) I like all the spanning answers in this one, especially the mathematical connections in 3-Down and 6-Down, and even in 7-Down (who was a mathematics major in college). There are quite a few TLAs in the grid to hold it all together, but I'm hoping that you're like me and really don't mind all that much. I am a little curious about whether you'll consider two of the spanning entries to be dupes of each other. I thought they were fine enough to leave in, [3-Down], but let me know if this is something you would have avoided in construction. You'll see what I mean... 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 ]

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 ]

This puzzle has both  standard rotational symmetry and  diagonal symmetry. One coding project I'd like to work on (someday when I have time...) is a way to generate all grids of a certain size that have both those symmetries. Perhaps I could even tweak the code to ensure certain restrictions on word lengths and black square counts. If you're interested in working on that, too, let me know! I think this one will be a little challenging for its size (9x9)  but not too hard overall. I'll label it "hard" just in case, though. [spoiler alert] For when you're done, here's a link to more info about Hedetniemi's conjecture , which is mentioned in 4-Down. My mathematical research these days involves similar ideas (Cartesian and strong graph products) , so let me know if you're interested in learning more about that, too! Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the comments is always welcome. Download links:   [ puz ]   [ pdf ]  ...

  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...

  Special bonus puzzle this week! I already have a post staged for tomorrow (Friday) morning, as usual. But, I was reading an article earlier today and realized that a lot of relevant words match lengths and...  well, a couple hours later, this puzzle was the result. Whether or not you know the theme answers, I'm hoping you'll enjoy the puzzle and find it smooth-sailing, overall. (And if this one is fun, perhaps I'll share similar puzzles like this in the future, making this one of a series...) When you're done, you can find the article I was reading SPOILER ALERT!!! 👉  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 ]