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 ]

I'm feeling pretty busy this week with the spring semester starting up and working on some other big projects, so here's a small, easy themeless puzzle I've had in a folder for a while. It's just a 9x9 puzzle so I tried to squeeze as many full-length 9s in there as I could without leading to any unfun fill, and that led to this diagonally-symmetric grid. 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 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 ]

This is a midi-sized, lightly-themed puzzle about which I will say no more than this, to avoid revealing anything. When you're done with the puzzle and want to understand the title , paste this URL in your browser, and delete the spaces...  https:// youtu.be / J465BEUDJnY 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 little themeless puzzle this week. Nothing super tricky, I don't think! Hope it gives you a quick and fun mental workout. Regarding the clue for 1-Down: I do highly recommend the Secret Coders  series of comics / graphic novels! (The author,  Gene Luen Yang , has lots of other great work, as well.) I first encountered them while browsing the children's section of our local library as my daughter played nearby. I ended up reading them on my own just for kicks because she was way too young at the time, but I enjoyed them so much that I thought, "Y'know, I should read these to  her when she's ready." Well, we just finished the 6th and final book recently, and it was so awesome and fun to read them to her and do silly voices for all the characters. We both had a blast. Check them out if you're looking for an engaging and entertaining way to introduce children to computer programming. Enjoy the solve, and share if you do! Constructive feedback in the com...

  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 ]

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...

Minimal commentary this week as I'm in the midst of wrapping up a busy semester. This is a tough themeless puzzle that started with 16-Across and 19-Across, and then developed into an asymmetric grid to keep those two entries intact, and then became a real challenge when I wrote the clues. Hope it gives you a good mental workout. 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've posted a lot of midi-sized themeless puzzles on this blog, and a handful of 15x ones (see here and here and here ), but this one feels like the first "proper themeless"  to me, for some reason. Maybe it's because I spent a little more time than usual on the fill and the clues. Maybe it's because, looking back at those other 15x puzzles, I realize I would do things differently now, even though they're not from all that long ago. Regardless, all of this is to say: I'm starting a new "Themeless" series right now with #1. I think this will be hard by my blog's standards because of some entries and clues, so I'll label it as such, but it might be much easier for you speed-solving whizzes out there, considering it has 74 words and not a ton of tricks. In other news: there's a few weeks left to support the Kickstarter campaign to expand the American Values Club Crossword (AVCX) . Even if you don't know what that is, just check ...

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...