Asym № 2 (Themeless)

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Back again - with an asymmetrical grid this time! The story with this one is that I got the NE quad stack corner built, and then couldn't for the life of me find a compelling matching corner in the SW with rotational symmetry.  So, I switched things up and made a charcuterie board of black square shapes in the middle, including a T, +, and my ol' reliable staircase. 

I also have the Saturday puzzle over at the New York Times today! If you're hungry for a Chasm-like treat, check it out 😄

Thanks to Will Nediger for test solving (check out his Freeform Freestyles for more asymmetrical goodness!) Hope you enjoy!

Collab № 1 (Themeless w/ Matthew Stock)

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Happy July! VERY excited to be sharing my first ever McGrids collaboration, and with the inimitable Matthew Stock no less! I've been impressed with Matthew's consistently high quality puzzles and reputation as one of the nicest constructors out there, so it was naturally a joy to work together. I didn't make this one easy for him by sending over a particularly wide open corner, but he jumped at the challenge with some excellent gridwork, and after a lot of iteration we ended up with this feisty fiesta of a grid you see here! It's a bit of a toughie 😅

You can check out more of Matthew's puzzles on his site Happy Little Puzzles.

A note from Matthew:

So honored and excited to be a part of the first McGrids collab! I’ve been a fan of Ryan’s themelesses for as long as I’ve paid attention to bylines on crosswords, and I was stoked when he sent me the opening corner of this one as a potential collab. Ryan makes it look easy, but working these wide-open grids is so challenging (I didn’t make it any easier on us by taking out most of the helper squares Ryan sent in his initial layout). I’m super thankful for his flexibility and patience as we hammered this one into shape, and I’m really proud of what we ended up with. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks to Brooke Husic for test solving. Hope you enjoy!

Diag № 1 (Themeless)

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Happy June! This month's puzzle is the first in a new series of puzzles with diagonal symmetry called "Diag".  There's a lot of untapped potential in diagonally symmetric grids, as they have only recently begun to get representation in mainstream outlets thanks to advocates such as Brooke Husic.  I had a diagonal themeless puzzle in the NY Times last year which spurred my own interest to explore further!

In this puzzle I like the intersecting stacks of 11s in the NE - a pattern you couldn't do in a 15x15 rotationally symmetric grid (at least without blacking out a couple of chunky corners).  I also like how the black squares in the middle kind of look like a Minecraft pickaxe.

Thanks to Will Nediger for test solving. Hope you enjoy!

Chasm № 3 (Themeless)

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Happy May! I've been loving the spring weather recently in D.C. With the new CDC guidelines it has been wonderful to be able to get back to singing in person, which I've sorely missed over the past year.  I have my first in-person concert in early June (!!!), and we're incidentally performing one of my pieces "An Fear Róin" (The Seal Man) which is very exciting.

I had both the NYT and LAT Saturday puzzles on May 1 in a fortuitous turn of events. Check those out if you haven't already!

Anyway, this puzzle started with the open center, where I again expanded the grid - this time left and right - to add in some longer entries. Each of the corners has a set of black square ･ﾟ*✧･ﾟ*sparkles*･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ to throw in some extra pizzazz.

Thanks to Will Nediger for test solving! Hope you enjoy!

Chasm № 2 (Themeless)

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Happy April!

It's been an eventful month. I constructed the Week 5 puzzle in the Boswords Spring Themeless League, which featured a wide open middle. I also made the Saturday 4/3 LA Times puzzle, which had one of my new favorite grid designs with open quad stacks.

Today's puzzle is a sort of "Variation on a Themeless" inspired by my Boswords grid design, but flipped! The cluing is challenging, though probably not as hard as my Boswords Stormy division clues...

If you haven't already, I highly recommend donating to the Baltimore Abortion Fund for a pack of 14 original puzzles from a superstar lineup edited by the incomparable Rachel Fabi. I've been doing a puzzle a day to stretch out the fun, and I've loved them so far :-)

Thanks to Will Nediger for test solving! Hope you enjoy!