Puzzle 20 - 7x7: Balance Sheet

This title is an irrelevant two-word phrase. No meaning, as far as I can tell, relating to the puzzle. I picked it at near random. Really.

The puzzle itself, though ... sort of has a topic. I noticed that a few answers skewed toward nerd stuff, so I leaned into that. Another toughish one.

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Puzzle 19 - 7x7: Hard Candy

This one is relatively clean. But the clues. Oh are they difficult. I think. I hope. The title is what it is because ... well, the puzzle is hard. And the grid is the shape of candy? One of those white Life Savers mints? Yes, definitely.

P.S. I quite like the pair of short Across clues.

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Puzzle 18 - 7x7: Clean Slate

I feel a need to say sorry about that last one. Two too many lousy answers.

This puzzle, another 7x7 with a single black square, represents a clean slate now. Literally, it is a clean slate of answers. Clean set. Whatever. You get it.

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Puzzle 17 - 7x7: Rocky Bottom

Here's another of the same kind. It's got quite a few good answers, but some words are impossible without almost all (or maybe all) the crosses. Hope that doesn't ruin finishing.

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Puzzle 16: 7x7: Magic Square

Hm. Well maybe yesterday's title should have gone with this puzzle. Sixteen and number 16. Oh well. This title works too, since 16 is a square number. But the grid's not 4x4; it's still 7x7. With one dot. Fun. I'm calling this puzzle "magic" for another reason - the fill's really clean. Don't get too used to it.

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Puzzle 15 - 7x7: Sweet Sixteen

Hello. The next few puzzles - at least a week straight, I hope - will all have the same grid: seven by seven with one black square in the center. That makes for sixteen words. (Maybe I'll add titles to them.)

The strain caused by this kind of interlock is high. So bad fill looms. I know that one bad section, or even a bad pair of crossing answers, can make solving disappointing. And, inversely, too many words that are gettable but seem made-up - ending in -er, in particular - make a sort of joke of open space, especially when there's lots of unintentional symmetry.

These puzzles encounter those issues somewhat. Almost all the grids have at least one word you'll look at sideways, and there are a few, but not too many, terminal s's. Nevertheless I hope the fun of seeing - and filling - a grid of this shape makes up for it.

Here's the first one, a relatively clean set of letters in squares.

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Puzzle 14 - 5x5

Another mini one. It should be easier than the last puzzle. Might even be breezable.

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Puzzle 13 - 5x5

I would like to brag a bit and say this is a very nice lil puzzle. The vowels and consonants are often not the way you might expect, the clues are challenging but not impossible. Hope you like.

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Puzzle 12 - 7x7

So soon? Why, yes.

In yesterday's print Times, in the At Home section, I liked the mini puzzles quite a lot, especially the first one, with its crazy packing of letters in a tight space. Might try that.

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Puzzle 11 - 7x7

Long time no see. I like the words on this one. Clues are kind of tough.

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Puzzle 10 - 15x15 ... but it's not fantastic

OK. Here goes. This 15x15 themeless puzzle turned out not good enough to submit anywhere, I think. A few too many obscure crosses, for one thing, and a few total clunkers. Really - total clunkers. But it should be fun if you're willing to forgive a couple spots, or really a couple words, and if you use Google or just the letter-revealer for the one or two killer squares. Harder I will try, in the future, to avoid crossing proper nouns and archaisms.

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Puzzle 9 - 5x5

It's been a week since the last puzzle - too long. I've learned that puzzles this size, the regular mini size, are much much easier to make than ones even a little bit bigger.

Oh, also: I've also gotten close to finishing a full-size themeless. Might not be clean enough to submit to the Times, so I'll likely put it here. Zero readers, stay tuned.

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Puzzle 8 - 6x6

This one ... might be impossible if you don't know the proper nouns. But if you do, then it'll be fun hopefully. They're only clued in obscure-ish ways; the answers themselves aren't obscure. Except that rock. That one really might be tough (pun).

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