Brandon Koppy author page

My original submission actually omitted the shaded squares—I was worried it would be too "hand-holdy" or something. But I think the presentation tweaks they added are pretty cool and do a good job of illustrating the theme. This was a fun one to stitch together, and I hope you enjoy solving it!

For any constructors interested in this type of grid, I have a tutorial on my website here.

Wrote this "Junior Mint" puzzle as a sort of sequel to my last Milk Duds themeless. Maybe I've found my niche?

Lots of good clue updates by the editorial team this time. Here are a couple of my fave originals that didn't make it:

15A: Temporarily living rent-free?
64A: Classic album that features Coke cans, bicycle bells, and the theremin

Hope y'all enjoy! Check out more of my puzzles and tutorials at see17across.com.

I wanted to make a themeless with a strong 1-Across, so that was my seed entry. My clues appear to be largely intact — although I did have two fewer video game references, two more 90's cultural references, and one more Bong Joon-ho reference. I hope y'all enjoy!

Also — check out my blog for more puzzles, monthly.

I'm usually not that fond of themes with lists of proper names, but this revealer was just sitting there practically begging to be made into a puzzle. Apologies to Fox Mulder and Bobcat Goldthwait for the snubs — you could've gone in the center if the puzzle had a title instead. Hope y'all enjoy!

I was a little worried that having the same letters "stretched" each time might get repetitive. But I figured that, with just three sets, the first could be discovery, the second confirmation, and the third a freebie reward.

I hope people enjoy!

For any interested constructors, I have a tutorial on my blog about using wordlist encoding to help fill grids like this. I'll even upload an incredibly dull video walkthrough for this puzzle after it prints (for any true sickos). I also post puzzles, at least monthly.

I seeded this puzzle with STARING CONTEST for its fun vibes and wordplay potential, then later settled on RETINAL SCANNER as an apt counterpart. And while I may be a vile ASTROS fan, I couldn't resist including the Easter egg at 58A. I hope people enjoyed!

I had GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL in my list of potential themeless seeds, but pivoted after noticing WORLDCUP and VUVUZELA are the same length. You're less likely to hear one now, though, as they were banned in 2014. Hope people enjoy!

Despite the shorter theme entries, this puzzle was deceptively challenging to construct. Eight pairs of crossing answers with limited options (the U only had two) all in a set order is tough to build around. In fact, I couldn't fit everything in without going up to a 23x grid. So hopefully people enjoy it as there are 31 extra words to trudge through.

I never thought I'd debut any 3 letter entries, yet this puzzle somehow has two. Glad to see they both survived the final edits.

I normally don't enjoy themes with circled words spread throughout longer answers. Too often, they're just "hidden," with no justification for why the letters were broken up. So I wanted to try a theme that focused on the "chopping," and a secret recipe seemed like the obvious choice. I first considered mirepoix, but I was concerned it might not be widely known enough. I much prefer this, though, since it has a little twist for the final ingredient (my apologies for the sloppy knife cuts and snubbing of delicious cilantro).

This is a very dense theme with limited flexibility in layout, so it required a few glue-y bits to stitch together. I hope they don't sour anyone's solve too much, and I promise to never put EBOAT in another puzzle.

As always, thanks to the editing team for all their great work.

I know this mash-up/double feature gimmick has been done before (for both movies and musicals), but I've only ever seen it result in zany themers. I was curious if I could find examples that were valid in-the-language phrases, and, luckily enough, there were just enough for a solid theme set. The one entry I loved that didn't make the cut was ZODIAC SIGNS, but without a title the revealer took precedence for that final slot.

This was a fun puzzle to write. I like the playful twist that comes when you get to 42A. If only May the 4^th fell on a Wednesday this year…

As a solver, I don't enjoy cross-referenced clues. If I stumble on a "See X-Across" I'm more likely just to skip it than to jump elsewhere in the grid. So this puzzle was my attempt to take something I don't typically like about crosswords and turn it into something fun. If you agree, I hope this puzzle is redeemed by not having the dangling second halves for those clues.

Shout-out to my wife and test solver, Brooke, who suggested running the sequence along the border when I was first brainstorming this theme.

My original submission obfuscated the theme more as their clues were simply "PETER RABBIT," etc. I liked the solver having to work more for the aha moment, but that might have been a bit too cerebral. Overall, I think Will's edits work well.

I had a decent list of potential theme options, but it was pared down a good deal when I added the constraint that the clues had to be two separate words (and no hyphens). For example, I could use BLOOD MOON to clue "LINE DANCE" but not BLOODLINE to clue "MOONDANCE."

Glad to see my favorite clue made the final cut (4-Across).

Thanks to Will and team, and I hope you enjoy!