Nautilus Puzzles

For the last Themeless Thursday, I attempted something I've always wanted to try: a Sunday-sized themeless! And... it was very difficult, even more so than I expected. So, with slightly more words and black squares than one would expect, this is a bit of a sub-par themeless, even if I enjoy the spanner I was able to fit in there. Focusing on themelesses has definitely helped my filling abilities. In terms of clues, though, I feel like this one's still a little lacking. I'll try to return to themed puzzles as much as possible for the next while, though. In the meantime, I will see some of you tomorrow (!) at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament! Au revoir! PDF  (might not work) PUZ

Boy, March flew by quick! Have another Themeless Thursday; this one's a bit on the spicier side. One more to go! PDF PUZ

Slightly late on this one. Sure hope that me setting a basic goal for the month and already slipping isn't representative of anything. Well, you know what they say, It's Always Thursday Somewhere ™. So, any West Coast solvers, enjoy! A bit easier on this one; see you next week! PDF PUZ

Another week, another Themeless Thursday! I really like this one; as janky as some of the fill is, I'm a big fan of the words I managed to squeeze in here. A certain prominent paper rejected this one, mentioning as points against it the fill at 7-Down and the clues for 8-Down and 66-Across, some of my favorite parts of the puzzle... which felt like a good sign this one belongs on the blog. Enjoy! PDF PUZ

Welcome to Themeless Thursday! That's right, every Thursday in March, you'll get a brand new themeless puzzle from yours truly. After starting constructing with a lot of themed puzzles, I've been practicing themelesses for a few months now to work on bringing down wordcount and improving my cluing, and I've picked the very best to share with you all. There's a lot of Thursdays this March, so enjoy! This particular puzzle's construction started with the grid shape. Hot take: I think a cool-looking grid is underrated! Like chefs on the Food Network say, you eat with your eyes first; the words in the puzzle can be a delicious meal, but there's something nice about starting off by looking at a pretty, interesting grid. Sure, it also makes sense to start with some good seed entries, try to fit some interesting contrasts into your dish like an episode of "Chopped," but I find I often have enough good ingredients in my word list to make something good jus...

There was a 16-wide themeless in the New York Times a bit ago from Sam Ezersky, and in his commentary , he said "if one is to break the rules, those 16s better be a highlight!" Inspired by that message, I have made a 16-wide themeless in which the spanners are guaranteed hilarious lines that are funny every time. Enjoy! PDF PUZ I know it's been a while since the blog updated, but I promise (I mean it this time!) more content is coming in March. At the end of March, I'll also be attending my first ACPT ! Let me know if I'll see you there! I will be the one with the blue hair!

Something goofy and light to kick off the new year; feels more like a collection of minis than anything else. Been a busy December for me, but I'm hoping for more puzzle content in the new year: more themes, more midis, and hopefully, more collabs (hit me up!) For the next few weeks, though, my mind will be consumed with thinking about the MIT Mystery Hunt. Good tidings! PDF PUZ