Quid Pro

  1. An It’s-Just-A-Number Midi

    It’s that self-indulgent time of year again: my birthday month. This year is a milestone number for me but saying anything more than that...

  2. A Poisonous Midi

    This is one of those puzzles which came from an all too real experience — the springtime acquisition of the item referenced in 11-Across. I’m...

  3. Live Each Day

    I recently lost my wife of 40 years, this is the not surprising reason my puzzle constructing has been sporadic over the last few months....

  4. A Bowie Extravaganza

    In late 2022, I spent some time trying to construct crosswords that were 100% themed — where every single clue referenced the puzzle’s subject in...

  5. A Midi with a Bone to Pick

    The topic of this puzzle moved around a bit. I ultimately decided that the theme would honor the start of baseball season and my home...

  6. Stop Bugging Me

    It’s been raining a lot in our part of town (as with much of Northern California) and after the soil gets sufficiently waterlogged, a certain...

  7. A Dutiful Midi

    I blamed our new puppy for the ish-ness of the theme of my last midi and I get to credit her with inspiring the...

  8. A Theme-ish Midi

    I described my last midi as “coming together quickly” and this week the puzzle gods got their karmic retribution in that this one never...

  9. I’d Settle for a Flurry

    This is one of those midis that came together quickly — and I think the theme kind of speaks for itself without needing much additional...

  10. Heading Home for the Holidays

    It’s that time of year when many people are on the move, heading home to see family or leaving home for warmer (or colder) climes....

  11. A Very Veggie Thanksgiving

    For the last two years, couples crossword puzzle solving has been a Thanksgiving tradition at our house — we’re not much for watching football on...

  12. A Mid-Autumn Tea Break

    The fun part about midis — to me, anyway — is getting to play with wackier formats. In a 15x15, I try to hew closer...

  13. Taylor Swifties

    The idea for the theme to this puzzle came to me earlier this year and I’ve been honestly surprised to see no one else attempt...

  14. It’s AAll AAbout Me!

    This is one of those puzzles that came out of nowhere; I haven’t really been in a puzzle making mood for a while but I...

  15. Not For GenX Only (May 2024)

    These days there are so many good Millennial and GenZ puzzle constructors with their hip, au courant puzzles that I thought I might throw a...

  16. Pals

    I constructed this puzzle at the end of 2023 during the winter holidays, it was one of those themes that came out of a different...

  17. Rotisserie League

    I first finished this puzzle back in May 2023 and spent the rest of that year submitting to — and getting rejected from — various...

  18. Bad Sports

    After a run of themeless puzzles — many of them minis or midis — I decided it was time for a straight down the middle...

  19. A Thanksgiving Midi

    I had tried to make the theme for this puzzle work as a 15x for awhile before realizing it really wanted to be something smaller,...

  20. Blame The Normans

    This puzzle harkens back to late last year when I was building puzzles that were completely themed — although this one is only about 25%...

  21. Easy Peasy

    I’ve been thinking a lot about how it can be more difficult to make easy puzzles (say Monday NYT), in particular because of how clean...

  22. Ooh... A Midi

    I built this midi because I had a couple of phrases that I wanted to use that sort of had a theme, but not really....

  23. Film Buffed

    I came across a Charlie Chaplin quote that felt like a good starting point for a film industry puzzle. I had to paraphrase the quote...

  24. Something In The Air

    This puzzle was created in honor of my daughter Astrid, who is a few months away from finishing her PhD thesis. This year’s Thanksgiving...

  25. Unquote #1

    OK, I know you don’t like quote or quip puzzles: I don’t really either. This was one of the earlier puzzles I constructed, I finished...

  26. Tom Petty Mini

    As part of constructing crossword puzzles, I have been thinking a lot about heavily themed puzzles — more than just a few long theme entries,...

  27. For Smarties

    This is a 74 word themed puzzle that I created a few months ago. I am just getting around to posting here after I tested...

  28. Honey Bunch

    My newest creation was a present for my wife and my first attempt at something larger than the normal weekday 15x15. This themed puzzle comes...

  29. Dessert Treat

    This 72 word themed puzzle came together quickly as my mind wandered during a hike (see 17-Across) and it wasn’t long before I found three...

  30. The Ultimate Questions

    They say you can’t be a published author until you’ve been a rejected author and with this puzzle, I guess I’m halfway there. I finished...

  31. Dog Tired Jokes

    I had fun with the silliness of this one, I debated whether to submit it to a publication and ultimately figured it wouldn’t be to...

  32. It’s Crisper

    This is my first attempt at a themed puzzle since returning to crosswording. The revealer is the same as a relatively recent NYT Sunday puzzle...

15x15s - All Crosswords - Larger than 15x15 - Midis - Minis - Published Elsewhere - Themed - Themeless