Kachwords

This puzzle's title comes from the track by Microwave (yes, a band called Microwave) on today's playlist, and indeed, I have been wasting all my time… making crosswords! I may as well tease some other bands on the playlist that aren't spoilers themselves, so you can look forward to an interesting mix with a lot of heavy music, everything from Julien Baker, to Rage Against The Machine, to Danny Brown. Seen live count this week: six out of ten! We're so back! I seeded this one with a couple favorite tracks, and they fell into place nicely in this 12x. I think I'm settling into a "weekly-ish" rhythm, still trying to refine my grids and fill as I go, but I'm pretty happy with this one. As usual, I'd like to thank my test solvers, Sam and Michael! I'll have my usual little writeup after the puzzle if you're so inclined. fullscreen , .puz , .pdf , .pdf solution

Two weeks since my last puzzle, mea culpa! I got caught up with life stuff (and concerts, of course). Spent the first weekend of March in Tacoma, Washington for Just Another Gig Vol. 5, an excellent hardcore punk festival. I even slipped one of the headliners into puzzle #6! Another part of the delay on this puzzle is simply that my standards for myself have escalated perhaps a little too high in such a short period of time. I've been pushing for more ambitious grids, and I was tired of dealing with 3-letter fill, so I spent ages finding fill that made me happy in this neat little 12x13 that is only packing four 3-letter entries. I played around with a lot of seed entries before landing on these two horizontal spanners, but was determined to squeeze in one relating to one of my favorite current bands, who I just saw for the second time last week! This time, the "seen live" count is 3 out of 8 on the playlist. As always, thank you to my test solvers, Quiara, ...

Finally getting #6 out here, I've been pretty busy lately! I checked out three different concerts this past weekend (Otoboke Beaver, Squid / Water From Your Eyes, and The Hotelier / Foxing / Glitterer), and I've got a whole festival this next weekend, so it might be a week before #7 as well... We'll see. Seen-live count this week is 3 out of the 10 artists on the playlist. The seed entries for this puzzle were the spanners: one band I'm seeing at that festival this weekend, another band from my hometown. The grid came together pretty quickly, with some fun, open areas for an 11x, but it took a bit longer to be happy with the clues. As always, thank you to my test solvers, Lila and Jack! fullscreen , .puz , .pdf , .pdf solution

I took a slightly longer time on this one, especially with the holiday weekend, but I'm also trying to do slightly more ambitious grids these days. With that in mind, this week we've got my smallest puzzle yet, a 9x9 with a bunch of shorter fill… but six spanners! "Seen live" count… three out of seven, but seeing a fourth next weekend. The seeds were a recent favorite song and an all-time favorite band; check out my post-puzzle notes for more info! My first pass yielded a lot of great music-tie-in fill for such a small puzzle, but had some brutal short fill, so I gave it a rework and wound up pretty happy with this take. Let me know what you think! And thanks, as always, to my test solvers: Michael, Jacob, & Quiara. fullscreen , .puz , .pdf , .pdf solution

Time for Music Midi #4, another 11x! The tally for "bands seen live" this week is… three out of the eight featured on the playlist, which goes all the way from disco pop to sludge metal. This puzzle's seed entries were two different two-word band names that i was able to split in symmetrical places in the grid, including the band that I saw most recently (pictured above, and that I was originally attempting to fit into puzzle #3 ). Those four seed words made it trickier to slip more things in, but it was a fun challenge when constructing it! Also, the title comes from the playlist track from the other of the two seed entries. Check them out in the playlist after your solve! And, as always, thank you to my test solvers, Michael and Lila, for your time and feedback. fullscreen , .puz , .pdf , .pdf solution

Alright, time for entry number 3 in the series, a 12x, my largest yet. I did not squeeze in that band I recently saw, as I hoped I would, but they're in my draft for the next grid, so stay tuned. The seeds for this one were some recent fave 12-letter entries, but the grid wound up far more constrained than #1. A few bits of fill I could tie into a playlist guided my hand and I wound up digging the fill, so I hope this is a smooth solve with a fun playlist after you finish! And, of course, thank you to test solvers Michael and Jack. fullscreen , .puz , .pdf , .pdf solution

It's already time for Music Midi #2, now with a puzzle title!  This time, I've got a funky little 9x10 that used a couple recent favorite bands as seed entries, plus a 14-track playlist at the end where you can check them out. This one was very specifically inspired by a band I saw recently.  I think I'll try to slip at least one band I've seen live into every playlist, but that might not be a terribly difficult goal: I've seen six of the 14 artists from this playlist alone, and half of the ten bands on the first playlist.  Speaking of which, I saw an excellent show this past Tuesday night whose headliner might be making their way into my third midi...  No guarantees, but keep an eye out for the next puzzle!  I think I'll try to publish once or twice a week, as long as the ideas keep flowing. Also, if you looked at the hints/playlist, you may have noticed that the first playlist was literally in the exact order of the corresponding across and d...

It's my first time posting on a blog since probably 2010, baby, the old internet is back! Anyway, I just started this thing to collect any crosswords I decide to publish, so this is a pretty unceremonious debut, but hey, free crosswords! This 11x11 is my first entry in what will hopefully be a nice little series of themeless midi crosswords where I try to pack in as much fill as I can that I can hint or reveal using music. So, if you get stumped, or just want a fun accompaniment after the solve, take a look and throw it on! A link to the playlist is in the puzzle note and below. The artists or songs all contain some word that is in the puzzle somewhere, so they are definitely spoilers. And the fun of crosswords is that they force me to include a wild variety of things on a playlist. Finally, thank you to my test solvers:  Lila , Jack, Michael, and my wife! Boo me all you want, I'm saying it in the Borat voice! Asterisks indicate clues that are associated with a...