P | A | I | D | C | H | A | F | F | H | G | T | |||
U | L | N | A | N | A | U | S | E | A | E | R | E | ||
F | L | A | T | E | A | R | T | H | E | R | D | A | N | |
F | U | N | E | R | A | L | S | D | E | I | G | N | S | |
I | R | E | A | N | O | P | E | D | E | |||||
N | E | R | F | S | M | A | L | L | A | R | M | S | ||
L | A | S | A | H | O | Y | O | A | T | |||||
D | U | C | K | S | I | N | A | R | O | W | ||||
T | S | A | M | O | O | N | D | A | M | |||||
S | P | I | D | E | R | W | E | B | G | R | O | W | ||
H | E | R | O | A | E | R | A | V | E | |||||
I | C | Y | H | O | T | A | R | M | O | I | R | E | S | |
R | I | M | L | A | N | D | L | U | B | B | E | R | S | |
T | E | A | E | R | O | D | E | S | I | S | L | E | ||
S | S | N | S | A | S | S | Y | S | T | Y | X |
P | B | S | B | E | E | S | L | O | O | P | |||
A | M | I | A | M | P | S | C | E | N | E | S | ||
P | O | L | A | R | O | I | D | C | A | M | E | R | A |
E | V | E | S | C | A | I | R | O | |||||
R | I | N | S | E | S | L | O | A | N | C | A | P | |
S | E | T | M | E | N | I | N | B | L | A | C | K | |
S | M | E | E | I | V | E | S | ||||||
B | E | A | R | W | I | T | H | M | E | ||||
O | L | A | V | M | O | U | E | ||||||
J | A | M | E | S | B | R | O | W | N | G | A | S | |
S | T | A | N | L | E | E | S | T | R | U | C | K | |
S | I | E | N | A | Y | E | T | I | |||||
M | O | M | E | N | T | I | N | T | H | E | S | U | N |
B | R | E | A | K | S | K | O | I | T | A | N | ||
A | R | T | S | Y | H | O | P | S | L | Y |
Look at me crossing SIENA/RENI on a Monday. I am a bit of a bad boy if I do say so myself.
B | I | C | M | A | D | R | E | C | H | A | P | |||
I | D | O | O | W | N | E | D | L | O | L | A | |||
R | I | O | T | P | E | A | C | E | C | O | R | P | S | |
D | O | L | A | P | S | K | N | O | S | S | O | S | ||
S | T | A | T | S | R | K | O | N | E | E | ||||
S | A | Y | W | H | E | N | D | R | W | H | O | |||
B | A | A | S | R | E | S | N | O | S | I | E | R | ||
U | F | C | F | E | A | T | H | E | R | T | R | Y | ||
T | R | U | M | A | N | R | A | N | C | H | E | X | ||
S | O | C | A | L | S | E | W | E | D | O | N | |||
U | N | C | I | L | K | O | N | O | F | F | ||||
C | O | M | M | O | D | E | O | N | E | N | I | L | ||
U | R | B | A | N | A | R | E | A | S | D | A | N | O | |
S | E | E | D | B | R | O | T | H | M | A | C | |||
P | O | R | E | S | A | N | T | A | E | L | K |
This is my first published puzzle in any outlet. I got into crosswords by doing NYT syndicated puzzles in my hometown paper in Oregon. I started making crosswords about four years ago on graph paper. I filled in the grids by continuously googling phrases like "7 letter words that end in ern". I have since found better constructing methods, which is certainly reflected in the quality of puzzles I have made.
Finding a set of seven birds to cross FEATHER going down was a challenge. Originally I had a different set of birds, but the editing team objected to having HEN be one of the birds (because it can refer to multiple species), so I had to redo the grid. Overall, I think the fill is pretty good, though I do not love the DANO/CONED crossing. A lot of the bird-themed clues were done by the editing team, so props to them for that. Hope you enjoyed the puzzle.