See the 1 answer word debuted by Shimon Kolkowitz.
A | C | A | I | A | C | T | I | N | E | M | I | T | ||
B | A | N | S | B | R | U | N | O | G | I | L | A | ||
E | R | G | O | L | U | N | C | H | B | O | X | E | S | |
T | O | E | S | H | O | E | H | E | R | |||||
L | L | C | O | O | L | J | L | O | T | U | S | |||
E | L | M | E | S | P | O | U | S | E | S | ||||
S | A | B | L | E | F | T | C | M | N | E | M | E | ||
T | R | E | E | S | A | S | H | S | E | T | I | N | ||
A | N | A | S | C | R | O | W | D | U | H | N | O | ||
F | I | R | M | A | R | N | E | R | P | E | A | R | ||
F | E | N | C | R | I | S | P | E | D | F | L | A | ||
A | P | P | L | E | P | A | U | L | O | |||||
T | H | I | T | H | E | R | E | M | P | I | R | E | S | |
P | O | S | S | E | S | S | S | O | L | A | C | E | S | |
S | W | E | D | E | S | F | O | R | E | S | T |
Click the grid to see the FOREST for the TREES. Click again to reset.
Having the entries before and after the letter additions both be legit crossword entries used to be considered a sign of added elegance. Now that crossword construction has become more sophisticated, it's become expected and even necessary. Even better, all the truncated answers here are types of trees.
Note that the arrangement of black squares alone is more or less tree-shaped, or at least tree-reminiscent. Another nice touch. The resulting pattern has neither rotational nor mirror symmetry. It's a rare asymmetric grid. Does this bother you? Did you notice?