FlossWords: Grids that SLAP

Shopped this puzzle around a bit but didn't get any takers. As I self-publish more and more I am finding more fun in getting to play with the clues and entries more. With major publications (and even smaller ones too), the editors have a lot of different competing interests: obligations to their readers, conventions that are built into the venue's history, and their own personal preferences. It got me thinking a little bit about rejection in general and odd-sized puzzles. But before I hit you with a Carrie Bradshaw-sized eugoogly for all my rejected creations, let me give you the actual puzzle! Created by Evan Mulvihill using the online cross word generator from Amuse Labs Some quotes from three of the rejections for this puzzle: "While we appreciate the attempt for a really open section, we're not sure that the pay off will ultimately be worth it to our solvers given how much clunky wordlisty fill is in here. So while we appreciated stuff like [1-Acros...

I'm trying to post more frequently! Here is another fun themeless to try. I love when the middle is as open as possible, I also love when you can have two stacks intersecting in the middle. I'm also excited to announce I have received my first acceptance from the New York Times! It is for a themeless (not surprising since I don't even make themed puzzles anymore) and will run on a Friday. I have probably submitted almost 20 puzzles to them with no luck yet so this feels like a big win. I wasn't sure if my crossword making skills would ever be good enough to make it into the NYT but now I have a bit more confidence :)  Some constructing notes that I don't think have spoilers but read at your own discretion! I used 18-Down as the seed entry... After getting some rejections on the puzzle from mainstream papers, I went and "18-Down" the NE corner for some of the newer online outlets, especially because I felt 10-Down might be too obscure and considered "u...