In this month’s puzzle, I’m dreaming of a world where we could sit again under “String Lights” for a balmy summer night party. There’s also a visual element, so take a look at the solution pdf when you’re done solving.
Slight spoiler: While I came up with this puzzle’s theme a few months ago, it feels related to a fun one from the midsummer Boswords tournament by Sid Sivakumar of Sid’s Grids—if you participated in that, think of this as a spinoff on his concept! I also got great feedback from Sid on an earlier version of this puzzle, where tough crossings and a smattering of obscure terms created some accessibility issues. It’s important to me that my puzzles feel fresh, accessible, and never rely more than necessary on crossword-exclusive vocab, even when a theme has tricky fill constraints. Thanks Sid, and I hope I succeeded at that goal in this final version of the puzzle!