Loop
So. Can we talk about symmetry for a minute? Let's talk about symmetry. Gridding the kind of cryptic I like making is hard for lots of reasons. You want to get a lot of themers (theme entries) in the grid. You want the words to be well-checked, and you want a good amount of connectedness between the different chunks of the grid. You want to pick fresh, fun words you haven't seen in crosswords a lot, but you also want words that are common enough that you can expect your solver to have seen them. And while doing all that, you want to be keeping an eye out for words that have good potential for fun clues. And then, maybe you also want your grid to be symmetric. Among all these pressures, making your grid symmetric costs the most, and gives back the least. It feels weird to be as dismissive of symmetry as I am, when so many of the setters I respect and admire clearly care a lot about it. But really, if I could wave a magic wand and make all my favorite Hex puzzles be asymm