"In and Out," by Jeff Chen

"Search and Rescue Mission," by Greg Johnson

Constructor's Comments

This is for those who still solve on paper.  Just word search as usual.  You can also get a smartphone screen grab and circle the words using the photo editor.

Was hoping to get 15 NEMOs in the grid, because it has been 15 years since the movie's release—a little too ambitious, though.  And using a larger puzzle would make a lot of entries too similar.  So, a compromise.

"Two Plus Two," by Alex Eaton-Salners

Constructor's Comments

Some of the other theme entries that got left on the cutting room floor:  GOTHAM CITY, AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, and GOLDSMITH.  There were also many possibilities with GOOD as the GO (IN GOOD SPIRITS, GOOD SAMARITAN, GOOD PUBLICITY, etc.).  Unfortunately, there was only room for one due to duplication concerns.  I was really lucky to get GOT A BITE and GO WITH IT to symmetrically interlock with ALGORITHM and GOOGLE HIT.  The latter pairing is also aesthetically pleasing, since complex algorithms underlie Google's search function.

"Stop," by Harvey Estes

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"Change of Venue," by John Guzzetta

Constructor's Comments

I think this "playing surfaces-to-verbs" theme was one of the first I ever came up with, back in 2011 or 2012.  I found it sliding around in the bottom of a filing cabinet and decided it deserved a second look.  David wisely DQed a fifth themer that used pitch, since it's more of a Britishism for a soccer field.  These were the four that remained.

Looking again at the fill, I may have gotten a little too cutesy with the two-word phrases WHAT IF, KIND OF, LESS SO, and SING OF, but it's hard to say.  Maybe two out of four would have been better?

"Sunday Freestyle XXVI," by Christopher Adams

Constructor's Comments

A previous puzzle of mine (see bottom grid below) that appeared very early on in The Puzzle Society Crossword had a corner that David and I both liked but that testers found difficult.  So that corner got scrapped for that puzzle, but I figured I'd salvage it by building around it and making sure there were fair crossings.  That's now the upper left of this puzzle, and I was pleased to work in a smattering of other answers (GENE RODDENBERRY, MELODRAMA, MANCALA, CAPRESE, RHIANNON, GRIMES, etc.) that I really like and that reflect my VIBE.

Previous puzzle:

"Free for All XXVI," by Andrew J. Ries