My second puzzle to see the light of day was published in the Wall Street Journal on September 7, 2021. It was tied to the Labor Day holiday because the theme had to do with labor union-related puns.

Since this was published, I actually haven’t had anymore themed puzzles published. I switched almost entirely toward constructing themelesses because themes simply weren’t coming to me. This puzzle evolved from me wanting to make something about the fun phrase “SQUAD GOALS,” but not finding the right angle on that one.

[Download PDF to print and do]

This is what my brainstorming note looked like:

Crossword Puns about Groups

“Union for beekeepers”

HONEY BUNCH – 10

“Union for bouncers”

BRUTE FORCE – 10

“Union for massage therapists“

RUBBERBAND – 10 

“Union for photo editors”

CROPCIRCLE – 10

Maybes

“Union for yoga instructors”

ELASTIC BAND – 11

-used in crooked crosswords 2014 puzz

“Union for astronauts“

LAUNCH PARTY – 11

-not used before AFAIK

“Union of massage therapists“

RUBBERBAND – 10 

-used in NYT 2002 puzz

“Union for astronauts“

LAUNCHPARTY – 11

-not used before AFAIK

“Union of semaphore signalers“

FLAGSTAFF – 9

“Union of hematologists”

BLOOD PANEL – 10

HOUSE PARTY – 10

BEACH PARTY – 10

BLOCK PARTY – 10

GARDENPARTY – 11

DINNERPARTY – 11

PAJAMAPARTY – 11

CROPCIRCLE – 10

ARCTICCIRCLE – 12

DRIVINGFORCE – 12

Other possible themers

CONTRABAND

“Union of farmers”

CROPCIRCLE – 10

“Union of archaeologists“

SKELETONCREW – 12

“They’re looking for sad dudes”

BLUEMANGROUP – 12

“They’re seeking low-integrity folks“

SELLOUTCROWD – 12

“Shared objectives for x-Across, x-Across, and x-Across”

SQUADGOALS – 10

CHAINGANG

ROADGANG

PRESSGANG

SKELETONSTAFF – 13

TREBLESTAFF – 11

BASSSTAFF – 9

FLAGSTAFF – 9

HALFSTAFF – 9

CREW – nothing

HOUSEPARTY

POOLPARTY

GUILTYPARTY – 11 

AFTERPARTY

THIRDPARTY

GREENPARTY

STAGPARTY

BACHELORPARTY

BEACHPARTY – 10

BLOCKPARTY – 10

COCKTAILPARTY

CUDDLEPARTY

CROSSPARTY

LAUNCHPARTY – 11

GARDENPARTY – 11

DINNERPARTY – 11

PAJAMAPARTY – 11

CROPCIRCLE

ARCTICCIRCLE

HOMETEAM

DREAMTEAM

TAGTEAM

DOUBLETEAM

HONEYBUNCH

SPACEFORCE

DRIVINGFORCE

BRUTEFORCE

FULLFORCE

LABORFORCE

FLASHMOB

GLITCHMOB

ELASTICBAND

GOALSQUAD

SQUAD

UNIT

BURNUNIT – 8

CLUB

BATTLECLUB

PANEL

LABPANEL – 8

BLOODPANEL – 10

LIPIDPANEL – 10

TESTPANEL – 9

OUTFIT – none

TROUPE – none

CORPS – none

COHORT – none