This themed puzzle is my second collaboration with Jeff Linder; our first collaboration kicked off the 2026 baseball season back in March. Jeff posts his terrific grids – minis and midis, themeless and themed, and the occasional cryptic – here. He also posts wonderful stories and photos of his travels here, and poetry here!

My memories surrounding the genesis of this puzzle are dim, but I’m certain it started with Jeff. I think I sensed a suggestion of this theme within one of the themeless puzzles he posted this past spring; when I asked him about it, he said he’d considered fleshing a theme out but decided to stick with a themeless construction. At some point we decided to explore the possibility of that theme together and started emailing potential theme answers back and forth.

Hope you enjoy the solve!